The Education Business Blog

Danah Boyd - one of the most incisive thinkers about how new technology is reshaping our lives (and more importantly to readers of this blog the lives of teenagers) - was recently hired by Microsoft Research. She gave a talk that summarized at a high level the history of social media, how teens and adults use it differently, and policy and behavioral implications for all of us to consider.

Social Media Is Here to Stay - Now What?

Its brilliant. Go read it. It will only take about 15 minutes and you will learn something - I guarantee it.

Here are a few select nuggets:

"For users, Web2.0 was all about reorganizing web-based practices around Friends....While many of the tools may have been designed to help people find others, what Web2.0 showed was that people really wanted a way to connect with those that they already knew in new ways. Even tools like MySpace and Facebook which are typically labeled social networkING sites were never really about networking for most users. They were about socializing inside of pre-existing networks."

"Many who build technology think that a technology's feature set is the key to its adoption and popularity. With social media, this is often not the case. There are triggers that drive early adopters to a site, but the single most important factor in determining whether or not a person will adopt one of these sites is whether or not it is the place where their friends hangout."

"Social network sites became critically important to [teens] because this was where they sat and gossiped, jockeyed for status, and functioned as digital flaneurs...Adults, far more than teens, are using Facebook for its intended purpose as a social utility. For example, it is a tool for communicating with the past."

"The key lesson from the rise of social media for you is that a great deal of software is best built as a coordinated dance between you and the users."

"Policy makers in this country are hell-bent on "solving" the safety problem, but what they're trying to fix is not what's really happening. Yet, in trying to address public fears, they run the risk of putting more kids in harm's way AND forcing companies to build technologies that would help no one. As parents, citizens, and a corporation, we have a responsibility to understand what is actually going on here. (One of the advantages of adult participation is that they're starting to grok what's really going on on these sites and the fears are subsiding.)"

"This is a systems problem. We are all implicated in it - as developers and policy makers, as parents and friends, as individuals and as citizens."

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Posted In: Culture , Education Technology

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Business Development work requires a certain suspension of disbelief to function smoothly. In the initial stages of any conversation both parties have to be open to undiscovered possibility. Often the most profitable opportunities only become clear after a false start or two.

I'm naturally optimistic and I allow myself to be seduced to new possibilities in initial meetings with potential partners. The positive side of this is that I've been involved in some creative and profitable deals that wouldn't have come off without a period of listening and exploration. The negative side is that it is very easy to send misleading signals to the other side who interpret your enthusiasm to engage as a leading indicator of a pending deal.

The Gullibility Paradox

This outlook creates a paradox because Business Development can't be allowed pull a business into time consuming distractions and strategic cul de sacs. You must be disciplined about the conversations you enter and how long you allow them to proceed before you bail out or engage. But unless you talk to people who are outside of the orbit of conventional wisdom you won't add much value in the long run.

It is common sense to be skeptical about any potential deal and to stay focused on your knitting. For the bulk of the managers in a business this is an imperative. But for those involved in Business Development your role is to explore the possibilities of an unknown future, and the skeptical approach in this specific context does not serve the needs of the business.

Roads Not Taken

I've seen the downside of not taking an optimistic approach.

In the mid-90's a major computer company approached the software company I worked for with an exploratory meeting. At the time we had a very close partnership with their chief rival. We were surprised when what was supposed to be a casual meeting of 2-3 people turned into a group of 10 on their side. My Business Development Manager went into the meeting with a mindset that discussion was pointless because of our other alliance and it came through in his words and body language. We didn't react to the signals that were coming our way and the conversation didn't go well.

Two months later they bought a rival for an absolutely ridiculous multiple on earnings.

I'm not sure if they would have bought us in the end - but we never got the chance to even have the conversation because we came into the meeting with our minds closed to the possibility.

The Solution - A Moving Scale

On the internationally accepted Eeyore to Tigger scale it helps to start every new conversation at about 75% Tigger. The closer to a real deal you get the more Eeyoreish you need to become.

I wrote about the Eeyore side in an article on Parnterships In Education - as you iron out details you need to assume that what can go wrong will go wrong (because, well, it will).

A Couple of Caveats

Does this mean you need to enter into conversations with people you don't trust? No - trust is the bedrock of any successful deal. Opening yourself up to entreaties from sleaze-balls isn't a business strategy, its a death wish.

Should you talk to anyone? No - there isn't enough time in the day to talk to everyone who comes your way. But at least for initial meetings you need to dial down your resistance to unusual approaches and opportunities. If there is a peripheral connection it can't hurt to listen for a few minutes. You might schedule a phone call instead of a dinner but you will learning something from every encounter if you are listening.

Conclusion

If you are involved in Business Development I encourage you to develop your openness to possibility from unusual sources. This is after all the essence of what you are trying to do - unearth opportunities that are profitable precisely because others have not discovered them yet.

If you can learn to manage your own outlook as you move through a deal you will surface the gems with optimism, and then negotiate a deal that can stand an encounter with the real world with skepticism.

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Posted In: K12 Publishing , Marketing Management

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It has been amusing for the past 10 years to smirk and say "Well, this internet thing - it's just a fad..." when discussing educational policy with print advocates. The reality is far more sobering and frankly more uplifting than the arch cynicism of the joke.

Below is a chart showing internet usage around the world and the growth since 2000. Staggering growth is an understatement. While we reach saturation in North America (at about 70% of the population) Africa is only at 5.6% and Asia is at 17.2% and already has has the most users of any area even at this low penetration level.

I'm inspired by this data - it speaks to a potential for building connections between people that is expanding at a dramatic rate. In the world of education this brings home how essential the skills of communication, team building, and diversity already are and how central they will be to the world today's First Graders inherit.

This growth also means there will be millions more voices we can listen to easily - making sense of this is one of the central challenges of our time as educators and as a culture.

Let's use our powers for good.

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Hat tip to John Hamalka for this graphic at the Life as a Healthcare CIO blog. I find his insights about IT in healthcare provide advance warning of what we will see in education. He also does a "Cool Technology of the Week" post every week that I enjoy.

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Posted In: Culture , Education Technology

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