Amazingly, Time Magazine just named "You", their esteemed Person of the Year
for 2006. Their cover story for Dec 26 is about the things we get to talk about every day - the power of the many, the wisdom (and, of course, the stupidity) of crowds, collaboration and community, and changing the world, facilitated by new technology.
"But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see...a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes."
Very cool. Time also carries an article about the "second boom" in tech fuelled by social networking investment activitiy, which some are saying is approaching a frenzied pace. What makes this one so different from the last time and hopefully not quite a bubble is namely the size of the companies taking a run at it, and the efficiency which they can (and must) run their online services in order to make their business models work. Yes I said business models - there are no foosball tables, Herman Miller chairs, or $5M pet sock SuperBowl ads in the current set of 2.0 start-ups - agility, efficiency, and profitabilty now matters most.
Although not many of our clients are actual Web 2.0 businesses themselves, I believe everyone can benefit from some of these trends by opening up their sites - and thus their minds - more to the outside world. Check it out:
"America loves its solitary geniuses—its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses—but those lonely dreamers may have to learn to play with others. Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime to fend off user-created Linux. We're looking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started, as millions of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy."
Good on Time's editors for tracking this cultural shift and putting such a positive spin on it. I've been a Time fan since I was 12, we think similiarly, especially last year when they made Bono with Bill and Melinda Gates POY's for 2005, celebrating their inspiring and truly influential efforts to make the world a better place through strategic high profile philanthropy. Stories of hope and success are so rare in our world so its cool to see the media actually get this right and put a different viewpoint out into the popular culture. Hope you had a happy 2006!