The next Blog Business Summit is only a few weeks away now. The event is to be held in Chicago, 17-19 September, and its structure is an interesting reflection of how blogging in the business sector has evolved since the first Summit in January 2005 in Seattle. (NOTE: the Chicago event scheduled for September has been cancelled.)
The archives on the BBS site have blog posts going back to late 2004, but not, as far as I could see, other historical information such as the session and speaker listings. But thanks to the wonderful Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive, I …read more

As it’s the beginning of August, here on the b5media Business Channel each of us is riffing on some or other aspect of the meaning of “small a” august.
Incidentally, this word is just one example of the challenge for people whose first language is not English, in learning how to pronounce English words: the month “August” being pronounced “awe-goost” with the accent on the first syllable and “small a august” being pronounced “aw-gust” with the accent on the second syllable.
Anyway, small a august has various meanings depending on the dictionary you consult, but for the sake of this exercise we …read more

This is the first of two posts on the subject of managing our identities – and the identities of our companies – in a Web 2.0 world. This post looks at the challenge.
It is said that Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin Look-Alike competition in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He came third.
More recently, noted blogger Chris Pirillo had his identity “kidnapped” on social networking site Pownce.
As we welcome and delight in all the possibilities of the new world of online social networking, we need to recognize that for many people the sheer number and variety of social networking sites and …read more

I sat up and took notice yesterday when email from eMarketer arrived. Headed
Chinese Tiger Roars Online, the message included some impressive statistics drawn from a new report, China Online Overview.
A current growth rate of 30% in China’s online population puts the country on course to soon pass the USA in having the most Internet users in the world. With broadband access too: in the first quarter of 2007, the US still led with 60.4 million broadband lines, putting China’s 56.3 second, and closing fast.
Figures like that have big implications for the takeup of social media by Chinese companies and other …read more

Future Exploration Chairman Ross Dawson sums up the extensive media and blog coverage of the San Francisco + Sydney Future of Media Summit this month, which I wrote about here on July 16.
Of the various media and blog items linked from Ross’ post, one in particular caught my eye, an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, by communications researcher, analyst and regular opinion columnist Graeme Philipson. In The Lost Art of Blogging, published a day before the Summit, he makes it clear that he doesn’t have much or any time for blogging.
I don’t blog. Can’t see the point, when I …read more

One of my favorite blogs is that of Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz. But the author clearly doesn’t want to be known as a “CEO blogger”.
His post “The Internet vs. Stone Tablets” was prompted by an enquiry from the media. A reporter asked him, as a “CEO who writes a blog”, to comment on a story about another chief executive who had admitted to posting comments under an assumed name in a stock market chat room (presumably this story).
Jonathan takes aim at the practice of identifying people like him as “CEOs who blog”, observing that we don’t talk about, for …read more

Good to see Microsoft Aussie blogger Frank Arrigo on the speaker list for the AMP Innovation and Thought Leadership Festival in Sydney next week.
Frank’s topic is “To blog or not to blog; that is the corporate question…”.
Some time ago I had the pleasure of presenting at another event in Sydney where Frank was also a presenter. As well as being very entertaining and informative on blogging in the corporate context, Frank’s presentation was a great demonstration of how to use audio-visual aids so as to add value. Zero snore factor.
And as Frank says of this initiative by AMP, it’s “good …read more

This time next week I’ll be mingling with some top thought leaders, futurists, innovative thinkers, and technology experts from around the world and with staff of the AMP finance and investment company. The occasion is AMP’s week-long Innovation and Thought Leadership Festival 2007.
The Festival is for employees and decision-makers of AMP from all departments and is designed for teams and business units to co-operate across traditional working boundaries. For those who can’t get to the Sydney venue, there are online arrangements, including webcasts and podcasts.
With 3,500 employees, some 1,900 independent planners, AU$122 billion (say US$103 billion) in funds under …read more

Lately I’ve been collecting links to blog posts which help me understand more of what Web 2.0 is about, where some of the key developments are taking place, and what a more Web 2.0 world might look like.
But for a person who loves words and having things explained in words, I am also a sucker for a good spatial explanation, a diagram.
Preferably a diagram with pictures.
So it was a thrill to receive in my email last night a message from Ross Dawson, strategy consultant, speaker, best-selling author and Chairman of the Future Exploration Network, with a link to the post on …read more

I’m always on the lookout for simple, clear explanations and illustrations of concepts like Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0.
Some months ago I featured here a very helpful white paper on Web 2.0.
And just now I’ve come across a neat, entertaining slide show on Enterprise 2.0.
I’m bookmarking Meet Charlie…What is Enterprise 2.0? Scroll down the page if you also want the text of the slide show.
Thanks to author Scott Gavin and to Bill Ives for the link.