Small Initiatives

As I suddenly start receiving many invitations to connect on Yet Another Social Network -- in the most recent case, Plaxo Pulse -- I note the ever-astute Scott Karp contemplates the current crisis suffered by the darling of these nets, Facebook.

Karp, in considering the uproar caused by Facebook's advertising beacon, concludes technology and design of same offer less substantial and less enduring competitive advantage than ever:

One look at Plaxo Pulse validates Karp's point. It obviously apes some of the best networking features of both Facebook and LinkedIn. And it has quick processes for importing one's connections from either of those services.

So Pulse says me-too and switching-is-easy. But it doesn't give me a compelling, unique reason to switch. I'm still trying to find a compelling, unique reason to keep up with both Facebook and LinkedIn. The latter has helped me in my career; the former, not so much.

Karp nails it:

The next great internet company will not be one that makes a breakthrough with technology -- it will be one that makes a breakthrough with people.

If my chosen industry -- newspapers -- didn't already have such an undistinguished reputation (that may be too kind) with so many people, I'd say that was good news for us. We're certainly not going to win on technology.