A dreadful crisis brought to a country already in crisis. And, I just want to scream. As I want the world to focus on Zimbabwe too!! I want the world to know what is going on there and how many 100’s of thousands of good people are suffering because of a handful of rotten and soulless people.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is speaking out about how we need to also see the new positive steps too in the last year his party has been ‘in’ – and how the world has to recognize these steps in order for more progress to be made. I agree with him. Otherwise what are we all doing? Waiting for Mugabe to nod off?

And then there is the rising child abuse It has to be stopped. PLEASE KIND PEOPLE – PLEASE LOOK AT THIS. Please learn about this country and it’s incredible beauty and spirit.  We need a spokesperson with charisma and dedication to pick up the microphone and help make change here happen. There are numerous volunteers helping all the time, doing incredible work. We need the Eve Ensler of the Congo for Zimbabwe. We need the George Clooney of Haiti for Zimbabwe.

My brother, Alasdair Munn is donating time and resources to assisting projects in Southern Africa and doing all he can through our company too. I have been quiet for too long. Time to come out. For now, I am doing my wee bit for Haiti too. Those children have to be fed – I know people on the ground there now and sadly some of the areas are 10 x worse than what we are seeing on the news.

If you aren’t already involved, Urban Zen are putting on a huge event on february 17th and raising money and awareness in order to assist directly with those most effected. It is amazing all the good people are doing. Maybe the next event can be for Zimbabwe.

Pamberi Haiti

Pamberi Zimbabwe

Tatenda.

I thought of the 2 flights I take on average each week criss-crossing the country as if I was Verizon itself.  I thought of the amount of times I actually get to sleep at home — the amount of time I get to see my own family and community.  Results were rather pathetic.

We all know this and I want to walk my talk better:   Problem solving/Making Money is absolutely stupid unless there is balance thrown into and heavily around the equation.

Besides:

1) I love sustainability thinking and doing

2) I adore Skype

3) and isn’t all this social media strategy work I do meant to help all this new virtual way??

4) finally, I am Zimbabwean for goodness sakes — we love to play and we love our sense of belonging.

Even though I am no longer contagious, I have canceled my flight tomorrow, and decided the next one will be only when I go to www.ted.com — the event of the year I truly enjoy, along with www.urbanzen.com forums  – they are the ones when I really feel like a giant kindergarden child on speed.

I do hope you are balancing your life, and if so I look forward to learning more from you on how to do it better.

Be well, and thank you for checking in.     -c

]]> http://claremunn.com/2010/02/making-money-with-a-sense-of-check-and-balance-thrown-in/feed/ 4 http://claremunn.com/2010/01/enter-to-win-a-hitachi-simpletech-500gb-pro-drive/ http://claremunn.com/2010/01/enter-to-win-a-hitachi-simpletech-500gb-pro-drive/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:32:37 +0000 clare munn http://claremunn.com/?p=526 If you are interested in cracking the code to developing successful social media strategies, staying in front of the trends, and you are objectives driven then you sound like someone I’d like to get to know.  Connect with me on Facebook where you can join me and some Silicon Valley insiders for better ways to grow your business, get funding and find out what the competition is doing.  Become a Fan today and I’ll enter you to win a new cool Hitachi drive (yes, they are a client) —hopefully I’ll give you a few ideas you will want to keep around for awhile, and if not, hopefully you’ll give me a few.

For bonus entries (leave a separate comment for each):

1. Follow @clare_munn on Twitter
2. Read and post a comment on a blog post (other than this one) on www.claremunn.com
3. If you are a subscriber or follower (thank you!), leave a comment. You may subscribe for free updates via RSS and leave a comment telling me you have done so.

That is a total of 4 chances to win!  Post a comment below for each of the actions you have taken, each will give you a chance to win. Make sure your comment includes the action you took and your email address.  This contest will close on Friday, February 12th at 5pm PST. The winner will be selected by random.org and contacted via email. Contest open to US residents only.

For insights from our CMO follow @ajmunn on Twitter

Using my happy study of biomimicry, nature shows us the pattern and process of extinction.

Web 2.0 is does not have the patterns of extinction. 2.0 is an evolving pattern of dynamic digital communication. So, of course it isn’t going to die, but it will evolve. If web 3.0 is semantic web and 4.0 is relevant web, then I am probably safe in declaring 10.0 will probably be the intelligent web as by then all forms of communication will be totally interconnected and integrated PLUS, most exciting of all, it’ll incorporate the many different learning styles I love so much.

So… Here’s to the revolution of communication evolution. One day we WILL have Communication Intelligence.

By the way, my CQ is coming along nicely, thanks to the numerous intelligent and not so intelligent comments (both private and public) I continue to gratefully receive

Is your product worthy of a crowd conversation?

Why do you think so?

Truly… Who have you asked?  How many people?

Do you like your product?

Why?

Would you or your family/friends be ok if they were spammed by your product marketing?

Why not?

There are definite ways of making $$ through social media. Assumptions coupled with arrogance and ignorance doesn’t usually help meet projections (we’ve tried).  Creativity, consideration and planning are two key components. Followed closely by flexibility, measurement and transparency.

We can probably help if you have a need.

Tell us your success stories. We are pulling together top 10 case studies. Funny is good too.

The 7 minutes was endless.

And then… I recalled my practice of biomimicry. I looked around for the genius of nature only to be confronted with 100 percent man made objects. I couldn’t see the sky due to the coaches ceiling and around our airport trees had been replaced by the loveliness of tarmac.

My rocking had begun to annoy my “crowd”.  I began to sneezing fit instead. Immediately I had an additional 3 feet available around me as my crowd had instantly labeled me with H1.

Moral of this story is. Life without digital chatter is extinct so best to travel with 2 sets of phone batteries, unless the runway you are sitting on is on the dust trails in Zimbabwe or Parrot Cay.

I realize I’ll never feel “location-complete.”  Its ok – Planes and Skype plus my attitude of the glass is half full and cracked, make it easier.

What really turns me on is erasing borders from my mind and focusing on open global learning. In other words, “biomimicry.”

Biomimicry is a new discipline looking at the genius of nature and design.

How nature has and does influence the products, brands and systems we design or build.

TED.com speaker, Janine Beynus definition is:

• Sustainable
• Innovation
• Inspired
• By nature

I wholly agree with her. We are indeed surrounded by genius.

So, I now find it easier to say:  “Hello, I am a digital brand strategist and technologist influenced by the genius of biomimicry.”

I have always wondered how to sum up my Epicurus nature. I care so much about:

• Different learning styles; nature; sustain ability;
• Non-duplication of efforts;
• Genius revolutionary innovation;
• Sharing clearly; growing transparently; integrity;
• Equality;
• Respect;
• Symmetry and, most important of all…play.

Biomimicry is all of the above and then some.

Biomimicry teaches us about communication, strategy, design, learning styles and the intelligence of the independent or of groups/crowds.

In my company, we work with this paradigm daily. For example we are always asking ourselves the following:

How do we effectively build a digital crowd?  tcg is studying reports on energy grids (swarm tech) of how ants and bees efficiently find their food as a whole hive. Perusing learnings from scientists who study energy grids, we glean certain understandings to improve our own crowd gathering techniques.

As my brother, Alasdair Munn (another biomimicry nut) would say. “Clare, that was rather a long way of saying, ‘I love nature and what it teaches us if we simply look, listen and learn.’”

Happy New Year.

• The overconfident rebel leader
• The party seeker and connector
• The Geek
• The student
• The non-conformist

The Overconfident Rebel Leader
Full of self-belief, cocky self-assurance and a certainty that he has discovered the true path, he is confused, disappointed and sulky that the grown ups will not listen to him, or that they insist on applying their outdated rules or asking irrelevant questions. His followers love him, they can see his genius and they speak or assume his language. “If only those pesky grownups would listen, the world would be a better place”.

The Approval Seeker and Connector
She lives to be popular seeking as many props and symbols as she can to show her popularity. The more the merrier. Life is about being seen and talked about. She feels validated by the chaos and sheer weight of numbers. She’s invited to all the parties, and if not she makes sure she gets in. She knows somebody who knows somebody. She knows she is living a dangerous life and has to be on the ball: one indiscretion and she could be dropped from the “in crowd”. Being herself will not do. Keeping the charade up is hard work.

The Geek
Gone are the days when the Geek never got the girl. The ability to analyze, create and mold technology is now recognized as a valuable skill. The Geek loves to problem-solve and find solutions using technology. Shiny new toys are heaven. It is not unheard of for a Geek to be held in high regard and celebrated. “With my new toys I can perform spectacular tasks and tricks”. Keywords such as “techniques”, “processes” and “tactics” often feature.

The Student
The student loves to lap up all the techniques, tips and tactics that she can. She reads widely on the subject and loves to quote her latest source. The student becomes the “expert” through association and applying newly learned techniques to the letter. Not all students are the same though; some take best practices, add value and context and get the A+.

The Non-Conformist
Not to be confused with “the Rebel” the non-conformist sees the world differently. Often discounted for not excelling within the system, he has a set determination to prove himself. His strength comes from understanding the system, acknowledging the points of differentiation and seeing the gaps. The non-conformist works to objectives, setting out to satisfy or resolve those objectives using the tools and resources available to him. Success through proving himself is the reward. This comes through keeping an eye on the objectives, using the right tools and resources for those objectives and closing the gap between the established and the new.

Yes. This is rather tongue in cheek. No, it is not to be taken seriously. I guess one central message here is that we, as social media practitioners, marketers and online entrepreneurs need to take some responsibility for how social media is perceived and how we integrate it into the mainstream. A mature approach towards satisfying the critics’ concerns and demonstrating value will go a long way towards integrating social media into mainstream or traditional marketing and business initiatives.
I am sure there are more teenage stereotypes that fit the bill. Feel free to add your thoughts.
I for one am looking forward to Social Media growing up beyond the teenage years. Perhaps 2010 will bring more control, a more mature attitude towards social media and a more harmonious dialogue between the young and the old.

From original post

It is not so much that these opposing views are at different ends of the same spectrum, the fact is they operate on completely different tracks and there are few bridges linking the two.

There are many points where the two tracks follow different paths. A good example is the blind conviction of command and control structures that if we find something that works on a small scale we need to scale up in order to achieve greater profits and return. This is not to say that scaling up is wrong, or does not have its place; it is the approach that is fundamentally flawed.

From a command and control point of view it is important to control the inputs in order to control the outputs. Scaling up allows an organization to reach economies, streamline operations and ultimately control processes. This works ok in situations where resources are infinite or at the very least not scarce. It also assumes that the outputs are universally demanded and relevant. We are increasingly finding that resources are scarce, people are searching against need and objectives and new markets are organizing themselves differently.

The open source philosophy sees this differently. They will not argue against the need for scale, but the approach to scale is different. In order for something to scale efficiently the process must be opened up. Through opening up the process , each contributor is able to use what has been built so far and add to it in a way that makes it relevant to their needs, objectives, resources, experience, context and knowledge.  The scale element comes from sharing and building upon existing knowledge through an open model.  In simple terms this equates to taking the elements that work successfully within a localized solution and applying those while changing specific elements that relate to context, resources, needs, learning styles and so on. Often when we scale up universally we lose many of the elements that led to success in the first place.

I know what you’re thinking: ‘this is specific to software’. If we consider that software is produced in order to facilitate solutions to problems, to satisfy needs or attain objectives, rather than for the sake of producing software, we can see how this philosophy can be universally relevant.

One of the barriers to understanding and adopting the open source philosophy is the need for profit or revenue generating models. If I give something away for free, how am I going to make money? The answer lies in changing the focus of commerce away from:  ‘How can I get people to buy my product or service?’ to ‘How can I service people’s needs, objectives and demands?’. The open source approach looks at creating the right environment in order to provide relevant, contextual solutions, products and services that people are looking for, or that meet their needs and available resources.

There are numerous examples of open source initiatives that are doing just that. Ken Bank’s FrontlineSMS is a great example with its global adoption across thousands of separate initiatives, all based upon his open source software but adjusted to fit specific purposes and solutions, from development projects to larger spin offs such as Frontline SMS Medic and FrontlineSMS:Credit.

There are many examples out there. Feel free to add yours here. I would love to hear your views on the subject.

From original post

Yes, as innovative and generous as the US are as a nation, we’ve been FAT THINKERS. We’ve become rather lazy with our thinking. We even have cars parking for us for goodness sakes. Our arms are fat. Our brains are fatter.

So, back to Social Media – our business is busy. We have and continue to be approached a lot as people are ready to think more resourcefully. Ready to truly put what they learned at school about integrated marketing into actual practice. Interconnecting dots is for a lean brain. We can all do this.

The ROI of Social Media:

1. Asking questions leads to better informed answers and solutions. This is always an immediate time and money saver. Access to real time information and knowledge and being able to act on that information and knowledge, is the new competitive advantage.
2. Measurement is key. Here we talk about measurement against objectives, not against resources.
3. Interconnecting the dots is definitely an exercise for leaner thinking. Fun though.

For additional points, call us and help us understand your business and initiatives and we can help you figure out the relevant ROI framework for your specific business case.

Contact: info@tcgagency.com or Michelle Smith at +415 864 1431