Toluu

Tech Success

One man's quest to find success in the worlds of technology and finance.

Incredible List of Change-Promoting Social Media NetworksNovember 15

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeIn the same vein as MyC4.com and other posts I've made in the last few months, I found a list of change-promoting social media networks - 100 sites long! Props to Christina at LearningXL. Check it out and get involved!

Top 100 Networks for People Who Want to Change the World

The Power of the Boutique: Why the Web is Like EuropeNovember 12

Image via WikipediaSometimes wine helps the idea process. Or at least letting ideas flow. Last night, over a glass or three, I had a discussion with someone who works in marketing for a 5-star hotel. We quickly found ourselves discussing the merits of branding in the context of the local store or restaurant in Europe. The question is:

Why aren't chains more prevalent in Europe? Where's the Taco Bell and Walmart?

My friends point came down to this: Europeans, unlike Americans, have a strong sense of local identity, down to the village they live in. And with this local identity comes a desire for more local flavor in their retail outlets. Europeans want unique stores, with local owners. And I think this may be true to some extent. There is definitely a sense of community here built around small localities and their local businesses. And chains are a lot less common (though in London, still all over the place) than in the U.S. There are no Starbucks in Italy, for example.

It's not just about supporting local businesses however. Its also about passion. People i

MyC4.com - Creative Capitalism For Web 2.0November 12

Image by gerrypopplestone via FlickrThis is cool: sitting in seminar today discussing African development, my Professor pulled up a website called myC4.com . Have you heard of microfinance? kiva, maybe? Well, this website takes the power of the web and the microfinance concept to the next level. On myc4.com, you can lend money to entrepreneurs. You don't have to lend the entire amount they need, which allows you to diversify away the risk of any single debtor defaulting. Coolest of all, you get to charge interest.
Basically, the entrepreneur states what interest rate they would like to pay as a maximum, and then you, the lender, make them an offer of an amount and a rate. It is up to the debtor to accept or negotiate.
This site's concept fits into a niche in social media that is forming right now, and that I have mentioned in the past. And that is using the web to get involved in a cause. But the real innovation here is th

Chasing Down Entropy In Web 2.0October 20

Image by luc legay via FlickrI'm hopelessly lost.

This internet, its just too darn big.

I try to keep track of my friends but to do so I have to log on to facebook and now friendfeed. I have to wade through reams of historical data on their breakfast cereal if I want to find out what the result of their job interview was a few days before. And twitter--don't get me started on twitter! There's too much information on the web; that body of information is continuously growing, and we, as users of the web and particularly social media, are being told we have to participate in that growth. ENTROPY.

You know who is really at the leading edge of reigning in this entropy? It's that dinosaur of social media, Facebook.

Yup, Facebook. You see, when I comment on someone's status update, the comment joins that persons "wall". Everything is kept in nice chronological order, from standard wall posts to event creation. Sounds kinda like friendfeed, doesn't it? Yes, but facebook is a truer digitization of human social networks - truer because it allows you to create your identity both in a profile filled with composed m

The World Is So Much Bigger NowOctober 11

Image via WikipediaI should have known better. I have a degree in modern European history. I read the economist and BBC news. I even spent a summer with a group of Americans in Greece and Turkey. But I thought the world was small. After living my entire life in the United States, having only a few foreign friends that weren't completely americanized, and having traveled little elsewhere, I saw the world through a distinctly American perspective. I don't mean to say that I am a gun-toting, McCain voting, heartland American. I'm from the San Francisco bay area. A political placement test I took in high school had me somewhere between Ghandi and Nelson Mandela. But here in London, studying at the LSE with brilliant people from all over the world and not being flooded with an America's-Eye view at every corner, I have found the World to be a much bigger place. Let's start with England - they don't have separation of Church and State here. Odd? I thought they were advanced. Perhaps there are more ways to go about things in an advanced world than I had previously imagined (though I still stick strongly to separation of Church and State!). I have met peo