by Rob Paterson
November 30, 2008 at 11:21 am · Filed under
Security, Social Computing, Social Media
Commandos were not only surprised to find the devices in the terrorists’ rucksacks, but that they used the internet to look beyond local Indian media for information, watching the global reaction in real-time as well.
It’s somewhat striking that the terrorists’ use of BlackBerrys “caught the anti-terrorist forces by surprise.” While perhaps another step forward in the sophistication of their organization, in that it it makes communication more instant than ever, it’s long been reported that terrorist networks use the internet and cellphones for communication. Why wouldn’t they use the same tools that millions around the world use? They don’t all live in caves, you know. (Gizmodo)
Of course the people who don’t use social media much or well are the security forces!!!!!!!
by Rob Paterson
November 28, 2008 at 7:37 am · Filed under
Twitter
Twitter, Blogging and Wikpedia have offered the world the best – fastest updating, most human and most comprehensive account of how the Mumbai events unfolded.
If there was ever proof that this combination has taken its place in the forefront of breaking news – this is it.
Here is a link to JP’s excellent post on this topic - that shows you graphically what I mean.
Here is Dina’s summary of many of the online resources.
Now networks such as CNN go to people like Dina for insight
As Newspapers and the Networks slowly die, their replacement gets stronger.
Here is the Daily Telegraph’s acknowledgement of this.
Indeed, many mainstream media outlets, including CNN, used video footage and photos sent in from people on the ground in Mumbai to illustrate their reports, and many television stations, radio stations and newspapers were also keeping a close eye on Twitter and the blogosphere in the hope of finding out more information.
Despite the obvious value and immediacy of these eyewitness accounts, there are signs that the blogosphere is struggling to know what to do for the best when these sort of incidents occur.
While Twitter is a powerful social medium for spreading news and information, some government agencies fear it could also be used by terrorists as a tool for communication. Last month, the US military warned that terrorist groups could use free, internet-based services, such as Twitter, as a means of communicating covertly across a medium that is difficult for authorities to trace and track.
In fact, it is alleged that at the height of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Indian government tried to shut down the Twitter stream people were using to spread news and information, amid fears that it could be used by the terrorists to help them evade capture.
While Twitter and other social media are not yet in a position to replace the mainstream media, there can be no doubt that they provide a powerful communication platform. Last night, the social web came of age.
Here is the New York Times adding their support to this idea of Twitter & Social Media coming of age:
From his terrace on Colaba Causeway in south Mumbai, Arun Shanbhag saw the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel burn. He saw ambulances leave the Nariman House. And he recorded every move on the Internet.
Mr. Shanbhag, who lives in Boston but happened to be in Mumbai when the attacks began on Wednesday, described the gunfire on his Twitter feed — the “thud, thud, thud” of shotguns and the short bursts of automatic weapons — and uploaded photos to his personal blog.
Mr. Shanbhag, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said he had not heard the term citizen journalism until Thursday, but now he knows that is exactly what he was doing. “I felt I had a responsibility to share my view with the outside world,” Mr. Shanbhag said in an e-mail message on Saturday morning.
The attacks in India served as another case study in how technology is transforming people into potential reporters, adding a new dimension to the news media.
At the peak of the violence, more than one message per second with the word “Mumbai” in it was being posted onto Twitter, a short-message service that has evolved from an oddity to a full-fledged news platform in just two years.
Those descriptions and others on Web sites and photo-sharing sites served as a chaotic but critically important link among people across the world — whether they be Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn tracking the fate of a rabbi held hostage at the Nariman House or students in Britain with loved ones back in India or people hanging on every twist and turn in the standoff while visiting relatives for Thanksgiving dinner.
by Bill Ives
November 24, 2008 at 5:44 pm · Filed under
Enterprise 2.0
Kara Swisher reported today that Facebook offered to acquire Twitter for $500 million of its stock, in her post, When Twitter Met Facebook: The Acquisition Deal That Fail-Whaled. One of the reasons was the perceived over valuation of Facebook stock as the deal was not cash but Facebook’s perceived value of $500 million in their stock. However, Kara wrote that, “more important, it seems, was a feeling among Twitter investors and execs that the start-up should still take a shot at building its revenues–there are none right now–as well as it had done at building its growth.” There have been six million registrations, as reported in October, up 600 percent over the last year, for the San Francisco-based Twitter. However, so far the effort has focused on growth over revenue and there is actually no revenue at the moment.
Kara reported that “some sources at Facebook said Zuckerberg was becoming frustrated by the buzz Twitter was getting.” I guess he wanted to take over that buzz. At the same time, Zuckerberg called Twitter an “elegant model” and said that he was “really impressed by what they’ve done.” So he offered stock with no liquid value for a company with no revenue. Perhaps the government should do this for bailouts and save the taxpayers real money. On the other hand, it does seem appropriate that the consumer web Facebook should go after the consumer web Twitter. Neither is designed for enterprise use but both have inspired a lot of enterprise tools such as the Twitter for business tools: Yammer, Present.ly, QikCom, and SocialCast that have been covered on The AppGap.
It is hard to walk away from $500 million or even the $150 million that Kara reported Twitter felt was a more realistic value of the Facebook offering. So I hope they made the right choice. Since no cash was offered, I can see some real concern by the Twitterites here. Kara closed with the comment that one Twitter source said: “The question is, is it really a good idea to sell on the first chance you get?” More times that not, my experience is that you regret not doing it but we will just have to see.
by Joe McKendrick
November 24, 2008 at 3:19 pm · Filed under
Enterprise 2.0
Speaking as a certified member of the “Joe” population, I have to admit I’ve been basking in all the attention Joes have been getting lately.
This past US presidential election season, of course, we had “Joe the Plumber” as John McCain’s poster boy for overtaxation. (Even though it turned out Joe was only his middle name, but close enough…) And we had Sarah Palin, who kept insisting she was the candidate of “Joe Sixpack.” Of course, we also had a Joe on the winning ticket with Barack Obama, so we’ll soon have a Joe in Washington helping to look out for our interests.
That’s why I got a chuckle out of a mailer I just got for the upcoming User-Generated Content Conference (UGCX), sponsored by MediaBistro and scheduled for San Jose in February.
The promotional write-up states that “user-generated content is a rapidly developing revolution in the media. ‘Average Joe” users now wield power over online content, and businesses need to adapt to respond to this trend.”
Speaking for all the Joes in the world, it feels good to have power for a change. But we promise we won’t let it go to our heads.
UGCX is targeting the social media space, but there are plenty of implications for enterprises as well as they seek ways to better leverage all the data, knowledge, and resources within their domains. There’s no question that user-generated content is becoming a huge force on the business scene. David Weinberger actually gave a great talk on this very topic at the 2008 FastForward conference in Orlando. Not only is content being generated by users, but it is also being organized by users through mechanisms such as tagging.
by Bill Ives
November 20, 2008 at 2:53 pm · Filed under
Enterprise 2.0
The AppGap bloggers are excited to announce the launch of a new section of reviews – The AppGap: Appopedia. The section brings together the growing number of enterprise 2.0 reviews (nearly 150 to date) that my AppGap colleagues and I have written. It has been fun interviewing vendor spokespeople, seeing demonstrations, and learning about all the innovation within the enterprise 2.0 space. Now you can better access the entire collection.
And while other directories of 2.0 apps exist, we believe Appopedia serves a particular purpose, focusing specifically on work-related tools that help you manage and grow your business rather than every Web 2.0 app in the market. Hylton Jolliffe and others at Corante have been developing the new section over the past month or two. We all hope you’ll check it out and provide input on what admittedly is a work in progress (there are already got a few tweaks on the way).
As you’ll see we’ve organized the reviews by various criteria, e.g., product category, we hope you’ll find useful. If you’ve used any of the tools please feel free to weigh in with any feedback in the comments of the respective reviews.
For vendors: if you’re a company with a tool that’s already been reviewed, we encourage you to visit the review and provide any information on updates in the comments or contact us if you think your tool could be better classified by product category or function. For those that are interested in having your app reviewed, please visit our contact page where you’ll be prompted for information that’ll help us add you to the queue.
Again, we hope you find Appopedia a valuable resource. It builds on The AppGap’s mission – to help individuals, large organizations and small businesses better understand how work and our tools for working are changing – and aims to provide a practical destination for those looking to assess which apps can help them better manage and grow their businesses.
