DISQUS

Interesting indeed. Social networks are surely going to flatten the globe. English is going to become the dominating language and social networks will expand their reach across borders.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

I tend to lean to the personal side. I do represent my company Twitter and I do like to give a more personal, friendly feel to my tweets. The size of the company does have a lot to do with the voice of the twitter feed. It is refreshing to see a large company with a strong twitter feed voice like Zappos, rather than just another marketing/news feed.

Interesting idea of taking business cards to the next level. I personally like the touch and feel of a nice business card and prefer the act of handing card to somebody else.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

I agree with most of the comments. As social media continues to get pounded into our heads, more and more people think they are true professionals in the space. So, like you said, you get conferences popping up that maybe shouldn't. Or maybe people are just getting their info via other means and conferences are suffering? Look at E3... biggest event of its kind and it went through a huge collapse.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

I agree that being able to manage your contact list inside of a social network is going to be awesome. It will be critical to really be able to mange your contacts within the social network and outside of the network, but you must be able to do both tasks from within the social network.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

Nick,

I think your analysis of Tim's argument is a good one. I think what you hint at- people actually doing things started by an online impetus- is the hardest action to create. Clay Shirky's book, Here Comes Everybody talks about this subject. I am working on this book now, so I am not done with it yet, but I do think that over the next 5 years, as we figure this social networking thing out, we will develop a better way to take action from an online impetus.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

I agree with you Nick. It is interesting to see Myspace come out with a Blackberry app, when most people with Blackberries are business people. Myspace is just not a place for business networking. Even Facebook can be iffy for business networking.

This won't have as much impact on social or business networking, as it will have on mobile networking in general. The US has a long ways to go before it catches up to Europe and Asia in mobile web usage. In the next 2-5 years, mobile web usage will take off in the US.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

I think it is tough to build an enterprise-only web app, but it can happen. Businesses really need to embrace the app deep into their company culture.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

The Netflix streaming is a great program. I think the big lesson here is that Netflix streaming isn't for everyone. Maybe one day it will be, but for now, let's just say that it is for people who are willing to take a chance on movies that are not popular.

I like this acticle. I agree that using text slang is absolutely terrible for business. I have yet to see text speak on a resume, but I am sure I will one day.

I think part of the problem is that communication vehicles are seen as casual. Blogging is something that is casual, texting on phones is casual. The speed at which you communicate is directly related to how casual that communication is.

I work for a business networking website, konnects.com, and some people do use text speak when they are describing their business. I don't think people realize the potential impact using text speak has on their professional life.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

Not surprising at all. Just one more reason social networks are poor for business. If you need to market to the 14-24 crowd then it is great, but for any other business marketing, social networks are terrbible.

I think you said the best advice in the first paragraph... have a plan. If you are going to engage your business or self with the social media web 2.0 thing, I can't do it willy nilly or it isn't going to be cohesive.

You had a lot of great comments and I think readers should try to focus on one or two ideas and see how they work for them.

I work for a professional networking company so I am heavily involved in the business aspect of web 2.0. Starting a Twitter account or signing up on professional networks is a pretty easy way to get started with the web 2.0 thing.

The biggest thing to do is just getting involved. Just jump in.