Friday, May 23, 2008

Social media as collaboration

Chris Dorobek
I think blogs are part of of the collaborative landscape because they start a conversation -- a conversation among many different parties in a transparent way that can be transformative. My general take with blogs is that they are simply a step in this process. I don't think they are an end in and of themselves, but...they are a step. Frankly, I'm not sure they will be around in five or 10 years, but they are an important part in transforming the way we share information. After all, blogs are the great leveler. And I'll go back to Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz's point -- suddenly, one can share information across a much broader platform -- very easily. Anybody and everybody can be a publisher. And blogs are transparent. You share the same information with your boss, with your employees, with your partners, with your competitors, with your overseers. It is a big step is the notion that all of us are smarter then any one of us. And, for government, it is an enormous step in transparency, communication and openness.

Blogs can also start a conversation. With any luck, blogs can generate comments -- wisdom of the crowds.


I think business and civil service blogosphere will continue to grow. Social media will become, is becoming, a subset of PR and marketing, and will be so common we will take it for granted. Personal blogs may start to drift away. It is difficult to keep something up if you are not paid for it.

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