Welcome to Social Strategy Lab

In ten, or twenty, or a hundred years, what will people conclude about the early days of the social web? Will they see our early efforts at openness as quaint? Will they laugh at our primitive tools, our struggles to understand the shifting business, economic and social dynamics? Probably.

Years ago, when I was maybe nine or ten, I dimly remember reading an account of a woman’s first automobile ride, circa maybe 1908,  in Anne of Green Gables.  After only  a few moments, she emerged from the car, dizzy and disoriented, vowing never to repeat the experience. Land speed: fifteen miles per hour.

That was the industrial revolution, and it fundamentally changed businesses, economies, and culture. It’s no exaggeration to say that today we’re in the midst of a similar shift, and it’s having an impact on every aspect of our lives, from the way we build businesses to our most personal interactions with friends and family.

This blog is intended to chronicle these impacts, pose questions, analyze developments, and offer suggestions on how business can survive and succeed during this intensely tumultuous time. I’ll document notable successes and noble failures: think of it as CSI for social business.

I hope that you’ll contribute your insights and observations along the way, and that one of these days we’ll be able to crack 15MPH without getting dizzy.

“Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.”

— Lucy Maud Montgomery