Late in 2011 Google launched Authorship home page and Author stats within Google Webmaster Tools. It's widely used, and also not necessarily wisely used based on the few articles I see about the Authorship stats. In this post I'll just cover the basics, because to be honest I'm no expert. But what I have found for my own use I will share. (You can find expert diagnosis from people such as AJ Kohn and here from Mark Traphagen.) Presuming that you have set up Google authorship and let's explore a little. First thing that you'll see is the search statistics for pages for which you are the verified author. Learn more about verifying authorship. For example for me you can see... Continue reading

One of the most common hesitations I see with businesses wishing to deploy more social techniques of engagement is their hang-up about making a video. This example from Google strikes me as the perfect example of a "social business" video i.e. the "casual" video for social engagement with an invisible professional touch. I see this reticence whether the discussion is about making videos for internal use (for enterprise social networks) or for external consumption somewhere on the social web. The argument is usually polarised and runs like this: "We need to professionally present our business and have it professionally made and that will cost us $3,000 per video, I know that because I have just spoken to the video people we... Continue reading

Just 19 words recently attributed to Grant King CEO Origin Energy portend the implosion of electricity network operators. Lost in a large glowing article on the benefits of solar energy those 19 words were simply washed away in the deluge of daily information flow. Learn below why those words were simply one step in ten steps towards the commercial demise of the power grid operators. It's not the electricity network failing but the commercial failure of the power grid business Firstly, let's set the scene. I did not say that the grid is headed for failure. It could fail, as the ultimate outcome, but that's not my point here. Firstly the private companies responsible for the electricity transmission and distribution grid... Continue reading

The Wave of Analog-to-Digital (A2D) Disruption brings a level of accessibility to a new level for the masses, and at rapidly diminishing cost points, and feeds that information back into the global digital networks with massive consequences for incumbents. Continue reading

Not I don't mean the drinking bar, but the legal Bar. When Chief Justice of Victoria Marilyn Warren recently appointed 21 new Senior Counsel to the Victorian Bar she gave some words of advice (Australian Financial Review December 7, 2012, p33). It is brilliant advice, and something which I think business leaders, political leaders in particular, and Association leaders should heed. She said "there are four matters which I ask you to remember": You have been universally recognised as a person of the utmost integrity. Maintain your reputation. Appear in cases or give advice in matters that warrant the involvement of senior counsel. There is an expectation underlying your appointment that you are needed for the more complex and difficult matters... Continue reading

When I received a note from my 2nd daughter asking me to delete all photos of her children from Facebook of course I agreed. there have been some really disturbing cases on FB recently of people taking other peoples photos of children and posting them on pages... She asked if I would be asking the same of others in regard to my newest daughter (aged 2 1/2), and I replied "based on what I know at this time - no". Here are three reasons that, based on what I know at this time, I won't be asking anyone to delete photos of my daughter, nor restricting who can see them. I'll start with the least contentious and "work up": Firstly, each... Continue reading

I was surprised today to see relatively little in the tweetstream in Australia about Facebook's achievement in reaching 1 billion users. I had to search to find comments as they weren't streaming through, and then I also discovered that about half the comments were sceptical or negative, which surprised me. It's a massive achievement, with big implications for business and enterprise IT. Here are 5 - off the top of my head. They are not very well researched - forgive me - but at least I'm putting out thought-starters about the implications of Facebook's achievement. 1. The power of the smartest combination of technology, technologists, business strategy and execution It demonstrates how dramatically the smart choice of technology and business models... Continue reading

When Harvey Norman founder and Chairman Gerry Harvey launched a barrage of criticism of the “Internet” at the release of his most recent financial year results I couldn’t help reading on. In fact I was intrigued to read on. Why was I intrigued to read on? Well there are a number of reasons. Firstly because having been labelled a “dinosaur” for his previous “Internet denial” e.g. online retail, and having now started an online store he now has real online experience, and yet still decries the potential of that mode of selling – I wanted to see why. Secondly, he IS a very successful retail business founder and owner – he’s often epitomized as one of the great Australian retail success... Continue reading

I was intrigued by two opposing views coming out of TechCrunch Disrupt this week - one saying that start-ups have an “unfair advantage” in the enterprise market and the other that "tech start-ups needed to find new opportunities away from traditional technology". Yammer founder David Sacks, the holder of the latter view, says that "technology is too mature for entrepreneurs to be trying to upset the big boys". "Don’t try to disrupt the redwoods", he told an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. On the other hand Box co-founder Aaron Levie said in his view, the enterprise market isn’t just getting "sexy" today, but it's actually now a very attractive market for start-ups. The traditional enterprise vendors, after all, are... Continue reading

On the 10th of January 2012 The Next Web noted how "David Bowie’s 2002 predictions about the future of music were pretty close". Bowie predicted, in 2002, that "The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it". Furthermore, as he rounded out his predictions he said something which really struck me, just as powerful as the predictions themselves: "But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen". The day before, in Forbes, Larry Downes wrote about Best Buy (The People vs. Best Buy, Round Two) where he described the reaction to his... Continue reading