This week I read "Collaborative Minds" to delve deeper into how mass movements in media, tech, and consumer products industries are reshaping the terrain. The reading contained a lot, but what fascinated me was the attitudes of several different types of company. The three types of company I saw were represented by the telecommunications companies, IBM, and new companies like Skype. Each company has a different attitude regarding their standing amongst the collaborative masses.
The best way I can describe the telecomm companies in this section is childish and egocentric. The telecommunication companies are upset by their falling numbers as other media sources emerge that are bringing content more consistently into our lives. The telecomm companies used to be the sole guardians of all things media, but now as YouTube and other similar media sources have emerged they wish to stem the flow of their content in an effort to make up losses, ruin the internet, and bring suffering on their customers. Have the telecommunications companies failed to realize that they can and will be cut out? If they really want to play the snotty, scorned child they will certainly fall to the agile likes of the media giants.
IBM on the other hand has taken a stance opposite of the telecomms as they have adopted collaborative development and action despite their "old school" roots that limits many companies. IBM has been able to move its rheumatoid structure to adapt. IBM definitely has realized the power of the masses, and has actually harnessed it to benefit their bottom line.
Skype and other new companies are fortunate to have business plan flexibility which allows them to search for what people will pay for after they have consistent clients operating on their platform. I'm not entirely sure if I would prefer to be operating in Skype or IBM's position, both seem to have nearly unlimited possibilities, but Skype cannot wait forever to find a way to make a buck. IBM also lacks the freedom to almost entirely create a whole new market, service, and business plan. Despite all that I would hate to be the telecomms who will eventually have to buckle to the new media outlets or disappear entirely.
In the past months Comcast has been given the edge in the net neutrality, but once customer's have to pay more to get their old service quality something will have to change. Overall what will be the tipping point with these old entrenched companies who refuse to adapt and keep up with our media needs? Will Google begin providing us with internet? Will telecomms improve their services? What comes next?
I'd rate this reading 9/10
Peace, love, and social media.
Charlie,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you set this up by outlining companies' different attitudes about their positions among the growing mass of collaborative minds. I think it is interesting to see how these businesses are reacting in drastically different ways to the same mass movement that they are all experiencing. The question you ask about what will be the tipping point for the companies that refuse to adapt and leverage the masses is very interesting and something that i am intrigued to find out more about.
I think you bring up a good point when you talk about the stubbornness among the telecomms. The fact is, these companies can try to prevent the changes by establishing tiered Internet or develop different methods to prevent free innovation, but they will only be delaying the inevitable. It's better for the potential future of their businesses to jump on board and try to find a way to contribute to the changes and alter their businesses to coexist with other new companies.
ReplyDeleteThe telecomms really need to realize what is happening. Things are changing, whether they want them to or not. They change try to stop the change, but at best they will only be able to slow it down. Eventually things will change, and then it will be too late for them to adapt. I think you bring up the good point that if they don't provide us with what we want someone will step in and provide it. Knowing google, I wouldn't be surprised if it was them. I think this will happen unless the telecomms change their ways. It is up to them, and I am curious to see how the respond.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very good question about how the "entrenched" companies will respond to new technologies. If the (short) history of this kind of things serves us, the answer is "not very well." It could mean some of those companies go under, or that some buy out the new media ventures once they realize it's too late to catch up. Look at AT&T - it was actually a dead brand until Cingular bought the rights to it and renamed itself. I often wonder, too, how things are going to go with Big Oil - are they going to invest in renewable energies and be part of the solution or continue to circle the wagons around their "limited resource" business?
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