Twitter’s Nuclear Option
If Twitter’s countermeasures fail in the run up to the mid-term election, they should prepare a nuclear option. Russian intelligence distorted the democratic process of the 2016 Presidential Election by manipulating social media, and perhaps more. A tech backlash is in full swing, where the power of unintended and intended (ads) consequences wielded by […]
5 reasons why 2007 was a Tipping Point (and a Turning Point) in our Digital Journey
Both really. 2007 was pivotal. A big year in our digital history. It was also the year “An Inconvenient Truth” won the Oscar for best documentary, and Al Gore told us we only had 10 years to save the planet. It was the year my literary hero Kurt Vonnegut died. The Police and the Spice […]
10 years on, why I haven’t fallen out of love with Twitter (yet)
“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” A very sweet thought from Winnie-the-Pooh. Disney by the way, not A.A. Milne. Well it is Valentine’s Day and it’s exactly 10 years to the day since I started […]
Why Salesforce Should Buy Twitter
Bear with me before dismissing me as crazy — I love the idea. Here is the explanation, which SFDC may dispute. Read it in its entirety before pronouncing judgment. Twitter is not a social network. It has failed dismally at it. Facebook has eaten their breakfast, lunch, and dinner and drank their milk at it. […]
Social’s swan song
Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn for more than $26 billion raised a lot of eyebrows for good reason. True, the acquired company is valuable and generating revenue but like most of the social networking space, it is far from healthy and one wonders if Microsoft could have gotten a better deal. According to a colleague at […]
End of an era? LinkedIn goes to Microsoft
Microsoft announced the intent to buy LinkedIn for $196 per share today or more than $26 billion. It’s a huge deal and a great payday for the social networking company specializing in making it easier for business people to connect. But why do this deal and why now? This calls for a lot of speculation […]
Sliding revenues
Fun pic, no? Apple’s earnings disappointment thudded into view in the middle of an afternoon of briefings at Oracle’s Modern Marketing Experience conference in Las Vegas. In that context it gave me a lot to think about especially the difference between a one time earnings disappointment and something more serious. (1) I have a feeling […]
Microsoft’s Racist Bot is the Most Human-Like Ever
Microsoft suffered a PR disaster with the launch of Tay, the AI-powered chat bot unleashed on Twitter. Long story short, Twitter users quickly shaped Tay into a bigot that spewed some pretty vile stuff. Microsoft shut it down quickly, which is no surprise. This is a picture of things to come as autonomy intersects with […]
CEO is Not a Part-Time Job
While I’m not that close to the whole Twitter situation and although I’m a moderately heavy user (@Kellblog), I don’t study their financials or other statistics. That said, as a user, I feel a certain malaise around the service and I think it’s definitely in need of some new energy. What I don’t get it is the […]
The Silent Rise of Chat in Customer Service Adoption
Continuing on the delivery of the early insights into the third version of the customer service adoption and usage study we are conducting with our friends at KANA, A Verint Company (the summary of early findings is here, and the findings on social can be found here, mobile here, and operationalization of customer service here) […]
