Open up your mind and say, ahh...

As I get ready for 2011, it dawns on me that I have something that most grocery stores do not: an instant feedback system for letting me know whether you like what I’m writing or not. In fact, I have lots of information about what works for you and what doesn’t. Better than that, I have a direct line to you (or rather, you have a direct line to me), where you can ask me for things you don’t already see out on my shelves. In essence, you and I have the best possible system. I can listen to your wants and desires and I can supply “products” that give you what you want.

It’s a little bit tricky with this site. I have quite a mixed demographic here. Some of you are marketers in big companies. Some of you work for yourselves. Some of you are reading me because someone else said you should. Some of you are preachers. Some of you are teachers. I have a librarian or two reading. So, it’s not like I’m writing to a very hardcore crowd of one thing or another.

What have I been writing about in 2010? Human Business. I’ve switched away from just covering social media, and instead, I’m writing about the various elements it takes to build business in a sustainable, relationship-minded way. There’s a mix of marketing, sales, self-improvement, blogging, writing, and general thinking pieces on my shelves right now.

My Question To You

What do you want to see more of in 2011? What will keep you coming? What will keep you interested?

If you’re a lurker, this is your chance to decloak, if only for a moment, and share what works and what doesn’t. I’m here to take your guidance.

Left to my own devices, I’m going to continue sharing with you what it takes to reinvest in human business. I’m going to talk about ways to expand your network, ways to improve your prospects, ways to develop better and more useful content for your own audiences. I’m going to continue equipping you for success in the ways I know how.

What do you want to see? I’m here to help.

(actually, to steal a phrase from Alan and Bill, an advance. Retreat is too negative).

There’s a tremendous opportunity to create events where people connect. Unfortunately, it’s also easy to turn these events into school-like conferences, not the emotional connections that are desired.

You can create an advance with a team that knows one another from work, or even more profoundly, with a bunch of independent thinkers who come together to energize, inspire and connect.

I’ve been to a bunch and here’s what I’ve learned, in no particular order:

• Must be off site, with no access to electronic interruption
• Should be intense. Save the rest and relaxation for afterwards
• Create a dossier on each attendee in advance, with a photo and a non-humble CV of who they are and what they do and what their goals are
• Never (never) have people go around a circle and say their name and what they do and their favorite kind of vegetable or whatever. The problem? People spend the whole time trying to think of what to say, not listening to those in front of them (I once had to witness 600 people do this!!)
• Instead, a week ahead of time, give each person an assignment for a presentation at the event. It might be the answer to a question like, “what are you working on,” or “what’s bothering you,” or “what can you teach us.” Each person gets 300 seconds, that’s it.
• Have 11 people present their five minutes in an hour. Never do more than an hour in a row. The attendees now have a hook, something to talk to each presenter about in the hallway or the men’s room. “I disagree with what you said this morning…”
• Organize roundtable conversations, with no more than 20 people at a time (so if you have more attendees than this, break into groups.) Launch a firestarter, a five minute statement, then have at it. Everyone speaks up, conversations scale and ebb and flow.
• Solve problems. Get into small groups and have the groups build something, analyze something, create something totally irrelevant to what the organization does. The purpose is to put people in close proximity with just enough pressure to allow them to drop their shields.
• Do skits.
• Have a moderator who is brave enough and smart enough to call on people, cut people off, connect people and provoke them in a positive way.
• Invite a poker instructor or a horseshoe expert in to give a lesson and then follow it with a competition.
• Challenge attendees to describe a favorite film scene to you before the event. Pick a few and show them, then discuss.
• Don’t serve boring food.
• Use nametags at all times. Write the person’s first name REALLY big.
• Use placecards at each meal, rotating where people sit. Crowd the tables really tightly (12 at a table for 10) and serve buffet style to avoid lots of staffers in the room. Make it easy for people to leave boring tables and organically sit together at empty ones.
• Do something really interesting after 10 pm.
• Serve delicious food, weird food, vegan food, funky food. Just because you can.
• Don’t worry about being productive. Worry about being busy.
• Consider a tug of war or checkers tournament.
• Create an online site so attendees can check in after the event, swap email addresses or post promised links.
• Take a ton of pictures. Post them as the advance progresses.

Here’s the goal: new friends. Here’s the output: a new and better to-do list.

Do you think it bothers her that I don’t listen to her music and wouldn’t recognize her if she stopped by and said hi?

It shouldn’t.

Even if you’re a pop star, you don’t need everyone to be a fan or a customer. And especially if you’re not a pop star, worrying about whether everyone laughs at your jokes, buys your product or even likes you is counterproductive.

Unless you’re running for something that requires a unanimous vote, it’s a mistake to focus on the frowning guy in the back of the room or the dolt who doesn’t get your subtle references or the miser who isn’t going to buy from you regardless…

You’re on the hunt for sneezers, for fans, for people willing to cross the street to work with you. Everyone else can pound sand, that’s okay. Being remarkable also means being ignored or actively disliked.

BTW, I’m virtually certain that Lady (do her friends call her that?) doesn’t read my stuff, so we’re even.

Ford is crazy for connectivity and longs for the day when smartphones are fully integrated into automobiles. It moved closer to that goal today with the introduction of a free app that gives Ford Fiesta drivers voice control of Pandora, Stitcher and OpenBeak on their phones.

The introduction of AppLink means no more fumbling with your phone to launch the three apps. This might sound superfluous, but Ford says 46 percent of us have apps on our smartphones and 36 percent of us admit using them while driving. As smartphones become ubiquitous, so too will the number of people using apps, even if they’re barreling down the highway at 75 mph.

“More and more drivers are using their devices and their apps while in the car,” Doug VanDagens, director of connected services, said in a statement. “SYNC and AppLink work hand-in-hand to answer consumer demand for safer, smarter control of smartphones while in the car.”

Ford cites a study by the Consumer Electronics Association that found 55 percent of smartphone owners prefer voice commands for in-car smartphone integration and says that makes the business case for SYNC and AppLink even more compelling.

The announcement comes as the Apple iPhone joins Android and Blackberry devices in playing nicely with Sync; all three devices can use AppLink to provide voice control of three popular applications: Pandora internet radio, Stitcher news radio and OpenBeak for listening to Twitter posts. Why anyone would want to listen to Twitter is beyond us, but there you have it.

To access the app once you’ve installed AppLink, just push the “voice” button on the steering wheel, say “mobile applications” and cite the app you want to launch. Simple.

Launch Pandora and you can access all your favorite features. Ditto for Stitcher and OpenBeak. Ford says more Sync-enabled apps and integrations are coming soon.

AppLink is available only on the 2011 Ford Fiesta but will be offered in more models soon.

Photo: Ford

In February 2011, I have the privilege to speak at the lift conference in Geneva. But this isn’t about the conference as much as it is about an important subject that I’ve been asked to address. While this idea is nothing new to economists, theorists, futurists and other intellectuals around the world, my focus is on those who are unfamiliar with the role they play in an underground, but vital economy.

I’m going to explore the undercurrent of social economics, namely social currency and social capital. And, I promise you won’t find it boring…

As we’re seeing with services such as Klout and PeerIndex, our stature in the social web is based on our actions and words.  Essentially, your “balance sheet” is available for anyone with a web browser to review, assess, and analyze. While this may seem trivial, progressive businesses are already factoring your stature into their customer index and your experiences may vary based on your social credit score. In addition, some credit agencies in the U.S. are also reportedly reviewing social graphs to explore associated credit risks based on who we know.

You are a bank. What works against us also works for us. Choose your investments wisely…but it starts with thinking about your interaction as investments.

I recently discussed the topic with Laurent Haug, the organizer of lift, and I’d like to share the conversation with you…

Laurent Haug: In what context is social currency emerging?

Brian Solis: We, from the mainstream to the earliest of adopters and greatest of innovators, may have missed an early opportunity to steer things in a more proactive direction. Instead, we are now playing catchup to what’s playing out as we speak… what we do and say in social networks equates to “social capital” and that one day it would be used for and against us.

The time has come to be mindful of the value we create in networks such as Facebook, Twitter, for ourselves. What we share, what we say, the smallest of actions from “likes” to Retweets to the simplest of updates form a digital representation of what we are. This persona can be leveraged when used effectively.

Is that the main reason behind users involvement in social networks?

No, of course not. Right now, the social web is a vibrant “egosystem“. When we were introduced to blogs, Facebook or Twitter, as human beings, we were simply excited at having an audience for our words and our experiences. With every reactions and friend requests, we were rewarded to share more of ourselves. Now we realize something new: that what someone says can represent varying levels of value, whether it is an opinion or expertise. Who you are connected to is also important. We are judged by the company we keep. When combined, actions and relationships create a foundation for social capital.

With the emerging array of search and analysis tools, simple processes of data mining encourages advanced profiling that we, as users, are not, but should be, aware of.

For example, banks are looking at an individual’s social graph to determine their credit risk. In the blink of an eye, what could be considered trivial information becomes an influential element that will contribute to changing the direction your life will take. I believe we should make users more aware of this unfolding reality. This is about consciousness. How they engage online and who they connect with serves as social currency in every transaction.

Can you define social currency?

Social currency is represented in the resulting value and sentiment that stems from the exchange of social objects: words, videos, reactions, links. What I publish is social currency. We can measure the value of this currency in each exchange by its reach, resonance, and ultimately influence. However, it’s sum is greater than its parts. If I’m looking to weigh “who your are,” what appears in search as well as the presentation of your profiles, tells me more than you know. It defines who I am and how much I am “worth”. So social currency is a combination of actions and words.

Do you have a concrete example in mind?

While it’s difficult to call out individuals, we can take a look at how brands are establishing goodwill and investing in social capital through online engagement. I do appreciate what American Express is doing around Open Forum. For a brand, it is earning social capital through the investment of meaningful and valuable social currency. Its intention is to build a social community through value-added content, insight, advice, and community. The team is building a network and ecosystem, a complete engagement strategy built on social currency. They enlisted the brightest minds in the field of small business and placed them in a community where these people share content, expertise, and experience with everyone – without cost. It is a form of information commerce, with creation and curation of content. They also launched a mobile app to bring that experience to anyone anywhere. Their idea is to earn social capital by making a contribution to the wider community of small business owners.

What they want is not only immediate returns, but indirect and long term returns. American Express invests in priceless commodities: information and insights. They create a unique bond with the people they want to reach, and build social capital, something even stronger than goodwill. While intent counts, we are measured by what we do, not what we want to do.

RELATED: Stanford Law’s Ryan Calo on privacy harm and design as one solution…

Image Credit: Shutterstock

A Boston startup that lets car owners enlist their own rides in an ad hoc car-sharing fleet has expanded to San Francisco. Backers of the venture are hoping that the chance to make some cash will get people saying, “Dude, share my car!”

RelayRides lets car owners set their own rates, starting at $6 per hour. Of the cost, 65 percent goes straight to the car owner, while 15 percent goes to RelayRides and 20 percent covers insurance up to $1 million with a $500 individual deductible. Car borrowers are pre-screened, and online reviews keep hoopty owners honest about the true condition of their car.

Founder Shelby Clark sees the service as changing the often intensely personal relationship between owner and car. “Consumers are increasingly rejecting traditional forms of ownership, preferring to borrow rather than buy,” he said. “RelayRides builds on this changing consumer behavior by enabling neighbors to support each other, both financially and practically.” It reminds us of a story told by a relative of ours who lived in Brooklyn in the ’60s. He’d leave his Nash Rambler unlocked with the keys in the ignition as long as any neighbor who borrowed it brought it back.

Borrowers can check online to see available cars near them. They use an RFID key fob to unlock the doors. A keypad-screen combo on the windshield (shown above) displays how many miles have been driven, the current time and how long until a reservation expires. Borrowers can use the keypad to add more time if they’re running late.

Forget about letting a stranger drive any of our cars — we don’t even want passengers fiddling with the radio. Still, the service does make sense for city dwellers whose cars often sit idle while incurring of high insurance and parking costs, and we’d have no qualms about paying a neighbor to rent his or her pickup truck. Apparently, RelayRides has even attracted some owners of Jaguars, Audis and Porsches — though we bet they’re charging more than $6 an hour.

Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe tried out the service back in August, borrowing a neighbor’s 2003 Toyota Matrix with 86K on the odometer. The car was about as nice as expected (the word “rattletrap” made it into the review), though Kirsner’s biggest gripe was that there weren’t enough cars near locations he frequented.

It appears that RelayRides is trying to get more people involved in the service by hiring ambassadors from college campuses and asking visitors to the website to vote for the city where they’d most like to see the service expand.

Photo: RelayRides

If someone asks you that, are you excited to tell them the answer?

I hope so. If not, you’re wasting away.

No matter what your job is, no matter where you work, there’s a way to create a project (on your own, on weekends if necessary), where the excitement is palpable, where something that might make a difference is right around the corner.

Hurry, go do that.

The problem with browsers is that they rarely buy anything.

The prospect who walks up to the salesperson and says, “I’m looking for a pinstripe suit in size 38″ is a lot more likely to walk out with a suit than the one who mutters, “No thanks, just looking.”

Which is relevant to your quest for a new product or business or job or mate or project worth working on…

If you’re still looking around, making sure you understand all your options, getting your bearings or making sure you’re well informed, you’re most probably browsing.

You missed the first, second and third waves of the internet. You missed a hundred great jobs and forty great husbands. You missed the deadline for that course and the window for this program.

Quit looking and go buy something already.