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There are three types of relationships:

• Personal – These are your friends (golf buddies, neighbors, parents at kid’s school, etc.); they like your warts and all and you choose them, making them rather safe.
• Functional – These are people you work with to perform your job or realm of responsibilities.  You build relationships with them, often because you have to (colleagues, customers, suppliers, etc.). You don’t necessarily choose all of them, but because of the context of your relationship, likewise they feel fairly safe.

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I read an interesting comment by Travis Van on Beyond the Hype blog on Tweeter postings and how silly you can look in describing the mundane functions – does anyone really care what you do between the bathroom and the kitchen?  So, I’m doing a couple of experiments on Twitter:

First, those of you who know me, know that I’m a huge believer of trying to add value in every interaction – as such, I’m “tweeting” interesting URLs, engaging website or research papers I’ve read; a contrarian perspective on a specific topic, invites to interesting events, etc.

The second experiment is asking a series of questions around the productive uses of social networking apps such as Twitter.

Two fundamental challenges:

1. I’m getting zero responses to the content I’m putting up; this is quality stuff people.
2. I’m not getting a whole lot of answers to my questions!

As such, I’ve arrived at three conclusions:

1. I’m missing the point on Twitter – maybe what I’m doing between the bathroom and the kitchen is more interesting than a presentation on slideshare.net which really makes you think about our water conservation challenges in the decade ahead, or the Brand Gap!

2. I need to ask better questions?  This one is a life-long mission; not sure it can be addressed in 140 characters!

3. I’m following the wrong people?  Technorati has authority; eBay has Feedback Score; even LinkedIn has InMail Feedback Score – what’s the credibility / relevancy metric on Twitter again?  How do you rank the really interesting tweets vs. the completely useless ones?

In Relationship Economics (Wiley, 2008), I wrote about return on influence and credibility by association.  Can’t help but to wonder what your tweets or the people you’re following say about you?  If you agree that we are all products of the advice we take, here is one for you: take more stock in thinking before you tweet and with whom you engage online, similarly to those you would off-line.  This incongruence is one of the reasons I’m writing about the demise of LinkedIn!

Lastly, I know the World is Flat, but can we create a language filter so my entire Twitter page becomes content that I can actually read?

What types of policies do employers need to have in place to protect themselves from videos made by employees and posted on YouTube?

Q - Do employers have any rights when it comes to limiting what employees say about them in personal videos available for public viewing?

A - Absolutely as most information seen or utilized within an organization is confidential and often not appropriate for public consumption – particularly on YouTube!  Employers do need to have a clear social networking strategy and supporting guidelines outlining acceptable behavior, “dos & don’ts” on content creation & distribution points, and succinct explanation of that which constitutes infringement of non-compliance.

Q - What are some examples of content that employers should just ignore vs. examples of content they can/should respond to with discipline?

A – Social networking has a personal and a professional aspect to it – on the positive side you want employees to have a balanced life, socialize, and go on vacations, so presenting the positive aspects of their lives outside of work online is actually OK.  On the negative side, crude, demeaning, belittling or otherwise inappropriate content referencing the organization by name, brand, or market comparison is simply a dilution of the employer’s reputation capital®.  Specifity drives credibility, so this is really good area for some training of what to & not-to do!

Q - What are the main threats YouTube and other similar services pose to employers? Defamation, public dissemination of proprietary information or other issues?

A – Inaccurate, half-truths, one-sided versions of events, outright misrepresentation, “he-said, she-said” slander, absolute defamation of a manager, a peer, an executive or even board members without merits, sensitive leak of confidential or market-sensitive information (think of a merger or acquisition event, or change of leadership before publically announced).  The positive aspect of social networking sites such as YouTube is that they reduce the barriers to individual publishing; unfortunately, that’s also the negative aspects when discretion isn’t exercised.

What are your thoughts?

Hoping to make healthcare education hip, Cigna Healthcare is announcing today it has created a virtual environment in the Second Life virtual world to educate people on how to improve their health.

The Cigna Virtual Healthcare Community is an “island” in Linden Lab’s Second Life world where users can walk through 3-D interactive displays with their avatars, play educational games, listen to seminars on nutrition and health, and receive virtual health consultations.

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LinkedIn® announced its fourth and largest round of funding to date - $53 million which values the company at $1 billion, largely based on a rapid addition of users, expansion of their business lines and perceived future opportunities.  You certainly can’t argue with their success in creating unparalleled market buzz and in the process attracting marquee investors such as Boston-based Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Greylock Partners.

LinkedIn’s current revenue sources include advertising, premium subscriptions, job listings and a corporate hiring service.  They’ve also hinted at launching “new lines of businesses.” 

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Have you ever heard of the company Threadless? They’re the classic case of applying key principals in my upcoming book: Relationship Economics (Wiley, 2008).  When it comes to building business relationships, Threadless is the epitome of the intentional, strategic, and thus quantifiable value of social networks.  Forget LinkedIn® for handshakes and introductions - this is Adaptive Innovation™ at work!

Threadless manages to solve business problems by consistently producing highly creative, profitable products month after month with no advertising, no professional designers, no sales force, and no retail distribution. They have been able to dramatically rethink and reposition their long-term relationship with their customers by blurring the line between producers and consumers.

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