Does Social Networking Mean Business? October 26, 2007
Posted by geoffwolfe in : Off Topic , add a commentI belong to a discussion group for professional services execs (my former, salaried life) where the latest discussion was about how social networking can be used as a business tool. There is general agreement that LinkedIn is very valuable for networking for jobs and recruits, while the jury is still out about the relevance of Facebook. In fact, most people comment (including the few who actually use both) that there is a distinct line between the functionality of the two. Personal stuff goes on Facebook and that stuff doesn’t belong on LinkedIn. Further comments about the business irrelevance of Facebook center around the tools of trade being cell phones and email (and the merging of them by blackberry et al). There is certainly an effort by some businesses to encourage their workers to use the more “social” of SNs (and the banning by others).
Seems to me that SNs are natural for business since it is all about your “networking” that get sales, hire people, and effectively manage people. I think there can’t be an all encompassing user profile that serves business and personal life (especially since people don’t always want one to know the other), so people will either maintain two “lifes” on two sites or people will have two different profiles on one site. I guess the real winner in SN will be the site that can get people to have both on one.
First Home October 14, 2007
Posted by geoffwolfe in : On Topic , add a commentQuick update that we signed for some space in Sunnyvale at the PlugandPlayTechCenter. The vibe and energy of the place compared to just ordinary office space sold us.
Let’s Dance October 11, 2007
Posted by geoffwolfe in : On Topic , add a commentWell, it’s been a long drought since my last post but it’s not because anything has stalled. On the contrary, I finished up my day job and can now focus, not just my nights, but now my days to MessageDance. We’ve finished our prototype and will go through a few more rounds of UI/flow refinement before it’s ready for beta users. We spent a few bucks (a lot less than you may think) on a new logo.
As for a full launch, there’s quite a bit of architectural work that needs to be done to get it ready for prime-time. We’re looking for a specialist for this piece still. Know any stars in Zimbra-setup for high-volume? I’m also in the market for office space for the three of us — it’s a good time to get space in the Valley it seems. Lots of subleases and small spaces at great rates. Also taking a look at the incubator route for space/advice. It’s intriguing and may be a good fit if the cost is justified with the intangibles you can get from working there.
On a side note, I got a MacBook. I thought it was a good thing to try and work on a different platform that is likely more in-line with our target user-base’s taste. After 15 years of working strictly on PC/Windows, it’s taking a bit of getting used to. For being so user-friendly, I can’t understand why file management is such a chore. Seems like downloading, launching, and organizing files should be much easier to deal with. It’s a bit sad as I have three laptops in front of me now: 1 is the macbook for doing most of the web stuff - 2 is a pc that I do all of word/excel work as I don’t have it for the mac yet (and too stubborn to try anything else) - and 3 is another pc that is the only one I can get to work with my wireless print server and printer. I may look important with three laptops in action, but I’m really not — just old school.
