Are Global Brands Too Important To Be Hyperlinked ?

Leon Benjamin posted the following thought to Twitter - and hence to Facebook.

"You know you're a global brand when people don't bother hyperlinking to you on blog posts coz' everyone knows where to find you. Thoughts?"

I started to write a response - and then ran out of space.

So here goes ...

I think we should flip it - as to WHO links and who doesn't ...

When a new social network is small, nascient, getting going - the early users are likely early adopters - been around the block a few times with other apps, know the expected behaviours, the etiquette etc - this includes hyperlinking - even for famous big names - the hyperlinks are there.

As the Social Networks grow, the noobies appear. And - as a 'nooby', the inevitable question - who (in the case of Twitter) do I follow ? who (in the case of Facebook) should be my friend ? - and so on.

Two things then happen

1) As time marches on the new people that join start to lose the core understandings, rules and etiquette of the original early adopters - forget - don't know - aren't as knowledgeable/ schooled in the finer points etc

2) The higher up the brand / success tree a brand / user is ... the more likely the 'uninitiated' will be following - so a higher proportion of no hyper linking will be occurring.

Thus my suggestion would be to flip the research.

I contend that the less aware a user is of the etiquette - the more likely they are not to hyperlink - and the more likely to follow big names.

@stephenfry and britney (i am sorry - I don't know her '@' off the top of my head - are sitting there on twitter with hundreds of thousands of followers - out of however many millions of twitterers there are.

I am betting that a lot of those followers are 'noobies' - just think of some of mr frys's frustrations posted to twitter ...

@PTPayne What!!!!??? Have you read nothing I've posted in the last 24 hours???
8:56 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck in reply to PTPayne

It's not instantaneous. You tweet ONCE ONLY, including the string #followmestephen After hours/days/weeks you'll see me added to your list
8:55 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck

Sigh. So many of you just don't get hashtags and aren't using them. It's so simple. I'm afriad I can't follow anyone who doesn't do it right
8:30 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck

.. and I can't find it now - but a cracker a few weeks ago when he blacked out his image - I paraphrase :
" really - it would only take you a scroll down the page to answer that question for yourself"

Bottom line - all of the above is fully laced with 100% opinion - and no absolute data - but to me it makes sense.

I'd welcome a debate.

10 Fortune 500 Companies That Started With Next to Nothing

In this world that seems to be collapsing around us - a little high spot ...

10 Fortune 500 Companies That Started With Next to Nothing

Further on from the original posting, we see a series of comments - my one would be are they all American companies because the writer is American - or are there no other similar success stories elsewhere in the world ?

My thanks to : Business Pundit.

Innovation - according to Guy

Just found this locked up in my blog softWare 'PENDING' .. thought I should actually post it! Bottom line - Mr. Kawasaki talking about innovation.

In his words:

"Don't be afraid to polarize people." For radio, he said, an attempt to please everyone will only "create mediocrity."

The full monty ...

SAN JOSE -- February 9, 2009: Guy Kawasaki -- an original Mac "evangelist" in the '80s and now Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures -- opened Radio Ink's Convergence '09 with a keynote that focused on innovation: what it is and how to get it. He said, "True innovation occurs not when it's motivated by the desire to make money, but the desire to make meaning -- that is, to make the world a better place."
Kawasaki said most of the entrepreneurs who come to him and say their primary motivation is to make money end up with failing companies because they attract employees with the wrong motivation. He asked attendees, "How do you take the radio business and make people's lives better? That is the true foundation of innovation."

Kawasaki noted that most businesses define themselves by what they make today rather than sufficiently broadly, and urged attendees to jump past radio's current "curve of local transmitters broadcasting 30s and 60s for local advertisers.:
He recommended that companies seek a two- or three-word "mantra" instead of a mission statement and said innovators should be guided by the idea of "Don't worry, be crappy" -- that is, understand that a valuable innovation will be so much better than what came before that it won't matter if it's not perfect out of the box. But then, he said, the innovator must be willing to open his or her mind to ideas for improvements -- which can be the most difficult step.
Kawasaki also said to radio specifically, "Don't be afraid to polarize people." For radio, he said, an attempt to please everyone will only "create mediocrity."

... with thanks to : Radio Ink Magazine, for the source.

Human Capital Management

This extracted from a recent Economist article ....

During the relatively modest downturn at the start of this decade, many professional-services firms cut too deeply, especially in their lower ranks, and found they were poorly positioned when strong growth resumed sooner than expected, says Heidi Gardner of Harvard Business School. Firms built on pyramid structures in which senior managers mentored larger numbers of employees below them suddenly found that, in a growing economy, they lacked the mentors needed to manage the army of new recruits. Instead, they had to re-hire ex-staffers at higher salaries and, in some cases, abandon proven policies of hiring senior managers only from within, says Ms Gardner, who worked for McKinsey at the time.

This crisis is revealing how few firms have really thought through their talent strategies, says Mark Spelman of Accenture. Claims that 'our workers are our most valuable assets' are too often platitudes, the emptiness of which is now being revealed. But those firms that have thought seriously about their talent needs have the opportunity to get ahead of those that haven't, says Mr Spelman, not just by shedding poor performers but also hiring scarce talent from outside, in what is now a buyer's market. Other tips from Mr Spelman include avoiding voluntary redundancy programmes, which encourage the most employable people to quit, and not firing the newest recruits on a crude first in, first out basis, as this cuts off the supply of future talent. Instead, firms should identify which workers they need to keep, and do what they must to retain them.

Haven't found the article in full other than here ....



The solution : Expert Alumni

Welcome to 2009

... and a Happy New Year to You ... just click on the link to access the new year microsite.

Why Does It Sound Like AA ?

Six Steps to Hire Better Temps

... it strikes me that they should be calling Expert Alumni

Ki Work

Ki Work - powering the online work revolution ... or so they say ... and contained within - a short presentation describing the premise. 

My Take ? 

I am wondering if the 'Virtual Organisation' has arrived ?