Monday, February 11, 2008

Here Today

Here today? Gone...?

Why do some business enterprises that last literally day...despite big hype and large hoopla...and others endure hundreds of years?

Why is the ground littered with the wrecks of so many of the most exalted companies and ideas and technologies of the last ten years and yet so many others flourish and grow and so many older companies continue to thrive and prosper.

Why have we endured 50 years and will we here 50 years from now?

Maybe it’s all based on value proposition—the real value of the company as experienced by clients/users/buyers/customers/ consumers of its products or services.

Is it real? Does it really add value? Does it make a difference?

Or…

Is it just trendy or faddy or pseudo-cool?

Last week I wrote about social networking. I suggested that social networking is nothing new.  I said that analysts are hyping behavior as old as humankind and unless we understand its true value and potential and the reasons behind them— all the technology in the world will not make it more successful.

Follow this link:
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080208/064718209.shtml

See my point?

Here is the problem.  When we allow fad to dictate our business behavior, we might be successful in the short term.  But, are we really building long term value?

Will we be here 50 years from now adding value to the latest and greatest or will we be just another footnote to business history.

Here is a thought:

A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic.
~George Bernard Shaw

How about this?

Let’s always be the antidote!

What do you think?

One last comment from a very special source:

Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to naught, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.
~Homer

Posted by David on 02/11 at 09:09 AM
(7) Comments • Permalink

  1. There are elements of social computing-based marketing that are just silly trends. But, overall we know that it's really bringing the century's old marketplace to the digital space. The Cluetrain Manifesto laid this all out more than 10 years ago. Anyone working in marketing these days should give that book a read, or re-read. It really illustrates how the social space is just a true manifestation of the traditional marketplace. Hard to call something that's been around for a millennium "trendy." It's only the technology that's changed.

    Posted by CarlenLea  on  2008-02-11 16:17:54

  2. I guess marketplaces are the same since goods were first traded (and maybe watering holes since water was first drunk, and airport waiting lounges since flights were first delayed). But marketplaces have grown enormously, and the consumers have changed. Have the sellers changed? They still compete, fairly and unfairly. They still communicate with the consumers, honestly and shadily. Nowadays it seems to consumers can inform each other much more readily.

    Posted by Tom Osborn  on  2008-02-12 01:19:28

  3. To the point -- I think the question is if the application is trendy -- clearly the behavior is as old as humankind. Bringing it to the digital space is a natural evolution

    Posted by david sable  on  2008-02-12 14:10:24

  4. Agreed! The problem seems to be that we all forget about how people really interact whenever we try to move onto the digital space!

    Posted by CarlenLea  on  2008-02-13 14:31:21

  5. How about this -- People are the real medium or channel -- this thought courtesy of Gurval Caer teh CEO of Blast Radius -- plan your next campaign with that thought and see where it goes...

    Posted by david sable  on  2008-02-13 14:55:13

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