Twitterville Instead of Tees at BlogPotomac!
Continuing our informal series of interviews with BlogPotomac speakers at the Final BlogPotomac (October 23, at the State Theatre, register today!), here’s one with the author of Twitterville (available on Amazon), Shel Israel. BlogPotomac attendees will receive a free copy of Twitterville this Fall instead of the usual T-Shirt. Shel has agreed to sign books at the event.
Shel is a good friend and co-keynote of BlogPotomac with Beth Kanter. he describes himself as a social media storyteller. He is co-author of Naked Conversations, and The Conversational Corporation. Read more about him here. Here are his answers to the standard four BlogPotomac questions.
GL: What social media application or network is really exciting you today and why?
SI: Boy is that easy: Twitter. Because it allows people to behave online more like we do in real life than anything that came before it.
GL: In your mind, what’s the biggest barrier facing organizational adoption of social?
SI: Organizations feel safe, with proven, refined practices. Social media is very often disruptive to doing what has always been done. Some people are uncomfortable with that.
GL: What current or future technology do you see impacting social the most over the next five years?
SI: I’m not good with predictions. I love the surprises of technology. Currently, my view is that we are now completing an unprecedented round of innovation in the hip-joined areas of Web 2.0 and social media. The coming years very well might be dominated by the refinement of all the new stuff that has erupted on the Internet.
GL: Do you think social media has positively or negatively impacted society and why?
SI: Both. Overwhelmingly it has been positive. But through history, wherever decent, hard-working honest folk have gathered, scammers, snake-oil salesmen, get-rich-quick artists, and sex merchants have followed trying to fleece the good people. That’s what’s happening in much of social media. Like crime in real life, this can be controlled to some degree but it is nearly impossible to stop altogether.
