Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration

That, hopefully, might be the mantra for the recently formed coalition Government, here in the UK. I, for one, am hoping that it ushers in a new way for our political parties to work together in the best interests of our Great nation.

I’m a great believer in collaboartion and, believe it or not, we live in a collaborative world. If we, as humans, had not pulled together over 1000’s of years, we would not have developed into to the dominating species we have. Of course there have been, and continue to be, many saddening and illogical struggles and wars between mankind, but in general we are a collaborative species. We work well together. And long may it continue.

We all collaborate on a daily basis. We work well in teams because we collaborate. We work well in familes because we collaborate. I see collaboration working really well on a daily basis, from businesses collaborating on new products, to individuals coming together online to pool resources and create

On a much more mundane and micro level I am really excited about how technology, and in particular the web, can help us all be even more collaborative. From organising parties, to sharing documents, the web has, and continues to transform the way in which we collaborate with each other. Facebook, Twitter, Skype and LinkedIn make it so much easier to interact with our family, friends, colleagues, customers, suppliers.

We think nothing of organising a family get-together using only Facebook. We collaborate with colleagues on the other side of the world using Skype. We use Twitter to collaborate with customers, suppliers, friends and family. It’s all about collaborating.

What does intrigue me, though, is that so far we have seen little collaboration in the ecommerce space. Apart from Groupon.com (and the hundreds of clones) I have seen very little.

And now for some overt advertising – my company, Crowdbuy.com, is using the web to allow customers (YOU) to get together with your online connections to collaboratively buy stuff from reputable online stores. AND, because there’s a number of you buying, you all get a great discount – sounds good, doesn’t it?

But Crowdbuy.com is YOUR business. You decide who to buy with and what from which stores. These stores may not always be the cheapest – you may decide to buy from a store that you know has great customer service and after-sales care. Or, you may decide to go for the cheapest – it’s up to you.

You and your online connections decide where to buy which products.

So has does this all relate to the new UK Government? Well, I’m hoping that the spirit of cooperation and collaboration as witnessed at the start of this Govt will spark more online ecommerce collaboration where we all benefit

I’ve seen the future – and the future is collaborative….

It could well be…

Just thinking about how Google Wave could help communications and came up with a scenario for local Governement. Wave is apparently launching later this month and if all the hype is to be believed, I can see it helping to shift the way we communicate to a higher level. As always, we may not all use Google Wave, but if it is successful then the functionality will be seen across many areas of the interent in a very short time.

The scenario:
You are invited to attend an online consultation about the local Council’s plans to build a major new housing development, which will provide affordable housing. The meeting is going to be relatively short, about 45 minutes.

You start by viewing a short video about the development proposal and you look at interactive maps of the plans. You read associated snippets of documents. Then as the online consultation really gets underway, you join in discussions in realtime, along with other citizens, councillors, council officers and the developers.

During the discussions further snippets of document, images and video are added by the participants relating to the points that are discussed.  The facilitators focus the discussions on key themes. The discussions are fairly open and the facilitators invite you to take part in opinion polls as the discussions progress.

The facilitator brings the meeting to a close and thanks the participants for taking part. After the meeting you replay some of the discussions that took place and read through some of the threads that you missed during the meeting. A couple of days later the Council post a formal response to all the points which couldn’t be addressed in the meeting, in context within the original discussions.

Well I might be naive in thinking this type of consultation might actually happen, but it could signal a new way of open and transparent Government. Plus it could be a facilitators nightmare! But I can dream a little.

How awesome is this? All credit goes to MeetTheBoss for creating this visualization (better quality image available when you click through), but it was too good not to share it with you.

It’s a visual representation of Amazon’s acquisitions and investments from 1998 until its most recent purchase of Zappos for a reported $928 million.

The image shows the giant Internet retailer was extremely active in 1999 and 2001 and significantly scaled back investments and buy-outs after the dotcom bubble burst, but has been picking up the pace, particularly since last year.

Who will be next on the map? Let’s hope it’s Krowdbuy

Interesting video showing the potential for delivering a sixth-sense style internet experience with $350 of kit. And you know that the cost will just keep dropping…



Two surveys that I picked up on that draw somewhat different conclusions. First of all (via Marketing Charts) comes this study by WorkPlace Media which says that 96% of employed consumers won’t think less of a brand if it has no social media presence.

Moreover while 25% recommended a business or product on a social network, only 18% have actually acted on recommendations. Phew, that’s ok then, I knew all this social media business was all a bag of b*llocks. Switch off the computer and get some fresh air like most normal people!

Or maybe not. Another study by Nielsen involving 25,000 people in 50 countries shows that 90% of Internet consumers worldwide (so in the developed world, that’s most consumers full stop) trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% trust consumer recommendations posted online – I am assuming this means recommendations from people you don’t necessarily know via sites like TripAdvisor.

Information on brand websites elicits a high degree of trust at 70%, as does (as you’d expect) editorial endorsements at 69%. My take on the brand website score is that by the time people visit it, they are already at least curious about the product or service and so are looking for validation.

And at the bottom? Text ads on cell / mobile phones (24%) and the much maligned banner ad (33%). The point is that according to Nielsen, word of mouth online recommendations outstrip every other form of marketing and even a good (editorial) review in a newspaper or magazine.

Commenting on the study, Jonathan Carson, President of Online at Nielsen says: “The explosion in consumer generated media over the last couple of years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t has increased significantly.”

So going back to that first WorkPlace Media study, I wonder if it’s simply a case of how the questions are phrased. Most consumers won’t think less of you if you don’t have a social media presence….and so what? Will they however think *better* of you if you communicate with them online?

And if the stat of only 18% having acted on online recommendations is true (I doubt it), that’s still arguably a very high number in a recession filled climate where margins turn on single percentage points.

Interesting article in eMarketer

It’s hip to be square.

If you want your brand to be associated with young people, then image isn’t everything, at least not according to a study by MTV Networks, the long-time arbiter of cool—and what’s hot—among young audiences.

For the study, Internet users ages 12 to 24 in five countries—Germany, India, Japan, the UK and the US—were surveyed.

According to respondents ages 18 to 24, the most popular features of a brand were good quality, trustworthiness and workability—three traits not usually associated with the stereotypical image of free-wheeling youth.

Less important were image, history and the brand’s popularity. The approval of friends was at the bottom of the list.

How the brands were discovered was also important.

Sixty-five percent of the teens and young adults surveyed felt seeing a brand on TV created a sense of quality, though how much varied from country to country. Seventy-seven percent of respondents in India thought TV equaled brand quality, followed by residents of the UK, US, Japan and Germany.

In each country, a majority of respondents reported that the Internet makes choosing brands easier.

The data highlights the “need to engage in comprehensive 360-degree campaigns,” said Jules Robinson of Viacom Brand Solutions International.

In other words, marketers need to advertise brands on both TV and the Internet. Not exactly new news, but it never hurts to reinforce the thought.

This is great news!

Reading a short article at GrowthBusiness which shows that in a recent study that a quarter of 18 – 25 year olds are inspired more by Richard Branson and Alan Sugar than they are by the likes of Paris Hilton. It seems that the ‘reality’ TV shows The Apprentice and Dragon’s den do make a difference as to how enterpreneurs are viewed in the UK and this can only be good for all our futures.

Just reading an interesting article about the possibility of a having a 4 hour working day. Now, I don’t know about you but I think that is both impractical and not very welcome.

I like to work long hours, I like to spend time with my family, I like to do sports, I like to socialise but I can already do all that without thinking that I should be working less. Sure, time is a precious commodity – we can’t take it with us, we can’t make any more of it, we just have to spend it wisely (Who said time was money?) but surely as a Nation we should be advocating people spend more productive hours working effectively rather than  trying to do more in less time.

Having said that, I do agree with a lot of the comments made in the article, especially around productivity and goal setting. Spending a lot of my time online, I use RescueTime to measure my usage which works well for me and allows me to track my online activities.

Reading a very interesting article at BrandRepublic discussing the merits of spotify. Silly name but you’ll probably remember it, right? Spotify is a streaming music service that I use.

But it got me thinking – do I really want, or need, to own the music I listen to? Do I want to pay for having that track on my iPod etc. I’ve come the conclusion that I don’t.

Now, I know there’ll be lots of people thinking “Of course I need to download music, how else will I get it on my iPod, my mobile etc – how else can I listen to my favourite tracks on the way to work or down the gym?” Let me ask you a question – How many of those places do not have WiFi and / or mobile 3G coverage? Not many I’ll bet. So, why not stream your favourite tracks to your MP3 player without having to download them?

We live in a constantly connected world so why not just listen to the music you like without purchasing and downloading each track.

Spotify is a desktop app at the moment, and it’s free if you don’t mind the occassional short ad, but I’m guessing it won’t be long before they get a mobile version and I for one will welcome it. And of course there are other streaming services like Last.fm so maybe now we should ditch the idea of paying for tracks and just stream them.

Hamburger chain McDonald’s has reacted with ire to a new neon sign outside a Swedish strip club in southern Sweden.

McDonald’s argues that the sign used to invite patrons to “McDragan’s Drive In!” strip tease bar in Edsvära near Falköping, is far too similar to its own logo and have demanded that it be removed without delay.

Last time I saw the golden arches, it didn’t have two little nipples at the top of it did it?

Guess this may be one place where you may not want to super size