Social networking and social media are changing the way economic, social and political activity is organised, content is created and distributed, and how influence and reputations are built and maintained. The growth and importance of social networking and social media has been outstanding, quick and global.
For business, effective social networking outside organisational boundaries creates value through tapping into cost savings or knowledge networks that lie beyond the capacity of any one firm to retain. Social media has an international reach that is not possible within the confines of traditional media. Traders have customers around the world, nations connect with citizens around the world. For government agencies and not-for-profits, social networking beyond jurisdictional boundaries creates influence and agility. All organisations benefit from the scale advantages of reaching beyond institutional boundaries.
What measures are obsolete now? What theories of the firm, of management and of political science are dated? What the positive and negatives inter-relationships between the established institutions and practices and digital networking?
Who are the masters of networking online? Why are they masters? I’m talking about more than who wears suits and who does not.
Substantive socio-economic changes are under way. How are they…or perhaps, how should they be measured? What are the quantifiable as opposed to qaulifiable measures? How should networked influence be measured? Can these measures be scaled to an individual, a firm, a community, a nation? What should an organisation do to leverage the advantages of social networking and social media? What are the pitfalls or disadvantages of social networking? How do communities, regions and nations compare? What are the cultural, political, economic and geographical influences on the effective use of social networking and social media? Who are the losers? Who are the winners?
Enough questions to be going on with. I intend to get to the bottom of them. Perhaps prepare an index of measures or benchmarks. Who would find such an index to be of help? I know that many of the questions I’ve posed would have been asked by others, and some of the answers would have been identified.
But I am not aware of an index of network capital. Would that be of interest to you as an individual, to your organisation or to your country?
Contact me at conem2 at gmail dot com.
