The fight between the free market and the followed market is about to begin. And the way to bet is on the free market, because it’s what we know works best. Also because the followed market is nuts. It only persists because it’s normative at the moment, and an enormous sum of investment is going… Continue reading Free vs. Followed
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Name the Pink Elephants
There is a pink elephant in the room not a small one either There is a enormous pink elephant on the couch between us and yet we both continue to ignore it… – Sammi When we ‘accept’ terms of service ‘agreements’ we engage in this ceremony, ‘accept’ (as though we have a choice) contract terms… Continue reading Name the Pink Elephants
Free customers are the new platform
Doc Searls keynoted the European Identity and Cloud Conference in April, 2012. Full stream of Doc’s keynote in the video below.
The Promise of the Personal Cloud
The term “personal cloud” is only about a year old and has a wildly disparate set of meanings. For some, services such as Facebook, Dropbox, and SugarSynch are personal clouds. For others the gold standard is iCloud, which stores data and media and manages your apps from all your devices – as long as they… Continue reading The Promise of the Personal Cloud
Which companies love customers?
Not love to have them, but love interacting with them, knowing them, talking with them, learning from them, involving them in the business, and letting them take the lead sometimes. (And not just by using a “loyalty card” or some other gimmick.) In The Intention Economy, I give two examples, one offline and one on.… Continue reading Which companies love customers?
Privacy is personal
In the physical world, we govern privacy with clothes and walls, buttons, zippers, windows and doors. (See Clothing as a privacy system.) We also see privacy as a thing that can be possessed. That’s the framing for statements like, “Give me some privacy, and “Don’t take away my privacy.” On another hand (there can be… Continue reading Privacy is personal
How C2B becomes more like B2B
Ray Collins in Buyer Insights asks, How Long Before Consumers Start Buying Like Corporations? He sees “B2C markets going the way of B2B markets with a dramatic shift in power from seller to buyer.” In business-speak, B2B is business-to-business, and C2B is consumer- (or customer-) to-business. Or vice versa, as used above. The context here is… Continue reading How C2B becomes more like B2B
Customer Commons Salon on Monday
After the VRM day in San Jose on Monday (April 30, 2012), Customer Commons will host a Salon in Mountain View (near Castro and El Camino, near the Computer History Museum and IIW starting the next day and near where many are staying for that event). Time: 7:30-10pm Date: April 30, 2012 Location: 600 Fairmont… Continue reading Customer Commons Salon on Monday
A sense of bewronging
“Social networks” are getting out of control. And I don’t mean their control. I mean your control and mine. Here’s an image to keep in mind while you read the rest of this post: The calf is you or me. The cow is just one of our many social networks. Here’s how the situation looks from my browser… I… Continue reading A sense of bewronging
Those sneaky bastards
The Internet has exponentially increased people’s ability to interact, and to create and exchange value all around the world, and yet the full value of this ability is far from realized. An information and resource imbalance in the current online market is at the root of this issue. Overly restrictive, unfair legal practice is rife… Continue reading Those sneaky bastards