Genius+Power+Magic

Hierarchy of Reputation

A bad reputation does not provide the same opportunities as a good one. Being known expands market visibility, power, performance and more. 

But how do you move from where you are to a higher level?

First, you must start with where you are in the Hierarchy of Reputation.  I have created a chart where the top represents the highest level.

 

Idolized - fabled

Admired – reputed, know, studied, copied

Established – publically reputed and known, help others move up the hierarchy

Known – reliable, counted on and authentic

Reputed – established patterns of reliability that begin superior trust and dependence

Characterized – observed for behavior and categorized in comparison to others

Stereotyped – unknown and lumped into a category of ‘those kind of people’

Start by considering that you are likely seen by others as a stereotype or character.

Your reach and impact is not a function of the numbers of friends or followers, but by the reputation you hold in their mind.

You move up the hierarchy only by establishing reliability for producing the same accomplishment again and again and again.

You move up the hierarchy when others can easily say what you do and who you are.

You move up the hierarchy when your body of accomplishments qualifies your reputation.  You can not short cut this. It takes time and attention to the fact that you are always building some kind of reputation for yourself.

The biggest weakness I find in those seeing to move up the ladder is that they have little concern for their reputation (which has you focus on the mind of others) and most of their attention on what they want (which has you focus on your self).

Shift your focus.

John Patterson

© 2009 Influence Ecology

The biggest social experiment of our time

Geoffrey Canada is the president of a nonprofit charitable organization based in Harlem called the Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families, and he has set out trying to improve the world, one poor child at a time.

"Harlem is one of the biggest social experiments of our time...none are as comprehensive as the Harlem Children's Zone, and none of them hold as much promise.'' ¹

The question: how to end poverty?

The answer to this question has been found, not in all the traditional answers thrown at it, but in the understanding of brain development.

"There are missing skills...how is it that these skills get formed?"  To reach almost every child living in every block - to make sure they all graduate high school and finish college, he has created an entire ecology of preparation.

"This structure challenges many assumptions about what is and isn't possible...that there is a solution to poverty." On brain development Canada summarizes "Singing, talking and reading...The more you introduce language to them, the more they grab it!" ²

Tough reports that a 1980s Kansas City pair of psychologists studied homes of those on welfare and those with professional jobs.  The the biggest difference found in the different homes was language. It turns out that the children in professional homes were introduced to 20 million more words in the first three years of their lives than the kids on welfare...and that this has huge effect on their verbal ability. It was stunning news that the most profound effect in determining later success wasn't money, it wasn't parental education or race - it was the sheer number of words your parents spoke to you as a child.

The Answer: "It was the sheer number of words hear by children in the first three years of life has a profound impact on their future", says Tough

As linguistic beings, who facilitate our survival by inventing language, this is not surprising. A WORD is itself an entire WORLD...a world that you can think or you can not. It is not understanding, but language that gives rise to new meanings, new viewpoints, new futures.

Many studies on talk, social theory and talk ecologies point to the same thing: we are the language we speak

The following phrases have all become part of our human vocabulary. You don't need a reference for them because they have found their way into your speaking. The ecology of language has found you.

One small step for man...
Where's the beef?
D'oh!
LOL

This linguistic virus has the power to infect you with worlds you have not yet dreamed.

As for the kids involved with Geoffrey Canada, Harlem is banking on it.

John Patterson

¹The Harlem Project by Paul Tough, New York Times 2004

²This American Life, 'Going Big' by Ira Glass and Paul Tough

© 2009 Influence Ecology
We assert that a fundamental instinct you embody as an adult is to live a healthy, happy and prosperous life and that you are a biological, linguistic, transactional being. Therefore the degree to which you are able to recognize and be responsible for the FACT that you are a biological, linguistic, transactional being determines the measure of your health, happiness and prosperity. We teach you how to exploit that FACT.

Looking to invent the next 'big thing', look no further

That social media is thriving is simple; it enhances the natural design of our human ecology. We are transactional. We transact for money, yes, but we also transact for attention, love, membership, fulfillment, organization and much more.

Human Ecology: a branch of biology that deals with the relations of human beings to one another and their physical surroundings.

For anyone looking to invent the next 'big thing', look no further that this:  Anything that innovates the speed, simplification or expansion of a humans intent to be healthy, happy and prosperous will be highly valued by a large number of people. 

As an example:

"Seth Godin, author of ten international bestsellers that have been translated into over 30 languages, and have changed the way people think about marketing and work. His 'Unleashing the Ideavirus' is the most popular ebook ever published, and Purple Cow is the bestselling marketing book of the decade"

What is most beautiful about Seths work is that he holds a mirror up to humanity and trains us to think about ourselves and the marketplace from the point of view of our authentic natural human social behavior.

The Key: the next big thing won't get invented by trying to simply solve a marketplace pain, it will get invented by innovating our capacity to transact within it.

John Patterson

Too many connections?

I have 6 email accounts that feed into gmail, I use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Veoh, Slideshare and Ning for all my social networking needs.  I manage my updates via Tweetdeck while using Twitterfon and Tweetie to manage two different accounts via my iPhone.  My blog is thru Typepad - which feeds both Twitter feeds, which feeds my Facebook status updates.

How come I feel so disconnected? 

Don't get me wrong, as someone whose primary occupation is about networking, marketing and public relations, it is paramount that I am deeply and powerfully connected to a large number of people.  The only problem is that I thrive in this career because of my love of people, my joy in connecting and building relationships - and I find myself sometimes 'down the rabbit hole' (my term for having my head in my computer) vs having real live conversations with people.

The Convergence is intended to foster these kinds of real time connections. When we first began, it was about bringing a large number of diverse people into one room.

At the very first event on April 23rd, we have 100 people attending and took the time to have every person introduce themselves.  By the end of the introductions, the convergence opportunity was palpable and real.  How did we create so many opportunities for such a diverse group of people?

We video taped the event and interviewed a large number of people (video) whose comments were commonly some version of "it is wonderful to see such a diverse group of people - and I was wondering how I was going to connect across industries".  Many found their home that night and are still with us.

That intention still lives with us and we are excited to continue to foster diverse mash ups of people gathering to support Chicago in being known as the center of digital excellence.

Google Wave Obliterates Everything

Google Wave Developer Preview presentation at the Day 2 Keynote of Google I/O. To learn more visit http://wave.google.com

Pervasive, Pointed, Personal

Blog from Colin Canright on Chicago Convergence.

“Where is Twitter a year from now?” asked Google’s Ted Souder, who moderated TiE Midwest’s panel on “Trends in Social Media,” hosted by Google and sponsored by the law firm McCracken & Frank. No surprise that Twitter dominated the conversation, just as its current growth rate overshadows social media coverage.

Twitter is pervasive, the panelists agreed. “Twitter will be the norm,” said Daniel Honigman, lead social media strategist for Tribune Interactive. “Twitter has changed the way communications happens on the web.”

Real-time search and pointed communications make for a powerful marketing medium, especially given the short, quick nature of social media communications. As the conversation turned to content length, most of the audience agreed that even a four-to-five paragraph email is too long.

“Twitter makes you get to the heart of the matter quickly," said panelist Eric Olson, co-founder of Tech Cocktail. It highlights the critical tidbits of information in long-form articles.

The personal touch may well show up as success in the metrics. “Retweets per thousand followers is the new metric,” Daniel said. The New York Times has 0.4 RTM while Colonel Tribune has as many as 14 RTM, he said. The difference is that the Times is an RSS feed while the Tribune’s is personally selected and, presumably, edited for Twitter.

To me, the primary attraction and point of social media is its personal nature. When quantitative metrics are combined with a scheme of custom, qualitative characteristics, the business value of social media may be more easily demonstrated.

Consider the following characteristics that could measure the strength of the relationship to a social media audience:
* Relevance of traffic
* Responsiveness of audience
* Reputation of followers

Selecting quantifiable qualities for those characteristics may lie in a traditional exercise of audience analysis and building: knowing who you are talking to and who you want to talk to. “Retweets tell you whether you have a community that likes (your) content,” noted panelist Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of CrowdSpring.

The ultimate payoff for social media lies in the relationship with a community. Like all healthy relationships, building and maintaining a community requires commitment. As Ross said, “it has to be a long, sustained effort.”

Cold Fusion

One of the many talks at The Imagination College
Chicago Motion Design Conference

Two days of talks, Convergence style* - at the Motion Graphics Festival
Friday, January 23rd at Columbia College

*18 Minutes of high-octane 411

Presentation by Ben Forta, Adobe Systems

Motion Design Conference

MGFest speaker announced: Ben Forta, Adobe Systems

Once technical evangelist for Allaire Systems inventors of Cold Fusion, then Macromedia, and now Adobe Systems, Ben has authored scores of books that lead the industry in Cold Fusion & Flex development.  A Michigan resident, Ben travels internationally expounding upon the power and flexibility of Adobe's newest server technologies.

http://www.forta.com/

Social Media Predictions 2009

This is from http://www.beingpeterkim.com/

Community and collaboration are wonderful things.

Fourteen great minds on social media have shared thoughts on what 2009 may have in store for us.  Here's some of what they're thinking:

• "Although it is now cheaper to launch an initiative leveraging Web 2.0 technology - it requires qualified and passionate people to make them successful." - David Armano
• "You may not always start the year as a leader, but you can certainly finish it that way." - Rohit Bhargava  
• "Intimacy touches emotion; emotion powers conversation." - Pete Blackshaw
• "Doors are going to close all over the social web. Why? Because the money didn't come the way people thought it would." - Chris Brogan 
• "The tipping point has not only *not* been reached, but could still tilt *away* from Social Media." - Todd Defren
• "There's a lot of fixing that needs to be done." - Jason Falls 
• "Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the ball." - Ann Handley 
• "We're going to develop a set of better metrics to help guide, direct and validate 'commitment'." - Joseph Jaffe 
• "The movement is rooted in a desire to have quality, not quantity, as people cocoon in the face of the economic crisis." - Charlene Li 
• "After a pre-qualifying wrestling match..." - Ben McConnell
• "These will be cumulative events and interactions that will build brand loyalty for the companies that pay attention to them." - Scott Monty  
• "The recession will force revenue results out of social technologies." - Jeremiah Owyang
• "Companies that focus on earning love will thrive during hard times, and kick ass when good times return." - Andy Sernovitz
• "Suddenly, being Facebook friends with your mom will seem less ridiculous than following 4,000 strangers on Twitter." - Greg Verdino  

Everyone's thoughts have been assembled in this PDF. You can also read the document in-line below.
Social Media 2009

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Management Business social media 2009

Nearly impossible to plan social media for the future

Wailin Wong | DIGITAL LIFE December 11, 2008

Not quite a decade after the burst of the dot-com bubble, certain obsolete Web ventures have become shorthand for the era's cautionary tales: Webvan. Pets.com.

I'm no economist, but I am a worrywart, so I sometimes wonder whether there's irrational exuberance around online social networking and the sites that are leading the pack: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube. Will they become anecdotes in an impending Web 2.0 obituary?

The problem with predicting the future of social networking is that the medium is built to capture events of the present, whether it's describing what someone is eating for breakfast or posting photos from last weekend's birthday party.

Casual users of social networking sites don't ponder whether they'll still want to update their Facebook status over the long term. But technology companies are planning ahead.

Wailin Wong Wailin Wong Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

Manifest Digital, an interactive marketing agency with headquarters in the West Loop, won a Microsoft-sponsored contest this month that challenged four design teams to create Web campaigns promoting Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The winning team had to appeal "to an audience that's going to grow up over the next eight years," said Chris Bernard, a user-experience evangelist (yes, that's his official title) at Microsoft in Chicago.

Manifest Digital aimed to craft a social networking platform that inspires younger users to get involved in the bid effort and keeps them interested in the Olympics if Chicago is named the host city.

"It's definitely a challenge for any site to stay up-to-date with technology, especially on the Web, where things are changing so frequently," said Dan Thompson, a Microsoft Web developer at Manifest Digital. "But the interesting thing is with these social networking sites, they are now starting to open themselves up in a standards-compliant way."

More social networking portals are letting their users transfer profile data to other Web sites, with Facebook and MySpace stepping up their "open" initiatives.

Manifest Digital's winning entry was a social networking platform called "5 Star City" that allows users to pull in such content as photos and videos of Chicago from sites like Flickr and YouTube. Members also can send comments to the main site via text message.

Brian Henkel, the team's user-experience architect, believes 5 Star City would stay viable as other social networking sites fall in and out of favor.

"You could make the argument that our site would continue to get better as technology advances," Henkel said. "Things are becoming more compatible and seamless. Even if Flickr were to relinquish its title to its competitor, we could easily link to that competitor as well."

I'm not convinced some of the social networking trends—microblogging comes to mind—have staying power. But online interactions seem to be a routine part of digital communication. I find sharing photos to be as commonplace as e-mail, for example.

The key to longer-term success might be figuring out which basic forms of social networking will be around in a decade and then developing the flexibility to ride out the trends.

If I'm wrong, there's always the promise of immortality as a footnote in the annals of Internet history. I hope the Pets.com sock puppet saved me a space.

wawong@tribune.com

The Chicago Convergence is a BizSpark Network Partner

What is BizSpark?

BizSpark is an innovative new program that unites startups with global entrepreneurial and technology resource in one community, with a common goal of supporting and accelerating the success of a new generation of high-potential Startups.

BizSpark is uniquely designed to help Startups engaged in software development to jump-start their business, by:

• Providing them with “express access” to Microsoft tools and technologies, for their immediate use in design, development, testing, demonstration, and hosted application production and deployment; and

• Connecting them with Network Partners and a united, global community of resources designed to support them.

For Startups:
1. Startup Eligibility Requirements:

• An eligible startup must have the following characteristics at the time of joining: Actively engaged in development of a software-based product or service that will form a core piece of its current or intended business, Privately held, In business for less than 3 years and Less than US $1 million in annual revenue.
• To be eligible to use the software for production and deployment of hosted solutions, startups must also be developing a new “software as a service” solution (on any platform) to be delivered over the Internet.

2. Term: Startups can participate in BizSpark for up to 3 years. On the first and second
anniversary of initial enrollment, they must update their enrollment (e.g., confirm they haven’t
gone public and their ownership hasn’t changed).

3. Fee: A USD $100 program offering fee is due when the Startup exits the Program. As part of
Microsoft’s commitment to Startup success, there are no initial costs for Startups to join BizSpark.

4. Technology offering: The BizSpark technology offering to Startups currently includes:

• Design, development, testing and demonstrations rights with regard to: All the software included in the Visual Studio Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN Premium subscription Expression Studio (Version 2) VSTS Team Foundation Server (Standard Edition)
• Production Use rights to host a “software as a service” solution (developed by the startup during their participation, on any platform) over the Internet, with regard to products including: Windows Server (all versions up to and including Enterprise); SQL Server (all versions); Office SharePoint Server; Systems Center, and BizTalk Server The information is representative and not comprehensive. Products, versions, availability and additional benefits are subject to change. Because this offering is likely to be updated from time to time, Startups and Network Partners should visit the Microsoft® BizSpark website at https://microsoft.com/bizspark often to check Program Guides.

5. Special offers: By virtue of their participation in BizSpark, Startups may also be eligible for additional special technology or services offerings (from Microsoft or others) from time to time during their tenure in the Program. Startups enrolled in BizSpark will be notified of special offers when they become available, as well as the terms of those offerings and how to sign up for them.