It's New Years Eve here in South Natick. Like the holiday or hate it, you'll probably agree it is at least a time to take stock and make pledges to yourself about the coming year, both personally and professionally. Maybe in the time it takes the clock to transition from 2007 to 2008, you'll consider whether or not to make 2008 the year in which you'll make some wholesale changes in the way you market your products and services.

To evaluate that possibility, here's a column by Michelle Richard who is the co-owner of Coalesce Marketing & Design Inc. in Appleton, Wisconsin. It's all about a market target that in a recent survey was at the top of the list for more than 80% of marketing executives polled: Generation Y, which they say happens to be twice the size of Gen X.

The column is worth reading from beginning to end if you're interested in learning why traditional media isn't going to reach this audience; if you want to better understand how and why this group is becoming increasingly immune to old advertising formulas.

Happy New Year?

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Burton Group, an IT research firm focused on enterprise infrastructure technologies, published a report that recommends how Enterprise 2.0, a collection of organizational and IT practices, can help businesses achieve better performance and address human capital management needs.

That's the lede on this news release detailing the report and itemizing Burton Group's "four key design qualities that are essential for Enterprise 2.0 success."

I happen to think the four key design qualities they mention are both a little obvious and a lot right. They are explained under these four key words: Personal Value, Emergent, Communal, and Platform Centric.

Are you coming around to the notion that Enterprise 2.0 may be the key to improved business and an advanced ability to attract and retain the best people? You might consider furthering your exploration of the concept by reading this news and visiting Burton Group. [AgencyNext has no affiliation with Burton Group.]

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Based in Johannesburg, The Times newspaper now offers almost totally uncensored posts from a handful of selected bloggers. They call these writers blogumists. They call the postings blogumns. Here's a link to these posts which The Times describes as 'Exclusive daily musings written by bloggers for The Times.'  Here is a link to The Time's home page.

If you can't beat 'em, let 'em join you?

Having been a newspaper reporter once upon a time long ago, I wonder how the professional journalists at The Times feel about these citizen journalists? What happens if one of their blogumists writes a post critical of the print media? Are the writings of these blogumists fact-checked? As a blogumist for The Times, is the blogger afforded all the same protections generally associated with newspaper reporters? Is the newspaper liable for what it prints under the byline of a blogger? Since The Times says, "…these blogumns are left unedited 98.999% uncensored," what sort of copy represents the 1.001% of unacceptable content?

By the way, I'm guilty here of asking questions that I often get, and which I tend to categorize as just another rock in my shoe. Social media is supposed to be a little open ended and free-wheeling. If we wait around for everything to get figured out, we'll never get anything started.

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