CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-25 00:39:24 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

WordPress maker, Automattic just announced a $50-million dollar investment that's structured to provide short-term cash to employees and early investors while still enabling it to remain focused on the "long road ahead." 

Automattic is a very interesting company, with a strong mission-focus. That focus has been critical to their success - today WordPress software powers 1-in-5 websites. 

In this article I look at why today's deal is important to keeping Automattic focused on its mission and its stakeholders. In other words, how this deal keeps Automattic, a "regenerative business."

2013-05-24 15:16:36 (18 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

I'm never shopping at Restoration Hardware.

Restoration Hardware continues to think we're back in the late 1800's, shipping massive paper catalogs to people who don't want them. This is the second year they've done this. Last year's mailing was over 3 pounds. This year's weighs in at 6.4 pounds (2.9 kilograms) of paper. My sister got this the other day too, and I'm really wondering just how massive a waste of resources this is. 

Now the weight of the mailing has more than doubled in size. This sucks. These guys need to stop this business practice. I refuse to shop at a retailer who thinks and acts this way. 

I complained about this last year, and could have sworn I unsubscribed from their mailing list: 
https://plus.google.com/u/0/105103058358743760661/posts/eUZ3R6FwTdC

So, if you're getting this mailing, anddon... more »

2013-05-24 04:03:19 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

2013-05-24 01:55:31 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

More than 50,000 users have added +B Corporation to their circles here on +Google+! Thank you for supporting this global movement of people using the power of business as a force for good! 

2013-05-24 00:42:57 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

The Key to Creating Value in Business

Creating value is the essence of business. But sometimes we lose sight of what value really is. We turn it into an abstract concept – a kind of business-speak – and when we do, we lose that tangible sense of what it actually means to create value in business.

The truth is, value is something quite real and quite concrete. If you want to understand how to create value in your business, think about being of service. All products of real value are embedded with specific ways of serving customers. Through that service, value is created.

That which serves, creates value.

Stop for a moment and think of something you own that you really value. Take off your business hat and see yourself as someone else’s customer. It may be a great pen that fits perfectly in your hand, the satisfaction you get from your iPad, or the joyyou g... more »

2013-05-22 23:48:14 (8 comments, 3 reshares, 23 +1s)

Emotional Intelligence can be a stronger #Leadership differentiator than pure intellect

2013-05-22 20:36:25 (25 comments, 7 reshares, 24 +1s)

Conversational Search is now live on Chrome, and it is waay cool. It's also available on Google Now for Android devices. This really is one of those upgrades that creates a qualitative shift in user experience. This weekend, I simply said "OK Google, where's Star Trek?" and it not only found the nearest theaters - it spoke them to me. And I was asking about Star Trek as my first query. Now that's life imitating art.

Nice article, +Danny Sullivan 

#ConversationalSearch  
#GoogleNow  

2013-05-22 14:45:58 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

The latest from The Vital Edge: an overview of stakeholder theory and the three ways people justify adopting its principles.

In the end, having the right operating system for business requires that we come to terms with the two competing views of fairness we wrestle with as a society. Our egalitarian notion of fairness says we each have intrinsic worth and dignity that must be protected, while our libertarian notion of fairness tells us effort matters and that we should be better compensated when we work harder than others.

This tension is valuable. As a society, we need both understandings of fairness. By better representing the diversity of interests in a firm, I believe stakeholder theory comes closest to a set of practical principles for maintaining this kind of balance in business. Getting that right embeds this healthy tension into the engines that drive our economy, where... more »

2013-05-20 02:37:30 (38 comments, 1 reshares, 23 +1s)

Sleep - Who Needs It?

Researchers (connected to the US military, of course) are testing whether we really need as much sleep as we currently are accustomed to. They're testing technologies to make our sleeptime more efficient. 

Having 50% more “conscious lifetime” might sound like an appealing proposition to anyone with a hectic schedule. This could be achieved not necessarily by living longer, but by cutting down on the biggest time-waster of all: Sleep. Living life at 150% is an interesting proposal, but as Jessa Gamble debates in her essay at Aeon Magazine, “are we brave enough to embrace it?”

Would you embrace it? 
http://www.nextnature.net/2013/05/the-pursuit-of-debunking-sleep/

2013-05-19 21:43:18 (12 comments, 5 reshares, 34 +1s)

Apple just seems to be a little less shiny these days. A few quick observations from three unconnected experiences: 

* Google's I/O extravaganza really seems to have changed the perception of what's cool, stealing some of Apple's former polish, I think. 

* The other day we were waiting for a table for dinner and popped over to the nearby Apple Store. It was pretty much empty, and it for the first time I thought to myself: "wow, this stuff feels kind of dated." I mentioned it to my 12 and 14-year-old sons and they completely agreed. 

* A few days later we were eating out again, and our waitress, whom I'm guessing was probably around 22 years old saw my wife's Android phone and said "awh....my mom just got one. I so wish I could get one of those. I'm still just stuck with my iPhone." Then she waxed on about how cool Android was -an... more »

2013-05-19 01:49:19 (22 comments, 6 reshares, 25 +1s)

Don't like multi-column layout in your stream? You can revert back to single-column layout. Just click "Home" then at the top of the screen select the "More" link and scroll all the way down to the bottom and you'll see this little toggle. 

(if you're getting a notification, it's because a long time ago, you plussed a post where I asked permission to notify you on Google+ Tips - let me know if you want off -)

#googleplustips  

2013-05-18 15:30:19 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 20 +1s)

Leave it to someone like +martin shervington to bring a techno-psychological frame to Google Glass. Reading this post just now gave me one of those disruptive peaks at just how close we might be to some very big breakthroughs in the human experience. 

Sharing ideas just by thinking may not be very far away…

This is an important read. 
#GoogleGlass  
#AugmentedReality  
#soul  

2013-05-17 15:33:16 (20 comments, 6 reshares, 30 +1s)

When you're on someone's profile page, and you click a #hashtag  on one of their posts, you should first see all the posts with that same hashtag from that person. 

For example, when I'm looking on +Thomas Morffew's page, and I click on a #contentmarketing  tag, I should be able to quickly browse through all his posts about that topic. Once I'm done with all those (or if there aren't any), then show me posts from other people. 


This would be incredibly useful and it would encourage more rapid adoption, I think. It would also get us a bit closer to +Jeff Sayre's "channels" idea. (https://plus.google.com/u/0/112526081195315983895/posts/bCJuCAMZcQM)

+Chris Messina, perhaps you all already thought of this and rejected the idea for some reason I'm not seeing. I think it'd be super cool though.

#sha... more »

2013-05-17 01:41:51 (13 comments, 3 reshares, 25 +1s)

Thanks to everyone who requested an invite to preview the new Google Maps. We’re happy to announce we’ve just let in the first group of users from around the world. If you haven’t gotten your invite yet, don’t worry. We’ll be rolling it out to more people in the coming days and weeks.

To those who have joined the preview, welcome! You can learn more about the new features by checking out this short series of "How To" videos: http://goo.gl/RgKEe

We’re always looking for ways to improve Google Maps, and you can help by clicking the button in the upper-right corner of the map and giving us feedback.

And if you haven’t requested an invite yet, we’d love to have you to try it out. Visit maps.google.com/preview to sign up. 

#newgooglemaps #io13

2013-05-17 01:07:24 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

Placed-based software is becoming a reality - indoors. Meridian is a very strong player in the indoor mapping world. Their new solution allows businesses to set up "geo-fenced" zones so that they can push notifications to customers' mobile devices as they move about their premises. 

Some musings on where this could go:
http://www.alchemyofchange.net/place-is-a-tag/
http://www.alchemyofchange.net/place-based-networks/

2013-05-16 23:14:54 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

this is one of the best laughs me and +Penny Power have had in ages just enjoy all you Mums and Dads out there nite nite xx

2013-05-16 18:01:08 (37 comments, 1 reshares, 20 +1s)

Goodbye Rhapsody. We hardly knew ya.

The new Google Play Music is pretty darned awesome: 
https://play.google.com/music

* Access to a wide selection for an all-you-can-eat monthly subscription
* Ability to upload your own music
* Easy to use
* Useful social integration w/ Google+
* Excellent usability on Android phones

All of that's great, but I just love, love, love my little Rhapsody-backed Sansa mp3 player. It allows me to play pretty much whatever music I want, wherever I want...even if there's no wifi. I love it so much that - rather ironically - I just published an article using it as an example of how businesses create value. It's just way, way better than the Apple lock-in, own-it-to-play-it scenario. 

So, pretty much the first thing I looked at was whether or not Google's Play Music would allow me to cache thea... more »

2013-05-16 18:06:23 (12 comments, 2 reshares, 18 +1s)

Creating value is the essence of business. But sometimes we turn value into an abstract concept – a kind of business-speak. The truth is, value is something quite real and quite concrete. All products of real value are embedded with specific ways of serving customers. Through that service, value is created.

Read more from the latest article on The Vital Edge...

2013-05-15 20:08:20 (15 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

So, What Do You Think About the New Google+?

So I have played with it for well over an hour. I think there are many positives and a few negatives. The biggest negative is it will be a change and people will complain that it is too busy. I think there is a ton going on and it might be too much for some people.

I am starting to like the fact that it is not auto update. This reminds me of Twitter in that I can do some work without having the stream go 100 mph. I am certain they fixed this because of the "jumping" issue they had with Google+ 1.0. 

I absolutely love that you can now see post activity. I think that can be huge when it comes to building relationships with those who engage on your posts. I also like the fact that hashtags are autogenerated. I think most people who are new to social media have no idea what hashtags to use.

I am still... more »

2013-05-15 19:10:56 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 18 +1s)

G+ What's Hot Serves Based On Gender

I heard a rumour this morning that if your profile is set to male, you'll get different What's Hot (Explore) content than if you're set to female.

So I opened a tab with my profile which was set to female, and from that opened a fresh tab with WH.  Then I immediately changed my profile to male and opened another WH tab to compare as closely in time as possible the difference.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

When I'm a girl, I get piles of those graphical platitudes I hate.  I have understood all along why +EcoSnark gets those more than my real profile, because she shares them to her NerdSmacked community to make fun of them (see https://plus.google.com/communities/117382348426379346016 ).  I don't plus them or share them, but they're always there.  I loathe them and it's why I have had theslide... more »

2013-05-10 22:03:44 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

Twenty-four minutes of +Robert Scoble talking about some very interesting trends in the technology of context. Much of it has to do with the explosion in sensor technology, as we gain a finer and finer grained understanding of the world around us via software. 

Long, but worth watching. Thanks for the pointer to this, +Alex Schleber. 

2013-05-10 17:37:39 (11 comments, 3 reshares, 11 +1s)

LOCAL BUSINESS PAY ATTENTION TO GOOGLE MAPS
Reviews are now more important than ever.

New Google Maps interface leaks ahead of Google I/O conference.

If this move doesn't demonstrate that Google+ is not another social networking site and that it should no longer be compared to Facebook or Twitter, I don’t know what else to say.

-----------
#googleplusupdate   #googlemaps   #io13   #localbusinessmarketing   #googlepluslocal   #mobilemarketing  

2013-05-09 19:45:41 (19 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

Why Your Business Needs a Social Impact Strategy

Most business people are used to thinking of strategy as a way to generate money, but not so much as a way to create societal impact.

Without good strategy, your social mission will likely fall flat on its face. It might still make you look good, but you’ll be wasting resources - and more importantly – you’ll be throwing away an opportunity to use your company’s resources in a way that makes the world a better place.

What’s more, without a strategy to integrate them, your efforts to create social impact will be disconnected from your revenue generating activities – and that will make them unsustainable over time.

Impact Strategy is Tough

Building strategy for social impact is difficult.

Social impact strategy is also an area where the business sector could learn a lotfrom the no... more »

2013-05-09 14:43:15 (19 comments, 3 reshares, 26 +1s)

How Many People See Your Google+ Images?

Here's a how-to. Thanks to +Peter G McDermott and +Alex Schleber for turning me on to this.

1) Click on your photo
2) Select "Options" in lower left of the screen
3) Select "Photo Details"
4) On the far right, you'll see a number next to "Views" 

That's the number of views for your image. What does this mean exactly? That's a really good question. My guess is that it's how many times the image is served up, so it includes stream views, page views and notification views. But I'd be eager to hear others' interpretation. 

2013-05-09 03:50:50 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

John Hagel and John Seely Brown write about a new hardware revolution at the heart of the "maker movement."   It's nice to see this kind of coverage in the business press.

2013-05-09 00:07:35 (6 comments, 6 reshares, 12 +1s)

The six dimensions of social-media-literate leadership
How you can keep up with organizational social-media literacy

The leader as a:
1. Producer : creating compelling content
2. Distributor : leveraging dissemination dynamics
3. Recipient : managing communication overflow
4. Adviser & Orchestrator : driving strategic social-media utilization 
5. Architect : creating and enabling organizational infrastructure
6. Analyst : staying ahead of the curve

More: rolanddeiser.com/source/Six%20social-media%20skills_Deiser-Newton_2013.pdf by +Roland Deiser and Sylvain Newton 

2013-05-08 20:26:40 (10 comments, 8 reshares, 12 +1s)

Customer Impact and Customer Mission

Every product and every service has a quintessence, or “fifth element” that connects it to a deeper purpose and its customer mission.

http://www.the-vital-edge.com/mission-driven-business/customer-impact/

2013-05-08 15:03:41 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Version 1.4 is out now! Grab it while its hot :) Update include options to reorder the tabs and choose what one is default now. Among other bug fixes and updates.

2013-05-07 21:56:00 (8 comments, 2 reshares, 19 +1s)

Google+ Interactive Posts: No Comment(s)

Google+ Interactive Posts don't play nicely with Google+ Comments - at least not on WordPress. I'm using both features on my website, and the problem is that when you share a page using an Interactive Post (the Call To Action button shown in the below picture), it doesn't appear to be recognized as a sharing of your page by Google+ Comments. 

Why is that a problem? Because the main reason to use Google+ Comments on your website is to get a lot of engagement showing up on your site. Until this is fixed, you forgo that engagement when you share your page using the Interactive Post.

For me, the traffic bump from Google+ Comments is worth a lot more than that from an Interactive Post. So while these Call To Action buttons are cool, until this problem is fixed, I would caution you against using Interactive Posts ifyo... more »

2013-05-07 16:09:34 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Circlers wanted.

There's a friendly and intelligent Australian chap I know called +Adam Johnson who's having a few issues with his circles. To be honest with you, I'm shocked that he doesn't have more people circling him.

How about we remedy that?

He's all about good conversation and good business. He interacts, makes good comments and is generally a good bloke to have in your circles. Go circle him up and you won't regret it.

>>> +Adam Johnson 

#recommended  

2013-05-07 12:59:31 (9 comments, 26 reshares, 69 +1s)

Most business people are used to thinking of strategy as a way to generate money, but not so much as a way to create societal impact. Here's why "social impact strategy" is tough to develop, but absolutely critical for mission-driven businesses. 

2013-05-04 22:58:37 (21 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

Golly. Just what we need.

...Once the file is online, anyone will be able to download and print the gun in the privacy of their garage, legally or not, with no serial number, background check, or other regulatory hurdles. “You can print a lethal device,” Wilson told me last summer. “It’s kind of scary, but that’s what we’re aiming to show.”

2013-05-04 22:52:22 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 13 +1s)

Awesome transforming robot. Well done video too.

h/t: +Ralph Gauthier

2013-05-04 17:22:53 (4 comments, 5 reshares, 12 +1s)

This is a wonderful speech on the passage of marriage equality legislation in New Zealand. 

2013-05-04 15:43:37 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 10 +1s)

I haven't shared this circle in quite a while ... 136 Awesome Gentlemen
Here are guys who reside in my inner circle.  Given that I have about 2,000 guys in my circles, this is special, but in now way diminishes any dudes I may have left out.
These are the men who interact with me regularly and nourish my soul.
Thanks guys!

2013-05-04 01:19:51 (25 comments, 13 reshares, 41 +1s)

The Battle to Define "Social Business": A David and Goliath Story

Checking out Interactive posts from my WordPress website. 

2013-05-04 00:48:55 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 18 +1s)

Bruce Sterling tries on Google Glass in Berlin.

#brucesterling   #nextconf   #berlin   #euromaestro  

Bruce Sterling helped define the cyberpunk genre with his Mirrorshades anthology. I met up with this epic science fiction author in Berlin at nextconf 2013 for an interview.  

In addition to his many science fiction novels, he is known for his blog “Beyond the Beyond” which he is been writing for almost 10 years now and which is hosted by Wired.
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/ 

We started with the usual introductory comments and I was immediately impressed with his intelligence and the power of his expressions.  Our first topic of conversation was about the European start-up scene and how it differed from Route 128 and Silicon Valley. Although that part of the conversation made me uncomfortable, I knew he was right. 
We ... more »

2013-05-03 20:26:15 (25 comments, 24 reshares, 57 +1s)

Boy, this is a fascinating look at game developer, Valve by Yanis Varoufakis. There are no bosses at Valve. People decide what to work on based on who else is working on the project and how exciting the project is. When they find a project that looks interesting, they simply move their desk (all of the desks are wheels to facilitate easy movement). Sound like chaos? Perhaps, but Varoufakis does a great job of situating the Valve experiment into the history of the corporation and market economics, postulating that this type of venture may well be the future of organizational design. 

I'm not convinced, but I want to learn more. These folks aren't too far from where I live, so over this next six month or so, I'm going to try to investigate more fully. In the meantime, some of you might enjoy this piece. 

+Gregory Esau, +John Kellden and +John Hagel  - I'm looking atyou.... more »

2013-05-03 14:08:12 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

This is a wonderfully open reassessment of a mother and a life, by +Jennifer Sertl. Sweet and poignant but also quite powerful because it is so honest. 

Several years ago, while on a leadership training, I was asked to share a very difficult life experience with others in a small breakout group. We all took turns, and I was shocked by how each and every one of had struggled with something that was really quite difficult. We each had our own dragon in our cave. I remember distinctly feeling much more connected to each of these people, seeing them simultaneously for who they were at that point in time as well as the child within. It was a powerful exercise, and it takes a lot of courage. 

So here's to you, Jennifer, for sharing your dragon with us in such a beautiful way. 

Thanks to you too, +John Hagel for flagging this to my attention. 

2013-05-02 23:14:32 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 11 +1s)

Some good stats and advice on Facebook engagement. 

2013-05-02 04:01:50 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

An Easy Way to Follow 50 Social Enterprise Leaders on Twitter

Thanks to the sleuthing of The Guardian, I was able to put together a Twitter List for tweets from 50 top tweeters on social enterprise. 

Here was the source article: 
http://socialenterprise.guardian.co.uk/social-enterprise-network/blog/2013/apr/30/twitter-social-enterprise-lady-gaga

Here's the list you can subscribe to:
https://twitter.com/TheVitalEdge/social-enterprise

And while you're at it, why not follow The Vital Edge on Twitter? 
https://twitter.com/TheVitalEdge

Special thanks to +David Connor for the pointer to the Guardian article. 

2013-05-01 18:44:33 (11 comments, 2 reshares, 56 +1s)

Fun with textbooks. These kids give me hope...
http://www.studentbeans.com/worldweirdweb/a/wins/22-geniously-defaced-textbooks-exam-papers4230.html

2013-05-01 18:07:01 (11 comments, 27 reshares, 50 +1s)

LinkedIn making it's user profiles more visually compelling. 

Eye candy for everyone, everywhere. 

2013-05-01 13:53:05 (29 comments, 4 reshares, 29 +1s)

Google+ Comments Now Integrated with Facebook, Disqus and WordPress Comments - on WordPress

Just last week, I installed the Google+ Comments for WordPress plugin by +Brandon Holtsclaw: 
 http://www.cloudhero.net/gplus-comments

I must say that I've been pleased as punch by this thing and it is evolving like crazy as Brandon makes ongoing tweaks to it. The latest and greatest is the fact that it now supports display of Facebook Comments, Disqus Comments and native WordPress Comments (oh yeah, and trackbacks). I'm not absolutely thrilled with the latest layout of the tabs, which are now vertical as this morning. (See image). I prefer the original (from yesterday!) which positioned them horizontally across the top of the comments section. 

If you want to see it in action, here's a post from yesterday with it: h... more »

2013-04-30 23:58:18 (18 comments, 1 reshares, 20 +1s)

Is your Social Media activity on autopilot?

Thompson said that "anything worth doing is worth doing right" - and that's 100% true when it comes to social media. While there will continue to be debate on "right" methods and "best" methods, there is little debate over the wrong methods.

In other words, if you're using social media wrong than you may as well not be using social media.

I have received a lot of questions recently about how one might automate their social media activity and the bottom line answer is don't! Don't automatically share your blog posts. Don't automatically share other people's content. Invest the time needed to make your social media activity genuine and engaging and it will pay off.

There are certainly some instance where automation and tools are great, and I talk about a... more »

2013-04-30 14:46:39 (12 comments, 3 reshares, 14 +1s)

Last summer I was invited to moderate a panel at the massive Dreamforce conference put on by Salesforce.com each year. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had inadvertently stepped into a David and Goliath struggle for the meaning of “social enterprise.”

2013-04-29 18:35:26 (43 comments, 12 reshares, 23 +1s)

Nothing like getting into the muck, Zuck. 

2013-04-29 16:48:29 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 13 +1s)

The courage of leadership

Watch the video clip of Maurice “Mo” Cheeks, then the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, as he helps a young girl who was stumbling while singing the the Star-Spangled Banner. What makes a man step forward like that? 

Leadership, true leadership like what he's displaying here, takes courage - a courage fueled by a willingness to put others first. Very powerful. 

2013-04-27 17:02:10 (2 comments, 7 reshares, 19 +1s)

Developers may be losing interest in the Facebook platform. I say may because it seems the conclusions here are based on anecdotal evidence.

The article outlines some thoughts on why this may be so.

Where are they going? iOS and Android.

2013-04-27 16:44:30 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

Embracing the magic and enchantment of unforeseeable opportunity - Stuart Kauffman reflects on the role of magic in evolution