Searching for Bitcoins

If you’re like me you understand the concept of Bitcoin as a virtual currency, but not the finer points, you do not pay for anything with Bitcoins, nor would you know where to GET Bitcoins (it’s called mining, by the way), let alone would you invest in them.  

 

According to the Wikipedia definition: Bitcoin as a concept and the network is spelled with a capital “B”, the actual currency “bitcoin”: no capital “B”.  I’ll try to keep them straight…

 

TechCrunch wrote about a guy on February 28th, who was stopped for further search by the TSA looking for Bitcoins in his carry-on, which is beyond hysterically funny.  And of course it’s not, especially if you, like me have been on the road so much you’ve slept less than half the time in your own bed for a year.

Social (yawn) Media – Social (what?) Business

The title sums it up: the term social media is a tad overused and social business is in theory happening but not really and who really gets it (other than Brian Solis)?

 

To start the conversation I want to highlight a few blog posts I’ve been reading by the “initiated”. They all just so happen to have been guest posts on Brian Solis’ blog as well as Brians’ two cents.

 

October of this year Chris Heuer wrote a guest blog on Brian Solis’ site with the title “Social Business is Dead! Long Live What’s Next”. In response Philip Sheldrake writes in November on the same blog: “Impatience is a Virtue: What’s Next for Social Business”.  And then Brian Solis sums it up in December with: “Social Business in not Dead: New charts and data reveal the real evolution of social businesses”. 

Internet 3.0

So where are we going? Quo vadis? That could be asked, no: that has to be asked of all aspect of our lives. (And yes, we’re back to one of my fave topics) This entry: quo vadis www? Where are we headed with the internet, and these days the internet seems to be near synonymous with social media. 

So: we moved from being consumers to being co-creators. That means media now engages with communities (niche audiences) and (should) no longer cater just to a generic audience. Companies that communicate to the outside no longer push information (or products for that matter) to a community, but need to be ready to pull information into their organizations and to LISTEN.  Organizations that are traditional hierarchical need to rethink being flat(er) in structure and allowing for a network of employees to listen and communicate with consumers.  Flexibility is key.  Leadership needs to move from control to empowerment.

Coincidentally that jives with my earlier entry (the Culture Code) on generation y – or generation “me” (aka Millennials): the need to be heard, to be empowered and to be co-creators.  So, at least www. 3.0 is squarely catering to generation y – surprised?  Ok; I agree it’s a chicken and egg situation. Did you know that by 2025, 75% of the work force is going to be generation y-ers (aka Millennials)?    

In summary, below a table put out by Vodafone Enterprise Plenum after their work trip 2013 in New York and Boston:

	www 2.0	www 3.0
Individuals	Consumers	Co-creators
Media	Audience	Community
Organizations	Hierarchy	Network
Markets	Products	Platform
Communication	Push	Pull
Leadership	Control	Empower