Social Media’s Effect on Modern Religion

I am writing this from the perspective of an American Reform Jew.

I had a conversation with a friend recently, where we got the chance to talk about pork. As many modern Reform Jews do, I consciously choose to eat pork. In my experience, eating pork amongst Jews is a common point of discussion (and humor), so I asked him why he chose to eat it.

My friend gave me a very interesting answer which I’ll discuss, but it also got me to think about Judaism, and the evolution of religion. The Torah specifically states not to eat pork, but is that outdated?

What is the Torah?

From Wikipedia, “The Torah refers to the entirety of Judaism‘s founding legal and ethical religious texts.  There is the written part of the Torah, commonly referred to as The Five Books of Moses, and the oral portion which consists of the “traditional interpretations and amplifications handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation.”

As part of our discussion, my friend discussed how he viewed the Torah as the mass-communication tool of their era. The world had no other way to mass-communicate to citizens, and the world lacked a moral and legal standard. For pork specifically, the Torah outlawed those foods because they posed a health risk for people in that day.

The question I have posed is, if those foods didn’t pose a risk, would the Torah have outlawed them? If you believe that Man created the Torah, and not God, then the answer is probably no; the Torah wouldn’t have outlawed those foods had they not posed a risk.

Social Media’s Effect on Modern Religion

Obviously, pork does not pose the same kind of risk that it did 3,000 years ago. More importantly, the majority of Jews in the world aren’t following the Torah’s interpretations the same way they used to.  I think this brings up the larger question. 3,000 years ago, if the Torah was the only way a Jew could feel Jewish, it was the only way they could learn about the world, it’s laws, and moral code, then can we say that in a world so different, the Torah is outdated?  Could we agree that this extends to other religions?

The world has changed. We can get information about the world in ways people in biblical days never dreamed possible. We no longer have to rely on religious texts for information on social norms and moral codes, we get that from each other. How does religion survive over the long haul when generations start to get their information not from the Torah, Bible, or Koran, but from each other?

Will social media made religion a thing of the past? What does religion look like 500 years from now?

Seth Godin’s Tribes and Why The World Needs Personal Branding

This post was initially posted on Personal Branding Blog.

My introduction to Tribes

I was at my desk a few months back, when the CEO of my company sent an email saying that he was purchasing a copy of Seth Godin’s Tribes for anyone in the company who wanted to read it. Given that it was Godin’s new book, I was extremely eager to get my hands on it.

In the book, Godin goes on to explain that the social media tools we have access to today, give people the ability to make a difference in their communities, workplaces, and the world. The book discusses how our world needs leaders now more than ever before, and explains how it’s easier now too.

The world does need leaders, and while Tribes does a great job at explaining why, I think it could have done a better job at explaining how to execute. Read the rest of this post on Personal Branding Blog.

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Also, please make sure to follow me on Twitter.

Interview with Chris Richter, CEO of Socialware

Chris Richter and I have quite a history.  We were both founding members of Bazaarvoice and the first two members of the Bazaarvoice sales team.  Over the years, we’ve developed quite a friendship; I’ve gone to see his kids play baseball, I’ve spent the 4th of July with him and his family, and I’ve even had the dis-pleasure of spending a night or two on his couch.

He’s gone on to start his own business called Socialware.  Anyone who knows Chris personally, knows that he is extremely passionate, and wildly talented.  Socialware recently attended the Rice Alliance IT & Web 2.0 Forum in Houston, TX, where Socialware won the best 30-second pitch.  You can hear the pitch here.

I sat down with Chris and asked a few questions about Socialware and his new life as an entrepreneur.

1.  You are the Founder and CEO of Socialware.  Please tell us about your company, concept, and target market.

The mission of Socialware is simple.  We believe that large enterprises are sacrificing efficiency and productivity gain that could be realized if they would embrace public social applications.  By 2010 the number of Gen Y employees in the workforce will equal the number of baby boomers, and as these employees enter the workforce they will demand access to these tools in order to be maximally productive.  I recently heard a stat that said that 35% of 18-24 year olds would leave their current employer if not given access to Facebook–that is incredible.  2009 will definitely be a tipping point year in terms of changing attitudes among large enterprises towards these platforms and technologies which include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter.  Those that act now will gain considerable competitive advantage.

That said, enterprises universally want some level of control over access to such applications and more importantly control over the data.  Socialware has built the first Enterprise Social Media Integration platform that allows Fortune 500 firms to leverage these platforms while retaining ownership of the data and importantly enabling the seamless integration of social media communication and data exchange into existing enterprise legacy systems.

2.  How does an enterprise balance control with freedom for the people using social applications?

You bring up a very good point.  Our message to the enterprise is very much focused on enablement, i.e. enable a globally distributed sales team to collaborate more efficiently with micro-blogging and social networking, etc.  However, there is definitely a control element.  All of the communication exchanged across public applications while an employee is leveraging these applications from behind the company firewall is recorded and archived and all access can be restricted and monitored.  I think that the key is that enterprises engage their employees in a dialog around the policies that will be applied when using these types of tools from the work environment.  I believe that if expectations and policies are clearly set then for the most part individuals will do the right thing.  One of the capabilities that we enable is for users to toggle on/off the private messaging capability across Twitter, Facebook, and other social applications.

Given that we are focused on existing public applications, folks may want to use their existing accounts to privately communicate with their colleagues vs. setting up a new business specific Twitter account or Facebook profile.  This capability was introduced based upon requests from prospects and again suggests a level of trust that employees will keep sensitive company information private.  I think the other key point is that all of this information that you are posting to public social applications is already in the public domain.  If your employer wants to see what you are up to it is not difficult and there are a number of tools that are designed for that specific purpose.  In the Socialware context, archiving and indexing of data is designed to make knowledge sharing and expert identification within your enterprise easier and facilitate the information that you are sharing over public applications being deposited into the right legacy systems, i.e. your CRM system.  So in short, it is a privilege for employees to have access, it is incumbent on the employer to articulate clear policies of use and for the employee to do the right thing, and we are simply facilitating that.

3.  This economy makes it extremely difficult to get funding.  What makes you confident that you will get funded?

The reality is that every VC we meet with echos the same sentiment.  They all say “this is a great time to start a company”, and it is a valid statement.  While capital is scarce, talent is not, and given the economic environment, once we are able to establish great client partnerships and prove business impact with marquee Fortune 500 brands, we will have a considerable lead on any competition.  Also, our message is an ideal one for this market.

I heard a theme the other day for business in the year 2009…do more with less.  With teams thinning in the environment, efficiency through effective collaboration is more important than ever.  Furthermore, the public social platforms that we are advocating are free to use and because of the consumerization of technology there is a virtuous cycle of innovation happening.   Why would a company invest in software in this environment when they can leverage what exists and already has massive traction (Facebook is growing by 600k users a week and will have 200m subscribers by April).  In short, companies that have a strong value proposition will still be funded.  The rules have changed though.  Essentially, now in order to secure seed funding you have to have more than a defensible idea; you have to have a working prototype and ideally a couple of signed pilot customers.  Our mantra from day one has been “Build and Sell” and the rest will fall in place.

4.  You have an idea that not many people have been able to figure out.  Why do you think enterprises are taking so long to figure out how to use social media to their advantage?

It is a combination of factors.  We are encountering a sort of cultural inertia head on.  It is the old “no one got fired for buying IBM” model in action.  There is always a certain reluctance in terms of risk taking in the enterprise–it is the “factory model” that Seth Godin describes in Tribes.  But that is changing quickly and the idea of blocking access to these applications over the long term is not a sustainable policy.  In my opinion the last couple of years have been experimentation primarily around how do we use Facebook, Myspace, Twitter as a form of customer outreach to engender loyalty.  Some of these experiments have been successful and some of them have failed miserably where enterprises weren’t willing to adopt the new rules of the game.

Again, because of the rapidly changing dynamics of the work force, I believe that this is the year where those same thought leaders (tribe leaders) will take a leadership role in mapping out a more comprehensive strategy for how enterprise wide an organization can leverage these applications for productivity purposes across departments.

We want to be the underlying technology enabling that disruptive change.  Fortunately, while we are uniquely focused on building the technology to solve this problem, there are a number of consulting firms focused on being expert advisers teaching enterprises how to incorporate web 2.0 and social technologies into existing business processes.  We are out actively partnering with those firms as well as directly taking our message to the market.

5.  2009 is said to be even worse than 2008.  How does an entrepreneur stick it through the tough times like these?

In reality I don’t think that there is any better place to be in this market than being an entrepreneur.  We have large enterprises applaud us every day saying that the innovators like us are the lifeblood of the economy and thank God for us.  They also send resumes of their downsized employees our way.  We are fully prepared to bootstrap through this year or live on a moderate amount of seed funding and simply deliver a great product to a handful of brand named partners and blow away their expectations.  If we focus on doing that, we will survive and in fact thrive.  At the end of the day though, now more than ever, you can not be in this with a profit motive; you have to be in this with a real passion for your vision and true belief in how you are going to make an impact in the world.  As always if that is your mission and you stick to it, the rest will fall in place.

I actually believe the 2009 will be a fantastic year for Socialware.  We are keeping our customer acquisition goals moderate given the economic environment, but if we achieve our goals, we will be in a perfect place to put the pedal to the medal on the plan when the expansion begins again in 2010.

6.  You have spoken with VC’s and Angel investors.  What have you learned through these experiences?  What can an aspiring entrepreneur learn about the process?

It is very simple.  You must have gone further than simply having the next great idea.  You need to have a prototype of the product in hand and a pipeline of pilot prospects willing to validate the business impact that you will create.  If you have that, then you will get funded.  If not, you won’t.

One of the upsides that I find in this environment is that there seems to be a greater sense when you talk to VCs that they are going to do more than just provide capital; they are going to be true business partners working with you to weather the current environment and build a sound foundation for the business so that when that market recovers, we are prepared for hyper-growth mode.

7.  Your wife is an entrepreneur herself.  How is an entrepreneurial family different than the average family?

Well–It can be challenging, but also very rewarding.  The key in my mind (and frankly something that we do not do extremely well) is forced planning and structure, i.e. being very communicative about what is going on with each of our businesses. We have 3 children, aged 8, 10, and 12, so it is absolutely essential that we plan and communicate so that their lives are not disrupted.  The beauty of a 2-entrepreneur household is two-fold.  First, we were playing a game with our kids the other day where we have them tell us one thing that they loved and admired about each member of the family.  When it came to me, our son said, “I like it that you start companies, Daddy”.  I think it is massively beneficial for them to see and hear us have a vision of a way that we can change the world or improve it, and to go for it, execute, and make it real.

Secondly, it is a bit surreal, but it has made my relationship with my wife even stronger as we collaborate and share ideas with one another about how to make each of our businesses great.  It’s a bit strange, but now we both read management books and talk about the concepts–it’s pretty cool.

8.  Final thoughts on Socialware, entrepreneurship, or business?

This is certainly not a life for everyone but for those that have a true passion for their ideas and really believe that it can make a meaningful difference in the world they should act now.  There is truly no better time to start a business that at the bottom of the market–where I am afraid that we are today.  If your idea can survive and be embraced in this environment, it can weather anything.

I am very excited about the unique position that Socialware is in in this market.   I am glad to have found a great partner on the technology side, and we are both very bullish on our prospects.  Most of all, we are having fun and doing truly rewarding work that we believe in.

Israel’s test with Social Media

As a dual American-Israeli citizen, and someone who works very closely in the social media and technology space, I wanted to discuss the fact that Israel is now the first country to start updating the public through Twitter updates.  (For those not familiar with Twitter, please read here)

On December 30th, Israel held a full press conference using the tool under the name @IsraelConsulate.  As with the concept of web 2.0 in general, opening up your brand to the mass public is seen as an extremely risky proposition for many.

When we launched Bazaarvoice, big brands were terrified of opening up the lines of communication with customers.  What if customers bashed our products?  What if customers didn’t like us?  These were the questions we heard on a daily basis.

At the end of the day, the brands who opened up to customers won.  Besides the fact that brands that opened up ended up seeing higher sales as a result, they were also able to listen, process, and respond to the conversations that were already taking place on the web.

This is certainly the case for any Government out there.  Every Government gets talked about, and no Government is perfect.   The Israeli Government is no exception as their actions have been one of the most scrutinized in modern history.  I think it is a brave step for Israel and one that will continue to pay off.

Instead of ignoring the conversations that are happening, Israel now has the ability to listen and react to the opinion of the world.   Sure they will encounter differing opinions and potentially hateful remarks, but the truth is that these conversations were already happening.   Social media gives them the tool to recognize what is being said and by whom.

I certainly expect others to follow in Israel’s steps, and while I’m not always proud of Israel’s policies, I’m very proud of them opening up their brand.

Micro-Reporting & Google Juice

I recently attended the Consumer Electronics Show otherwise known as CES. I had the opportunity to listen to a round table which included my company’s CEO Brett Hurt, alongside the CEO of Nowpublic.com, Leonard Brody. It was an amazing discussion around social networking, the internet, and the impact these new technologies have on traditional organizations.  Nowpublic.com is a news site which aggregates news from thousands of its citizen reporters located around the world. Nowpublic.com relies on the reporting from everyday individuals, who are also called “micro-reporters”.  Nowpublic.com is a microcosm of the internet, which has allowed for instantaneous reporting combined with a reporter base that that spans millions of people in every part of the world. A traditional news staff which employs thousands of reporters at high salaries could never match the millions of reporters around the world who are hyper-reporting local, national, and international news at virtually no cost.

Google has shown how much they value micro-reporters by indexing blog posts in under four hours. By reporting a new piece of news, you could sky-rocket to the top of search-engines like Google making you a source of information overnight. Recently the AP contacted Scot Herrick over at Cuberules.com to report on the lay-offs banks have been making in recent times. The reporter found him through his blog. Scot’s micro-reporting was highly relevant and has allowed him to attract new readers & new opportunities.

While I don’t think this type of reporting has or will replace journalism, it has certainly replaced the need for traditional news reporting. It reinforces the power of blogging from a reporting standpoint and certainly reinforces the importance of branding yourself in situations where your thoughts and perspectives on current events can be discovered and amplified.  Google has given this system legs, because without a discovery tool, the millions of contributers around the world would likely be muffled.  Yet again, they are changing the way we consume our daily information.  Only this time, we all have a voice.