Tailored Blazers and Skinny Jeans http://blazersandjeans.posterous.com Sensemaking in the world where I speak of amounts of money I don't necessarily have (yet) posterous.com Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:51:00 -0700 What Lies Beneath http://blazersandjeans.posterous.com/2009/07/26/what-lies-beneath http://blazersandjeans.posterous.com/2009/07/26/what-lies-beneath
Yesterday I managed to digest the fifth chapter of Cluetrain Manifesto entitled The Hyperlinked Organization. And I don't have to be a corporate king (or queen at that) in order to validate the points made by Weinberger. Whenever I go online (and that means everyday), I see that the Web is really just how it was described in this chapter--hyperlinked, decentralized, has the concept of hyper time, provides open access to everyone, contains rich data, sometimes broken, and borderless. But how exactly did those things transform the way companies do business? Let me share with you some of what I saw and what I thought about them.

1.Deception is an option (and you see it anywhere).

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I totally cannot imagine my friend Arvin making use of his time online playing Travian or Poker or what-have-you. So when I saw this thingy flashing somewhere at the top of my Facebook page, I was riveted. I had to confirm if this was true and I bet you know what he answered. On surface level, the purpose was to drive traffic at their site. Not totally evil. But if we look deeper, it actually illustrates how companies that utilize social media have discovered another way of customizing their messages in ways that will best attract their target market. At this point, maybe the thing that gave us away is the frequency of message exchanges between him and me. They managed to make wise use of the links that I have with people so they came up with this banner ad that was meant to deceive in the hope of compelling me to experience it too. It (and all the other similar ads) failed. Deception should not, at any rate, be the way to go for companies and for the people that comprise it. It is unethical and it can be annoying, especially when people find out that you have deceived them for your company’s self-serving purpose.

2. They talk to me (us).

These dialog boxes appeared when I re-launched the Firefox/Chrome window after I forced-close it when my laptop was running ultra slow.

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The messages, obviously, seemed like someone from the Internet is actually talking to me. But more than sheer repackaging, what can be their intention in opting for a softer, more human kind of approach than the bland, computer tone like “Window and tabs cannot be recovered?” By actually trying to appeal to a “human side” and admit that what was happening is something that is, uhm, embarrassing, it kind of softens the blow as it reach the person. So, when you are trying to upload a video and then the window closes down, the initial reaction is get pissed. But with such messages popping up, it is somewhat implied that they tried, but they failed. So maybe you can just forgive and forget. In the same way that the kind of message that was exchanged online has evolved—from highly confidential matters by the military to gossips going on in chat rooms—the way companies talk to us have differed. It is not always them in the serious tone. Rather, they try to appear human, imperfect and flawed. If you are a company who is too occupied with making sure that you sound oh-so-professional online [yawn yawn], perfect grammar, and brilliant formatting, in the light of attracting the right people, then you are mistaken. If no one has braved to tell you the truth, I will. You are boring, most likely. And if we find something boring, we will only click on any link in your site just to get you out of sight. Time, money, and effort not spent quite well, ain’t it?

The discussion on Hyperlinked Organizations provides a good framework on how companies of today should be conducting their businesses. Companies, in fact, are given the liberty to decide on how they plan to reorganize. There are no strict rules, but they have to make wise choices. The examples I mentioned above are not necessarily extremes, but they give an idea of how the web's characteristics can actually be used at your own call.

Disclaimer: I was not exhaustive in capturing all pages and sites possible so those that were mentioned here are just snippets of those that I happen to stumble upon lately.

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Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:05:00 -0700 On Internet Apocalypso http://blazersandjeans.posterous.com/2009/06/29/on-internet-apocalypso http://blazersandjeans.posterous.com/2009/06/29/on-internet-apocalypso

PERCEIVED INTENTIONS

A side tells me its bias is on the people outside the organization. The initial installment of the Cluetrain Manifesto treated top management as entities that are way too serious, if not extremely wanting, to control and exercise power over the organization and that is inherently bad. It talked about how managers should learn to shun being goal-oriented in place of playing in order to really connect with their market, comprising of their workers and the rest of the unique individuals on the Internet.

By revealing facts about how corporations are using or misusing the Internet, the people are empowered so that they will not fall too easily on the traps made for gullible consumers by advertisers and media buyers. It served as an eye opener so that they may realize how much their being a unique human is oftentimes forgotten by companies that are rather directed by their own selfish motives; hence, the rationale for them to speak up. The other side says it is to educate corporations. Though it may seem that corporations are defenseless looking at the revelations mentioned in the chapter, it still boiled down to the big idea of finding ways on how to attract the consumers of today given the changes in how people transact business, resulting from trends in the Internet usage. Corporations will not necessarily be kinder to their employees for the sake of being kind nor will they be more visible to their external public. Rather, it is another measure that they are taking in order to hit the consumer’s soft spot in product selection and buying. Whatever measure that may be…

  • allowing the external visitors to access some information from their Intranet;
  • setting up a real time technical support online;
  • opening up an online forum for the market to voice their concerns; or
  • allowing their janitors to author their corporate blog viewable by external people (and this was done in the Philippines already!);

…any top manager maintains the attribute of being goal oriented, with generating the highest possible profit as the ultimate goal. Imagine a top manager whose sight is not focused on reaching the goal. Where will ideas come from? He may not show direct interest in profit generation by disguising it as his desire for promotion; in any case it is partly contingent on the amount of money that they bring to the organization. They will only differ, then, on the creativity that they will employ in the process. After all, being goal oriented and playing (in the context provided by the Manifesto) are not mutually exclusive.

PERSONAL INCLINATION

I found it quite paradoxical for the author to actually talk about conditions where organizations can amass consumer purchases, which is by allowing people in organizations to play and connect to those outside the organization. This was after he mentioned on a negative note about how people are merely treated as units in a demographic survey, eventually being readied for advertisers. The stand is not clear. Or it is perhaps just peculiar in the sense that all he wanted was for companies and consumers to not take commerce to heart. Life, he said, must not be all about buying and selling, producing and owning. It is not business that should dominate the lives of the people; instead, it should be something else, something bigger, something more special—like personalized communication. Truth is some people will still have the same role as consumers, which can also be owed to the fact that in the business ecology, there will always be consumers and there will always be producers. It is the order of life and if one wants to change roles, from consumers to owners of the means and modes of production, then reading this chapter and incorporating it into his business may help him succeed. In that case, the Manifesto taught corporations, or corporate gods and goddesses wannabes, how they can leverage the Internet technology, albeit in a subtle way. The advent of the Internet brought to people opportunities to be heard of in ways that was rather not possible before. And it even required revamping of the previously held beliefs of organizations in the aspects of management and control in the new workplace, as well as rules in conducting business in the new marketplace. Power and control derived from information is also more decentralized than ever. Yet, all these do not preclude the fact that the present culture on Internet use made sustaining commerce an even more attractive endeavor, with all the creative, interactive acts that can be tried, instead of fully shifting people’s mindsets.

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