I think the idea is great. And I think it may be a road towards more sustainable production. That many business move away from the cheap volume markets and look towards servicing the needy customers with real quality and real value. It adds transparency and authenticity to the market place. And it brings good use to the thousands of dedicated social networks springing up everywhere online.

That’s exactly what they have done in Boston, where an iPhone App lets citizens record and transmit issues they observe around town directly to City Hall for them to take action. And where every issue is recorded with a tracking code, so the citizen reporting it can follow the progress of resolution - a very good way of keeping the bureaucrats on their toes and enforce dialogue about prioritization.

Expand it to other platforms than the iPhone and to other cities, and with very little incremental effort you have something that will really work as an enabler for civic life - and ultimately greater quality of life. Isn’t it just beautiful?

Historically being unable to read set you back compared to the ones, who mastered the skill. You lost opportunity. Maybe even missed out on a good life. Going forward not being able to grasp the online tools and navigate a connected world, will set you back. You need to constantly assess and optimize your skills. And schools - and courses for adults - need to ensure that web iliteracy becomes a bump in the road and not a full stop wall. It’s possibly one of the best ROI things, we can do for society.

Not only does the people looking to hire want you to know something about social media - they actually want proven results in terms of a defined minimum number of followers on Twitter, friends on Facebook and a specific PageRank. It’s the equivalent of saying: “Show us that you not only talk the talk but also walk the walk”.

I’m wondering if the transparency that the web brings along will make this even more commonplace going forward? If it does I think it will be a good thing, as it will help to substantiate the value of what people bring to a business and thus optimize the opportunity for same people to add value to the company and its customers.

One could argue that given that  the traditional media business model relied on a monopoly of distribution, it was never a valid business model on the long term anyway, and as such media existed in its own bubble. If you add to that the editorial principle of editing the news, aka ‘This is what we decided’ to bring to you today, you may have the contour of a basically phoney industry creating both its own news and demand for same.

If media as we traditionally know them is a phoney business, should we mourn their demise?

ReadWriteWeb recently compiled a list of things you need to consider in order to build an insanely great web service. My argument would be that the list really fits on a lot of other stuff as well, so do yourself a favour and check it out. And make sure you comply with the advice given - because they are so true.

I ask because it seems like everybody think that we can all optimize our presence online. We can all stand out and be noted in search engines, social networking sites and on the various services that clutter the web.

But we tend to forget that what the web gives, the web can take away. If we’re not cool enough, we will get buried. We will disappear under myriads of data, and it’s unlikely we will ever be found unless by a chance encounter. Yes, the competition for attention out there is so heavy.

So what do you need to be cool enough to win?

Well, you need to be cool as a person. Someone who stands out. Someone who holds his head high and have something to contribute being it original ideas, passion for getting involved or just a big heart - anything out of the ordinary really.

Or your company or product need to be cool as in ‘great’. These times are not for empty promises. Those who deliver on their promises win. The web will help take care of that. The rest will be forgotten. And it will all be good.

So get your act together. Now.

Yes, is the claim by Jevon MacDonald et al, who have - for the very same reason - started a business, where they focus on social business design. The basic principle, as I understand it, is to think social tools, collaboration and everything online allows us to do into how processes and flows for business are thought out and executed on. An interesting idea.

There is especially one piece of the thinking I like: The idea about turning database entries into events. How unimportant it may seem, I actually think it could have a deep impact on creating a more social kind of business. Because while we tend to forget about data sitting in databases, once we have gotten them in there, the very concept of an event suggests something that we share, work on together and keep coming back to.

I’ll be interested in seeing how the work progresses. I’m not sure I’m to keen on the measurement regime being suggested, as I think being social and being measured are two worlds apart. But I might be mistaken there.

To me it’s about making data personal. If I get data and recommendations - ads, even - presented in a way where it’s being personalized to me and it doesn’t speak corporate mumbo-jumbo, I’ll think it’s ok. If I can get that feeling that what I really have is a personal digital assistant looking out for things that might be beneficial for me or that I might even need, I’ll be happy.

Thus I’ll be firmly on the Dr. Jekyll side. But it will also take a change of attitude on behalf of the companies, we entrust with the data. They need to give up on being greedy and exploit the data, because greed is shortsighted and will ultimately destroy value. But I have serious doubts whether they will ever see it that way.

One such example is Docking@Home, which is an iniative that uses your surplus computing power towards getting closer to a cure for HIV. While you’re not using your computer, the scientists can use your spare processing power for analyzing molecules and hopefully finding ones that can bring a cure closer. Now, is that making a difference? And you don’t really have to do anything about it.

What are you waiting for?