Publications

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Using social media to drive business innovation: insights from Guy Kawasaki and Target’s Michael Axelin

Using social media to drive business innovation: insights from Guy Kawasaki and Target’s Michael Axelin

Hearing Guy Kawasaki on the Art of Innovation reminded me of a blog post I wrote last year after attending a talk by Michael Axelin, V.P. of Softlines Design and Product Development at Target (and fellow Oberlin alum). Both talks helped me refine my own thinking on how social media can support business innovation — a key benefit of social media that is neglected in favor of a pure focus on marketing.

The Harvard Business Review

Using social media to drive business innovation: insights from Guy Kawasaki and Target’s Michael Axelin

Using social media to drive business innovation: insights from Guy Kawasaki and Target’s Michael Axelin

Hearing Guy Kawasaki on the Art of Innovation reminded me of a blog post I wrote last year after attending a talk by Michael Axelin, V.P. of Softlines Design and Product Development at Target (and fellow Oberlin alum). Both talks helped me refine my own thinking on how social media can support business innovation — a key benefit of social media that is neglected in favor of a pure focus on marketing.

OneZero

Discovering family through a social media crisis

Discovering family through a social media crisis

My latest blog post for Harvard Business Review tackles the challenge of surviving a social media emergency. It was inspired by what turned out to be a minor emergency: the earthquake that rattled most of central Canada yesterday. As it happened, I was in Ottawa at...

Patrolling the boundaries in social networking

Patrolling the boundaries in social networking

Rob Jewitt, a lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Sunderland, writes about the university's recently introduced social networking site for students. Embedded in his description of the site's features are some interesting reflections on the kinds of...

What online music fans learn about online community

What online music fans learn about online community

Anastasia Goodstein says this about how social networks have changed the relationship among music fans and between fans and artists: While the future of MySpace may be questionable, I have to credit the service with transforming the relationship between artists and...

A techsperiment that puts family tech use in a new light

A techsperiment that puts family tech use in a new light

Last week we conducted a techsperiment on eliminating gadgets from our family time: we swore off using iPhones, iPads and computers from the time we got home (5 or 6) until the time the kids were asleep (8 or 9). We did pretty well during the week, and discovered that...

4 ways online communication can build relationships

Using ecosystems to model the abundance of the Internet

John Naughton had a remarkably thoughtful and useful piece in the Observer this weekend, Everything you need to know about the internet. He covers what he deems the nine essential truths you have to understand about life online, and while that may be overreaching, he...

Putting a price on friendship

Putting a price on friendship

I'll give you $2 for the guy you talked to at an office party last week. The friend you play hockey with every weekend, on the other hand, is worth $75. Your college roommate? She'll net you a cool $1,000. If the idea of assigning a price tag to each of your friends...

JSTOR DAILY

Discovering family through a social media crisis

Discovering family through a social media crisis

My latest blog post for Harvard Business Review tackles the challenge of surviving a social media emergency. It was inspired by what turned out to be a minor emergency: the earthquake that rattled most of central Canada yesterday. As it happened, I was in Ottawa at...

Patrolling the boundaries in social networking

Patrolling the boundaries in social networking

Rob Jewitt, a lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Sunderland, writes about the university's recently introduced social networking site for students. Embedded in his description of the site's features are some interesting reflections on the kinds of...

What online music fans learn about online community

What online music fans learn about online community

Anastasia Goodstein says this about how social networks have changed the relationship among music fans and between fans and artists: While the future of MySpace may be questionable, I have to credit the service with transforming the relationship between artists and...

A techsperiment that puts family tech use in a new light

A techsperiment that puts family tech use in a new light

Last week we conducted a techsperiment on eliminating gadgets from our family time: we swore off using iPhones, iPads and computers from the time we got home (5 or 6) until the time the kids were asleep (8 or 9). We did pretty well during the week, and discovered that...

4 ways online communication can build relationships

Using ecosystems to model the abundance of the Internet

John Naughton had a remarkably thoughtful and useful piece in the Observer this weekend, Everything you need to know about the internet. He covers what he deems the nine essential truths you have to understand about life online, and while that may be overreaching, he...

Putting a price on friendship

Putting a price on friendship

I'll give you $2 for the guy you talked to at an office party last week. The friend you play hockey with every weekend, on the other hand, is worth $75. Your college roommate? She'll net you a cool $1,000. If the idea of assigning a price tag to each of your friends...

THE VERGE

Trust, disclosure and social media

Trust, disclosure and social media

Two of the most frequent criticisms of social media hinge on the quality and quantity of information people disclosure through blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social tools: Why does s/he think anyone cares? Asked about people who blog their latest meal, tweet their...

TedX Victoria: Stop apologizing for your online life

TedX Victoria: Stop apologizing for your online life

I'm delighted to be participating in TedX Victoria this November 19th.  I'll be speaking about the 10 Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your Online Life, and look forward to helping TedX participants give up the notion of IRL ("In Real Life"), and learn to embrace RLT....

Bored by your boyfriend? Try having sex.

Bored by your boyfriend? Try having sex.

This is my best effort at scrupulous transcription of a conversation I was fortunate to overhear in the locker room today, between two young women I initially assumed were roommates. I wasn't sure whether the locker room was covered by a cone of silence, so I checked...