Andrew Lark

Cool Site | BookTour

Been playing with BookTour - a site that enables you to connect with your favorite authors and keep track of them. Smart idea for us book obsessed.

Why Code-of-Conducts Don't Have a Role to Play

It's simple really, because it is a conversation and conversations by there very nature should be free ranging expressions of interest.

While I do believe that anonymity breeds irresponsibility, leave that up to the Blogger to decide. Some blogs might benefit from anonymous posts.

I have a real problem with any formal codes of conduct. And screw civility. I expect people to be very uncivil regarding some of my views. Some very useful conversations can be very uncivil.

But I do draw the line, no hate-speech, nothing nutty or abusive. And, I get to make the call in the context of the conversation.

Code of Conducts exist outside the context of the conversation. The conversation that takes place here, might be very different to that to takes place elsewhere. Why subject them to a common standard?

I also find it particularly concerning that we would somehow, someway subscribe to a group policing mentally in which a few could potentially get together "When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.". This is deeply troubling. Who, for instance, gets to define the "believe" part of that? Sometimes it might be self-evident - such as the attacks on Kathy Sierra. I suspect most won't be. And the attacks on Kathy aren't a job for a bunch of self-appointed "blog vigilantes" - they are a job for the Police.

Blogs ultimately should be about transparency. We should revel in what they expose, not seek to limit or hide it. And lets leave the policing to the real police.

:: Backreading ~ ComputerWorld; Scoble; Techmeme; Jeff Jarvis

Soundbites & Links

• Are blogs headed for a slowdown? "Research by Gartner, according to the magazine, found that the number of blogs will top out at about 100 million this summer. But it also noted that some 200 million blogs are no longer being updated--many of them abandoned by their authors." What a terrible measure of the health of blogging. Lets look at the growth of posts, comments, video content. This is the equivalent of measuring the health of the Internet on the basis of URL registrations. Garbage.
• I've got some Joost beta invites if you'd like one. Still can't get it to work on Vista though.
• Interesting: Scribd. Scribd is a free online library where anyone can upload. Use our embeddable PDF player to publish and view documents right in your web browser.
• Like this from Nick:

"I like to think of the blogosphere as a vast, earth-engirdling digestive track, breaking down the news of the day into ever finer particles of meaning (and ever more concentrated toxins). Another word for "parasitic," in this context, is "critical." Blogging is at its essence a critical form, a means of recycling other writings to ensure that every nutritional molecule, whether real or imagined, is fully consumed. To be called a literary parasite is no insult. It's a compliment."

• Rod Launches Xero (beta) and scores a Kiwi sports star. Brilliant move.

Getting Back On Deck... Thoughts On Corporate Blogging

Haven't been blogging much later - just very busy and on the road in Europe for a week with customers and partners.

Interesting pointer from Stowe to an interview by Paul Dunay with Jack Welch about corporate blogging. Jack's advice? Be authentic.

[from Buzz Marketing for Technology: EXCLUSIVE: Jack Welch Discussing Web 2.0 by Paul Dunay]

Buzz Marketing: So what is your advice for companies adopting new Web 2.0 technologies like RSS, social networking, podcasting and videocasting?

Jack: Just be authentic. Be clear in your vision, and have one message and one view that are authentic. I worked somewhere once where they had different messages for employees, analysts and the press. There should be only one message for everyone, and fight like hell to get that message across everywhere you go.

I was asked some similar questions on corporate blogging (which I've always thought was a bit of an oxymoron).

1. Is "ghost-blogging" a no-no: At the heart of any blog is authenticity and the writer's voice. Ghost-writing runs against the very point of a blog which is to engage in a conversation with the community that surrounds you and your company. You can't ghost a conversation...
2. Is there a place for anonymous corporate blog posts (like the Economist?): No. It's hard to have a conversation with an anonymous person. The intent of a blog is not to publish but to converse. I do see room though for participatory blogs where a diverse range of bloggers blog to a single site. I think this is practical for most companies and more interesting for the readers. The Economist is an anomaly in the publishing world.
3. PR person says blogging is “reputation management”. Right or wrong? That PR Person doesn’t understand blogging or the blogosphere – they are contextualizing it through their own lens. And, they are taking a relatively hackneyed descriptor – reputation management – and applying it to a world in which it has little relevance. Various marketing niche’s have tried it with their thesis – brand managers are doing the same with “brand management”. You only have a reputation in the sense that others assign it to you. You earn it. Of course, it could be argued that everything a company does from a communications standpoint is “reputation management” – and that is the problem with the notion. You would hope that blogging would improve and not destroy your reputation right? But does that mean blogging is in fact reputation management in disguise – not at all.
4. How about internal editing of blog posts? This is common. I encourage executives to keep others involved in their posts. They have legal and HR risks associated with every conversation so why not mediate some of that risk. What they do need to do though is time-bound others involvement and be clear on the kind of feedback they are looking for. Blog posts are like bananas – they bruise easily and are best served ripe. They need to let folks know they have but a couple of hours to respond – or a day. This shouldn’t be a highly iterative process that people take a week or so to get done. Too many companies treat the blog post like a press release – at least initially.
5. Other tips: First, participatory media and platforms – from blogs to wikis and podcasts – represent one of the most significant opportunities available to companies to transform their relationship with customers. They represent one of the most significant transformational opportunities since the Internet. Don’t constrain your engagement. Drive it into every corner of your business. Many of the companies I’ve worked with have seen as much value internally as they have externally.

Second. Just do it. Get going internally and let it evolve. If you get it, get going. Don’t spend hours on consulting fees or hanging with PR people, web teams and lawyers. The technology is available as a utility. A blog can be created in minutes.

Third. The rewards significantly outweigh the risks. But the biggest rewards come not from writing blog posts but rather the comments and resulting dialogue. You shouldn’t look at this as a publishing mechanism but rather a “conversation machine”.

Other tips:

• There are no corporate bloggers – there are just bloggers. Be real. Be authentic.
• Blogging is a conversation. You need to move from transmitting to participating.
• You don’t need a blog to be blogging. Start contributing to others blogs with comments and thoughts.
• Never, never, never spin, lie or pour smoke into the blogosphere. Straight-talk will win you kudos.
• Give it time. Don’t expect raving fans at day one. In fact, expect the opposite for a bit. The blogosphere is very critical and self-correcting. Take feedback and tune accordingly.
• Have fun. This is a relatively informal medium. Revel in it.

Thoughts... Comments...

The Amateur Gourmet: Chutzpah, Truffles & Alain Ducasse

This really is a terrific post.

Do Start-Ups Need A Business Plan?

Yes! The WSJ also has some other thoughts -subscription required. I look at lots of business plans in my other life as a VC. My main message keep them simple and focus on illuminating the idea. Only include data you really understand. Some highlights:

• Matt Coffin, founder and chief executive of LowerMyBills.com, a Web site sold to Experian Corp. in 2005 for $330 million, says he used a 10-page PowerPoint presentation that he spent four to six months gathering research for instead of a formal business plan when pitching his idea to investors in 1999. He succeeded in raising $4 million in venture capital by convincing them that the market for people needing a one-stop place on the Internet to refinance was ballooning.
• Tim Petersen, managing director of Arboretum Ventures, a health-care venture-capital firm in Ann Arbor, Mich. says he generally prefers getting five-to 10-page summaries of business ideas or PowerPoint presentations over lengthy business plans.
• Benson Honig, a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, says his research of 396 nascent entrepreneurs in Sweden from the late 1990s also found no correlation between business planning and profitability. Instead, his study found the biggest predictor of success to be knowing customers in advance. Mr. Honig says he teaches "contingency planning" to his students -- or thinking about a business as constantly progressing, changing and making decisions based on the market climate -- instead of traditional business planning.

The WSJ also includes links to some relevant research:

Plans and Performance

Study: "Pre-startup formal business plans and post-startup performance: A study of 116 new ventures" by Julian E. Lange, Aleksandar Mollov, Michael Pearlmutter, Sunil Singh, and William D. Bygrave (all Babson), June 2005.

Summary: The study compares the success of 116 ventures started by Babson College alumni between 1985 and 2003, using performance measures such as revenues, employee numbers and net income. Researchers found no statistical difference in performance between those businesses launched with formal business plans -- roughly half of the 116 -- and those started without them, and concludes that "there is no compelling reason to write a detailed business plan before opening a new business" unless the entrepreneurs needs to raise substantial amounts of start-up capital. Instead, the researchers say start-up entrepreneurs should generally just make some financial projections, especially cash flow, and open the business.

You'll need a plan to get funded but it's like the old saying about memos "I didn't have time to write a short memo, so here is a long one". Make the time.

Prediction Markets at confab.yahoo

Good read over at Read/Write web and the Software Abstractions Blog. Quick summary.

1. Prediction Markets are a great mechanism to extract knowledge already present within the organization and to make better predictions
2. These markets highlight both the collective wisdom which no one person knows individually, and common knowledge which no one is willing to talk about openly
3. They work properly only when they have an adequate number of knowledgeable participants who work individually
4. Participants must have reasonable incentives (financial or social) to make their efforts worthwhile
5. If the group is large enough, the ratio of experts vs amateurs does not have much impact; often, the real experts are unexpected
6. The results of a Prediction Market are probabilities; they must be confirmed through other, external, means

Loved the idea of tracking team progress against a goal using collective wisdom and predictive markets theory. This should be a feature in all project management software.

No More Ninja Press Conferences

Journalists have never been ones for press conferences - that's why this whole "lets hold a press conference in Second Life" thing has been kind of baffling to observe. First, it's really hard to serve good food and alchohol in Second Life (the only real attraction of a press conference). Second, most journos can't abide PR people, let alone virtual versions of them. Third, what journalists really want is a combo of utility and speed - "give me the news now - in a really simple way (phone or paper will do) and let me get on with my day". Bottom line is that if the news is strong enough, it will move itself. No gimmicks needed.

Larry Dignan writes at ZDNet, "It's all a bit much. Yes, we all know Second Life is interesting. It must be since every PR/ad agency/news-outlet-that-wants-to-look-hip/wannabe-kewl-corporation is setting up shop in Second Life. Second Life has gone from zero to cliche in record time as people sit around admiring their avatars. The dirty little secret: It's a productivity drain." He goes on to lash out at Sun:

Memo to Sun: Stop trying to be so damn trendy. Taking Java open source is a big development, but then you muck it up with having a developer Q&A in Second Life. No parallel Webcast. No conference call dial-in. No alternate means to drop in. Ask yourself the following: Would any of your peers (grown-up IT companies) have held an earnings call only in Second Life? How about a merger? New development platform? Didn't think so.

Ross has the best response:

To further advance the state of the art, the next Socialtext press conference will be held in World of Warcraft.

• Time: December 1st, 5pm server time
• Location: Goldshire, Elwynn Forrest, Eitrigg Server
• Rules of Order:
• No ninjas.
• Questions will only be taken from journalists in PvP mode   
• We have developed means of determining if you are a Chinese Gold Farmer, so do not outsource your participation
• Safe passage will be provided to Horde characters, but your questions may be lost in translation
• Keep your armor on, do not /dance unless you are an orc, use of other emotes are encouraged
• If the spokesperson is not forthcoming, you may duel for information
• Those that survive the experience will gain 1 gold piece and a Socialtext tabard

Classic.

Dell participating in Second Life is one thing - pretty smart actually. But companies continuing to use Second life as a vehicle for self promotion and press conferences is something I'm not so sure about. At least Dell had a reason to be there.

Reuters To Distribute Blogs....

According to CNet...

Reuters Group has taken a stake in Web media-syndication site Pluck and has agreed to distribute blogs worldwide as part of a new media strategy.

Reuters, a news and information company, has invested $7 million in the Austin, Texas-based company in return for an undisclosed ownership stake, Pluck co-founder and Chief Executive Dave Panos said.

Pluck operates a blog syndication network called BlogBurst, which connects newspapers and other media sites to 2,800 selected blogs, helping traditional media supplement their journalism with blogs.

One of the interesting issues this might pose - at least over time - is what if I don't want my blog distributed or syndicated? What if it is being written for a relatively narrow audience of colleagues, clients, friends or family? While the simple answer might be joining one of the online blog communities and password protecting the site I might not want to bother with either the supplier or the administration. Rather, some might prefer to revel in absolute obscurity. How will they seek permission to repurpose and republish?

When Your Name Becomes A Verb and Universally Used...

Avoid doing a really, really stupid thing and discouraging people from using it as such. Not that you'll be able to anyway. So really, don't be stupid. We Kiwi's call it "pissing into the wind" - something every Kiwi lad learns at a young age to be futile. Today, Google starts "pissing into the wind", asking all of us to watch how we use their name.

So, to spite you I'm going back to Yahooing everything. Actually, Yahoo could probably make hay while the sun shined on this one... Ben says it pretty well over at his blog... Here are Google's pearls of wisdom...

"A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device that identifies a particular company's products or services. Google is a trademark identifying Google Inc. and our search technology and services. While we're pleased that so many people think of us when they think of searching the web, let's face it, we do have a brand to protect, so we'd like to make clear that you should please only use "Google" when you're actually referring to Google Inc. and our services.

Here are some hopefully helpful examples.

Usage: 'Google' as noun referring to, well, us.
Example: 'I just love Google, they're soooo cute and cuddly and adorable and awesome!'
Our lawyers say: Good. Very, very good. There's no question here that you're referring to Google Inc. as a company. Use it widely, and hey, tell a friend.

Usage: 'Google' as verb referring to searching for information on, um, Google.
Example: 'I googled him on the well-known website Google.com and he seems pretty interesting.'
Our lawyers say: Well, we're happy at least that it's clear you mean searching on Google.com. As our friends at Merriam-Webster note, to 'Google' means 'to use the Google search engine to find information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.'

Usage: 'Google' as verb referring to searching for information via any conduit other than Google.
Example: 'I googled him on Yahoo and he seems pretty interesting.'
Our lawyers say: Bad. Very, very bad. You can only 'Google' on the Google search engine. If you absolutely must use one of our competitors, please feel free to 'search' on Yahoo or any other search engine."