douglasmkelly's posterous

in a fish bowl

Eli Pariser wrote a book coining the term Filter Bubble. He describes “a phenomenon in which websites use algorithms to selectively guess what information a user would like to see, based on information about the user like location, past click behavior and search history.” (according to Wikipedia). Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix and many other sites cater ads, content and search results based on these algorithms. Yahoo calls this personalization - Facebook's algorithm is called Edgerank. I've called it Data Mining, and helped clients do it for years. No matter what it's called many believe this is all a conspiracy. The US Government has asked Google for user data 4,600+ times. That said, the debate is really more about personalization and whether or not you want to have your results filtered for you.

At aimWest, an organization I belong to, based in Grand Rapids Michigan, we discussed this topic a couple months ago. The event was in an open fishbowl format - which if you've never attended one, you have to find one or host one yourself. They're amazing! The topic was riveting, as you can imagine, otherwise you wouldn’t still be reading this post. Our fishbowl had 5 chairs in the middle of a circle of chairs. One chair had to remain open through out the evening, but anyone from the audience could jump up and hit that open chair. Once the 5th was filled, one of the other 4 had to sit down. In case you didn't know, I'm the newest President of aimWest – It's my job to start off and end a meeting – Chief Moderator as it were. I kept the event going for over an hour and a quarter. Generally the speaker portions of our meetings are 45 minutes long. At least half of the attendees seated themselves and joined the conversation.

An aimWest chair sitter did mention that they believed that the entire filter bubble will evolve over the next couple years. Tim Ferris believes that filtering is going bio-metric in the next 48 months. “Ferris uses gadgets and automated spreadsheets that can track our bodies’ biorhythms, including REM cycles, calorie intake, heart beat, blood pressure, glucose levels and even vitamin deficiencies... Those data streams can then be combined to infer how stressed you are, when you’re drowsy and, increasingly, what mood you’re in.” (from The Filter Bubble Blog site) Think about that one as you're formulating your thoughts and comments on the Filter Bubble. Imagine heart rate data being sent to insurance companies. I should think that there will be a huge call for privacy attorneys and engineers in the near future. 

One last thing, we should have some videos, that a board member took at the aimWest event, up on YouTube, if they aren't already. If you missed the event these will just be teasers. You missed a great one. I've included a couple links in this post. Read up on data mining, personalization or The Filter Bubble, how ever you like to look at it – and come back and comment here. Would you like aimWest to do another Filter Bubble Fish Bowl event? In like a year?

Yes that's a play on words. A few of us in West Michigan have noted that there seem to be more startups in Grand Rapids than in some other areas of the country. Now I don't know if that's actually true or just a perception. Some modest research shows Michigan near the bottom middle of states with per-capita allotted startup capital, so I could be wrong. I don't know if that stat includes angel investors or not, either. What is exciting is that we have some local entrepreneurs that are putting up some funds to help local startups - like the 5X5 Night and the Momentum Lean Startup Project.

This last month aimWest also touched on Startups, covered by M-Live, with young and old startups alike on the panel. Zipments' Founder, Garrick Pohl, in response to a question about "Where did you raise your Start Up Capital Capital?", said that 100% came from West Michigan! The others had various answers, but all said that a large portion came from donors, angels and resources in Michigan. So why not start a business here? We do have millionaires and billionaires here. I started Evolve Solutions with some investment money back in 2002 during the height of the Dot Com Bubble Bust. I don't think I would have done the "Pay For It With Your Own Money" route like some do, even though it's the smartest route (in my opinion and in retrospect).  

One take away that I liked from Roger Jansen, PhD (@Kidtelligent), Co-Founder of Kidtelligent, was that all companies must assign as much budget to Marketing as any other major portion of their business. Of course, what I liked about the statement was that I help companies with internet business marketing, from SEO to Social Media.

For any of you considering starting a business the Small Business Association has some great information including how to write a business plan. Check out their site - There's info on everything from writing a business plan and obtaining licenses to finding a mentor. I recommend doing all of these things. And revisiting your business plan after a couple years and every few years after that to revise and update.

So I'm hoping for a bit of a discussion here:

1. Are you a small (or medium) business in Michigan? 
2. Where did you get your start up capital and was it the smartest move to go that route? If you're not but want to comment, I'll take all comers. 
3. What about your marketing budget, and do you outsource or have you hired someone that has been forced to learn all this new Social Media and Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing stuff? 
4. Is West Michigan a start-up capitol?

... and one last plug for aimWest: we're having the Momentum Lean Startup companies out to the downtown GR campus of WMU for their pitch night... come check it out.

Have you seen the video by Socialnomics/EQualman? - It's been out for a few years and edited as recently as last year.

Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh) from Erik Qualman on Vimeo.

I mentioned in the beginning of March, change was gonna come. That change was that I merged my company with another in the Greater Grand Rapids area. Things didn't work out, unfortunately, and the merger diverged or divested a couple weeks ago. My next post will discuss this "Diverger".

Change isn't often easy - in fact it can be rather difficult sometimes. Periodically it can actually be painful. (Ready for the segue?) The change from businesses managing the dialog, to consumers having a voice through Social Media doesn't have to be painful. It could be, however, difficult for some to completely grasp. Last week, I assisted the Grand Rapids Social Media (GRSM) group with a round table discussion on how to get followers in social media. It would seem that a number of people still have questions.

It's alright to not understand something. You don't have to be an expert in in a matter just because it flirts with your job title. Most likely you were hired for several specific tasks - then this whole Social Media "Revolution" came along and now you feel the expectation that you must do SocMed for your company. There are plenty of great resources out there that can help your business. But please, consider outsourcing a practice in which you're not trained or adept.

If you feel that you can handle this strange new abstract, then you must embrace change as well as discussion. Like any relationship, it's all about conversation. If the communication is not there, things aren't going to go well. Everyone has to understand the expectations: If your audience wants to learn about what you had for lunch, then by all means tell them - if they don't, stop blathering on with statements they have little concern for. A small FYI: by-in-large no one cares about your cats. Perhaps your listeners really want engagement - ensure you are responding timely. It is possible that you mostly want to inform, make sure you are giving the info your audience desires, but you still need to listen - SocMed is not push only.

As I said before: there are lots of resources out there, both online and human. I really recommend if you don't have the time or inclination, hire a reputable consultant.

I know you were probably looking for Part 3 of the "Too Busy" saga, but I just wanted to touch on the networking that I've done this week. AimWest had their Signature 5:01 last night, where I met some new people that I'd only talked to on Twitter and LinkedIn - and ate some sushi - and met and talked to Gerry Barnaby (local celeb) for like 20 minutes. It's like you already know them, after meeting them virtually. I've started calling this physical Pressing the Flesh, "Meating". Next month's meeting is a Confab. You should really check out the Midwest Social Media Confab day event in November. Tickets are on sale now and are going fast.

Earlier in the day I moderated Grand Rapids Area Professionals for Excellence's (Keyword #GrapeGR or @GRAPEGR on Twitter) monthly meeting. The four panelists talked about Social Media, Old Media, PR and Corporate Communications. Danny Beckett of Spearia did touch on physical meeting as important, but I don't think that it resonated as much as it should. Either that or I couldn't see all the head nodding because of the stage lights.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm on the board of both organizations. I'm also on the leadership team for GRSM and our monthly lunch and learn is next week. And yes I am pimping all 3 groups. They all have different missions and varied membership. GRSM's mission is to educate Grand Rapids on Social Media. Since I am the Social Media Apostle, I will preach about the group. GRAPE and GRSM are currently free events - bring your own lunch, and learn something.

There, I think I've plugged everyone - If I've missed something, please do comment below. And, I hope you do make it out for the coming events for all three organizations. I bet you learn something. Next week look for more on being busy and what I'm learning about how to make life easier in an increasingly busy world.