Random Musings:

Bob Horn Podcast At The VizThink Blog

The VizThink blog has a great podcast with Bob Horn that addresses Wicked Problems and Visual Thinking. Fundamental themes include the integration of thinking and visualization. Maps and murals are displayed that depict various Wicked Problems, including mental health and nuclear waste. Horn also presents Argumentation Maps for Missile Defense.

Dennis McDonald Says About Social Networking Tools

Bob-

Thanks for mentioning my post!

It's important to remember what this map is really my own -- my preferences may be irrelevant to others. On the map I mention for example that my overall use of Facebook has decreased while my use of Linkedin has increased. There are several reasons for this; one is that I don't think Facebook is a very good discussion forum, and another is that I continue to enjoy Linkedin's business focus. Others may have a very different view.

The point is that, when it comes to developing a "personal networking strategy," one size does not fit all. You really do need a personal strategy. In my case, my web site is the central focus of my "online presence," and while I tend to comment frequently on other blogs and web sites, I reserve the most thought and attention to my own site. That's a personal preference.

If anyone is interested in things you should consider when trying to decide how to develop a "personal professional networking strategy," check out the links I've posted here:

www.ddmcd.com/basics.html

Best wishes,

Dennis McDonald
Alexandria, Virginia

Social Networking: Tools, Maps, and Saturation

Numerous individuals and groups are trying to make sense of social networking and there seems to be no clear conclusions as yet. For example, if you are not in sales or marketing (yes, we are all in sales and marketing), what are the benefits of social networking sites such as LinkedIn?  Are Facebook, Twitter, and the like useful business tools? What about social bookmarking tools such as delicious, digg, and technorati?

MassHighTech has published an article indicating that VCs are refusing to fund new web 2.0 startups (a much broader category than social networking sites):

However, there’s no question the pool of online social media users is growing. A Pew Research Center report released earlier this month on “adults and social networking services” pegged the share of adult Internet users who keep a profile on an online social network at 35 percent and growing. In a set of predictions released this week, Forrester Research analysts said 85 percent of U.S. online consumers will be using social web content by the end of the year.

But [General Catalyst Partners managing director Larry Bohn ] said the smart money now isn’t in drawing users, who are flocking to the established social-web giants. Now, good investments against the social web are business-to-business plays that allow companies to tap into new customer bases that the major online players have already aggregated, he said.

Against this backdrop of market saturation and evolving business models, how does one make personal sense of the all-too-many social networking tools out there? As a first step, perhaps, tech consultant Dennis McDonald has create a map of his tool space that is both informative and exemplary. A larger version is here. Some tools are listed as "account deleted," several facebook groups, for example. Dennis has not indicated why he finds some tools more useful than others. Dennis?