While I’m currently writing an article about effectively using social media in B2B (will be shared on this site for sure) I wanted to address a misconception a lot of entrepreneurs have.

It’s not a new advertising channel, it’s not about you and it’s not noncommittal. What you do will stay visible for quite some time, people will not listen if you just talk about yourself and serve your own purposes and they will ignore any advertising.

There are a lot of people that think this behavior is regular behavior for an entrepreneur, and these are the people you’ll see talking about themselves both on Twitter and on the networking drinks like the one I mentioned earlier. Everyone else knows very quickly these are the people to avoid, and this is why the ‘skilled networkers’ get around the room so much; people don’t really engage.

Sorry for the rant, some car salesperson at the networking session kept talking about his uninteresting business, and I had to get the frustration out. In the article I will extensively discuss every angle! I promise!

I can’t say I’m very surprised, but I AM astounded by the amount paid for the insurance keyword… I’m sorry for the advertising on the bottom, but it seemed only fair to keep it there since they made it and all!

Klout has now amassed enough data to measure the influence of 75 million people online, and it can slice and dice these numbers. For instance, Fernandez says Klout can identify the most influential people who talk about sneakers in Seattle, or the most-listened-to tweeters on skin-care products in San Francisco. When companies come to Klout looking to target those influencers, the company can track how their messages echo across the social-media landscape. How many extra tweets did Nike get by focusing on those Seattleites?

Read the full article.

If you want to make movies, go to Hollywood.
If you want to make musicals, go to Broadway.
If you want to make apps, go to Appsterdam.

Sofa will try to enable the movement by offering office space and sponsoring events and speakers while Vodafone is just a general sponsor (pays for drinks!). But what’s funny is that this Amsterdam based company has just been acquired by Facebook and will move to Palo Alto. Which is quite strange because Mike Lee was just explaining why California is not the best environment for a movement like this because of the ridiculous expenses, over-funding and general system that has failed (homelessness and income gaps).

I think it’s an interesting movement and I hope they succeed. I hate the iOS focus (Apple) that they communicate and I think that in order to be successful Appsterdam should be platform independent.

He impresses me more than the original article and it was the following sentence that did it:

But what these celebrations of business individualism overlook is that the most successful companies and the most effective leaders spend most of their time focused on things bigger than themselves — on their sense of purpose, their willingness to struggle, the legacy they and their colleagues hope to leave.

I think there’s great value to be found in individual focus etc. But I also believe that there’s a purpose, or should be one, behind every business there is. A company’s vision should reflect their purpose and their actions should support that!