Interwebers

“The Moonwalking Bear: What Traditional Business Really Need to Know About Web 2.0,” taught us it’s easy to miss something when you’re not looking for it. This session focused on the success factors and organizational principles necessary in building a successful Web 2.0 strategy, as well as the pitfalls, or ‘deadly sins’ made by organizations failing to make the jump in the Web 2.0 world. The deadly sins are:

1) We would never let our customers talk to each other
2) I don’t understand - this (approach) worked before
3) I don’t want to create a community to listen to our customers bitch
4) I just commissioned a $1m customer research project (that will take a year to see)
5) My intellectual property, my precious
6) How do I stop the bad talk?

Lessons to take away:

1) Listening beats talking
2) Relationships beat transactions
3) Open beats closed
    - Organizational boundaries are becoming permeable
    - Workforce exists outside your workplace
    - Value chain’s more complex 

The session boiled down to shifting your focus. The deadly sins are synonymous with Seth Godin’s metaphor for a meatball sundae in that you can’t apply old hat strategy to the new world of Web 2.0. You also need to be aware of what’s our there and what’s being said about YOUR company. Everything you find (good or bad) can be used to your advantage, so long as you know it’s there…