Page 197 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

Y O UR CL OUD STRATEG Y: WHAT KIND O F COMPANY DO Y O U W ANT?

self. The two partners trust each other, have short immediate
lines of communication, “and one seems to have a veto power
over the bad ideas of the other,” she noted at a venture capi-
tal gathering three years ago. That veto power, I believe, is an
example of the power of social networking in concentrated
form. The group, when plugged into a competitive threat or

intriguing opportunity, has a self-correcting compass when
attempts are made to drive it off course.
A company can use social media to pull talent out of the
shadows and put it to work at a higher level; recruit talent
from inside or outside the organization to help with that ef-
fort; allow competent employees with similar levels of involve-
ment in the business to find each other, share both gripes and

a sense of opportunities, collaborate, and redesign what’s
already been designed; and give people on the margins a
greater engagement through a stake in the direct future of the
company.
Paul Gillin, author of The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide
to the New Social Media (Quill Driver Books of Linden Pub-
lishing, 2007) reached a similar conclusion. He cited the
apparent chaotic nature of blogs, which were proliferating
in the 2005–2007 period, with some writers predicting the

spread of virulent backbiting and misinformed commentary.
Instead, Gillin pointed out that the blog writers were develop-
ing an underlying structure, a consistent transparency of mo-
tive and voice in their public comments. “The blogosphere is
developing into an extraordinarily civil and deferential cul-
ture. This evolution is being led by a small cadre of influencers
who are setting behavioral standards of which Disraeli would

177