Memories From The Future

Study shows: Social Media's strategic role acknowledged and adopted in the US corporate world

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research recently conducted one of the first statistically significant, longitudinal studies on the usage of social media in corporations. The new study compares corporate adoption of social media between 2007 and 2008 by the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies compiled annually by Inc. Magazine.

Review Summary:

• From familiarity to usage to importance, social media is expanding rapidly within the Inc. 500.
• The bottom line is that the Inc. 500 continues to learn about social media at a very quick pace.
• For the first time, growth in familiarity, adoption and importance to mission has been documented in a statistically significant, longitudinal study. If the Inc. 500 is embracing social media at this record pace, can the rest of corporate America be far behind?

Social Media And US Business Familiarity, Usage And Adoption: A Research Study Of The Inc. 500 - Robin Good’s Latest News »

Crowdsourcing: Products from the "people formerly known as customers"

Interesting (while promotional) video about the impact of Crowdsourcing on product development and change of  whole markets. The author of the book he’s promoting with this trailer likes two definitions for crowdsourcing best:

The White Paper Version: Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call.

The Soundbyte Version: The application of Open Source principles to fields outside of software.

I liked a definition he offers in the video (near end) even better: “(the former examples) show how these successful forms of crowdsourcing came up organically from the people formerly known as customers, from people formerly known as the audience”.

By the way: Croudsourcing is a concept that has massively been played out in the sci-fi novel “Rainbows End” by Vernor Vinge, as my friends on FF know all too well ;-)