dispatches from the new world of work

Link Roundup #6

"Renovating an Industry": One interior designer's story of how she's making herself more accessible in the recession, using a blog, and soon to use Twitter and Facebook.

Frequent commenter Ian Sanders interviews Cool Friend Kevin Roberts.

In other Cool Friend news, David Weinberger's most recent book is Everything Is Miscellaneous, and he talks about it with Susan Bratton at PersonalLifeMedia.

Sounds like our kind of play! Scribblenauts: Your Vocabulary Controls the Game.

Teenagers don't use Twitter ... their parents do.

And a corollary observation: Mothers Use Facebook, Twitter, Blogs More than Average Adults. "According to the study, nine out of ten (93.6%) mothers regularly or occasionally seek the advice of others before buying a service or product. Additionally, no less than 97.2% said they give advice to others about those products or services they purchased."

Are economic conditions controlled by public perception?

"The Good Enough Revolution," where the low end is the space to conquer.

A macroblogging trend? Check out Woofer, it's the anti-Twitter that requires you to use 1,400 characters.

Kimberly-Clark is taking the aging boomer market very seriously. This Wall Street Journal piece describes how they're putting themselves in the shoes of their customers.

Want happiness? Be your own boss. [via Daniel Pink]

Cathy Mosca posted this on 09/17/09.

Comments

Thanks Tom, very neat summation of some interesting links.

Definitely beats following some great tweets all over the place

Appreciated!

Francisco Palacio
- Networked Blog's Facebooster Page
http://sn.im/nbfcbstr

Posted by Francisco Palacio at September 17, 2009 11:51 AM

Some great links here. The consumer perception buzz is fascinating. The Economist sometimes talks about the number of news reports containing the word recession as a good indicator of a coming recession. Who is leading who in that arena?

Getting advice before you buy a product or service is facinating. The growth of "un biased general public reviews" is an interesting social movement (more than the more visible twitter etc?)

Public reviews, I find, are very good for spotting a duff product. What I find disturbing is two things:

1) The rise of fake posts that are clearly from marketing people. You would think that they would write in normal language!

2) in what way shape or form is the public an expert? Does this matter?

I went shopping for a guitar for my son recently. I did my research. What I found online was the most unmittigated drivel from the public. I suspect this is partly because instrument buying is highly subjective and emotive. But it was more than that. There were clearly people who knew less than I did posting reviews as experts. The same model got rave review and "the worst guitar you could buy" one after the other. Comparisons were made with instruments that literally cost over 5 times the ammount (like comparing a ford focus with a Ferrari)

The only solid advice came from expert websites. What was interesting is they told you what to look for and how to buy (especialy for a child)not what model to get. Overwelmingly they said find a small, personal music shop and talk about what you want.

So at what point did the public become an expert? Does 300 posts average out into an expert review?

Is the age of expertise dead - drowned by all the noise.

Having just made this argument and not being a management expert I strongly recommend you don't read this post.

Posted by PaulH at September 18, 2009 1:21 AM

PaulH has a great point. "Is the age of expertise dead - drowned by all the noise." In my leadership seminars I emphasize that real leaders are the ones that can filter out the noise and center on the reality and action that must be taken. The methods of creating and obtaining information and the amount of information today overwhelms. Too many people only want all the latest information. Others only want information from "experts". Many are not sure what they want or need. The ability to put information into context and ultimately into action is truly a skill set that individuals and organizations must develop to succeed. What is really frustrating is that some of the best ideas come from unlikely sources. This ability to filter the noise of the world is not a step by step learned skill. It uncannily develops between the ears from lifes experiences. The one key that I have learned over many years is the most important and powerful information filter of all is the E-filter(Emotion filter). Facts and reason will always be trumped by emotion.

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Posted by Phil Clark at September 18, 2009 2:09 PM