Everything is networked: friendship, professional life, customers, knowledge, causes and commerce. These networks represent new opportunities to invent, innovate and disrupt. What do philanthropists, advocates, social entrepreneurs, tech startups, journalists, venture capitals and everyday users now have in common? Have networks changed the nature of business?

Session Chair: Merrill Brown, Chairman, NowPublic

• Lawrence Wilkinson, Founder, Global Business Network
• Chris Tolles, CEO, Topix
• Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist, Reuters Media
• Tom Bosco, VP, Video Sales, Fox Interactive Media
• Suha Araj, Founder and VP of Strategy, Real Girls Media
• Jennifer Carroll, VP, New Media Content, Gannett
• Randy Paynter, Founder and CEO, Care2

Blogged by Lauren Movius: post one, two and three.

tags:We Media Miami 2008

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As the economics of industrial journalism give way to the disruption and innovation of a digital, connected culture, new models of financing and practicing journalism are emerging. What lessons from social entrepreneurship are applicable here? If journalism makes the world better, should we think of it as a social cause rather than a commercial venture? Can journalism still produce financial results?

Keynote conversations with:

• Alberto Ibarguen, President, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
• Diana Wells, President, Ashoka

Moderated by Keith Hammonds, Ashoka

Blogged by Rob Park (with additional wrap-up by Andrew Nachison)

Rather than trying to control content spiraling through the mediascape, enterprising businesses allow content to have a life of its own, as others repost, edit, parody, mashup or comment on it. While surrendering control may seem a counter-intuitive business strategy, content free-for-alls, with soft brand associations, can expand audiences, reach and influence.

Session Chair: Dale Peskin, Managing Director, iFOCOS

• Chris Willis, Footnote
• Eduard Danilo Ruiz, Danilo Black
• Michael Smolens, CEO, DotSUB
• Adam Hoey, Director, Enterprise Business Development, Proteus

Blogged by Brooks Lindsay

Indigenous communities around the world have long had their stories told for them by anthropologists, journalists and documentary-film makers. Today, more and more of these communities are online, telling their own stories.

Introduced by:
Sanjeev Chaterjee, Director, Knight Center for International Media

Session Chair: David Sasaki, Rising Voices

• Cristina Quisbert, Producer and Eduardo √Åvila, Director, Voces Bolivianas
• Luis Ramiro Beltr√°n, Bolivian communications-research pioneer
• Leonardo Ferreira, author, Centuries of Silence

Global Voices blogging (and additional commentary from Renata Avila)

Traditional (legacy) news organizations have no choice but to continue to change in order to respond to the growth of aggregators and other WeMedia players. Learn how leaders in the field are tackling editorial, business and management challenges in the culture of empowered content creatives.

Session Chair: Carin Dessauer, Senior Fellow, iFOCOS

• Neil Budde, former VP and Editor-in-Chief, Yahoo! News
• Kinsey Wilson, Executive Editor, USAToday and USAToday.com
• Jennifer Sizemore, Executive Editor, MSNBC.com
• Maria Thomas, SVP, National Public Radio

Blogged by Travis Smith

Sponsored by Fleishman-Hillard

Social networking, un-conferences, wikis and other web tools can not only strength communities but also build momentum for brands and causes. Their success, however, depends on more than just digital connections. How can companies make the connection between online networks and real-world outcomes?

Session Chair: Susan Mernit, Senior Director, Yahoo! Personals

• Maria Gallagher, Senior Vice President, Fleishman-Hillard
• Kaliya Hamlin, Founder, Unconference.net
• Elisa Camahort Page, Co-Founder, BlogHer
• John Todor, Principal, The Whetstone Edge
• JB Holson, CEO, NewsGator
• Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky, Dean, University of Miami School of Education

Blogged by Barbara Iverson: post one, two, three and four.

Sponsored by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive

New media is defined by online interactivity; no blog posting or article is complete with a comments section, for example. How do such virtual conversations influence, inform and reflect real-life public conversations? How can online community organizers keep participants on track and maintain order without stifling the conversation?

Chair: Hal Straus, washingtonpost.com

• Mark Jones, Global Editor for Community, Reuters
• Steve Arend, VP Digital Services, Head of Technology Innovators Group, CMP
• Robin Miller, Editor, Slashdot and SourceForge, Inc.
• Chris Tolles, CEO, Topix

Blogged by Sarah Schacht

Sponsored by NewsGator
Advertisers and media companies are undergoing a dramatic transformation that impacts how they target and reach consumers and business users alike. Widgets and syndication services are enabling a new generation of capabilities that puts the consumer in the center and allows them to surround themselves with content from their favorite sources and discover new relevant content. Advertisers, aka “brands”, are similarly responding to this shift in behavior as they invest in creative new technologies that more deeply engage consumers and lead to richer interactions. This workshop will cover these topics and provide examples of what you can do take advantage of this shift.

• Jeff Nolan, VP Business Development, NewsGator

Blogged by Jacqueline Guitierrez

Winning others to your social cause has never been easier. Hear how three new-media organizations are leveraging the power of social networks to prevent cancer, support the arts and much more.

Session Chair: Suzanne Turner, CEO, Turner Strategies

• Joan Peckolick, Founder, Selfchec
• James Carlson, CEO, Bucketworks
• Deron Triff, Co-President and CEO, Changents
• Matisse Bustos Hawkes, Outreach coordinator, WITNESS

Blogged by Jessie Schuster.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation invests $25 million in innovative approaches to journalism to strengthens local communities.

Session Chair: Eric Newton, VP, Journalism Programs, Knight Foundation

• Nora Paul, Director, Institute for New Media Studies, University of Minnesota
• Amy Gahran, Content Strategist and Independent Journalist
• Gary Kebbel, Journalism Program Officer, Knight Foundation

Blogged by Jessica Reyes

As commercial journalism evolves, the influence and impact of nonprofit media is expanding. Non-profits are developing new journalistic models; advocacy groups who once relied on journalists are now making the news themselves. How do these changes effect the delivery, dissemination, and our understanding of news? What are the potential risks and benefits?

Session chair: John Bracken, MacArthur Foundation

• Jon Sawyer, Executive Director, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
• Ellen Miller, Executive Director, Sunlight Foundation

Blogged by Adrienne Ammerman, (with additional commentary from the Pulitzer Center’s Nathalie Applewhite)

The hierarchy between journalist and audience has broken down. While some fear the change, others see the enormous potential in bringing the work of professional and amateur journalists together. How are eyewitnesses, often using social networks, creating new story-telling models? What is the best way to leverage the experience of professional journalists in this new world?

Session Chair: Lou Ferrara, Deputy Managing Editor for Multimedia, The Associated Press

• Michael Tippett, Founder, NowPublic
• Kate Marymont, Executive Editor, The News-Press, Ft. Myers, Florida
• Lauren McCullough, Online Editor, The Associated Press
• David Cohn, Editor, NewAssignment and NewsTrust

Blogged by Zita Arocha

Meet and chat with author, blogger and media strategist Brian Reich at The National Press Club in Washington, DC.

When: Tuesday, April 1, 4 pm ET

Where: The National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, DC 20045, 13th Floor First Amendment Room [map]

What: Conversation Followed By Reception

More: If you have questions, contact Brian directly: brian AT themediarules DOT com. Or learn more about him and connect with him in the We Media Community [here's Brian's profile].

Brian is a partner at web design and strategy shop EchoDitto, he’s a media-and-politics savvy blogger and co-author of a new book, Media Rules!: Mastering Today’s Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience. That’s his exclamation, not mine, like Yahoo!! Brian is also a member of the iFOCOS advisory board.

Social media is all the rage. But why? Why is the connected society becoming so relentlessly social? Are we smitten with the technical cleverness of Facebook and MySpace? Do we revel in the empowerment of distribution and sharing offered by YouTube, Digg and Twitter? Are we simply fools for anything new – or for the newest frontier of digital business opportunities (and cycles)? Are we like the drones in the 1985 Apple commercial – unwittingly following the crowd? Or, are there deeper human drives at work? Are there psychological and sociological reasons behind people’s eagerness to connect? In this brief guest post, psychologist and business strategist John I. Todor offers a psycho-social view of the growth of social networks and the human behaviors and aspirations reflected in the digital experience. – Andrew Nachison

Long before social media and networks such as Facebook and MySpace arrived on the scene, people were affected by rapid innovation in technology and constant change. It is difficult to keep up with what’s happening in one’s own field or area of special interest. But it is nearly impossible to avoid anxiety, frustration, and confusion when the world around you changes in unpredictable ways.

Certainly we all feel frustration when confronted with new technology. Most often we figure it out and eliminate the confusion. Or do we? Everyone knows how to use Microsoft Word. However, most people use a very limited set of capabilities. They get by until they have a need to do something new, like place a photo in a block of text. Figuring out how can be a lesson in frustration.

Our reality is that we live in a world of abundance and overwhelming choice and, while it may seem paradoxical, these conditions push us out of our psychological comfort zones.¹ We also must contend with information overload, the stress of dealing with the uncertainty and complexity brought on by change, and the time pressures associated with living in a 24/7, always-on world. All of these factors erode our sense of orderliness and safety. They reduce our sense of control, our ability to predict events in the external world. Often we cope by finding a temporary fix or we find ways to avoid these situations. It is easy to assume that each episode has only a temporary negative effect. The evidence, however, reveals a much more pervasive and enduring societal impact.

Recent research presents compelling evidence that anxiety, stress, depression², aggravation³, distrust⁴ and procrastination⁵ have all increased at a societal level. So have alienation, loneliness⁶ and our social connectedness⁷. At a personal level we are disengaged^8,9 or indifferent in more and more situations. This impacts self-esteem and our psychological system’s ability to adapt. At an interpersonal level, we are less connected, especially in trusting relationships that we can count on when the chips are down.

The Need for Sense Making

The human psychological system is remarkable in its ability to make sense out of uncertainties, face what was once complex, and make it understandable and predictable. It enables us to regain a sense of predictability and control. What once created anxiety or frustration is replaced by a new sense of order. This is fundamental to one’s self-esteem which reflects an inward knowledge of being able to adjust to change, to thrive, and even desire the new and novel. It is a critical aspect of mental well being and the foundation of happiness.

In his book, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age,¹⁰ Dan Pink argues that we have plenty of information; in fact, we face too much information and too much uncertainty coming at us too fast. As a consequence we struggle with finding understanding and value in change. When we do, it is psychologically rewarding and it enables us to derive experiential value from our new insights.

Relationships and Communities

How does this need for sense making relate to our need for social connectedness? Research by Robert Kelly of Carnegie Mellon University brings it clearly into focus. In 1986 when he asked people what percentage of the knowledge they needed to do their job was inside their own head, the average estimate was 75%. By 1997 the average estimate was below 20%. You can imagine what it is today! We are dependent on relationships with others to deal with knowledge explosion and increasing complexity. Kelly was asking people about their job where they were paid to be competent.¹¹

What about the average citizens trying to adapt to waves of change in virtually all aspects of their lives?

Relationships are the essential medium. However, for relationships to work there must be mutual trust. Without trust there is lack of the openness or intimacy required to allow the relationship to focus on issues.

Peers rank at the top of trust scales. Why? Because there is a shared perspective. Recommendations of friends or associates are contextually relevant. If it is meaningful to them, it is likely to be meaningful to us. The stronger the trust in the relationship, the more credibility we put in the recommendation.

Peer review and consumer generated content are highly trusted, even though they may be posted by someone we don’t personally know. Why is this? Other consumers tend to describe the experiential aspects of purchasing a product and, importantly, focus on the experiential value derived from using the product.

In contrast, trust in companies, their marketing and employees ranks in the bottom third of trust scales. As a result, interactions between customers and companies tend to focus on the economic transaction. Lacking trusted relationships, customers focus on the best trade-off between price and convenience and companies find they must repeatedly compete with each other to win each sale.

Social theorists make a distinction between weak tie relationships and strong tie relationships. In the social networking world, most ties or connections are relatively weak. People with over 500 connections in LinkedIn have mostly weak ties to acquaintances rather than relationships that come from close interaction.

Both weak and strong ties are valuable online. The weak tie connection in a peer review facilitates an immediate decision. As the level of participation and contribution increases by all parties, the strength of the ties increases. Some travel sites start with recommendations but facilitate collaborations that result in strangers co-operatively planning vacation together and sharing real-world experiences. Similarly, online discussions among individual stock traders can evolve into collaborative subgroups that function as a shared brain trust.

Social Companies

If companies are generally less trusted than peers, does that mean they have no place in the networked culture? Are they left out?

They are if they do not become part of the conversations and an authentic member of the communities. When Fiat was planning the re-release of the Fiat 500 car, they started by building a community of interest. Five hundred days before the release, they enticed more than 8,000 people to help them design the accessories for the car. The result: popular accessories AND a highly interactive community sharing a passion and commitment to all things Fiat 500. They advised each other on how to “experience” the car. They evangelized their experiences with the car to prospective buyers. They provided Fiat with the insights to keep this community happy and loyal. And they did so for free.

Psychologist John I. Todor, Ph.D., is managing partner of The Whetstone Edge, a firm that advises companies on how to use social media to foster relationships with customers that have a real world benefit to both parties. He is also a member of the We Media Community [view profile]. His most recent book is Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company.

Notes

1. John I. Todor, Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked On Your Company. (Martinez, CA: Silverado Press, 2006).

2. Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. (New York: Free Pres, 2002).

3. Steve Farkas and Jean Johnson, Aggravating Circumstances: A Status Report on Rudeness in America. A report from Public Agenda prepared for the Pew Charitable Trust, 2002.

4. Richard Edelman, The 2006 Edelman Trust Barometer [PDF], PRWeek, January 26, 2006.
5. Steel, P. The Nature of Procrastination. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65-94, 2007.

6. Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin and Matthew Brashear, Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades, American Sociological Review [PDF], vol. 71, 353-375, 2006.

7. Robert D. Putnam. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000).

8. Harry Hoover, Why Passionate Employees Matter (MarketingProfs.com, Nov. 5, 2002).

9. Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequence of Work in the New Capitalism, (New York: Bantam Books, 1998).

10. Daniel H. Pink, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. (New York: Riverhead Books, 2005).

11. Robert E. Kelly, How to Be A Star at Work, (New York: Times Books, 1998).

From Singapore: Conference Bay, an eBay-style auction marketplace for buying seats at conferences worldwide.

Nothing new here, right? We all know about online auctions. The only innovation is applying a well-tested online transaction model to a different niche -  in this case a potentially high-value niche that may provide real utility – and new buying power – for a global audience. It’s worth comparing this service to another crowd-sourced approach to aggregating event information: Yahoo’s Upcoming, which is full of Yahoo’s social media goodness – and lots of free events, too. You can add comments, people, maps, etc.. But at the end of the day (and more than two years after Yahoo! purchased Upcoming), it’s a big list to promote events – but not to directly sell or determine pricing for seats.

Insight: Innovation happens everywhere.

I should also note: the We Media/connected/story-telling culture helped me find Conference Bay. Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman’s blog mentioned Solana Larson and the Global Voices crew that came to We Media Miami, and this popped up in our Technorati tracker for the wemedia tag. Someone named Anne from the Phillipines who knew or knew of Ethan commented in his blog – and I followed the link to Anne’s blog, then read down not only to see some familiar names and interests, but, reading down to the next post, a link to Conference Bay.