From social software to existential opportunity
The Internet was created originally as a means for U.S. national defense, in case communications infrastructure broke down in the event of a nuclear war.
I've the feeling that social software like www.linkedin.com could become a 'social' Internet, to enable people to network and ensure their career security in case the 'corporate employment' system breaks down.
For example, a recent feature article in Fortune magazine, titled '50 and fired' , talked about how hard it was for many 50+ workers to get a new job once they were let go. It seems that Don Tapscott is right when he says, 'your network is your net worth.'
Today employees can no longer ask employers for lifetime employment. It's actually the opposite: employers demand that employees maintain ' lifetime employability.' Therefore, it is up to workers to maintain and hone their skills, build their professional network of friends and allies, and stay informed through career intelligence networks.
LinkedIn.com is really a great tool to empower people, through the Web-based leveraging of professional relationships and social ties. Although these social connections do make things happen much faster in a person's social life or career or business, they do not appear in GDP calculations or economic equations, which is probably why nobody ever thought of proactively capturing their value and quantifying it for proper scholarly study and systematic leverage.
In my estimation, LinkedIn is not just a piece of social software; it's a powerful tool for generating existential opportunities (that is, you get to meet people that you normally would never have met, and perhaps do things together with them for mutual benefit, personal growth and/or professional development. (Disclosure: I'm not on the payroll of LinkedIn, although I wouldn't mind doing business development work for them as Chief Evangelist!).
This reminds me of the invention of gun powder. The Chinese actually discovered it long before the West did, but it was the West that used it in firearms to ensure military supremacy.
Similarly, I believe tools like LinkedIn contain great power. The only question is whether people actually see its potential, and are able and willing to use it to their own strategic advantage.
I've the feeling that social software like www.linkedin.com could become a 'social' Internet, to enable people to network and ensure their career security in case the 'corporate employment' system breaks down.
For example, a recent feature article in Fortune magazine, titled '50 and fired' , talked about how hard it was for many 50+ workers to get a new job once they were let go. It seems that Don Tapscott is right when he says, 'your network is your net worth.'
Today employees can no longer ask employers for lifetime employment. It's actually the opposite: employers demand that employees maintain ' lifetime employability.' Therefore, it is up to workers to maintain and hone their skills, build their professional network of friends and allies, and stay informed through career intelligence networks.
LinkedIn.com is really a great tool to empower people, through the Web-based leveraging of professional relationships and social ties. Although these social connections do make things happen much faster in a person's social life or career or business, they do not appear in GDP calculations or economic equations, which is probably why nobody ever thought of proactively capturing their value and quantifying it for proper scholarly study and systematic leverage.
In my estimation, LinkedIn is not just a piece of social software; it's a powerful tool for generating existential opportunities (that is, you get to meet people that you normally would never have met, and perhaps do things together with them for mutual benefit, personal growth and/or professional development. (Disclosure: I'm not on the payroll of LinkedIn, although I wouldn't mind doing business development work for them as Chief Evangelist!).
This reminds me of the invention of gun powder. The Chinese actually discovered it long before the West did, but it was the West that used it in firearms to ensure military supremacy.
Similarly, I believe tools like LinkedIn contain great power. The only question is whether people actually see its potential, and are able and willing to use it to their own strategic advantage.
posted by Super Peter at 10:47 PM
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