Social Media – are you getting it?

July 25th, 2011 | Tags:

I started the series out by defining an inflection system.  In this post I’ll look at how all of these inflection points are interrelated.

  • Choice Computing
  • Social Media
  • BigData
  • Cloud Computing

My intention is to keep these post short and to the point.  The question today is can you see how these 4 topics inter-releate?

Just a note here before we get started, I was asked the question “what is Choice Computing”?  It occurred to me that perhaps while i find some of this self evident other do not.  So before we begin, Lets define some termonology.

  • Choice Computing

Choice Computing centers on the axiom that consumers are no longer bound to the PC.  That they can access their assets through any devices that they choose.  This is also becoming known as the post PC era, as other devices are squeezing out the traditional PC experience for more dynamic and light weight application.  Most of these application are being used by consumers, and are just now infiltrating the corporate scene.  Examples of choice computing include (PC, Tablet, Phone, integrated interfaces)

The term social media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”[1] Social media are media for social interaction, as a superset beyond social communication, but mainly still communicating just interactively using ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques.

Big data[1] are datasets that grow so large that they become awkward to work with using on-hand database management tools. Difficulties include capture, storage,[2] search, sharing, analytics,[3] and visualizing. This trend continues because of the benefits of working with larger and larger datasets allowing analysts to “spot business trends, prevent diseases, combat crime.”[4] Though a moving target, current limits are on the order of terabytes, exabytes and zettabytes of data.[5] Scientists regularly encounter this problem in meteorology, genomics[6] ,connectomics, complex physics simulations [7], biological and environmental research [8], Internet search, finance and business informatics. Data sets also grow in size because they are increasingly being gathered by ubiquitous information-sensing mobile devices, aerial sensory technologies (remote sensing)”software logs, cameras, microphones, RFID readers, wireless sensor networks and so on.”[9][10]

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.[1]

Social Media

First Social Media, arguable the oldest of these, this has changed how we think about leveraging our own information; it has altered fundamentally how we use the internet, and how we communicate with one another.  This has changed the paradigm from from a files to people interaction , and made it about people to people communication as the primary mechanism for using a “computer”

This social media phenomena has created and or necessitated the need for more dynamic devices, (iphone, ipad, blackberry, etc etc etc)  This has been one of the  pivotal forces that is driving Choice Computing. It was necessitated by the need to continually update our social media outlets.  ( I feel that there is also a social inflection point, but I’ll digress into that topic later)

The social media paradigm has changed the world, no question about it, but we are just entering a transformative phase.  Just look at the introduction of google+ and the next Microsoft Bing offering.  I know it, and they know it.  They also realize that it is not just social media, but the combination with the other 4. I know I know I’m getting there.

Bigdata

Companies like Hadoop are off the charts with their analytical capabilities, Apple announced their cloud solution, for their ipads, iphones, and computers further giving users options for their choice computing needs. Bing and Google+ are in their infancy, and surely will have an evolutionary impact to these topics.

This inflection point system is like an IT supercharger.  Successful companies can see this ecosystem, even if they don’t understand the complexly they are already embracing parts of the ecosystem with the hopes of figuring it out on the fly. Other companies are in denial thinking that this is all a fad.

My recommendation, watch the companies that are at a minimum trying to innovate in any of these areas.  Much of our history has been made up of  companies that invested / innovated, or had any ability to foresee the changes are still here today. Those that didn’t are no longer here.  Those that can invest and innovate leveaging this inflection system will be well served.

 

TF

 

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