Team Brainstorming....Tangible or Virtual?

Virtual means of communication has been making itself known through all the evolution of social networking. From the Virtual network sites where “some individuals” feel more comfortable expressing themselves, to the Virtual team where diversity plays a role to enable better and efficient working relationship. When I read the article The Strange Beauty of Virtual Teams by Jessica Lipnacks and Jeffrey Stamps, I found out about the research done to determine the more effective way of team brainstorming. According to this article,

Instead of regarding the lack of face-to-face as an impediment, our teams found it advantageous. Many projects came in under-budget, ahead of schedule, and with breakthrough results. The outcome of one such project, conducted at what was then Boeing-Rocketdyne, was so successful that our HBR co-authors, along with the project’s managers, published it as a case study under the title, “Radical Innovation without Collocation.”

The advice given from the 6 ways to build trust with your virtual team by John Butler pretty much covers the important fears or issues lots of people would want addressed. These were availability, Competence, Consistency, Fairness, Openness and Promise of fulfillment. These factors have to be present for trust to grow. Still I ask, is it enough? From what I observed from my sojourn into second life, you can be anybody that you want to be in there. How would you know that a certain person is giving a fair contribution? Is this person who they portray? Give me your honest opinion….

Citizen Journalism!!!

Citizen Journalism! Citizen Journalism!! Citizen Journalism!!! In a way, this is what I have been doing these past seven weeks of blogging. A definition of citizen journalism would be journalism by non journalists (people like me).I don’t think I can imagine myself writing a story for a magazine because sharing my thoughts on my blog is scary enough. Watching the clip from YouTube about Citizen Journalism has helped me understand this particular concept. John Tobbin, Boston City Councilor has reached his audience through his video blogs which I think is a very creative idea. More and more, there is an audience building up to get information from blogs, online news and online advertising. The days of the printing press according to the video clip are numbered.


Robert Scoble made the same point in his article Scobleizer: What Newspapers can learn form the Tech industry about him being someone that gets his news and information online. According to him

“I say that not as someone who's willfully ignorant but as a news junkie who subscribes to more than 600 feeds in Google Reader, including those from The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, and USA Today. What's killing the newspaper business -- with thousands of jobs lost and even the Washington Post Co.'s reporting its first loss in 37 years -- is its inability to reach people like me.”

He is trying to give an advice to the newspaper business to take a leaf from the technology world and I think he is right. Social networking has been all about connection. And the ultimate connection would be able to reach different people on different platforms. From the old fashioned (newspapers) to the More technology oriented crowd.


However, while reading Eric Schonfeld’s article Citizen “Journalist” Hits Apple with False (Steve Jobs) Heart attack Rumor, I was able to look at the other downside of Citizen Journalism. Someone decided to post a story in CNN’s iReport about Steve Jobs having a heart attack which caused the stocks of Apple to drop by 10%. Questions would asked about how to solve this problem. I would agree with Eric. He says that

“Let’s not let one bad apple ruin the whole experiment, though. Obviously, there are a lot of smart people out there who can contribute to general news gathering. There needs to be a better truth filter on iReport and other sites that allow the anonymous reporting of news. A better reputation system for contributors would help. They should be encouraged to use their real names. And maybe a bigger disclaimer needs to be placed up top saying: “Read At Your Own Risk.”

That would be the best way. Don't you think?

When do you know which DOTs to connect?

From the beginning of this semester, it has been one talk or the other about social networking. This includes the various ways that social networking has been helping organizations and people in general to connect. This weekend, I met some classmates from high school. We had lost contact for about 8-10 years and we only got to hook up through Facebook. Reading Business Networking Advice by Josh Hinds has made me better understand the question he asked Ryan Mapes, one of the people behind GoBigNetwork about mistakes made in business networking. According to Ryan,

the biggest mistake I see is a lack of follow-up after meeting someone. If you meet an important contact and exchange business cards, be sure to send a quick email when you get back to the office. This can help solidify the relationship and open up the doors for further correspondence down the road”

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This to me doesn’t apply just to the business world. It is an important part of the social network concept to bring people together to share ideas, thoughts and interests.
Social Networking has opened a lot of doors for people. There have been a lot of successes recounted by people. An instance would be the article Six Degrees of Cooperation by Yasmine Ghahremani where Andra Marx a senior account at Intralinks strikes a deal thereby making millions of dollars for the company. According to her

“the deal involved some fortuitous timing, but it certainly wouldn't have transpired if I hadn't been able to connect the dots”

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My question then is, how do you know which dot to connect? As in whom out of your social network group should you keep as a serious contact or not? Writing this post has made me remember my experience on Facebook which I posted on my first blog post when talking about stalkers and privacy. Can a person like the one mentioned be a dot for me?

Recruiting With Facebook? Hell No!!!

Wow!!! That’s the word that came to mind when I read the article Plea to ban Employers Trawling Facebook in the Times Newspaper. I wouldn’t know why a person looking for a credible referee for one of its potential employees would go to a site like facebook to search for it. I’m thinking, suppose if it was possible to get information from the virtual world concerning someone who you have known for a while. Do you think you could relate this person to whom you know in real life? I don’t think so. I would think that most of the people who visit sites like second life want a certain level of anonymity which they don’t have on SNS like Facebook. Maybe their regular everyday life has been one of pretense. Letting go where no one knows who you are could be their idea of living in another life.


Facebook has had lots of issues just like other SNS sites like MySpace, hi5, Cyber world and so on. Go on Facebook now and find out how many young children have joined because it’s the thing to do. Most of them don’t get to read the agreement before clicking the “I accept” link. I am perplexed that someone would use the information on these sites as a credible source for employing people. I totally agree with Margaret Moran, the Labor MP for Luton South. In the article, she says,

“Social networking sites were never intended as a factual reference point for young people.The technology allows unverified content to go up very easily. It is simple to load up spoof profiles and meddle with images. Companies have no way to verify what is up there.”

Furthermore, during the wonderful carefree days of our youth, we tend to be adventurous and less “responsible”. That’s why when we are mature; there is a distinction between the two times. Why then should someone pay twice or more for the same youthful exuberance? To reiterate what I have been saying, Deborah Fernon, the resourcing adviser at Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) has advised companies saying “

But we would warn companies that in the quest to find the right person for a job, social networking sites could be at best irrelevant and at worst misleading. Also, good practice requires that every candidate is treated equally, which means all candidates would have to have similar profiles before information is used, otherwise it would be discriminatory

”. This to me says it all.

The Awful Truth About Facebook

Nigeria's Independence Day

Nigeria, the giant of Africa is 48 today. Here is a link about my country. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to Nigerians, home and abroad.

Develop Some Yelpitude

Social networking keeps getting better and better. Now, it’s conversational. I would really like to have an experience where someone gets to listen to what I have to say and give a response to my complaints/questions. Two weeks ago, we talked about companies like Nike introducing online customer interaction. This is even more productive because there is a sense of reality when talking to someone about problems being experienced while using their products. This would most of the time give immediate gratification if a solution can be found. Reading the article Conversational Marketing Asks, Can we talk? has opened up a whole new world for me.

Businesses have found ways to progress and to make their businesses more accessible by their customer. The most important thing apart from profit that a company is concerned with is the customer’s satisfaction. Companies like Ford, Motorola and the likes have shown great marketing skills because it is one thing to introduce an idea and another to actually act on it and use it effectively. In exchange, customers are loyal to such companies that have taken their time to listen to their problems and try acting on it.

After reading Digital Domain, I agree with the author that relying on professional critics would not be a reliable form of feedback. So why use it? It is now possible for a company/customer to get direct response to a survey or review. That is what Yelp is all about and since this topic has come about, I’m glad that a Yelp employee would be coming around to give my class a talk. After reading this article I decided that I wanted to develop some “Yelpitude”. Somehow, I think that conversational marketing is the way forward. Not only is it interactive, but it is effective.

UGC and ME

Who could think of the world without the internet and web 2.0? I guess there has been a steady incline of this miraculous discovery. Before the advent of the UGC, people were more stilted in the expression of their opinions. Now, different sites have been a source of encouragement for social networking and getting feedback.


I remember the struggling musicians of those days who have to gain approval from recording studios in order for their work to be heard. UGC sites like YouTube have made it possible for their talents to be discovered. More and more examples are out there around us. One of such would be my blog. Here I am sharing ideas and communicating with people I might never meet but who have a connection with me through my thoughts and ideas. Although people like Andrew Keen and Doris Lessing have serious criticisms against the internet, I think that the internet and UGC saves a lot of time and energy without losing much of anything(at least I think so)


I read Molly’s blog and I agree with her that some people have nothing better to do than to misuse the opportunity of UGC. Just because people like this exist does not mean that there has not been some noticeable improvement in people’s scope of knowledge. I noticed that before I started blogging, there was always the black and white for me but reading other people’s blogs have shown me some shades of gray in between. This to me, is what social networking is all about. Connection!