Dinis Guarda

7 Characteristics of Highly Successful People

DGuarda — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 09:56:15 +0000

Personal success comes when one knows what he wants and focus on solutions to a specific set of challenges. And success varies according to cultures, family background, psychological profile and of course with will power. Nevertheless successful people are driven with passion, and they love themselves.

Highly Successful People work to build an indestructible personality developing everyday integral features that create a sort of an inner algorithm, which gives life an order of magnitude, an original vision. These characteristics, traits, skills, techniques need to be drawn and developed continuously in order to maintain a focus, a visualisation and a positive attitude. However the deeper principles and foundations for Highly Successful People need to be enclose to a deeper philosophy of character. Also these principles need to be accompanied with a hands on approach attitude towards adaptation and change. Thus through everyday life.

Success has to undergo a strong Character with Values and Ethics foundation. In order to manage a high success rate you need to develop strong focus and vision, make sure you think on your own. And this goes with underlying typical or distinctive characteristics. These features need to be build upon qualities such as integrity, courage, persistence, justice, patience. Characteristics that create an unique footprint to master success.

Bellow 7 characteristics of highly successful people I am setting to my life and that I believe can change and make anyone successful and balanced.

Create your own vision! Love yourself. Dream big! Visualise and build a daily self esteem that converts in an indestructible personality.
Be persistent and resilient! Never take no for an answer. Don’t procrastinate! Don’t wait things to happen.
Be down to earth! Make sure you are in long term partnership with reality. And never burn bridges!
Invest everyday in self development! Use a methodology! Document its progress! Create lists. Follow it.
Manage and organize attitude. Have a positive constructive attitude! Surround yourself with valuable people. Have your support group that want the same.
Find a way to manage your energy & emotions . Create a strong bond nest around you. Balance with family, friends. Be a hard team player. And develop an unique capacity to adapt and change. And learn how to forget and let it go!
Execution. Be obsessive with completing tasks and never quit. Execute! Execute!

In the end personal success comes up with continuous personal hard work. It is about personal dreaming, visualisation, discipline, persistence and commitment.

In order to manage that for your life make sure you have a vision, a thinking. Than create a personal balance between emotions, family and work, dreams, goals. And make sure you manage properly your daily internal or external emotional battle.

Moreover highly successful people have a sound understand of making sure you know what you want. Most of failure comes from lack of clear planning or understanding what is required. Decide and go for it with a simple and detailed plan.

Also it is imperative to keep improving and optimising your inner use of language in a focus and positive way. The right selection of words and language can change an entire life. Make sure that what you want and dream of is translated the same way. Use hope and pragmatic positive use of appropriated language!

Be focus in execution. Ultimately nothing happens without execution!

Facebook IPO how Social Media disrupts the economy!

DGuarda — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:26:06 +0000

Facebook IPO is out there and is real! It shows that Software, the Digital and the Social Media industry as a whole are eating / replacing the economy / disrupting it. And although it seems crazy I believe it is also good news, not just because of Facebook in itself but because of what it represents, the digital world industry and all the economy. The advent of Facebook is the emergence of new digital open data, a somehow new economy.

If Facebook keep they user base happy they are well positioned to be another (part of the) web! And it will get the social media industry stronger than ever! Also around Facebook there are a lot of small and big players that are creating an amazing ecosystems that rebuilds trust and open new ways of doing business and expanding open business capacities. Also with the emergence of the Social Graph Facebook has been achieving an unprecedented achievement in the process of open data, economy of trust and understanding social behavior.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Yes the world is moving faster than ever and sometimes one seems to be getting out of touch with reality. But I believe social business, open business and the original expanded power of social media have the capacity to open a lot of doors and create wealth.What is happening in the world economy in paralel is an unprecendent disruption started by technology and a fast pace innovation new trend setting. With the negative exception of an obvious greedy position from part of the Financial Industry (not all industry, I want to be clear here, there are a lot of people doing great work in the financial markets that don’t have the right credit) and a few 1% that don’t care for anything but they pockets there are a lot of positive things happening. The world is very old and sometimes people just look at the present and part of it. What the world needs is people with vision, and we need to inspire people against selfisness and lack of being bold. And we can always run the extra mile when we focus not just on ourselves.

Image via Wikipedia

Coming back to Facebook IPO you may argue about the privacy issues. You may argue about the lack of preparation of many users to use the platform and the way they innocently use the privacy setting not always wise. You may also argue that Facebook is obsessed with the ads and everything around that. But I disagree. Around Facebook there is a powerful group of new companies such as Zinga that are opening new capacities to promote exceptional projects, knowledge and new concepts such as gamification, open data. Zinga that represents 12% of facebook revenue is a good example of a company that grew and entertains millions with games that are not necessary stupid or violent (and I am not necessarily a big Zinga player). Definitely Facebook has contributed to democratise the web to any user and has open new perspectives towards ow to have a voice online. With any profile any one with some good sense can engage with peers around the world and share interests through Pages, groups. And ultimately finish a dictatorship such as Egypt, that can prove the sceptics wrong.

Innovation and disrupting is a factor that has been happening through history and always moves people away from their comfort zone. But I think getting out of the box is key to evolve in a world with 7 billion people that is going to be more and more disruptive. In the past the advent of radio, TV created as well amounts of zombie audiences around the world. But innovation is always an open door for new things good and sometimes bad. In the end it all about how you handle it.

I finished highlighting an excellent opinion article by Marc Andressen, a serila entrepreneur, investor and venture capitalist in WSJ that states some ideas I completly subscribe:

‘More than 10 years after the peak of the 1990s dot-com bubble, a dozen or so new Internet companies like Facebook and Twitter are sparking controversy in Silicon Valley, due to their rapidly growing private market valuations, and even the occasional successful IPO. With scars from the heyday of Webvan and Pets.com still fresh in the investor psyche, people are asking, ‘

I, along with others, have been arguing the other side of the case. (I am co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen-Horowitz, which has invested in Facebook, Groupon, Skype, Twitter, Zynga, and Foursquare, among others. I am also personally an investor in LinkedIn.) We believe that many of the prominent new Internet companies are building real, high-growth, high-margin, highly defensible businesses.

Today’s stock market actually hates technology, as shown by all-time low price/earnings ratios for major public technology companies. Apple, for example, has a P/E ratio of around 15.2—about the same as the broader stock market, despite Apple’s immense profitability and dominant market position (Apple in the last couple weeks became the biggest company in America, judged by market capitalization, surpassing Exxon Mobil). And, perhaps most telling, you can’t have a bubble when people are constantly screaming ‘Bubble!”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903480904576512250915629460.html

Facebook IPO: The Numbers Behind the World’s Most Valuable Social Network [INFOGRAPHIC] (mashable.com)

the world is not going to end tomorrow

DGuarda — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:26:12 +0000

Believe me the world is not going to end tomorrow. independent of all turmoil, independent of all challenges, independent of any drama or present nightmare, conflict. After any tempest there is always the quiet moment when the sea gets calmer.

The important is to keep making a statement about believing and keep on learning every day that there is a need to be thankful with everything one gets not with in effect we don’t have or owns.

It is imperative to make a bold statement for life and keep on learning every day that one needs to be addicted (or be naturally seduced) with the voice of whispering winds, the sensual things in life, the perceptible natural movement of the air that one breathes, the forms of air blowing from a particular direction flowing through the fields in the spring, close to a small metaphoric river of imagination. And imagine big time, dream how one can always get our life a better experience. How to optimise on’s life, as if we were optimising a business, a website. Making sure we always find things to improve not details to mourn about.

It is critical to understand the need to learn today that in the middle of all anxiety, in the middle of all the world negativity one needs to be awaken to all the symptoms of light in life. There is much more clarity that it seems to us when looking at the first impression. One needs to always think twice when lost in the route. And one needs to remember always all the gifts one received in life, the material ones and the immaterial ones.

It is all about a need to understand that it is good to be mortal. Yes there is no problem about being fragile because no one is made of steel, (the hard, strong, gray or bluish-gray alloy of metal iron with carbon and usually other elements). And trust me everyone fails, sometimes! Faillure is not the problem. The issue is not to stand up again when one falls. And the only important thing to note and underline is that when one stumble one needs to get up and start walking again. ASAP.

Please remember today that you and me needs to learn how to close your eyes and open it again tomorrow with always a new child hope. The day will start all over again after 24 hours.

The world is not going to end tomorrow! No way the world is too old! And the world will always continue independent of your and mine moods. The world actually does not cares about our moods but somehow our moods affect the world around us. In various ways

We need to remember today that each moment is too precious to let it go! The gold is not in the precious yellow metal, it is in the way we value time, bonding, identity, engagement, creation of value. The way we believe in each other and in the others around us.

We need to remember today that we don’t need to wait for paradise because each moment can be a dream if we make it so! And only me have the power to make our / my life a paradise or hell.

The choice is in my hands! (the choice is in our hands). Without any cynical metaphysics, just with will power and perseverance and avoiding being dominated by fear, ignorance of short view!

There is much more than crisis in life. There is much more if one looks for it. Tomorrow always starts today. Now!

Richard Brandson, Steve Jobs Capitalism and Creating Value

DGuarda — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:17:47 +0000

The truth about business, entrepreneurship or any form of organised activity is not about simply profit, it is about creating value. The creation of Value is the ultimate goal for any venture, company, business model and even government or politic party whatever its dimension, location or strategy.

Recently Richard Branson an entrepreneur known for its eccentricity and smart way of managing an ever evolving disruptive brand said:

“Capitalism has “lost its way” and financial profit should no longer be the main driving force behind big business”.

I agree with this completly. Why do you build a business purely thinking about short term profit? That business will be just another cannibal organisation trying to eat other businesses. And this ultimately will create a vampire organisation that ultimately will such the blood of some particular industry model and create a zero value ecosystem if various organisations adopt this.

What Richard Branson states is the obvious that businesses should be out there creating value for its audiences, customers shareholders, but this based in a long term contract. The Virgin business model managed with a smart aggressive and disruptive approach has been successful because the way pushes the boundaries of conventions And because of its long term perspective and approach.

Richard Branson the Virgin Group founder who bought recently the formerly nationalised UK bank Northern Rock (one of the first banks in the center of the Financial crisis) and wants to disrupt the UK financial industry is betting again in one industry that is at the present in pieces. The financial and banking industry is seen by the public as a greedy no value creation business and is being disrupted in a so fast way that I believe in a few years most of its players will simply disappear and be replaced by new business models and more active value creation technological and social open business players.

What Branson makes in the assertion is key due to the fact that is one of the wealthiest man in the world and because of his media exposure. The quote is part of the foreword of his last book, “Screw Business As Usual” and his thinking is that it is critical the importance for companies to reflect “a vibrant and marked sea change from the way business always used to be done, when financial profit was the only driving force”.

The same goes with the late Steve Jobs:

“My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products,” (…) “[T]he products, not the profits, were the motivation. Sculley flipped these priorities to where the goal was to make money. It’s a subtle difference, but it ends up meaning everything.”

I think this was why ultimately Apple became so successful Steve Jobs Jobs obsession with value creation paid back. He went on to describe the company legacy he hoped he would leave behind as “a company that will still stand for something a generation or two from now”. Whether you like Apple or not a fact is that he managed to reach that goal!

Again using Jobs words: “That’s what Walt Disney did,” (…) “and Hewlett and Packard, and the people who built Intel. They created a company to last, not just to make money. That’s what I want Apple to be.”

I believe companies and entrepreneurs (and new governments and countries) needs to be more and more driven by passion and idealism. That includes a truly focus in an idea, product, and push ways to facilitate users, customers, shareholders, citizens to feel long term value and enthusiasm toward a given goal and objective.

In one recent published book (considered one of the best eBook of 2011), Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, describe that in a optimal way in the assertive title “Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy”. It is about accelerating, innovation, open business strategies and understand that it is all about creating value and long term! The more entrepreneurs, business managers and CEOs realise that the faster solutions will be build and trust value will come out of the present financial and economic world vortex that is the result of too much greediness, short views and selfishness. Capitalism is not a close model, as it is not democracy or economy but selfishness, over greediness it is a close view that will end up destroying everything.

Image via Wikipedia

I finish with these wise words from Richard Branson:

“I truly believe that capitalism was created to help people live better lives, but sadly over the years it has lost its way a bit. The short-term focus on profit has driven most businesses to forget about the important long-term role they have in taking care of people and the planet.”

Richard Branson, the awesome 1%: “Capitalism has lost its way.” (boingboing.net)
Richard Branson on Avoiding Start Up Mistakes (bigthink.com)
Virgin Money acquires Northern Rock (moneyexpert.com)
Richard Branson’s Virgin Money buys Northern Rock (marketwatch.com)

Money, Wealth, Social Media and Gamification

DGuarda — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 01:52:42 +0000

There is a Shift between Money, Co-creation, Social Media and Gamification

We are in a historical paradox crossroad for humanity. It is thus a frightening time for the world finances and economics where at the same time the concept of money is pushed further through the advent of social media, co-creation, the social graph and concepts such as Gamification that are taking over of reality and creating a kind of twilight zone. On one hand there is extreme poverty mixed with extreme wealth, the advent and rise of countries that just 10 years ago were bankrupt, considered third world or out of the limelight. All of this surrounded by a profusion of media and news where the keywords are all around: demonstrations, “occupy” wall street, crisis, problems and the always eternal global local conflictsmixed with technology, startups, software, venture capital money, crowdfunding and so forth.

As David Kirkpatrick put it very well one of the main issues with our present society is that “(…) the world lacks enough leaders who understand the potential for new, technology-driven solutions for global problems. To the degree that there is such leadership, it is concentrated in the business community. But even there, an understanding of tech’s potential is disturbingly uneven. Some companies thrive by embracing new methods of marketing, managing, developing products, and engaging with society. Others, by contrast, steadfastly operate in the old ways.” inhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2011/11/12/how-to-be-an-optimist-in-a-pessimistic-time/

The rise of the 21st century brings with it a complex world where in the words of the research of Edward N Wolff, of New York University, as of 2007, the top 1% of households in America owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% had 50.5% of the wealth. This means and According to the Congressional Budget Office (more info can be found in the entry for Wikipedia for the movement Occupy wall Street) that just 20% of the world population owned 85% of the wealth, leaving only 15% for the bottom 80% of the people. Moreover the wealthy are wealthier and more powerful than ever in history: a minority of one percent of people owns almost half of the global assets. Being more clear that means that on the top of these numbers the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. The bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth.

All these extensive statistics, should make us think and indicating the growing world schizophrenia and disparity. Most of these numbers and data are present in the mouth of the protesters of the Occupy wall Street and similar movements, included in available reports, mass viral distributed in press releases, infographics, YouTube videos, Excel tables and Powerpoint slides.

Image via Wikipedia

With all this massive re-question of money and in the scope of this financial meltdown what can effectively be done?

So the question is with all this massive financial meltdown what can effectively be done. Should all these people change the world once and for all of just continue as it is until a further break down that at a certain stage will drive mankind (juts look at history) to more and more confrontation, riots, demonstrations, unemployment and at a certain point another possible proliferation of extremist movements, local guerrillas and possible another global war? Also how is this possible in a world where the creation of wealth, creation of commodities, goods and the most advanced technology, communications and health systems were developed further than in any historical moment before?

These questions drive us to much more queries. For the moment I prefer not to say what to do. It would be too much arrogant. And someone that pretends to so should think twice. At the moment I want to be humble, but with eyes wide open keep a positive look at what is happening around me. I want to make sure I do my own research and leave the questions in the air. A lot of people should think about it. But more than just be basic in the answers, or extremist the best is perhaps try to do some home work and use of game play thinking Gamification and other social effective tools and mechanics to listen, learn, solve problems and engage with other peers and audiences.

For me action can only come with moderation and homework, research and wise thinking. In the past all tentativeness to change the world in a radical, violent way just change the surface. Let us face it it all goes down to the nature of being human. Any solutions need to bear that in mind. It is not so much about complexity but about simplicity. The present landscape where we live offers and strives to encourage users to engage in desired behaviors in connection with other people alike, and for the first time in real time thinkers around the world in faster ways and viral methods using social media, co-creation, open thinking: open government, open business, open data through the use of social tech tools, applications can exchange ideas and funds and try to move things to a better port.

Present where money is going through a massive revolution that paradoxically few understand

We are in a time where money, all the financial concept is going through a massive revolution. Money is now becoming digital, with new payment systems being built faster than the regulations and political movements, or pension systems thinking, where paradoxically the exchange of currency data, virtual currencies, trading algorithms, peer to peer exchange, advances in software and general semantic engines, algorithms, search and social media technologies are redesigning the way humans will interact with money forever. And all of this is going faster than politicians, governments, organisations realise. If the economy is on the brink and most governments are sitting on the sidelines, unwilling or unable to help there is as well a massive continuous shift and redefinition of the creation of wealth and commodities.

Looking at the Austrian School of economics and its advocacy towards a methodological “individualism” (through a sound action mode experimental research and natural experiments) whereas in interpreting economic developments coming up associated with the theory that the essence of money is non-neutral, and emphasizes the organizing power of the price mechanism it is clear that there is nothing as linear rational way of looking at the present shift. However there is something deeper going on that even the wiser / informed economic and financial players are not understanding. As the Autrian school puts it very well there are not a priori or non-empirical perfect models or solutions.

That is the backdrop and side by side of two paradoxical worlds: the one of the mega corporation and its successors – the startups, in Silicon Valley, New York, Bangalore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, with the immense wealth of its global companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Google, Apple (that could individually bailout a country like Ireland of Portugal) and also the frustration and angry tone of voice of the protests of the movement Occupy Wall Street, St Paul’s and hundreds of similar multiple demonstrations in cities across various big urban areas of the developed world.

However bear in mind in the middle of this dual paradoxical ecosystem something very important. Although some of these demonstrations are extreme what is swift to dismiss is that there is no doubt they give voice to insatisfaction and frustration related to the established financial, economic, political and management values of the present business as usual modus operandus of the present society. And even more important these protesters are using the same iPhones, computers, iPads, tablets, and social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, Google+ as all these companies and wealthy people that totalise the minimum 1% to 20%.

Organisations, resources, websites and lists of people looking seriously at Money, Wealth, Co-creation, Social Media and Gamification

As in any wise thinking the solution is not any radical revolution. By the contrary it all goes down to awareness, an effort to dis-mystify and namely have an open spirit. Realising all this it is thus critical to think out of the box. Thereby I present bellow some organisations, resources, websites and lists of people trying this kind of thinking and more important working effectively in open thinking through concepts such as crowd-sourcing, co-creation, WOM word of mouth, and also Gamification. This last one a new trend that well used in education can work effectively as a way to change behaviors and explain the overall complexity of the money and financial machines, making particular technologies, user design, platforms, communications more engaging, and by encouraging desired behaviors, taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming.

If there is something to change the paradigm is an open way of thinking, a shift towards open personal and open business strategies whereas people are able to interact (through all the fast changing social media platforms, mobile ever increasing powerful devices) and obliged to find solutions in a reasonable way. This is the main challenge democracies, business, finance, banking and the money industry needs to face.

The creative use of out of the box techniques can encourage people and businesses to change behaviors and start open their structures, self developing themselves. This done through open engagement principles and focusing in a new critical performance and chores that they ordinarily consider “boring”, such as looking seriously at their social map, networks, peers, communities, consumer behavior, completing financial and economical surveys to optimise their lifes, researching, shopping wiser, or reading optimal references in web sites.

So bellow some people / networks and insights for you not just about Money, Wealth, Co-creation, Social Media and Gamification. Also last but not least these are all people and organisations that work in creating bridges between innovation, money, new currency and systems. All of them use principles of co-creation, crowdsourcing, social media, and gambling to move their strategies.

The world trends: http://www.gapminder.org/

13 Books on the Future of Money & New Economy

Open government: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/

Co creation Innovations: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/nov2010/ca2010112_927266.htm

http://www.crowdsourcing.org/

How data and open government are transforming NIC

Image via Wikipedia

A global, multidisciplinary Hub for open business thinking and change

Visible Banking, bench marking social media in the financial industry

100+ Inspiring Change Agents I’ve Found via Twitter

10 Projects Moving Us Towards a Superfluid Economy

Bank to the Future

The Gamification Summit hits New York

I am reading this thesis:
An Inescapable Truth: Finance is Gambling

SIBOS the place for the future of the financial and money industry

Dreams of mobile payments lead telco to try banking

ABOUT-PAYMENTS.com is a coming soon freely accessible global source for market data, industry players and business opportunities across the global online payments marketplace.

The mathematical law that shows why wealth flows to the 1% (the Guardian)
Gamification Q&A – Let’s Play! (blogs.forrester.com)
The Era of Gamification (pixelsmithstudios.com)

How to change your will and How to Change Yourself

DGuarda — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:05:43 +0000

Change your will, change yourself and no Excuses!

What is change? Do you real want to change? These are 2 critical questions to ask yourself in the light of a present world where the keyword crisis is out there running as a hopeless virus. But another question to ask is if man kind is really just a civilisation in crisis? Or an hopeless civilisation? I don’t buy it. And my statement is that we can change things and use the challenges we face as an amazing opportunity to move forward and create a new paradigm and improve ourselves – change.

So change is to make a form, a nature, thecontent, future course of something (material, spiritual, ideological, financial) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. In another words change is about the process to replace one’s name; to move one’s opinion; to change the course of history.

So, stop for a while and consider everything you have around you. Yes write the negative things and then be objective and write as well the positive things. Having done this list think again. Ultimately you are going to die. Yes die. Bearing that in consideration ask yourself what do you want to leave as your heritage. Are the positive or the negative things more powerful? what is wrong that you can change immediately? Do you want to have in your testament the following keywords: Crisis, questions, remorse, procrastination? I don’t think so.

So a good exercise to move on is to write your will. Yes write your will. Trust me just thinking about this will haunt all your security and put in question your achievements and your master “present short time” settings. So think what you need to do in order to do or to change a will. So you can either:

make a will that reflects your life and passions, all the things you always wanted to achieve;
make an amendment to your will, add what is called a “codicil” to the existing will and change areas of your life

This is the same principle you can and should apply to your life planning and decision. You can either create a strong will and make sure you did an impact to achieve that or at least apply a new way of looking at it and make a new life planning – new will. Or on the other hand you can add new amendments to the existing principles, habits. The conclusion thought is that in the end you need to act. Everything goes down to the keywords: action and change!

There are many good reasons for making a will now. A will records who you, yes whatever your wealth (there are a lot of wealth: material, personal, family, relations…), (the “testator”) wish to benefit from your estate (that is, your assets, whatver their are not just material). You can provide for people – such as not family members or friends – who would not be entitled to anything from your estate if you died without a will.

The history of the world starts first with your own biography

Image via Wikipedia

Start by looking at you. Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, wrote that “the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” So having a deep thought some considerations:
- Humanity has million of years. Where we came from and when we began to spread across the world. The answer according to some studies appears to be that we came out of Africa about 55,000 years ago. However a recently study supports the idea that humanity derives from an ancestral stock of people who had already been living in the continent that used to be Africa as an independent species for about 150,000 years. Yes 150,000 years ago. This before some of this people began the global migration that led to man’s dominance of the planet.

So getting out of the past and coming into the present it is important to understand that humans have been here on mother earth for thousands of years 150,000 years as a species. Of course that during this tenure on earth a lot of crisis and change has been going. So the first consideration is don’t be obsess with your present crisis, problems independent of how big they are. There is always a way out if one tries hard.

The evolution of technology, software, the Internet, electronic peer-to-peer referrals are new opportunities and have became an important phenomenon and created new ways and opened so much doors to self improvement and reflection. Also new business opportunities and economic chances. The issue is that more than ever in history it all comes to personal initiative and will power. It is not easy and these new shift in paradigms obliges each of us to get better and be continuously changing.

The present times of crisis, stagnation, no economic growth are actually excellent times to reflect how human can effectivelly change their habit and move towards new paradigms. There were never so much wealth in the world. there were never so much opportunities. So think what is right or wrong about you and move towards a shift in behavior and improve your journey or start new adventures.

So stop making so many excuses. Don’t lose your energy complaining so much and not trying to do something about. Focus on creating your dream project. If things are wrong don’t blame anyone. Make sure you find a solution and if it is out of your personal reach network with your peers and start effective change. It is difficult, yes it is! A lot, but you don’t have to change everything at once, you can and should start about improving your biography. Imagine someone was writing your biography, I am sure you would like to make it special. So start changing, create layers and processes, improve small things, routines, relations and start by baby steps. Go for it! No one can live your life only you! And your life ultimately is your best will!

“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address

Read And Watch: Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address (npr.org)
Steve Jobs: Stanford commencement address, June 2005 (guardian.co.uk)

How to design a Vision

DGuarda — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:31:18 +0000

How to design a Vision? You design a vision with inspiration, change and Share!

The right design of a vision can only be done through an emergence of re-designing the way we think and act! And yes the way we share! The concept of vision is very personal and can drive people to achieve great things and execute massive actions. A clear Vision can deliver a way to inspiration and with the right measure of passion one can indeed reach a lot. But this can only be done through a strong design. A design that gets holistic between the way we think and the way we act!

The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust

The real voyage of discovery takes all our life and it is part of each moment of the present. The way we are mapping the present and the eyes we look at it is the way we can achieve more or less. I had until recently a corporative job (and I am involved with big corporations worldwide) and have been doing a lot of things in the past. But I was always in a tension and like in the song “I can (could) get no satisfaction”"! And looking back I found that what was happening is that the way I was desining my thinking and my action where not aligned. And this conflict, unconscious was indeed stopping me for getting a balance between my capacities and my deliveries.

Recently through a huge effort of self developing and trying to focus in making a difference for myself first and for the ones I cared (and care) after, I opened a completly new design for my life. And of course this happened with a refocus balance between the way I though, think and the way I act. Indeed when trying to do what has been exciting me and the right way to get it, I came to a better balance. And partly I found out that the great thing about the present world is that you can indeed find your own tribe, (your own community of like minded people), using global social mainstream tools such as Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Slideshare, Scribl and so forth. As recently Venessa Miemis put it very well you can do it understanding that:

“Your community already exists, and is waiting for you.
Your vision already exists – it is a shared one.
The tools of empowerment already exist, and are ready to be wielded.”

Once I started doing that (and I understand I have to do it much more) I have been more and more excited with what is possible to do and how we have actually the capacity to change and connect like minded people and communities, amplifying the work of change of agents and mission-driven peers and organizations. And trust me whatever your passion (or drama) I am sure there is a long tail of people like you ready to communicate with you and share with you. We live in an economy of share and vision and inspiration are probably the best currency to reach aspiration wishes.

Make sure that what you want and what you are doing to get it are aligned - that is the design of a vision!

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. Japanese proverb

Design informally might refer to an idea of planning or a concrete strategy for developing a system, as the architectural blueprint of a cathedral, the engineering drawings / plans of Leonardo da Vinci or Frank Gehry. The definition of design can as well be the business process for a company such as Apple (one of the best design based coporations). Design is associated as well with the circuit of diagrams, algorithms and the old principles of sewing patterns.

And “to design” refers to make this strategy, planning become real. The definition of “design” is larger and broader and there is no generally-accepted answer to it. Design can be a term with different connotations in different various fields. I will use it to define the way we plan or or develop the balance between the inner thoughts and actions. I am using design as the way of constructing the object of a daily life!

When I visualise the concept of design with my life I oblige myself to do an analysis about my own strategy and planning. It is not easy to do this analysis and find the right degree of objectivity trust me. I have been understanding that to make effective what I want and the way I work to get it is a long term strategy and a continuous effort, design planning that start everyday when I wake up. It all start with understanding and sharing passion, enthusiasm and find what is my unique vision (moreover who are the people that have that same vision and after create the right processes to engage with them). Doing this and make sure my research is driving me in the direction of other people, like minded peers and reaching them in a constructive and long term way. And that you can use all social media tools in your disposition to find these people: Twitter, blogging, Facebook, Search, self publishing, forums and other amazing tools.

Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements. Napoleon Hill

While I am writing and working in activities where I can share my vision, I feel more and more that I can indeed do a lot and change (starting by modifying,improving my own design) if we focus in the light of this vision and hear and engage our like minded peers! And of course when we make sure we go for it! (Disclaimer that is not easy and it implies courage and a strong will power!)

I found out that one can get a balance by sharing the sum of his Emotional intelligence and passion with a self developing daily exercise that we can manage and optimise with other like minded peers through collaborative and social media tools. We can indeed do a lot by finding everyday a synthesis of all inspirational inner forces and letting free the will that turns into balance and intelligence the old understanding of the tension between reason and feeling. I want to finish with Venessa Miemis words:

“everything is interconnected and we can go further by connecting, collaborating, and amplifying each other’s efforts than by stubbornly trying to reinvent the wheel.”!

I will do it! Aiming towards an emergence of better ideas to change the design of things and inspire people! To synthetise you can learn how to design a vision following your inspirational inner self and making sure that what you want and what you are doing to get it are aligned - that is the design of a vision!

To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan. Alfred A. Montapert

What Means The Web Social Technological Reality (dinisguarda.com)
This is the time to go your own way (briansolis.com)
Share or Die (emergencebydesign.com)
What Is A Vision? (kevinwmccarthy.com)

19 Top Social Media Digital Authors and Metrics

DGuarda — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:22:26 +0000

19 Top social media digital authors and metrics, the reinvention of the authorship concept and social reach!

Social Media is there and with it new disruption and new trends. Social Media is expanding and redefining the concept of author, the creator and of course the meaning of authorship and copyright. This post is a reflection of what makes a top social media digital author and what are the best metrics to define it. Also this post is a selection of authors that somehow are the key influences in digital trends because of their work, books, blogs, social media holistic activity.

Social media although a new discipline (and to be honest not the best keyword to describe all the challenges going on) is critical for its notion of holistic overview of reality, our social links and of course the way we interact, act and behave with the technological invisible social technologies and tools. Social Media in particular is a matrix of tools, platforms, social moves and technologies that has an emergent importance for authors and the visibility of”books” (also interesting to redefine the notion of book in an iPad / tablet era! I will do it another article). Also its growing importance is redefining the value of a given author. Social Media will open new challenges and possibilities to author and will keep growing in a very little time pace by an order of magnitude few times seen in the past.

The flow of curiosity that readers, users, scholars, experts are showing, seeking for information about authorship, a book (or it’s follow up in digital concepts), or web / internet authors that have something of unique to say in this new area is amazing. Social media and all its evolutionary forms of expanding traditional media and social reach is critical to understand the present, the creation of meaning, the voice, also to redefine the various industries and trends. This new and still all open concept of Social Media is critical to self development, academic research and business strategy. Also it brings with it a lot of new questions, challenges, redefinition of authorship, and its associated copyright laws:

“In copyright law, there is necessarily for little flexibility as to what constitutes authorship. The United States Copyright Office defines copyright as “a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to authors of “original works of authorship”.^[1] Holding the title of “author” over any “literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, [or] certain other intellectual works” give rights to this person, the owner of the copyright, exclusive right to do or authorize any production or distribution of their work. Any person or entity wishing to use intellectual property held under copyright must receive permission from the copyright holder to use this work, and often will be asked to pay for the use of copyrighted material. After a fixed amount of time, the copyright expires on intellectual work and it enters the public domain, where it can be used without limit.” in Wikipedia entrance for author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Author

Social Media is expanding faster than anything before and its radar is sort of a 360 degrees reach. This new massive area touches a lot of new areas and asks and puts in question a lot of assumptions. People are now connected with authors in a new way and creators are now part of a new open expanded concept. An author is influential not just because what book he wrote, but because of their unique say and reach of an unique audiences through social media platforms such LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, their blogs, applications, various social media profiles in Slideshare, Scribl, YouTube and of course their number of unique users, fans, readers.

New forms of measuring author influence and reach: Klout, PeerIndex, wdyl (Google).

New platforms such as Klout, PeerIndex, wdyl and others are emerging to measure the influence score of people online. These new forms although new and most of them very fragile (and under beta phase) are bringing with it new challenges in what regards the way an author and it’s production of value is measured. And ironically Universities, publishing houses have to evolve and adapt toward these new forms of influence and measurement. So what makes an author in these various forms of metrics to analyse the unique voices, message?

In part an author is still a producer of unique content, a unique voice, a creator of visible value. What is now new is the multiple ways of distributing this value and the various platforms for creating authorship. Social Media with all its dilution in tools, platforms, apps, tablets, iPad are opening new channels and a new array of forms to distribute content. These new ways are easy to produce and syndicate, commercialise content and reach audiences that would be impossible to reach until very recently. So the challenge for authors is how to get out of the confort zone and use their creativity inside all these new emergent tools in constant evolution, (and let us be honest demanding a lot of time to manage it properly), and of course most of them very fragile and some of them actually very bad.

The new frontiers for authors with social media is to keep the quality and their integrity and expand their voice with instruments somehow mediated by completely new forms of reaching an audience. Though these new advent of instruments, platforms such as Scribd: a very powerful social publishing site, where tens of millions of people can share original writings and documents, are indeed spectacular. The challenge again is how to manage these tools where you find excellent authors and very bad work as well. Social media has open new potential and somehow as Scribd’s vision, Social media can somehow with all its new forms of tools “liberate the creators and the written word” (and all other ways of producing content).

Another social media platform for visual creators Behance: that entitles themselves as “The Creative Professional Platform has establish a new ground for visual masters. This self entitled “world’s leading platform for creative professionals” is amazing with its capacity to offer exposure and manage careers to visual creators, designers. This among other platforms are a powerful space for authors to show their work and publicise in a very large network of peers and influential creators. Though the challenge is to open continuously our skills towards new learning and adapting skills towards new ways of promoting authorship.

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
Andre Gide (French writer, humanist and moralist, 1947 nobel prize for literature, 1869-1951).

This list of 19 top social media digital authors, like any list, is an open one and is entirely personal and not conclusive.

I choose these authors after a deep research. They were chosen for their relevance, and because they have without any doubt a powerful international engagement. This article is the synthesis of a research I conducted in the last months. The number 19 was randomly chosen. There are much more authors, though I think these ones are somehow the most relevant due to their unique reach and given the variety of measurement I used. They have a global reach that makes them without any doubt the top authors working in these areas of social media and digital. Of course other authors are out there and I will continue researching and adding them to these list. I want to underline these is my views and I know I have to research much more going forward.

Doing this list I decided to use several forms of metrics. Published books, this is still a primal criterium to measure an author and its influence. Though that is no longer the most single important metric, for me the quality and quantity of their blog / website’s reach is critical now (I looked at the traffic and page views, using Google Ad Planner tools). Having a strong blog, website is a powerful way of engaging an audience and show a message, voice, content and unique say.

In this list I add also the number of followers on Linkedin and twitter, the Facebook fans or friends. These mainstream social media platforms are key to understand as well the variety of reach of the authors in this list. If they are top authors in social media digital they have to have an holistic capacity to influence in various places.

Also last but not least I added the new social media tools: Klout and PeerIndex that create a score for people online. These last metrice are quite new and still under development. their algorithms are not 100% efficient, thought they are interesting in its reach and forms to measure influence, reach and topics. In same few cases, where relevant, I add as well the presentation in Slideshare and off course I mentioned their roles and main achievements.

A list of top social media digital authors: a plural lists of authorship and some of its metrics.

So after research, measuring and thinking about the subject here is my open list by alphabet order:

1. Brian Halligan:
Blog / website: http://www.hubspot.com, PR 6, 1.2M unique vistors, 11M page views
Published books: Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead (co-author) and Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs
Role: HubSpot CEO, and Founder, author and speaker
Twitter: http://twitter.com/bhalligan, 9,097 Followers, 1,116 Listed
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brianhalligan, 500+
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Halligan closed profile
Klout:http://www.peerindex.net/bhalligan, 53
PeerIndex:http://klout.com/bhalligan, 57

2. Brian Solis:
Blog / website: http://www.briansolis.com/, PR 6, 70K unique visitors, 200K page views
Published books: Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web; Putting the Public Back in Public Relations; Now Is Gone; The Art and Science of Blogger Relations…
Role: Principal at Altimeter Group, Future Works, author, speaker
Twitter: http://twitter.com/briansolis, 96,494 Followers, 12,119 Listed
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/futureworks, 500+
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thebriansolis, 13 301 likes
Klout: http://www.peerindex.net/briansolis, 80
PeerIndex: http://klout.com/briansolis, 78

3. Charlene Li:
Blog / website: http://www.charleneli.com/, PR 5, no available data
Published books: Open Leadership, co-author of Groundswell,
Role: founder of Altimeter Group, speaker and author
Twitter: http://twitter.com/charleneli, 56,691 Followers, 4,915 Listed
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/charleneli, 500+
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/charleneli, 20,673 likes
Klout: http://klout.com/#/charleneli, 57
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/charleneli, 57

4. Chris Brogan:
Blog / website: http://www.chrisbrogan.com, PR 6, 170K unique visitors, 350K page views
Published books: co-author of Trust Agents, and a featured monthly columnist at Entrepreneur Magazine
Role: author, journalist, marketing consultant, speaker
Twitter: http://twitter.com/chrisbrogan, 186,995 followers, 19,186 listed
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbrogan, 500+
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChrisBroganMedia, 5901
Klout: http://klout.com/ChrisBrogan, 79
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/chrisbrogan, 74

5. Clay Shirky:
Blog / website: http://www.shirky.com/, PR 7 http://www.shirky.com/weblog/ no available data in Google Ad Planner
Published books: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008) and Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age (2010).
Role: Writer, consultant, lecturer
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cshirky, 140,525 followers, 7,096 listed
Linkedin: not visible
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clay-Shirky, 947
Klout: http://klout.com/cshirky, 63
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/cshirky, 71

6. David Meerman Scott:
Blog / website: http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/, PR 5, no available data in Google Ad Planner, http://www.webinknow.com/ PR 6, 29K unique visitors, 63K page views
Published books: The New Rules of Marketing and PR; Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History; Real-Time Marketing & PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now, and others
Role: Thought leader, strategist, speaker, author
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmscott, 371,394followers, 55,717 listed
Linkedin: not visible
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dmscott, 3220 friends,
Klout: http://klout.com/dmscott, 71
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/dmscott, 68

7. Gary Vaynerchuk:
Blog / website: http://garyvaynerchuk.com/, PR 6, 48k unique visitors, 130k page views
Published books: Crush It! Why Now Is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion (October 2009), The Thank You Economy (March 2011)
Role: Founder Winelibrary.com, Wine Library TV, VaynerMedia, author and speaker
Twitter: http://twitter.com/garyvee, 889,627 followers, listed 14,190
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/garyvaynerchuk, 500+
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gary, 66159 likes
Klout: http://klout.com/garyvee, 73
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/garyvee, 89

8. Guy Kawasaki:
Blog / website: http://www.guykawasaki.com/, PR 6, 84K unique vistors, 270K Page views
Published books: author of ten books including Enchantment, Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way
Role: co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web, and a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GuyKawasaki, 371,394 followers, listed 26,872
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/guykawasaki, 500+
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/guy, 54 446 like
Klout: http://klout.com/guykawasaki, 85
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/guykawasaki, 35

9. Jeremiah Owyang:
Blog / website: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/, PR 6, 62k unique visitors, 140k page views
Published books: Researcher and author of various reports and research papers
Role: Disruptive Technology: Analyst and Consultant – Partner of Customer Strategy at Altimeter Group, author, speaker
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jowyang, 84 717 followers, listed 8 511
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jowyang, 500+
Presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Web-Strategy-by-Jeremiah, 1007 likes
Klout: http://klout.com/jowyang, 80
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/jowyang, 82

10. Josh Bernoff:
Blog / website: http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/, PR 3, no traffic data available in Google Ad Planner
Published books: coauthor Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Harvard Business Press, 2008), co-author: Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business (Harvard Business Press, 2010)
Role: Josh Bernoff is senior vice president, idea development at Forrester Research
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jbernoff, 14 193 followers, 1527
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshbernoff, 500+
Presentations: www.slideshare.net/jbernoff
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jbernoff, 1256 friends, no Facebook fan page
Klout: http://klout.com/jbernoff, 59
PeerIndex:http://www.peerindex.net/jbernoff, 66

11. Lee Odden:
Blog / website: http://www.toprankblog.com/lee-odden/, PR 5, no traffic data available in Google Ad Planner
Published books: writer in Mashable, iMedia Connection and Yahoo Search Marketing Blog along with publishing TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog
Role: CEO of Top Rank Online Marketing, Speaker, author
Twitter: http://twitter.com/leeodden, 29213 followers, listed 3518
Linkedin:http://www.linkedin.com/in/leeodden, 500+
Facebook: 1021 friends, http://www.facebook.com/lee.odden, 80, http://www.facebook.com/toprank.online.marketing.blog, 9472 likes
Klout: http://klout.com/leeodden, 71
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/leeodden, 72

12. Mari Smith:
Blog / website: http://www.marismith.com/, 100k unique viewers, 290k page views
Role: Author, TV Host, Social Media Examiner TV #SMEtv at Social Media Examiner, Social Media Speaker
Published books: Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day
Twitter: http://twitter.com/marismith, 110 325 Followers, listed 7431
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/marismith, 500+
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marismith, 44 121
Klout: http://klout.com/marismith, 79
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/marismith, 68

13. Mitch Joel:
Blog / website: http://www.twistimage.com/blog/, PR 6, 35k unique visitors, 150k page views
Published books: Six Pixels of Separation
Role: President of Twist Image, author, speaker
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mitchjoel, 29256 Followers, Listed 3552
Linkedin: 500+
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MitchJoel, 4633 Friends, 6204 likes
Klout: http://klout.com/MitchJoel, 62
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/mitchjoel, 79

14. Paul Gillin:
Blog / website: http://gillin.com/blog/, no available date on Google Ad Planner
Published books: The New Influencers, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, Joy of Geocaching
Role: technology journalist, author and business and online strategist
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pgillin, 8898 followers, listed in 934
Linkedin: 500+sewewewww
Facebook: closed personal profile, no fan page
Klout: http://klout.com/pgillin, 60
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/pgillin, 59

15. Peter Shankman:
Blog / website: http://shankman.com/, PR 5, 71k unique visitors, 200k page views
Published books: Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work — And Why Your Company Needs Them; Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Media World
Role: Owner The Geek Factory, Inc., Social Media Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, CEO, Speaker, Consultant & Adventurist
Twitter: http://twitter.com/petershankman
Linkedin: 500+
Facebook: 3592 Friends, http://www.facebook.com/PeterShankman 51 263
Klout: http://klout.com/petershankman, 81
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/petershankman, 77

16. Scott Monty:
Blog / website: http://www.scottmonty.com/, 17k unique visitors and 36k page views
Published books: Featured in various books
Role: head of social media for Ford Motor Company, speaker and blogger
Twitter: http://twitter.com/scottmonty, 55 560 followers, listed 5 267
Linkedin: 500+
Facebook: 2831 friends, http://www.facebook.com/TheScottMonty, 661 likes
Klout: http://klout.com/ScottMonty, 72
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/scottmonty, 72

17. Seth Godin:
Blog / website: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/, 71K Unique visitors, 180k page views
Published books: Various, more than a dozen, Tribes…
Role: Founder of Squidoo.com, author, blogger
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThisIsSethsBlog, 96194 followers, listed 8512
Linkedin: Not visible or not in Linkedin
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sethgodin, likes 121 844
Klout: http://klout.com/ThisIsSethsBlog, 74
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/ThisIsSethsBlog, 35

18. Shiv Singh:
Blog / website: http://www.goingsocialnow.com, PR 5, no date about visitors in Google ad planner
Role: Head of Digital for PepsiCo Beverages America, digital marketer
Published books: Social Media Marketing for Dummies
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ShivSingh, 16913 followers, listed 2370
Linkedin: 500+
Facebook: closed profile, no Facebook page
Klout: http://klout.com/ShivSingh, 65
PeerIndex: http://www.peerinex.net/ShivSingh, 57

19. Valeria Maltoni:
Blog / website: http://www.conversationagent.com/, PR 6, 20K unique visitors, 40k page views
Role: Business strategist, speaker and author
Published books: co-author of The Age of Conversation, a groundbreaking Book collaboration by 103 of today’s top marketing writers
Twitter: http://twitter.com/valeriamaltoni, 693, listed 113 she tweets mainly as @ConversationAge with 29,23 2Followers, 3,812 Listed
Linkedin: +500
Facebook: 275 friends, http://www.facebook.com/ConversationAgent, 3,114 likes
Wikipedia: No
Klout: http://klout.com/valeriamaltoni, 35
PeerIndex: http://www.peerindex.net/valeriamaltoni, 41

7 books on Social Media, Tech, Society related to read (dinisguarda.com)
36 Awesome Social Media Blogs Everyone Should Read (hubspot.com)
Digital and social media top authors’ lists (cavehenricks.com/blog)
Top Social Media Strategists to Watch in 2010 (http://451heat.com)
Twitter Power 150 (ASourceofInspiration.com)
Klout’s +K Button Lets You Find Topical Experts Across Social Media (mashable.com)
What Is the Most Important Social Media Metric? [Marketing Cast] (hubspot.com)

7 books on Social Media, Tech, Society related to read

DGuarda — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 10:04:16 +0000

7 Top Social Media, Tech, Society related books in my list!

The corridors of knowledge are always being populated by different evolution and trends passing by. Society with the advent of Social Media is going through a huge revolution but this is not something new. There has been an evolution and we are at this stage thanks to a lot of research, technological and social changes that have been there for long time, evolving. In a time of attention spam and where all of us read shorter and shorter, and are surrounded by a lot of fast real time information it is important to have good bases and sources to guide us through all the challenges we are going through in our daily lives.

In one hand we have tools such as Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, RSS feeds, Squidoo, Article Hus, Quora, Slideshare and other micro blogging / social sources. But within all these new sources of fast information, synthetised we need nevertheless to to go deeper and get some powerful literature that can guide us and explain better our challenges and questions.

So if we spend much of our time online reading small texts, articles and Tweets we need as well to read inspiring authors, authorities that have something of unique to say and have been writing or researching for a long time. That is what I do and always like to keep with me as much as possible food references that inspire me and guide me through this babel of information and fast changes.

The important is to keep a look at the bigger picture. Reading good authors and great books is is definitely the best way of getting insight in to industries especially in to one that is 360 degrees and affecting all other industries and business; and one that is as new as social media.

Bearing this in mind I decided to select 7 of my favorite books that I’ve read and although they cover different levels of research, knowledge are total relevant to understand the present times. The books are covering different industry areas of social media accelerating path we live. The idea of these books is to cover different angles and trust me all of them are worth a serious read.

In order to understand social media, tech, the present challenges in society you always should try to find your feet and the correct angle to look at things and the big shift of the always changing times of the present.

So this is my 7 top social media, tech and society related favorite list of books.

Andersen, Chris, The Long Tail, Hyperion, 2006

“The great thing about broadcast is that it can bring one show to millions of people with unmatchable efficiency. But it can’t do the opposite – bring a million shows to one person each. Yet that is exactly what the Internet does so well. The economics of broadcast era required hit shows – big buckets – to catch huge audiences. Serving the same stream to millions of people at the same time is hugely expensive and wasteful for a distribution network optimized for point-to-point communications.”

Brafman, Ori and Beckstrom, Rod A., The starfish and the spider: the unstoppable power of leaderless organizations, Penguin, 2006

“What fundamental choice put General Motors and Toyota on vastly different paths? How could winning a Supreme Court case be the biggest mistake MGM could have made? After five years of ground-breaking research, Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom share some unexpected answers, gripping stories, and a tapestry of unlikely connections. The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional “spiders,” which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary “starfish,” which rely on the power of peer relationships. The Starfish and the Spider explores what happens when starfish take on spiders (such as the music industry vs. Napster, Kazaa, and the P2P services that followed). It reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit to the US government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish principles to achieve success.”

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas, Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, Penguin, 2008

“luck perceived and disguised as nonluck (that is, skills), and randomness perceived and disguised as nonrandomness (that is, determinism). It manifests itself in the shape of the lucky fool, defined as a person who benefited from a disproportionate share of luck but attributes his success to some other, generally very precise, reason.” FBR was initially written as short stories around series of fictional characters. An irreverent introspective rumination on the deformations caused by randomness through literature, markets, philosophy, science, and mathematics, and a presentation of applied stoicism. It made many readers feel better about their comparative fate.”

Godin, Seth, Tribes, We Need You to Lead Us, Portfolio, 2008

“Tribes need leadership. (…) Tribes are about faith–about belief in an idea and in a community. (…) Leaders make a ruckus. (…) Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. (…) Most organizations spend their time marketing to the crowd. Smart organizations assemble the tribe.(…) The most important tribes are bored with yesterday and demand tomorrow. (…) Fans, true fans, are hard to find and precious. Just a few can change everything. What they demand, though, is generosity and bravery.”

Li, Charlene, Bernoff, Josh, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, Harvard Business Press, 2008

” (…) what people want from you—whether it is product information, reviews from users, customer service attention, or input into product development. As you develop your communication strategy, start small, concentrating on how to meet the needs of your audience. Identify the “realist/optimist” in your organization who can jumpstart the process. Craft metrics and communication policies that align with your business goals. And then “prepare to let go” of absolute control.”

Qualman, Erik, Socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business, John Wiley and Sons, 2009

“It’s all about the economy, stupid. No, it’s all about a people-driven economy, stupid. If anything, I hope that you have learned this from reading this book.(…) “marketers will need to create content (news, entertainment, and how-to information, for example) for their websites, not just advertising messages.” (…) What once took place only periodically around the watercooler [sic] is now happening in real time.”

Solis, Brian and Kutcher, Ashton, Engage!: the complete guide for brands and businesses to build, cultivate, and measure success in the new web, John Wiley and Sons, 2010

“with this book, you will find out how to:
Create a space in the online ecosystem that truly represents your business and cultivates your customers’ loyalty and trust
Participate in the unique culture of each available social media platform to engage your customers.
Establish an organizational structure that constantly targets the next new media trend.
Attract online champions and change agents who will uncover the social networks you need to reach and the influencers who will help build your reputation in the networked world.
Consistently adapt your company to market needs and trends based on the invaluable connections you forge and the empathy and insight you garner in the process.”

What Happens with the Social Media Revolution Ends? [Doug *interactive* Wolfgram] (ecademy.com)
http://www.briansolis.com/ (Brian Solis website)
http://www.socialnomics.net/about-erik-qualman/ (Socialnomics)

Globalisation, Social Media Terra Incognita Web

DGuarda — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:03:12 +0000

Terra incognita, web transparency and a new metaphoric globalisation!

Lately technology and web are making humanity go faster… too fast in this wide “Terra incognita” (the latin expression for Unknown land, territorry, used by ancient navigators for the mysterious areas under discovery). Although we live in a over mapped world that has powerful navigation such tools as Google Maps, GPS, Foursquare, Geo location devices the notion of “direction” has somehow disappeared from the reality maps. And a question we can ask is if we are trying to write reality and fiction as the same fact? Are we overwritting the concept of moving towards a notion, concept of paradise with invisible words, feelings and lack of understanding where to? It seems so, although at the same pace we are moving faster than in any time in history. And we are at the same time almost not moving, lost in the metaphoric sea of over information as overloaded broken greek sculpture with a weight of too much society layers, and over technology lost under the sea.

Are we part of a multiple fragmented civilisation near an unknown island, even having problems letting the most powerful wind of time speak? Mankind is kind of saying: “hope that the gods forgive me what I am doing (even i don’t know what i am doing)!”. And humanity somehow lost the faith in a unique God or global concept of God.

There is this obsession in trying to measure what is not measurable, and asking: how can I make measurable what is not so? In this will to go further the limits, almost loosing our direction in the data and neuroscience perception. Somehow we live in a fast highway and we are conscious that we are leading to an unknown version of destiny as perhaps never before in anytime in history. Though now we are doing that with a blind confidence in technology and sense of everything being possible if we just continue going. And that is the dangerous state of the present time; a blind knowledge and an unconscious materialisation of lacking ideals and goals. Where are we all driving?

It is impossible to subject everything to reason. It is mad to follow this tentative ability to form and operate upon concepts in abstraction emotions of an unknown source. Faith might have nothing mysterious or supernatural in it. Though somehow if we think for a while we violate everyday the principles of reason, in a demanding of spirituality, that materialises in the platforms, web, social media, exposure to data, real time information. We are part of a present civilisation that follows in an almost absurd gathering of a cult of a technological virtual digital sun? And are we sacrificing our basic needs of affect and sharing with it?

I believe we are not ridiculous. We are not ridiculous like a vision of a haunting dead blue ghost child walking in the edge of a skyscraper, immerse in the unknown lands of a cinematographic memory. Though if we think for a while we are aiming toward an over mapped and unmapped lands of the cartography of the far away planets that have not been found or documented (yet). Our collective social imagination is schizophrenic and we are producing imaginative scope geographies, characterising the geographical variation in some property of the emotions soil. We are somehow navigators of life living in urban ongoing deconvolution legends.

Using a poetic metaphor we are somehow poems by an unknown author being read in the way to go in high mountains regions of the mind with “here be dragons”… If fiction and reality are somehow the same thing I am probably having fantastic virtual beasts haunting in my shadows (including large serpents of radioactive silver in a gamification of society) moving in the most remote corners of the world and depicted such as decoration on their maps, looking in only one known surviving cartography, victim of circumstances.

Web and technology navigators still wondering, looking for here be dragons

Somehow as old navigators we are still wondering, looking for here be dragons seeing many strange faces in the crowd (“hic sunt dracones“) in this metaphoric terra incognita, this imaginary continent terra australis where both the coastlines and the inner parts of the continents had not been fully explored. We are in an unexplored subject or field of research, wondering what did we not map until now.

And the question is what did we bring of innovative projects to life? We are all part of a huge social media graph, part of a corporation responsible to nameless owners. And it is the continuum quantum of a process of love versus nihilism. We are a metaphoric society that forgot the power of dreaming because we forgot somehow to awake. And we are going towards an unknown destination working in the sort of big stone of life where grows a strong olive tree, in a tour moving in the fated thinking.

Yes we are lost in the big capitalism store of clichés, in the systematic cctv narrative of everything, in the relation of incidents, so sick of the terrible endings not caring to know if there is an answer!?

Did you stop to ask what happens when you take the bible, the hollywood narrative, and the pop chronology together. The hollow effect of a deconstruction it and reconstruct… the overall deconstruction in an electronic data blanket?

To summarise we live indeed in a time of Globalisation, Social Media in a Terra Incognita Web. The challenge is to be aware of this and find solutions to have a personal imagination, search for ideals, ideas and make sure we find within reality the right strategy to handle this always Unknown Territory that is life.

Dinis Guarda

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