The list is based on three pieces of literature and I’d like to tell you a little bit about so we can establish some context:

The first is the article from Alternet, The Growth of Talking Points Memo: A Case Study in Independent Media, which has gone from teeny-weeny personal blog to independent media empire (which is what every well run blog really is). The article is an in depth case study of how technology & journalism can work well together. We can dabble about the semantics of “journalism” later.

The second is a list of Dos & Don’ts for building software productively from NASA’s Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL). I first came across the list in Steve McConnell’s Software Project Survival Guide, which has an excellent summary of the whole list. The next two posts were inspired by, and lean heavily on this list.

In short, the SEL list lays out the foundation for building sound software. And it works well: it increased the quality of their software 10 to 20 times at the same time it allowed SEL teams maintain comparable productivity levels.

Not only is software one half of the social media landscape, it is also the platform where online relationships are built on. It’s not too difficult to see how faulty software can affect the quality of the relationships (think Facebook vs. Myspace).

The third is Seth Godin’s best book yet, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. It’s hard to describe & communicate the potential of the Internet + people & the good ideas they keep coming up with. At it it’s most basic, this is what social media does and Godin puts it all into perspective in this book.

The main ideas in the book that have to do with the following posts are:

• Movements: the only way viable way to turn customers into fans is to start a movement. The fire of revolution dies, people get tired of causes, but movements are a head thing and it’s hard to throw those away. Just ask any Obama fan (better yet, ask a Bush fan and if you are that Bush fan, please let me know).
• Platforms: Movements need a platform, a place to call home. TPM, Google and Apple (to some extent) are places like that. These days, the Internet has the platform part covered so virtually anyone can start their own movement or ind one that fits into the context of their lives.

Admittedly, not much of it is new: the same people that are online are the same people you run into at the coffee shop or at home so the basic rules still apply. The Internet is just another context for these relationships.

Click on the numbers to read the 2nd & 3rd post in the series.

The following is a guest post from Bob Sale and if we had our way, there will be more to come from him.

In order to illuminate why social networking sites such as Myspace might be misleading to employers, let me paint you a mind picture:

You’re an employer.  You received a resume that caught your attention because it was really good……a little too really good.  You become suspicious and decide to research the person’s personality by googling their name.  You type in Rob Jansen into the search engine and up pops two profiles of Mr. Jansen.  One is on Myspace and one is on Linkedin.   Because HR is the only department allowed to access Myspace at work and because you love taking advantage of the advantage to have advantages, you look at the Myspace page first.  At first glance of the page, you think, “Woah! This must be a mistake.  This isn’t Rob’s page.  This page belongs to Donny Drinksalot.  You glance up at the URL that reads Myspace.com/Robjansen.  O.k. it is Rob’s page.  You start to browse the page to learn more about Mr. Drinksalot.  After some very intricate detective work, you conclude that Rob is an alcoholic, womanizer, and has a weird infatuation with Rosie Odonnell.  Then you remember the Linkedin page.  You check it.  You find out Rob has some pretty influential contacts, and he knows Joe Snodly.  You and the Snodster had a pretty wild time in Boring, Oregon two years ago.  You contact Joe and ask him about Jansen.  After talking to him you decide to give Rob a chance.  When you ask Donny Drinksalot why his myspace page is so risqué, he replies with confidence:

Rob:  “Mr./Ms. (your last name here),  I know I don’t speak for myself when I say there is a difference between my social life and my work life.  If everybody acted the same with their friends as they do at work, everybody would have a 168 hour work week.  I believe in having two social Networking sites.  My Myspace page is for my clan, My Linkedin page is for my plan.   And if you were at work two years ago when you were with the Snodster, You would have never done what you did with a latex glove and a baby elephant sticker.”

You:  Nicely put Rob. Nicely put.