Ellen Pao Loses Suit; Wins Awareness for Gender Discrimination The news is everywhere; Ellen Pao lost her discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. At the same time, she’s being credited for disrupting how Silicon Valley does business. USAToday’s Ellen Weise joined the conversation to share her experience in the courtroom and her thoughts on the case. Twitter Partners with Foursquare Did you know that Foursquare is still alive and kicking? Did you also know that Foursquare is also…
Meerkat and the Ephemeral State of Livestreaming
By now you must have heard about Meerkat, the latest tech media darling that lets people tweet (stream) live experiences with friends and followers on Twitter. It’s basically an easy to use app that combines ephemeral livecasting/livestreaming on top of the Twitter platform but through a dedicated screen where participants can see video, who’s watching as well as the Tweets between them. I call it Meerkasting and yes, it’s already a verb. I realize that most of the words I…
Community is Much More Than Belonging to Something; It’s About Doing Something Together That Makes Belonging Matter
Viginia Coutinho is a dear friend who just released a new book (in Portuguese) that helps strategists think differently about social media. She is also the organizer of Upload Lisboa, a fantastic event in Portugal that focuses on innovation and disruptive technologies. Earlier in the year, she surprised me by asking if I would consider writing the foreword. Even though I don’t write much about social media these days, I couldn’t let her down. Now that her book is available,…
Foursquare Now 10 Million Strong: Has Your Business Checked-in?
Foursquare is an emerging mobile network that connects people and places through mobile phones. While it isn’t the only player in the space, Foursquare does appear to be the game to beat. The 800 pound gorilla is Facebook Places but other geo-location nicheworks are also growing including Loopt and Gowalla. Each equally bring together the real and virtual worlds, unlocking the world around consumers through checkins and supporting gaming mechanics and social effects integrated into the experience. Foursquare has blazed…
The Games Businesses Play with Customers
Part four in a four-part series on innovation and change as the new schools of business management… As a child, you most likely played two very popular playground games, dodge ball and four square. If you’re an adult who is also an early adopter of emerging mobile applications, chances are you play them once again. The difference is that this time a mobile phone takes the place of a ball and it’s usually not hurling toward you. Dennis Crowley knows…
The Dilemma’s Innovator: Innovation and Change as the New Pillars of Business
If necessity is the mother of invention, then perhaps imagination is the source of innovation. In December 2010, I was given the opportunity to write the cover story for Entrepreneur Magazine. The article, “Change: Lessons on What’s Next,” explored the innovation behind three (well four) companies — Foursquare, Square + Twitter, and Zappos. Throughout the years, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with Dennis Crowley, Jack Dorsey and Tony Hsieh. And over that time, I’ve observed inherent traits that…
Checking-in to the State of Foursquare
Last year at SXSW, Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley joined Frank Eliason (previously @comcastcares), Altimeter Group’s Jeremiah Owyang and me on stage to discuss the shifting landscape of social engagement. While I focused on the sociology of engagement and the impact it is having on culture and society, I also sought to balance the conversation by demonstrating the impact of digital actions and interaction between people and businesses. Whether intentional or not, Crowley and team unlocked the elusive gates that separated…
Video: Checking-in as a Form of Social Currency
In part six of a series of conversations that explore the state and future of social media, Chris Beck, founder of 26dottwo (@26dottwo), and I check-in with FourSquare and other geo-location networks. We review how these location-based networks open new channels and dynamics for online and offline connections. We also examine the nuances of “checking-in” as a form of social currency and implied endorsement. Essentially, there are cultural and economical aspects with tying your “personal brand” to the locales you…
Facebook Connects 500 Million People: Defines a New Era of Digital Society
On July 22nd 2010, Facebook officially announced that it had surpassed 500 million users around the world. This significant achievement represents a significant milestone for Zuckerberg and Co. as well as for social networking and more importantly for global societies overall. To celebrate this achievement, Facebook released Facebook Stories, a new service to spotlight user stories from around the world and the impact Facebook has had on their lives. In Mark Zuckerberg’s words, “We’re launching a new application called Facebook…
Foursquare Means Business: Have you checked-in yet?
Are you playing Foursquare? Are you “going out” with Gowalla? Are you looped in with Loopt? Location-based services are once again changing the face of social networking. Where relationships were once at the center of user experience, in the Golden Triangle of mobile, social, and real-time interaction, “places” take center stage and corresponding activities and rewards become the cast and crew of the production. What started as a way to literally see and be seen, has now transformed into a…
