Global Neighbourhoods

Latin Americans needed for SAP Global Survey

I have completed sending out interview questions to people in Central Europe for the SAP Global Survey and I expect to be posting a batch of responses from that area starting next week. While, I continue to to welcome people with knowledge of any country, I am next going to focus on Latin America, where I have only three respondents so far and would like many more.

If you know something about social media in any Western Hemisphere country south of the US, please let me know. If you can recommend someone who is knowledgeable, please make an intro by email for me.

My new email is shelisrael1@gmail.com. I am phasing out of itseemstome.net.

After Central America, I plan to look at Asia and the Pacific where I have a few contacts but need a great many more. China has been difficult for me.  I have only two leads there, which seems a bit small for a country of 1.4 billion.

This SAP Global Survey has been a remarkable experience for me.  I have learned a bit about how culture shapes the use of technology, while simultaneously, seeing how very much people everywhere remains the same.

With SAP's permission, I am going to start talking about the findings in public.  The first time will be next week at Office 2.0 in SF, where I am moderating a panel of experts on social computing. Then, on Sept. 27-9, I'll be using the SAP Global Survey as the subject of a keynote at BlogOrlando.

The Issues of Internet friendship

                                      My Facebook Friend Wheel.


The above illustration is not some recently discovered volcanic planet as viewed by Hubble somewhere in outer space. It is much closer to me.  You could say it is close to my heart.

Friendwheel is a neat Facebook application that lets you see how your friends connect, not just with you, but with each other.  I have almost 400 friends and I am pretty certain not one of them connects just with me.

This is a social network. I have been building it for a good number of years and it is comprised almost completely of people I trust, or who are trusted by people I know in real life. The exceptions are people I've chatted with on Facebook who have persuaded me that I would trust them if I knew them better.

There are people at Facebook who want to be among the most popular. A good friend of mine has nearly 5000 friends.  If you look at his Friends Wheel, you will discover that the center f it is all white space. In short, people tend to just connect with him and not with each other.

Both approaches have merit.  There is power and influence in popularity and anyone who claims to have 5000 friends is certainly popular.  Hell, maybe my friend could run for public office.

But that's not I want.  i want a network, where all the people can help each other.  I believe in the power of the network and that for it to really be a network, the nodes need to interconnect. We are the nodes of social networking. 

I am amazed at the power of this network.  it is more useful to me than my Outlook Contacts list.  There are people who found me on Facebook who knew me in elementary school and from every other phase I've been through since.

I have never laid eyes on many of them, but that does not mean I connect.  It means that I will meet each of them when I can, and it will be like meeting old friends for the first time.  In the last few weeks, I have had conversations that started on Facebook that have led to new business relationships, once by playing online Scrabble. Facebook friends have helped me found people for the SAP Global Survey that I would never have found otherwise.

I think some people get one important part of this confused.  The virtual part is the space where we meet people online. The real part is the people we meet.

I believe that other than the tangible part, online friendship s absolutely identical to the terrestrial kind. The difference is the Internet lets you build a larger,stronger and more valuable network faster.

In both cases, friendship seems to me to be like an old fashioned bank account.  You have to put something into them, and when you do, you get back more than you invested.












 

Truman in DEMO;

There's nothing I know that is as exciting as a startup launch--well almost nothing.

Earlier today, my client, YourTrumanShow announced it would be launching something at DEMOfall. The video blogging site has already been announced and is live in early beta. At DEMOfall, they will be announcing something new and it furthers my concept of global neighborhoods where the people matter more than the URL. I guess it's time for me to start video blogging.

In any case, I'm proud to be part of the team. It's going to be a very busy month.

SAP Global Survey: Ukraine's Serhiy Danylenko

 

                    [Sirhey Danylenko.
          Photo Courtesy of Hugo E. Martin]

It's a typical start up story.  A couple of smart students, do a class project with a professor encouragement. They decide there's a commercial opportunity and take it into the mainstream where they decide to put the customers as much in control as possible. It catches on and it inmproves at least one aspect of society just a bit.

Except this one didn't start in Palo Alto or Austin, but in Ukraine, a new and emerging country. The story shows how much alike people are when they have the freedom to pursuit what they want and the tools that are now available through the Internet.

I owe a very large thanks to German blogger Hugo E. Martin, as I recently stated. Sirhey Danyenko is one of several people he connected me to. I love Sirhey's story. I think it is relevant to the SAP Global Survey because it shows that cultures and economies are emerging through social media, and when people can interconnect, they very iften end up doing business with each other.

Here are my questions to Sirhey and his outstanding answers:

1. Tell me about the Internet and the technology in Ukraine. Do people have broadband access?  What about business?

Ukraine is a pretty large country located in Eastern Europe. We have a population of 46 million. people and the territory comparable to France. 38% of Internet users enjoy broadband connection and this number is growing. It means that very soon Ukraine will solve the problem of low speed dial-up connection.
In fact, almost all Ukrainian web-projects being developed at the moment, are aimed at users with broadband connection. Business understands the importance of IT.

Both small and big companies provide their employees with Internet access at workplaces. At the same time we have some troubles with access in regions and small cities, though the situation is getting better. In 2007 PeopleNet 3g Internet-provider appeared on the market, so it's enough to buy PCMCI or USB card for laptop and stay online 24\7 wherever you like.

2. When and how did you get interested in social media and citizen journalism? How have they influenced your life?

Together with my friend Dmytro Dubilet we studied at Shevchenko University, Institute of International Relations where we specialized in International information. We published the University newspaper and then decided create our own project, starting with an Internet newspaper. The basic idea we had is that readers should influence journalists as much as possible. We thought that in our project there wouldn't be editorial staff and people would be free to publish any information they want.

We started writing the code in 2004 and on 5 August 2005 Highway went online. Then we found out, that the model we were using is called citizen journalism in Western countries. And then the concept of Web 2.0 appeared and we found ourselves in a middle of the social media stream.

3.   What would you say are the results two years later?  How and why did you select the name 'Highway? '

In our third year of study we realized, that we wanted to run our own media project. From the very beginning it was a business project.We wanted to create brand new, honest, popular and trustworthy newspaper based on a profitable business model. It took us a year to become listed among theTOP-25 Ukrainian online mass media properties and sell a part of the project to Ukrainian Media Holding. That was our first big success in the media business. The name "Highway" was chosen to symbolize freedom, broad outlook, speed of thought. This word is not often used in Ukrainian language so both project idea and its name appeared as something new and interesting for the Ukrainian media landscape.

4. Who reads Highway?  How many readers do you have?  How many of them comment? How does it compare in influence with traditional Ukrainian media?
Can you give me a good interesting anecdote that illustrates the effect Highway is having in the Ukraine?

One can say that Highway is a daily general interest newspaper. We have 20.000-25.000 unique visitors per day. Many articles prepared by citizen journalists get republished by other web-sites. Highway has 5500 registered users, of whom 500 are active contributors, which
publish up to 100 stories per day: articles, interviews, pictures, poems, stories, news stories etc. The life of Highway team sometimes reminds me of anendless anecdote.

We do not hesitate to experiment and work in style "Fire! Fire! Fire! Now Aim". People, who come to our office, think that Highway has a huge editorial staff and they
are pretty astonished, when they get acquainted with me and my several friends.

When I send letters, depending on the addressee I sign them "Editor in chief", "Head of marketing department", "Co-founder", "Head of advertising," "Brand manager" etc.

5. In the US, we know all too little about Ukraine and your region. How can social media change that? Will it?

Internet and social media in particular change the lifestyle of Ukrainians. People use Highway not only to read stories, but also to communicate and socialize.  Every published story is a welcoming message for conversation. In comments, people provide links to additional information and alternative viewpoints, express  their own thoughts. Students, who study journalism, use Highway to have a practice and prepare good credentials for a future career in traditional media.

Civic activists and NGO members publish information about their plans and results of implemented projects. Highway has a strong community. People, who talk to each other online willingly meet in real life. Once a year, we organize Highfreedom - an annual meeting of Highway citizen reporters from all over Ukraine. The last High freedom took place on a beautiful island near Kyiv (Kiev). 170 citizen journalists spent the whole night in a tent camp with fire, songs and lots of communication.

Highway is not just a newspaper, but also a social network, which provides people with space for communication and personal development.

6.  What languages do people speak in the Ukraine? How big of a barrier is that to social networking with the West? How does that barrier get reduced?

In Ukraine people speak our own Ukrainian language and also Russian, the language we inherited from Soviet past. At the same time children study English almost in all schools and Ukrainian business elite speaks English pretty well. There are a lot of Ukrainians at LinkedIn. Google is the #1 search engine in Ukraine. However, the majority of Ukrainians prefer to use Russian social media services, since they can speak this language. I don't think the situation will change soon. Media professionals will have active contacts with the West, when the majority of Ukranians will use native services.

Another detail worth mentioning is software development outsourcing. I won't tell exact project names, but a lot of prominent Western web-projects were created by Ukrainian teams. Western companies hire Ukrainian coders, because they are quite talented and skilled and cost less, than Western coders.

7. What other social media do people use in the Ukraine?  How fast is it growing?  How do you think it will change your culture over the next five years?

Among popular social media sites are Maidan  and Narodnapravda (Ukranian lins). Maidan is known as a site, where civic society activists publish information and coordinate their actions. Narodnapravda is a part of Ukrayinska pravda project, based on the community of its readers. Both projects are growing consistently and contribute to the development of civic society in Ukraine.

8. Tell me about business in the Ukraine. Who are the largest employers? What do people do for a living? What is the average lifestyle of mid-level
employees?

The largest employers are industrial companies (coal, steel, chemicals), servise providers, banks and IT companies. Average income is 1500$ per month, however, the prices are quite cheap. For you to compare: a good dinner costs 5$. 0,5 l Coca-Cola sosts 0,6 $. Mid-level employees spend 8 hours a day working in the office, waiting for evening to meet friends, go to the cinema, nightclub or just have a cup of tea in a cafe. Some of my friends drink beer and watch TV till late at night or play computer games. Other use evenings and day-offs to study, read, go in for sports, sleep, devote time to hobbies. Ukrainian lifestyle is very European.

9. To what extent do businesses use social media and if so, which ones and for what purposes?

Businesses only start realizing the importance of social media. At the moment, we help one of the biggest Ukrainian banks set up its corporate
blog. Another company, mobile operator, created Web 2.0 portal for its community. Yet another company organized contest of mobile ethics
aimed at bloggers. These are only first steps. We can feel a great interest on the part of business, so more projects are to appear in the future.

10. Additional Comments?

I think Ukraine is one of the most promising markets in the world. It's developing rapidly and we have a lot of smart people to run beautiful projects. You can come visit Ukraine and take part in this event we're organizing at the moment.

Jeremiah Joins Forrester

[Forrester Sr. Analyst Jeremiah Owyang and wife Shirley.  Photo by Shel]

My friend Jeremiah Owyang has joined Forrester Research as a senior analyst covering social media.  This is what I call a perfect match. I have been following Jeremiah since his Hitachi days and have enjoyed watching him grow and realizing that he had come of age. There is no one I know who has shown better understanding of how the social media can transform business to the mutual benefit of customer and company.

Meanwhile, from where I sit, Forrester under the acumen and wisdom of Charlene Li in San Francisco is the only traditional analyst organization that comes remotely close to "getting" social media.

This was a brilliant move by the in going after Jeremiah and a wise move on his part in accepting it.

Help wanted on SAP Global Survey

We are heading into our third and final month with the SAP Global Survey.  From my perspective the results have been spectacular, so far. I've learned a great deal and I hope those of you who have been following feel the same way.

But I'm now heading into thinner waters.

While I will continue to interview knowledgeable people wherever on earth I find them, the three areas I will focus on over the next months, in order, are:

(1) Central Europe. German social media blogger Hugo E. Martin, who has been particularly helpful.  Thanks, Hugo. I could still use a few more folk to talk to particularly Romania and any Scandinavian country.

(2) Latin America. I have interviews in process in Argentina, Chile and Brazil, but that leaves a lot of uncovered ground. If you know someone, including yourself, who can tell me about social media in any Latin American country, I'd love to hear from you.

(3) Asia & Pacific. I have done interviews with one person in each of Japan, Singapore and Cambodia. I know a couple of folk I will contact in India and Australia, but this is a huge area and my knowledge is currently minuscule.  Please help me if you can.

You can email me here or just leave a comment below. I thank you and my client SAP thanks you.

My Facebook Friend Policy

If you are on Facebook, and an increasing percentage of you are, chance are likely that you get asked to link with someone as a friend all the time. But what do you do when someone you do not know asks to be your friend?

For me, this is very difficult. I try very hard to be accessible to people, particularly if they share my passion for blogging and social media. I also understand the power of the network and that the more nodes you have the more "influence" you have.

But to me, calling someone a "friend" is a form of endorsement.  It tells others that I say you are okay.  Chances are likely that you are, but I have no way of knowing that, particularly if you requested we be FB friends, without sending a note explaining how we connect or why you want to be my friend.

Every time this has happened, I have sent people a note, thanking them for the request and asking how we connect. Nearly half of these notes go unanswered and I delete the request. That's easy for me.

The other half is more difficult and I have found three times that I choose to make someone a friend:

1.  If you connect with several people who i consider close and real friends. I sometimes ping this mutual associate to find out if he or she really knows you. Then I'll make you a friend.

2. If we've never met, but I know who you are by your blog, your job, your online communities or even your photos, I will make you a friend.

3. If you reply to my note and say something that is authentic and appeals to me. For example, I'm a sucker for college students who have read my book.

Of course, all this angst takes time.  So I am posting this so that I can link to it and send it when someone requests an FB friendship.  Heh. It will even send a little traffic my way.

SAP Global Survey: Brian Reich Rolls His Own

                                    [Brian Reich. Stock photo]

Brian Reich, director of new media for Cone, Inc., a Boston-based PR firm, has rolled his own answers to the  SAP Global Survey.  His first book, Media Rules! will be published by Wiley in November. Brian is the second person this week to ask if I was still looking for survey responses.  The answer is overwhelmingly yes. Please use the questions you see below, or any others that will contribute to the conversation. Feel free to post on your own blog, make a video or surprise us with a different contribution. The survey will continue through September.

Brian explains how social media has changed his life, giving him a new profession and saving him from a life in political back rooms. These are great answers, Brian.  Thanks for playing.

1. From where you sit in the world, how has social media changed your life? How about the lives of your other family members?

Everything about my life has changed as a result of social media - and continues to change.  First and most obviously, while I spent much of my life working as a political operative on campaigns - doing everything from licking envelopes to knocking on doors to making commercials and managing candidates -- I now make my profession as a new media strategist, working with organizations of all shapes/sizes to identify ways to better communicate in our ever-changing society. 

In short, I have a career because of social media.  Of course, on every other level, social media has changes my world as well.  I connect with friends, get my news and entertainment, participate in political campaigns and causes now largely, if not exclusively through social media driven technologies.  I used to watch a lot of television, was a couch potato supreme -- and now I am free to engage wherever, whenever, and however I like. 

2. From where you sit in the world, how do you think your personal and business lives will change over the next five years? How about for the rest of your family?

My wife and I are due to have our first child this November, and with family and friends scattered all around the world, I see social media as a critical component to my child's life.  Just as I connect through social media to the outside world, so will I expect my child to.  And as he/she grows up, the sophistication of the technologies will continue to increase, the quality of the content will continue to improve... and what he/she grows up to be will be so much more intertwined with social media than anything my generation (or even my younger siblings' generation) has ever seen.  Education will be different.  Economics will be different.  Politics will be different.  Culture will be different.  I will get to experience some of it, but it will literally define my child's life - what a thrill!

3. What do you feel are the ascending social media tools and which are descending?

I think audio and video are on the rise and text is on the decline.  Audio and video are simply more interesting.  There isn't one particular tool, one gadget, one venue, or one service that encompasses all that is possible in social media, so I don't have just one to name.  What I do know is that right now we just watch and listen, with a little creation on the side, but over time we will truly interact.  That video you watch online will become an immersive experience.  You will transfer seamlessly from one device to the next, from one activity to the next.  You might read the paper (in print! gasp!) in the morning, and then instead of seeing just an update of the article online, you will get to interact with the author, then listen to the subjects talk, then buy the products they are using every day.  You can do that now, but the process is clunky.  Social media will evolve and we will see a smoother interaction with everything.

4. The folks at SAP are particularly interested in social media's impact on the global enterprise as well as small to medium-sized corporations. Do you have any knowledge or advice for them?

Media Rules! (which is also the title of my book).  It's not about the tools, its not about the venues.  If SAP - and the companies, nonprofits, educational institutions, entertainers, and individuals (and everyone I left out) can really produce great information, experiences and stuff, it won't matter how they deliver it.  People want the information, experiences and stuff.  They want it wherever, whenever, however they want.  So give it to them.

5. Do you have any interesting case studies of unique uses of social media?

Lots!  Here is just one, an early, experimental kind of thing.  I have been working with the Alliance for Climate Protection to use a variety of different social media tools to help move people along in their commitment to addressing the climate crisis.  The challenge is to get people who are aware of the climate crisis, but not actively involved in its effort, to take real action and make meaningful changes to their lives.  How to get someone to change their life is a huge task that will take time.  But our first attempt, which was centered around an online collage, leveraged things like tags to help people explore and learn instead of follow a single path.  It was simple, there is much more to improve on and learn, but it's a start.

6. What social media tools do you use?  Which are your favorites? Why?

I use a lot, it's part of the fun.  I use Facebook and MySpace and a dozen niche social networks.  I use Twitter and have experimented with Pownce and Jaiku.  I blog.  I podcast.  I watch and contribute online video.  I create and play online games (mostly serious games) and text message, use the mobile web, etc. 

There are dozens of things I have done only once and my favorites are the ones (like Twitter and Facebook) that I continue to use actively/daily and experiment with, seeing how they develop and what I can learn about people by using them.

7.  Do you see language as a barrier for  social media?  Will English become the global language of the Internet?  Should it?

Yes.  Tools and content will have to be developed so that the language that the content/media is not a barrier to anyone, anywhere enjoying it.  I don't think English will necessarily be the global language of the internet - in fact, I doubt there will be a global language.  I think, if anything, there will be a set of global languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, etc.) that everything has to be created in to touch a wide audience, to be considered to have an impact.  That raises the complexity and the cost of doing social media, but it also expands the reach.

8.  Are you reading more blogs or less these days? Are you watching more online video or less these days?

I read about 150 blogs a day.  That is up -- but not because there are more blogs, but rather because my interests are expanding. As I get older, I involve myself in more projects, and want to learn from more sources.  They have been there for a long time (I rarely am new, or even early, to discover a blog)... they are just new to me.  ANd yes, much more video these days.  I probably take 15-20 mins out of my day to just watch video.

9. What is rarely asked about social media, but is critically important to consider?

We are in the early stages of a dramatic transition from a 'read-only' culture to a new, more dynamic 'read-write' culture. The audience wants to have choice in what they do.  They want to have an impact.  And they want feedback when they give, transparency when they invest, and accountability on everything.  Social media encompasses so many of the newest online techniques where people no longer just interact with content by “reading” and “clicking,” but digest messages and then contribute their own ideas. 

What is the magic ingredient?  Substance.  Organizations have both a need and an opportunity to talk about serious issues – to be authentic, transparent, and sustainable in their operations and communications.  We aren’t talking about going green or baring your soul – just meeting your audience’s expectations for how to have a conversation and to address their needs.

Organizations that deal with serious issues face this challenge every day.  And we can learn a lot from them.  They know how to create innovative experiences that the audience can access and influence while still including a take away message that is meaningful and actionable.  They know how to build loyalty and drive participation.  And everything they do changes the world.  This panel will discuss what drives success in the serious issues space and the lessons all organizations – and the agencies who work with them – can take from that.  We will explore what makes serious content popular on social media sites, what kind of activities organizations should be creating, and how can you make sure people see what you are doing once you’ve made it - in the context of the issues that are important to them and to the society as a whole.

Smiles of San Francisco

[Ignacio's smile.  Photo by Shel]

I'm working on an SAP Global Survey Interview with my new friend Ignacio Escribano, who runs Igooh, the Spanish language citizen journalism site for La Nacion,Argentina's national newspaper. During our conversation today he pointed me to this recent post from his trip last month to San Francisco. Translated into English, the post is titled "Smiles of San Francisco." Just go to the bottom photo and start clicking, to see 67smiling faces of of San Franciscans.  It will make you will be the 68th smiler. Trust me.

[ MushyGushy Kami Huyse. Originally uploaded by kamichat.]

In honor of my birthday yesterday, Kami Huyse posted a MushyGushygram, in my honor.  I had not previously heard of these social media cards, but they are pretty cool and the one she did of me cracks me up.

One clarification. My age is no state secret as she asserted in her post. I am 63. Kami, the question I pose to you is: "Will you still love me when I'm 64?"