Web-based technologies

The best stay attuned to their customers’ signals in the social graph.

The Internet promises to give marketing the same boost in productivity that new operational strategies have given to manufacturing.

This item also appears in the April, 2008 issue of Harvard Business Review. The internet is widely considered the most measurable of advertising media, but those easily tracked click-throughs and e-commerce sales don’t tell the whole story. Far from it. Internet advertising stimulates off-line sales, too — in most cases, our firm finds that online […]

A second generation of electronic commerce is emerging, one that will be shaped more by strategy than by experimentation. The battle for competitive advantage will be waged along three dimensions: reach, affiliation, and richness.

New technologies can be dazzling. But do they represent the future of retailing? Have the fundamentals really changed?

In the latest issue of Business Week, Stephen Baker’s article “Beware Social Media Snake Oil” makes a provocative argument. He claims that all the hype around social networks, wikis, and blogs for business neglects the potential risks and time wasted. While I think he is overstating the argument, he is bringing up a vital question […]

What did I learn at South by Southwest Interactive last week? The annual gathering in Austin, Texas, has gained a reputation as the mecca for innovation and disruptive technologies. Startups and, increasingly, innovative mainstream companies converge on SXSW to test and launch new concepts. Twitter had its coming-out party in Austin in 2007. Foursquare was […]

An analysis of 20 million LinkedIn profiles sheds light on the power of casual relationships.

#GivingTuesday is an example of successful grassroots marketing.

Just how big (or small) a market would Google leave behind were it to pull out of China today? Last month, China Internet Network Information Center, the country’s official domain registry and research organization, reported that by the end of 2009, the number of internet users in China had touched 384 million — more than […]

The corporate e-mail server is down, but work doesn’t grind to a halt. Everybody just switches to Gmail, Skype, or BB Chat to get around the inconvenience. For the most part, they’re using these consumer technologies at work already — often because they’re better than anything the IT department can provide. Except at financial, defense-related, […]

Last month celebrated the 40th anniversary of the greatest product and technology innovation demo of all time. In a single day Douglas Engelbart showed the world new hi-tech ideas that dominate our world today: The mouse, the hyperlink, hierarchical lists, user testing, and on it goes. What people often forget is that despite the importance […]

What Alibaba, Tencent, and Uber teach us about networks that flourish. The five characteristics that make the difference.

How the company finances its growth.

Four questions to ask about the last 12 months.

Marketers are finding that customers and employees are the best advocates.

Three ways to build your list.

Build a credible reputation online, and people will start seeking you out, sharing information, and collaborating with you. The result is richer networks...

You’ve probably heard by now that “your brand is no longer yours.” The assertion’s based on simple math. In the era of blogs, discussion boards, Facebook, Twitter, and other Web 2.0 tools, virtually everyone can get online and talk about your company and its offerings. As a result, the amount of information your marketing and […]

The gaffe when he thought the microphone was off might not be the major reason Gordon Brown didn’t win the British election. But it showed that he forgot a leadership lesson: Act as if the audio is always on. At a rally shortly before the election, Prime Minister Brown was asked some awkward questions about […]