Best Practice or BS? [Social Media]

For companies, social media is still the wild wild west.  There have been some great case studies of companies who have been able to successfully execute a strategy by leveraging Facebook and Twitter. For every successful case study, hundreds of failed attempts have littered the streets of social media.

Stephen Baker highlights the risks and opportunities in a recent BW article:

 You can read the entire article here.

linkages between creativity and play [insight]

Tim Brown from Ideo reminds us about the importance of playfulness in jumpstarting creative thought.  What I found most intriguing was the exercise where he gave the audience 30 seconds to draw their neighbor and then share it with the very person.

The reactions were particularly insightful. As adults we are often cautious in front of our peers. It's the same with divergent ideas. We're a bit timid in sharing it because we fear of being judged. Instead, Tim emphasizes the importance of reserving judgement and allowing all ideas a chance.

Watch this classic presentation:

Funding News Stories [Crowd Sourcing]

In 2006, Time magazine told us that we were the person of the year. Since then, we've seen an explosion of crowded sourced initiatives.  We've witnessed the power of the crowd through the explosion of content generated at Wikipedia.  We've witnessed the power of the crowd through funding the creation of digital content.

The  Center for Media Change and funded by various groups like like the Knight Foundation have started Spot.US, a nonprofit project pioneering:

“Community funded reporting.” Through Spot.Us the public can commission journalists to do investigations on important and perhaps overlooked stories. It’s a marketplace where independent reporters, community members and news organizations can come together and collaborate.

You, me, and technology [Consumer Trends]

Forrester research finds that we're all gadgetologists.

• About 58 million households have an HDTV today, and that is expected to grow to more than 85 million by 2013. 
• Over the same window, almost 80 million households with broadband Internet access will surge to nearly 93 million, and the 92 million homes with a PC will reach nearly 100 million.
• Of those 40 and older who have children, 84 percent are online and two-thirds have broadband. They are heavy purchasers of PCs, laptops, MP3 players, HDTVs and portable GPS devices, as well.
  

Read Steve Johnson's article at the SJ Mercury News.

Nano Housing [Tata]

Tata, the India-based car company that launched the Nano (INR 100,000; USD 2300) car and owner of Jaguar and Land Rover is now looking to create low-cost housing. With 1,000 apartments to be built outside of Mumbai, the units range from 218 to 373 feet.

According to businessweek:

Tata’s housing division is targeting a segment of the market that was largely overlooked during the housing boom. India’s builders were concentrating on building shiny new high rises and mansions on golf courses. Builders were after profits, but they were also trying to justify their fast-accelerating land costs, especially in and around Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) and other major cities.

But some business consultants (most prominently, C.K. Prahalad) were arguing that companies would profit handsomely if they target the “bottom of the pyramid” where the bulk of consumers are. It looks like Tata is taking that advice.

HT: Freakonomics