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Groundswell

Winning In A World Transformed By Social Technologies

Soliciting entries for the Forrester Groundswell Awards 2.0July 22

by Josh Bernoff

One year ago, we began asking for entries for the Forrester Groundswell Awards, which recognize excellence in accomplishing business goals with social applications. We received 78 fascinating submissions and recognized the winners at the Forrester Consumer Forum in  Chicago. The winners were some truly amazing applications.

This worked so well that we're doing it again. The number of people creating corporate social applications has increased, so we expect more entries. And we'll be including the community in the process, in ways we'll describe soon.

As before, the 2008 Forrester Groundswell Awards will go to people and companies who have created the most innovative and effective uses of Groundswell technologies like blogs, wikis, social networks, and communities. Nominations are due by September 9, 2008. Winners will get a free ticket to Forrester's Consumer Forum in Dallas on October 28 and 29, where they will be recognized for excellence. They'll also get to show our awards badge on their Web site.

Here are this year's rules:

1. Entries should represent excellent and effective use of social technologies to advance an organizational or corporate go

Two days in Stepford -- Town Square, Southlake, TexasJuly 18

by Josh Bernoff

Thanks to Groundswell clients, I got to spend a couple of days at a hotel in the middle of a unique development in Southlake, Texas (near Dallas), a place called Town Square. I found Town Square disturbing at a visceral level, and exploring why actually carries some lessons for the kind of people who read this blog.

Town Square is a mall. Sort of. It’s not like any mall I’ve visited before. Town Square has actual streets that meet at right angles, with names like Main Street and Summit Avenue. They’re wide, with sidewalks, and lined with stores just like a real town. That is, if a real town had a huge Barnes & Noble, next to a huge Cheesecake Factory, next to a huge multimegaplex movie theater, with ample parking.

This environment is preternaturally clean, like a movie set. During my early morning walks, it was nearly deserted and the effect was eerie. Every bit of landscaping was manicure

Groundswell is a bestseller. Thank you. And a few reflections.July 10

by Josh Bernoff

Thank you for buying so many copies of Groundswell.

According to the July 3 issue of Business Week, we were a bestseller in the previous week. Number 15 out of 15 spots, but hey, we made the list -- most business books don't get close to that, especially with the staying power of books like "The Four-Hour Work Week" making it harder to climb up those charts.

We've been in the top 20 on Amazon's business books list and the top ten on 800-CEO-READ, which does corporate bulk orders, but this is the first bestseller recognition in a mainstream publication.

I'm reflecting a little on how we got here.

First of all, the speaking schedule has been brutal. When you write a book, you spend a lot of time alone. But despite all the wonderful online techniques, there's no substitute for shoe leather and airline miles -- people want to hear about it. It got to t

Barack Obama vs. my.BarackObama.com on FISA -- When Your Fans Disagree With YouJuly 3

by Josh Bernoff

As you can see from this graphic, the banner at the top of myBarackObama.com, Barack Obama is serious about people's ability to change the world. But we're about to see just what happens when his supporters don't support his decisions. There are lessons here for corporations, too, so watch what happens.

I've written about how Barack Obama has leveraged the power of his supporters, not only through the social network of his supporters, my.barackobama.com, but through energizing those supporters during the primary. Democrats -- and Obama supporters -- are more likely to use social networks, a tendency that could benefit Obama as he attempts to reach out to their Independent friends in the general election.

But social networking in politics is still at the broadcast stage -- candidates ring their networks like a bell to amplify their messages. As we tell corporate clients all the time, once you start talking to people in the groundswel

Why I'm leaving ForresterJuly 2

by Charlene Li

I was once asked what was the best career advice I ever received -- and it was to plan for job obsolescence every 18 months, because research showed that people typically master a job in that time period and fall into a routine.

It's a testament to Forrester that I've been happily employed at the company for over nine years (that's 36 Internet years or 63 dog years). I have been continually challenged, from tackling new coverage areas, running an analyst team and the San Francisco office, to most recently, writing the Groundswell book. I've treasured the friendship of my colleagues and appreciated the flexible schedule of an analyst, especially in light of trying to strike a balance between work and my family.

Forrester has bent over backwards to be accommodating and flexible, but in the end, I have decided that I need to have greater control over how I allocate my time between work and family. As any working parent knows, there’s no such thing as balance – only a series of compromises on both the work and home front. For me and for now, that compromise needs to happen on the work front, so I have elected to leave Forrester on July 18th to have greater control over exactly when and ho