In the last few weeks I've been very busy with work issues that I haven't found the time to write as much as I wanted in my blog. This presentation here is the first presentation I share online and its the first I create an mp3 to voice-over it.

I call this "Social Trust", I think you'll understand why after you see the presentation.

Late Edit:

The first result in Google when you search for Social Trust brings you to a page from Harvard International Review that describes Social Trust in these words:
"Social trust can entail perceived honesty, objectivity, consistency, competence, and fairness, all of which foster relationships between individuals that must be maintained by the sustained fulfillment of these standards". I suggest you read this paper, since it's really interesting and might make you start thinking about the Statusphere and the world of social networks with a broader perspective, a sociological perspective.

הזכות להשפיע, אולי זו חובה?
פוליטיקה בארץ היא מילה גסה. פוליטיקה היא פסבדון ללכלוך, מילה נרדפת למאעכריות, זוהמה, דילים, מעטפות, יחיאל חזן ואחד עוזי כהן. זכרונו לברכה.

אנחנו נגעלים מפוליטיקה כי עזבנו אותה. לא יודע מי מביניכם עשה פעולה במגרש הפוליטי אי פעם בחייו, אבל אני לא מאשים אתכם על שאתם נגעלים ממה שאתם רואים בטלויזיה וממה שאתם קוראים באינטרנט ובעיתון. עזבתם את הפוליטיקה לפני שנכנסתם אליה וויתרתם על הזכות שלכם להשפיע. טוב, אני לא תמים, לא כל האזרחים רוצים להשפיע וזו זכותם, חלקם מעדיפים להשפיע ביום הבחירות, זה שבא פעם בשנתיים (מישהו זוכר כשזה היה ארבע? זה היה טוב, לא? מה דעתכם? נו, שישנו את החוק כבר, שיחזירו את זה לארבע שנים). האם זה מספיק?

אומרים שבארץ אין בלוגרים משפיעים, אבל אני אומר שיש. אתם. איך אני יודע שיש? כי כשרוצים לצאת בקמפיין כלשהו, בא איזה מישהו ששמע שיש עולם בלוגים שלם כמגלה עולמות ואומר בואו נשתמש במה שבלוגרים אומרים כדי להראות שיש אמירה מהשטח ואז הולכים ללקק להם (בטעם רע) ולבקש מהם טובות. כשרוצים לראיין בלוגר על כל מה שהולך באינטרנט היום מתקשרים לליאת בר און (דודה מלכה), כשרוצים לדבר על דברים מוניציפליים מתקשרים ליואב לרמן, כשרוצים דיני אינטרנט מדברים עם יהונתן קלינגר ואלה רק דוגמאות פעוטות.

יש משתנה נוסף במשוואה הזו, הבלוגרים עצמם. הבלוגרים עצמם לא מאמינים שהם משפיעים. אבל אתם כן. מי שכותב משפיע על דעת קוראיו והיום, כשלכל אחד יש כמה פלטפורמות בהן הוא משתמש מידת ההשפעה שלו גדלה, הוא רק צריך להכיר בזה. בתור אחד שפועל על מספר פלטפורמות יש לי נגיעה בקהלים שונים ובדעות שונות. אני מסוגל לשלוח את התוכן שלי למקומות רבים בבת אחת ובלי מאמצים מיוחדים. כל אחד נהיה סינדיקציה.

אם מחזירים את השיחה הזו לפוליטיקה, בלוגר שיתחיל לכתוב את דעתו על מצב העניינים, ידבר לקהל שלו בגובה העיניים, ידע לפבלש את עצמו (לייצר/לפרסם/להפיץ) ויעשה את זה לאורך זמן, יהיה מישהו שהעיניים יהיו נשואות אליו. אולי זה יתחיל מכמה עשרות, אבל זה יגדל לכמה מאות ויעלה אפילו לכמה אלפים, של קוראים כמובן. אדם כזה מסוגל להניע לפעולה.

שררה לא מקבלים- שררה לוקחים
אני אומר יותר מזה, וזכותכם לא להסכים איתי, אבל זו דעתי, בענייני עתיד המדינה, ועוד כשמדובר על תקופת בחירות- על בלוגרים לנקוט עמדה. עליהם להגיד במי הם תומכים ואם לא, אז לפחות למי הם מתנגדים. יש בזה סיכון, יש בזה סיכון מאד גדול, אבל הצד השני של המשוואה הזו הוא הרווח שיצמח להם, ראשית בכל הנוגע למעמדם בציבור ושנית- הוכח שאנשים שיודעים לכתוב ושיודעים לגעת בקהל מתחילים לעשות כסף מהכתיבה שלהם או מהכשרון שאותו הם נתנו עד כה בחינם.

ארץ לא נודעת
שררה לוקחים כשנוקטים עמדה בנוגע למשהו. יכולים להיות מחירים, אבל הדימוי העצמי והדימוי הציבורי, יחד עם ההזדמנויות העסקיות שנפתחות מזה גדלים. אם בלוגרים רוצים רוצים שיכבדו אותם, אם בלוגרים רוצים להשפיע, אם בלוגרים רוצים להיות אלה שמשפיעים על דעת הקהל באמת עליהם לשים את עצמם בחזית ולדעת שהם ניצבים מול הרוח ואל להם לפחד מהעתיד, זו עדיין ארץ לא נודעת עם הזדמנויות המוגבלות רק על ידי הדמיון עצמו.

בני אדם יכולים להשפיע אם יחליטו שהם מעוניינים להשפיע. אפשר לבכות עד אין קץ שלפוליטיקה שלנו נכנסים כל מיני זבלים קטנים ותועלתניים ששוחים במיץ של הזבל, שכל האנשים הטובים עזבו כדי לעשות לביתם, שאיבדנו את הערכים שלנו ושלעם ישראל מגיע את המנהיגים שהוא בוחר לעצמו, ואפשר גם אחרת, אם אתם אנשים טובים- השפיעו, אימרו את דעתכם, ותרו על הזכות לשתוק, היפכו את הזכות להשפיע למחויבות שלכם, השפיעו על אחרים להשפיע גם. זה לא גמור עד שכל הקולות נספרים, האמינו בזה.

[Originally written: November 26, 2008)

In four days I'm going to speak about Social Media in Seminar Hakibutzim in Tel Aviv in front of entrepreneurs and other internet people or people who want to use social media to elevate their business. The last few days were really exciting for me because of that.

In this session I am not going to speak about how to open a successful Facebook profile. I am not going to speak about how to make a video viral on YouTube and not even on how to be a successful blogger.

Social media is just not it. Well, it is, but than again- it just isn't. Well, it's more than that, and if you think that opening profiles in all social utilities is enough- guess again.

Social media is about being there, online, but also offline. It's about being available. You don't speak to people, you speak with them. You interact. And- you listen.

This video embaded down here is one of the best interviews I have seen in the last year or so concerning social media. It's not about doing social media- it's about being social media, and to be social media you need to be in the field and participate, that's social media, that's understanding the heart of it.

What else?
Jeff Pulver describes it the best: Eurythmics » Sweet Dreams Lyrics, Think of social media and you got the entire picture

Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused

Click to see the video in a new tab

Jeff Pulver @ SMBMSP from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

More posts in the subject:
Chris Brogan speaks about Social Media Strategy
Jeff Pulver and Networking
How to Organize Networking Events
איך בלוגים משפיעים על אנשים
טוויטר וחיי הקהילה

In the last few months I have used my social graph a few times in my efforts to characterize a system i've been working on. From my experience i have learned that many people of vision have no clue about what the market wants or what is most important to the users and I decided to just ask them for their opinion without giving them an explanation to why I do this, which, in my opinion, was irrelevant. I have used my graph to create a think tank that was totally unavailable to me in the pre-facebook era and am constantly amazed by what people say and by the amount of knowledge accumulated on a page like this. Pay attention to how people express what they think and how they interact with each other, it's fascinating. I'd love to know what you think about this after you read. Also, I want to apologize for how this post looks in my Wordpress, as this is a bilingual blog it has its language issues of alignment…i'll sort them out soon.

The following is my Facebook note and all 46 comments that came after.

In Facebook, what would you choose? (please leave a comment)
Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 4:21pm

Hey guys,

I have a Facebook question for you:
If Facebook gave you just 1 option to choose from it's basic applications,
and basic applications are: status lines, notes, photos, posted items, videos, events and groups.
1- which would you choose to be be as the only application?
2- which application in your opinion is the heart of the system?

if you were tagged, i would really appreciate it if you leave a comment, it's a kind of a pole for the job i'm doing now. Iif you weren't tagged, i'd appreciate it if you left your comment anyway, I need as many answers as possible.

===THANK YOU IN ADVANCE===

Einat Brodsky wrote
at 4:29pm on April 26th, 2008

I would choose the status line
'caus everybody needs to know what's up with me

Lior Sion wrote
at 4:33pm on April 26th, 2008

I'd start with the status, because you described you were looking for the 'heart of the system' (btw, I wonder why you call status a feature but newsfeeds not..)Order of the rest:
Photos
Events
Notes
Chat

St Zohar wrote
at 4:51pm on April 26th, 2008

im with einat

News feed.
It aggregates all the activity of my friends and in a more friendly way than friendfeed. All the rest can be done in other, open, platforms.

Julia Tyutyunik wrote
at 5:07pm on April 26th, 2008

i would choose events and photos.

Eliezer Oren wrote
at 5:18pm on April 26th, 2008

Indeed all thr fratures combined make FB what it is, so it's hard to point one as "the heart of the system" as you put it.However, if I have to pick one it would be the News Feed, givibg you a quick aggregated view of "what's new with everybody".

Guy Yom Tov wrote
at 6:02pm on April 26th, 2008

I stick with what Eliezer Oren said. I think the "what's new with everybody" is the core of the system. without it – nothing is important.

Niv Calderon wrote
at 6:11pm on April 26th, 2008

to all of you: what do you use the most?

Alon Kastiel wrote
at 6:28pm on April 26th, 2008

events

photos and status updates, but if I need to choose one i would pick the status updates.

Ethan Shalev wrote
at 7:08pm on April 26th, 2008

I'd go with events. for photos I have a server running gallery, status updates are useless to me and available on twitter.
Though the heart of FB is that it offers all these things together, with mashups of them – event photos and videos, and the such. take that away, and though you have the heart of FB, you lose the liver. and the body will die.

Einat Weinboim wrote
at 7:19pm on April 26th, 2008

Definitely the status line. It's like the new "Away" message, very similar to ICQ and Messenger, but way more important, since everyone keep changing it.

Hagai Jacobson wrote
at 8:09pm on April 26th, 2008

You can't just take one aspect of the application, its like eating only the toppings from a Pizza, however what I find here that I don't have anywhere else is the
birthday notifications, Saves alot of hassle

Nir Ofir wrote
at 8:19pm on April 26th, 2008

Niv. Do a test. Ask the same question to ppl that are not always on.

nir: good idea
I've removed people from the list here and added others:)

Tal Galili wrote
at 9:29pm on April 26th, 2008

pics.

Fuks Michal wrote
at 9:45pm on April 26th, 2008

photos.

Tal Forkosh (French Polynesia) wrote
at 9:51pm on April 26th, 2008

I Choose Life

Nadav Bruchiel wrote
at 10:01pm on April 26th, 2008

all the elements, all of them, exist and even may work better elsewhere.
it is the combination, the flexibility of usage and the fact that everyone are here that is making it what it is.

I'm actually in with Omer. I think the news feed is the heart of Facebook and the thing that separates it from other social apps.
If I had to choose one thing from the list, I'd be inclined to choose status line even though lately my status updates have increasingly been updated from Twitter more than they have directly through FB.
Coming in a close second is groups, for the reasons that Ronsho iterated above.

Dor Rotman wrote
at 11:09pm on April 26th, 2008

I don't think you can remove a lot from facebook. The key in facebook is INTEGRATION between the all the services. If I had to choose – I'd remove the Notes app.

Ron Shoshani wrote
at 11:55pm on April 26th, 2008

btw, how much FB is paying for this poll?

Adi Av wrote
at 1:47am on April 27th, 2008

For me it's events and groups.
I can use dedicated sites for photos and videos, and most of the rest may be handled by Twitter.

Ahuvah Berger wrote
at 4:06am on April 27th, 2008

since most FB users are not twitters (though you all SHOULD be) – i would have to say the status line is the most important fb application. this is how i stay connected without even asking "how are you?"

Keren Tamooz Brown Leer wrote
at 8:27am on April 27th, 2008

Photos

Or-Tal Kiriati wrote
at 9:47am on April 27th, 2008

Events. I agree with what Omer said.

Yosef Silver wrote
at 12:42pm on April 27th, 2008

If I had to pick one, it'd be events.
Status = twitter.
Notes = blogs.
Photos = flickr.
Videos = youtube.
I defiantly don't use groups to the max, and if I really want to share a posted item, I'd blog it.
Sure, events could be covered with evite, but of this bunch, this would get my vote.

Niv Calderon wrote
at 2:05pm on April 27th, 2008

To all of you:
So, you'd want to be in different places to do different things?

Amit is an old school IS

at 11:37am on April 28th, 2008

I'm with Omer, I think the mini feed is the core thing as it provides an update about one's entire activity and a peek to others' social life (which is the reason why this is interesting in the first place).
Plaxo Pulse also now tries to offer mini feeds but I guess it is just a little too late.

Joe Brown Leer wrote
at 12:15pm on April 28th, 2008

1- which would you choose to be be as the only application?
ONLY? I wouldn't bother with Facebook if it only had one.
There is no ONE application I would choose. The combo is status-photos-messages.2- which application in your opinion is the heart of the system
The minifeed. fast, short info, to lead (by choice) to other items

status lines, notes, photos, posted items, videos, events and groups?Its hard to choose…

Ilana Nijnik wrote
at 2:25pm on April 28th, 2008

Events and groups are the most useful to me. I guess photos are also nice especially since you can tag people in other people's photographs.

I've reached the limit of people I can know through people when it comes to Facebook. About 90-95% of my contacts I have met. My guess is that most of the next 100 people I'll add to my friends list will be from people I meet in person.

It's interesting to have a list of people I've met and know with no white noise of people I don't know. There are people who add people they don't know or don't care about, most of them- friends of friends. Their answer to my question about it is that they don't feel comfortable saying no and are afraid how it will make them look in the others eyes.

Weak ties are stronger than the strong ties when you speak about creating and finding opportunities. In reality you have few strong ties (family and close friends- a small net) and many weak ties (co-workers, acquaintances and so on- a big net). No matter what, if you know all your social graph you can maximize your use in it (in your friends), and help them with your ability to connect social and professional dots. It's much better than having "holes" of people you don't know (which you don't care about either) and cant use or be used.

One more thing about the president elect, Barack Obama:
YES WE CAN by Barack Obama equals Nike's JUST DO IT in the power it has on people.
BUT
yes we can inspired millions to go and vote, just do it just inspired people as one of the best tag lines ever created to a brand and not necessarily affected Nike's sales, but I don't have the numbers, so it's just a thought. Maybe they're not that equal.

credits:
Steven Kovar
shadrastrickland.com