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Shireen Mitchell, Digitalsistas

Shireen Mitchell, part 3 of 3:
From choosing America’s CTO to bridging the digital divide
Shireen’s work intersects with digital education/access, tech policy, and politics which includes making technology more accessible for minority children.

She’s also a social media and technology strategist, founder of Digital Sistas/Sisters, Chair of the Media and Technology Task Force of the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO), and president of the Community Technology Centers’ Network (CTCNet) Board of Directors.

Being digitally aware & accessible can help you expand your sphere of opportunity.

On economic stability and online access
What I appreciated about Shireen’s talk was how her experience related to online strategy, small business, but also to why basic online access (or lack thereof) can impact economic security. It framed a larger issue that I hadn’t recently discussed.

She explained further with these two factors:

1. A very basic reason is we’ve moved from traditional job seeking opportunities to online searching. When you’re looking for that middle or upper middle income job, you need to have access to technology – the basics – like email for sending your resume. And consider certain circumstances, let’s use President-Elect Obama’s transition team as example; certain jobs like Obama’s CTO position were publicized almost exclusively online.

2. The job one actually holds can inhibit (or propel) online access and its related professional benefits. When you work in more traditional shift employment – you don’t get certain online or tech opportunity. For instance, if you’re on the clock at a labor intensive and/or shift-schedule job, you’re doing the type of work that excludes a computer or email access. Being connected online can help you continue building skills and a professional network by sheer access to information i.e. reading online job sites, industry competitive blogs, social networking sites, etc.

So to summarize these key points, online learning (and access to it) opens the door to expanded economic opportunity to certain types of jobs and the educational resources to get them. This may seem obvious to you and me; but not realizing this can hinder economic possibility for many.

On Digital Sisters, Obama’s technology policy, & a national CTO
Although we’ve always been apart of policy impacting technology and women, we [at Digital Sisters] are now working on an agenda that’s specifically for technology and women for the Obama administration. I’d like to see a woman CTO for this country – not just for the sake of having a woman; but because I believe what women bring to the technical field is not just hard core understanding of technology. Women also bring keen awareness of HCI (human computer interaction). They understand end-user experience.

Women [working in technology spaces] get that human factor; they can think beyond the shiny toy tech syndrome. They know functionality.

-Shireen Mitchell on women candidates for the country’s first national CTO

There are plenty of women candidates who would be effective CTOs in Obama’s administration: Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Sophie Vandebroek, and also Mary Lou Jepsen.

On national technology policy
There is plenty to emphasize but for certain, we must focus on technology integration and innovation for our nation’s future. We are stumbling with inconsistent innovation that lacks diversity. That needs to be mandated from the highest level — to diversify, find the voids in technological professions, and instill diversity in technical education and development in a systemic way. We will fall further behind in this industry as a country if we don’t.

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My Horrible Predictions for Social Media in 2009

Here’s another staple of the New Year’s media programing calendar: New Year’s Predictions. Not only is it a list (people love lists), but it also comes with a built-in lead-in, the postmortem of your prior year’s crappy predictions. (Though if your previous predictions were really, really bad, you can probably skip this step. It’s not like anyone remembers what you said last year, anyway.)

As I didn’t do predictions last year, let’s just move on to setting myself up for future embarrassment, with my horrible predictions for social media in 2009. When I say my “horrible” predictions, I don’t mean they’ll be dire — I mean they won’t be very accurate. Though I don’t imagine that it’ll be a banner year for the business of social media, or any other kind of business.

Now, historically, I’ve stayed away from making predictions, mostly because I’m not very good at it. (For example, I thought that DSL would beat Cable for home broadband access, and I didn’t think that being able to watch TV shows on a computer screen would be very compelling. Boy, were those stinkers.)

But I figure that even if I’m terrible, I can make others (like certain 70-percenters) look better by comparison. So in that way, anyone can be useful. So here’s my list:

1.) President Obama will find a way to use his beloved BlackBerry after he takes office, although in a more limited fashion. Also, the Obama administration will transform government with social media, on a level not seen since Al Gore transformed government with his “Reinventing Government” initiative. (Note: This is a joke, implying that it didn’t really accomplish all that much over the long-term, despite some claims to the contrary.)

2.) We’re going to see a substantial, even severe, winnowing of social media apps and networks. (In other words, Bubble 2.0 goes *pop*). A lot of redundancy is going to be removed, and it won’t just be the economic downturn to blame, but a lack of sound business fundamentals on the part of many ventures. Like, say, a real business plan with a path to profitability.

Just like in other brand areas, in any given category, pick a winner, an also-ran, and a few niche players. All others go bye-bye. I’m going to go out on a limb and anchor this with a specific example: Plurk will go the way of Pownce. They might even skip the “bought out” part.

3.) People still aren’t going to use OpenID very much.

4.) At least three more major metropolitan newspapers are going to go Web-only. We’ll also see some movement on broadcast/newspaper integration, if not on the legal side (because of ownership laws), but on the content partnership side. If you’ve ever read an article on a TV news Web site that’s basically Teleprompter copy (which may work on air, but is horrible as a printed article), there are plenty of opportunities here.

5.) Something’s going to happen with Twitter. I’m going to go with “fade into the background as more of the hoi polloi jump on, and a new shiny thing comes on the scene.” Hell, after I started using Twitter more, I started wondering why one of the major messaging clients didn’t just come up with a Twitter-killer last year. I’m still wondering.

Others would disagree with me. (”Why Twitter Will Go Mainstream in 2009.“)

Anyway, those are my predictions for 2009. Let me know what you think, or post a link to your own predictions for the new year.

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Happy 2009 Everyone! It is gonna be a great year for all of us. No, Really.

I know, you must be thinking that after all the bad financial news and cries from large companies that are supposedly “too big to fail” for money that we don’t have means that I must be out of my mind.

True, I am a little crazy, but I always try and see the positive side of things. Let me explain…

Recessions are the best time to start a business

It seems counter-intuitive but starting a business during a recession is probably one of the best choices you can make. Someone with the determination and right frame of mind can be successful taking advantage of low overhead, no employees,
outsourcing and using the internet to your advantage for marketing.

But what if I fail? So, you fail. Would you rather be that person who tried to do something new and started a new business, didn't get it right and lost a bit of money in the process. OR The person who did nothing and stayed broke?

2009 is gonna be a year of starting businesses that will grow and last well into the next decade. Want proof? Companies started in previous recessions: Google, Wikipedia, Microsoft, HP, Hyatt, IHOP, Burger King, FexEx, MTV and CNN to name a few you might recognize.

This period in our history is about new transforming disruption and not about new great depression

I was reading this post from Scott D. Anthony on Innoblog about what he calls “The Great Disruption” and I absolutely agree. We are going through a shift and transition where the economic challenges are a result of not executing and preparing for this coming shift.

According to Scott:

“Why the Great Disruption? In the Great Depression, demand, output and wages declined across the board. Today’s times are different. It isn’t just that demand is sagging. It’s that change is ripping through markets at unprecedented pace. Competitive advantage that took decades to build disappears seemingly overnight.

The Great Disruption didn’t start in 2008. Over the past decade, technological improvements have made starting and scaling businesses easier than ever. The rise of China, India, Brazil, and Russia mean market leaders have to deal with more sharp-elbowed competitors than ever before. And industries are frantically converging and colliding.

Certainly the pace of change has accelerated over the past few months, but leaders in media, retail, defense, health care, automotive, and high-tech can attest that they have been grappling with the Great Disruption for some time.

The Great Disruption creates real challenges for managers who have made a career out of focused execution.”

What will you be doing in 2009 to prepare for “The Great Disruption”?

People’s sense of entitlement is gone for the most part

When I used to live in “cubicle land” many co-workers had some really bad attitudes. Many acted as if management should appreciate the fact that they showed up and graced the office with their presence.

Many of those people have probably gotten a shock to their system over the last few years and if it hasn’t hit them yet, it soon will. And oh yeah, a paycheck is a thing you get for actually doing work and you should appreciate the fact you have a job and can have the kind of life you do.

Many might be experiencing this for the first time and I believe that since we are in the debt hangover and we must live within our means and pay off the bills we have accumulated. This means that many people you might be hiring for your business might have lost theirs over the last year and are probably happy to have a job. You know the saying “it’s a recession when your neighbor loses their job, it’s a depression when you lose your job”.

People are eager to work and there will be less of a greed and “it’s all about me” so you can find quality people at a reasonable cost.

New Year, Clean Slate. Clean Slate, Fresh Start.

When the clock struck 12:00am and you rang in the New Year, look at 2009 as a clean slate and a fresh start.

So have a great New Years Day and look forward to this year ahead of us. I guarantee when I am writing on Dec 31, 2009 that things will be much better than they were in 2008 and you will be looking forward to an awesome 2010.

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Solutions Out Loud Podcast Episode #3 - “The Year in Review”

We proudly present Episode #3 of Solutions Out Loud, the Network Solutions podcast that covers news, business trends, tips for small businesses and anything else that is relevant to you our faithful listeners.

You can subscribe to the feed on iTunes or RSS.

In our third episode, “The Year in Review” we to a look back at 2008 for “The Best of…” this blog and the rest of small business landscape.

It is hosted by Steve Fisher along with Joe Loong and Jill Foster of the Solutions Are Power blog team.

Also making a guest appearance is Shashi Bellamkonda, the leader and Social Media Swami here at Network Solutions.

Here are some highlights:

“Best of 2008″ Segment

Steve Fisher
Favorite Posts of 2008 on the SAP blog:
1.)   Joe the Plumber post
2.)   Top 10 Things to have in a Business Presentation
3.)   All the posts from the Trip to Gnomedex 2008

Jill Foster
Some top favorite moments w/ SAP08:
1) March08: The whole of 2008 offered fantastic conversations with Solutions Are Power; and Shashi’s talk with Guy Kawasaki serves as a kick-off symbol for the year’s interview series for me. I liked seeing the opportunity unfold for the community to network with him and vice versa: http://blog.networksolutions.com/2008/interview-with-guy-kawasaki-on-his-latest-venture-alltopcom/
2) June08: Rohit Bhargava’s book Personality Not Included offers plenty to small business — how to personalize your brand in the context of social media. But an added bonus this year was translating online talks about his book to an offline interview event + reception for small businesses. Meeting in-person with the community remains a pillar for networking and collaboration. So his live interview with Jonny Goldstein & a co-hosted reception by NetSol / DC Media Makers proved a favorite this year.

Joe Loong
Favorite Posts:
1.) Legal Considerations for the Small Business — very useful
2.) All of the Blog Potomac coverage, but the Direct2Dell guy interview most of all.
3.) 8 Tips to Protect Your Domain Registration, in response to the domain hijacking.
4.) 10 Reasons to Use Facebook for Business - simple, effective, to the point
5.) Trademarks 101– also because it helped me answer a few questions

Coming Next Time…

In our next episode, we will also look ahead with some predictions and opinions on what 2009 might hold for small businesses.