Like Rabbits: The Current Social Media Master Lists

Guy Kawasaki points out a couple of omnibus-type social network lists. Distribution lists, meet steroids.

LinkedIn: Selling the Stream

BusinessWeek blogger Stephen Baker, after getting "scooped", if you will, by one of his magazine's other sections, asks the rhetorical question of why McGraw-Hill, SAP, and Goldman would want to invest in LinkedIn? Answer: the data. Baker probably gets this more than most, judging by what I've read so far in his book The Numerati. Data streams will continue to increase in value. How that value is measured depends upon the purchaser and what has to be provided to the data subject to obtain their data. I understand that I give up some privacy and potentially subject myself to some advertisement by providing LinkedIn with my data. However, the benefit of managing my network and mining opportunities from it is a worthwhile trade-off (to me and several million other users, at least).

What would it take to get YOUR data? What data wouldn't you give up?

Backhanded Talking Points

This post from the online edition of Foreign Policy is actually titled "(Not Quite) 101 Things Sarah Palin Should Know About the World", but it's more important than that. As Americans, we often fail to see things through the eyes of other world citizens. That's the theme of The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria and Ron Suskind's The Way of the World, two excellent books I read within the last few months. Why is this so important? As we face an economic downturn and foreign hostilities, understanding your world neighbors is no different than understanding customers in business, or understanding voters in politics. Our ability to act in a unilateral manner as a nation has been, and will likely continue to be, greatly diminished due to a number of economic and geopolitical factors. Even if that were not the case, though, there are good arguments for being good neighbors. It increases demand for our involvement in affairs and markets. It decreases obstacles in our path that carry a number of costs. Perhaps most importantly, it revalidates our standing within the world community. I have no doubt that much of the world still sees the United States as a "city on a hill". Yet, our shine has lost some of its luster. It would be counter to our history as a nation to simply shine "bright enough". It's our obligation not to act to inspire other or outshine others, but to live up to the standards that we claim.

To quote A Bronx Tale, one of my favorite movies, "The saddest thing in life is wasted talent". Arguably, the greatest resources we have are the proliferate talent pool of our population, and the freedoms to use those talents. Here's hoping we start using our talents based on dialogue with others, not pre-conceived notions or senses of entitlement.

To Be, Or Not To Be...Libertarian

Most of my friends know that to associate with me entails catch the occasional hand grenade. This post is one of those weapons. Now, I will say that the author focuses strictly on the economic implications of libertarianism, or laissez-faire capitalism, and doesn't touch social libertarianism (which I find much more important, and infinitely easier to defend). While I'm most definitely a capitalist, I do appreciate anyone who's willing to recognize the dangers of being an ideologue. That means people will just have to deal with a little cognitive dissonance...including me.