Collaborative Minds: Facing the Realities of Social Media and Technologies Far-Reaching Implications

I must begin by saying, wow. As we shift our focus this week, away from the Fairy-tales of Facebook and the communities of Twitter, I am already astounded with the very interesting perspective presented in Chapter 10: The Power of Thinking Differently of Don Tapscott and Anothony D. Williams' Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. Let me start by saying they certainly have spurred me to think differently this week.

To this point our class has been very much focused on social media tools and their implications for us as consumers and for business firms, but in a very much narrow scope. Now, however, after assessing these tools and their various implications, we go one step further with Wikinomics. The Power of Thinking Differently, breaks down the wall between consumers and firms and encourages the development of collaborative relationships between the global community and corporations, which enhances both the consumer experience while increasing the profitability and marketability of a firm.

One of things I found most striking in the exploration of what it means to think with a "collaborative mind" was the fear and stigmatism surrounding companies' willingness to open source areas of their company. The whole first portion of this article indicates the primary issue preventing corporations, consumers and contributers from breaking down the doors between innovation, external input and innovation is age old conventional wisdom. Wikinomics makes it very clear that open content is not going to be explored or employed by traditional media establishments because for these aged firms open-sourcing is a perpetual threat to old businesses and their intellectual property. Companies steeped in legacy seem to be stuck, choosing to view innovation and prosumer communities as an attack. My thoughts on this resistance to embrace new methodologies are of course confusion and annoyance. In the business world today, the need for speed is ever-pressing especially with regard to agile response to consumer demands. So, WHY would these companies, who have tested time, refuse to engage in collaborative infrastructure to allow them to keep testing time? Today is not 10 years ago and most certainly not 50 years ago, these firms must come to acknowledge "a well mannered economy is not today's reality" because "stability is dead". As much as they want to fear and fight change, these companies will pay the inevitable price in remaining static.

In conjunction with this fear of change, Wikinomics also touched upon the decreasing value of telecommunications and given the availability of free internet the impending demise of telephony's ability to generate revenue altogether. It is only a matter of time before Telephony will be free. What I find to be most interesting about the impending demise of Telephony is the manner in which these telecommunication's firms are attempting to salvage the situation. What is this salvation you might ask, well for all intensive purposes, they are interested in cordoning- off the internet into different levels of service, as customers on a plane are divided into first class, business class and coach. Essentially it is the aim of failing companies to AUCTION OFF THE INTERNET to the highest bitter. This to me is the most backwards and futile thinking this industry could possibly adopt; my advise to these firms, get with the times or get lost. In these companies looking to save themselves they are in turn extinguishing innovation and collaboration.

It was this idea of a free internet that got me thinking. What if a company controlled your internet connectivity speed, search engine capabilities and overall experience. At what point would consumers effectively pay the price from not paying a price? As it stands right now the internet is in a class all its own from previous communications mediums, architecturally it is constructed on the basis that "nobody owns it, everybody uses it and anybody can add services to it". By construction alone it is built to foster collaboration, which really makes me question, why is an industry so unwilling to change that they would gladly scarifie the intrinsic collaborative value of the internet, just so they can bolster their dwindling revenues?

So I pose the question, Facebook on their login page made the statement, "sign up its free, and always will be", but what if the internet is no longer free? Can you foresee a future where you must decide to pay for a premium internet connection or just settle for regular internet?

I would give this article a (10/10) I think its approach and perspective were refreshing and insightful while still holding relevance to our class. It really made me think of how much I take traditional media, not to mention the internet for granted.