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lewis
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11 months ago
in 2008/08/05/government-2-an-insiders-perspective/ on Mashable - The Social Media Guide
Mark - excellent article, and I believe enlightening for three different audiences: 1) government managers who believe they "should" be using 2.0 approaches but aren't fully clear on what those are, or why; (2) government worker-bee fans of Web 2.0 tools and practices in their private lives, who need to advocate for their use to their managers; and (3) the skeptical or uninformed citizenry, who after all are paying for government through taxes and deserve to have it adopt and follow best practices in whatever form - who deserve a government able to communicate and to listen (as enabled by social media). Again, well done.
1 reply
1 year ago
in Why Microsoft’s preference for mirror worlds signals it doesn’t get it on Technovia
I think you're missing a bit of the point. When Microsoft produced Word (yes, the word processor), it didn't stop anyone from writing poetry on a notepad; didn't stop the writing of graffiti by hand; didn't stop sky-writing by airplanes. All of these are really useful and socially valuable aspects of writing, but they're not a part of "business" Microsoft is interested in supporting with software. Mirror worlds are the same - they're designed to be useful for the segment of society and commerce that can make use of them, not to replace the floating-penis, purple-sky world of Second Life. If people want to dream and do outside-the-lines bizarre things, more power to them, and they can use a virtual platform for that. Microsoft may choose only to be in a different (but healthy) business of providing more prosaic mirror-world capabilities. Maybe that's boring, but yes they can certainly coexist. A company choosing to do one and not the other isn't a measure of "not getting it," but I think rather it's a company saying, "Okay, we get it, but we can't be all things to all people, so we'll focus on this piece over here and see what pops up of value."
1 reply
ianbetteridge
Well the point isn't whether they can co-exist, in that sense: it's that users show a clear preference for online properties on which they can "make their mark", as it were. How many current, high-traffic web sites don't include an element of user-generated content - usually a major one? That suggests that virtual worlds which fail to include UGC - as mirror worlds must if they are to maintain that "mirror" element - will not be particularly popular either.
There is definitely a bottom-up vs. top-down vs. middle angle on this story which will have to be developed in writing in the future. My impression an an "insider" is that strategists at the top realize something needs to happen, privates and corporals and others nearer the bottom are using any technology that will help, and many people in "the vast middle" are largely oblivious to Web 2.0 or actively dislike it.
There is also definitely something to be written about the government talking to and listening to "we the people" via social tools. Marketing and PR are not things that governments generally excel at, but these tools could make it easier. White Houses love polling; maybe sometime soon they will like reading RSS and Twitter feeds, too.