How much should you trust social networking information?

I never really thought about this question until about a month ago when I got a strange phone call from a a collection agency wanting to know when I pay my bill to a major network services provider.  Naturally, my answer was I don’t do business with that company and I don’t owe anyone any money.  My new friend persisted. Aren’t you Judith Hurwitz — yes, I replied, I am guilty as charged. Then she wanted to confirm that I was indeed the CEO of a company called Changepond Technologies.  Now this was when I stopped pleading guilty. No, I answered, I haven’t even heard of a company called Changepond and I am therefore, not their CEO.

Now, how would this my friend assume that I would be president of a company I never heard of?  She did what we all do; she did a google search and on one of the “social networking sites” called Spoke, it lists me as the CEO of Changepond.  Imagine my surprise (especially since I never got a salary).

Judith Hurwitz’s Professional Profile

Judith Hurwitz This is me President & CEO Changepond Technologies 233 Needham Street Newton, Ma 4037

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Judith Hurwitz, President Judith Hurwitz was a driving force in the distributed computing movement and was one of the first software industry analysts to recognize and write about important technology changes such as client/server computing, systems and applications management, and e-business practices. In 1992, she founded Hurwitz Group, a software research and consulting organization that quickly became an industry leader. Clients included most of the top technology firms, including IBM, Hewlett Packard, BMC, Compuware, BEA, Tivoli, Computer Associates, and Microsoft. The organization also assisted a long list of start up companies in their transition from technology idea to business product. Judith also held senior positions at Apollo Computer, John Hancock Life Insurance Company, Patricia Seybold’s Group, and International Data Corporation. Judith’s expertise is widely recognized, and she is frequently quoted in major publications. She is currently a columnist for CIO Online and has recently written articles for BioITWorld Magazine. She has authored hundreds of articles and reports, been a frequent keynote speaker at major industry events, and serves on the advisory boards of several corporations. Hurwitz holds a BA and Masters degree from Boston University.

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Changepond Technologies – Ma – President & CEO

So, this was what I saw. Needless to say, I was a little surprised. How could this happen? It is easy to understand. First, the company had a local U.S. sales office in the same building that our offices are in. In addition, because we took over the suite of offices that Changepond’s U.S. office had been in, we inherited their old phone number.

Now, you might be asking, so why is this significant.  Basically, people rely increasingly on these social networking sites to find people they want to do business with or just connect with someone you used to know.  These sites serve a valuable purpose.  However, there is a dark side based on identity management.  Many of the sites that help you find people do not have a team of researchers collecting information. Nor do they wait until everyone takes the time to fill in the information about themselves.  You really can’t blame these sites. Until there is critical mass, no one will depend on the site.  Since most of these sites sell ads in order to survive, getting to critical mass is imperative.

Therefore, we are seeing lots and lots of these social networking sites filled with inaccurate information.  Much of this is benign.  Who cases if the wrong president is listed on a social networking site?  However, what happens when that company owes money and the collection agency goes after you? What happens if the company gets a bad reputation and the market thinks that it is your responsibility?  What happens if you are looking for a new job and the personnel office does a background check and notices that you are associated with a company that you never put on your resume?

Our natural inclination is to assume that if we find information through a search, it must be accurate.  In the case I mentioned earlier, the social networking site probably used some sort of automated tool to match company addresses and phone numbers with individuals.  Not a bad methodology to get started but somewhat dangerous.

Now, getting back to my new found presidency of Changepond.  I decided to take some actions to fix the situation.  Here are the three actions I took — I’ll call them the three dead ends:

Dead end #1.   I called the company’s new U.S. headquarters and asked to speak to the person in charge. I was connected to voice mail and guess what, the lovely voice suggested that I could contact the individual by calling the phone number our group had acquired. There was no human that could come to the phone.

Dead end #2.  I sent an email to an executive of this company and told him my problem. He was shocked and promised to look into the situation immediately. I sent a follow up email and this time I got no response.

Dead end #3. I sent an email to support email for the social networking site and asked them to fix this problem.  I never did get an answer and the information is still there.

I am not telling you this story so that you will feel sorry for me.  I want to tell you this because this will become an increasingly difficult problem that will cause unanticipated problems for the social networking community.  I am sure that there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of people who are impacted by inaccurate information.  But I think it is important to put a spotlight on this issue.  We need to hold these companies accountable to the quality of the information that they make public.  If you have had similar experiences, I would like to hear from you.  Start by answering the poll:

Confessions of a Twitter User

Back in January of this year I signed up for a Twitter account. I have to admit I was skeptical. Why does anyone need to know what I am doing right now? I wrote a blog about how silly I thought it was. Then after playing around with Twitter for about five months I wrote another blog about how it had the potential for becoming a platform for innovation. So, clearly, I had changed my mind.  I began to see that something here was more interesting than what I had assumed.

Well, now a few months later I would like to report that I have been getting deeper and deeper into my Twitter research and I have some new conclusions that I would like to share.  Here are the five conclusions I have come to about why Twitter is important:

Number One. The water cooler effect. As a technology industry analyst I really enjoy connecting with other analysts. It is especially helpful when a bunch of us are at an industry analyst meeting and we can exchange impressions in real time about what speakers are really saying. When colleagues are at a meeting I am not attending, I get a vicarious real time impression about the meeting without being there in person! It is amazing what you learn from only 140 characters. I have found that the companies we analyst are twittering about eagerly follow what we say about them and their competitors.

Number Two. Connecting to the political world.  During this election season, I have connected to many of the candidates, pundants, and journalists Twitter links. They often will provide links to articles and commentary that I never would have thought to look at – and I probably would never have known that they existed. I also took the opportunity to send direct messages to some candidates. I’m sure they never read what I said but it made me feel better. (Some candidates removed the ability to send a direct message after a while). I have noticed that a number of cable news reporters are now using Twitter to connect to people about specific issues they researching.  It can definitely be a good reality check for these guys.

Number Three. Connecting to people in the computer industry. I have connected with executives and technologists that I haven’t been in touch with in a while. Sometimes, I have sent messages to set up a new meeting just based on seeing them make a statement about something happening in their company.  It isn’t a substitute for other communications methods — traditional email, etc. but it is handy.

Number Four. The reach of the platform. Twitter, like other social networking platforms has created a range of related services — some that add better interfaces and there are lots. Here is a link to Todd Ogasawara’s   blog that lists lots of them.

Number Five. Twitter will need a revenue based model at some point. Where’s the business model? This is something I haven’t figured out yet. How will Twitter make money?  Are they planning what I call a Google Sneak Attack? Is there a plan to create an advertising model or new SaaS software model built on the base platform?

Clearly Twitter has momentum and some buzz right now.  Will it last? I think some of that depends on how well the company does at working on scalability,  partnerships, and figuring out a business model. Semantic search is something they desperately need. I could envision Twitter evolving to create specific applications for companies that want to set up real time feedback with customers and partners. I’ll keep working with Twitter — I enjoy the interaction (when I have time).

Can Twitter Trigger Innovation?

A few months ago I wrote a blog entry criticizing Twitter . I was not sure I got the relevance of this micro-blogging site. So, I decided that it made sense to spend time getting deeply involved in a Twitter community to test it and see if my opinion would change.

Here are my thoughts now. First, I am finding myself intrigued by Twitter. It is a quirky environment. I see some comments like “I am drinking my first cup of coffee of the day” or “My airplane is delayed.” I think that I know too much about some people’s daily habits and not enough about others. I also get breaking news on twitter and find some fascinating links from political pundits. I am finding that I get some unique insights into people I know and people I don’t. Some entries are simply entertaining and make me laugh. My colleague, Robin Bloor, for example, has been posting haikus that are wonderful. I look forward to them. I exchange comments on topics with other analysts that I have gotten to know over the years. I am also reconnecting with people I haven’t talked to in years.

I was talking to John Simonds last week and he thinks that some bloggers are using Twitter in place of their regular blogs. It might be the perfect solution for bloggers with short attention spans!

So, I think I have changed my mind to a certain extent. Twitter does fill a role in a world where our time is sliced thinner and thinner and where we don’t always have the time to pick up the phone and call. It provides a way to create micro-communities that have intriguing possibilities.

I think this is just the beginning of what we will see in the next five years. It reminds me somewhat of the early commercial Internet days. It was an intriguing platform that has potential but needed to evolve. How will Twitter and other similar sites evolve? I think that we will see the refinement of specialized closed groups focused on either topics or issues. I could see, for example, a company setting up a Twitter-like capability to allow a team of scientists or researchers to ping each other with quick ideas. This is different than traditional communications methods used by these groups. In formal conversations or papers these participants feel compelled to write long and complicated explanations of ideas and concepts. If you are limited to a hundred or so characters you are forced to get the core of your idea out very, very quickly.

Like email in an older generation, Twittering could have the effect of quickening the pace of communication — but in a radically different way. Sometimes the most important innovation comes from a single phrase or idea that expands into a universe.