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Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn: In Crisis, Pimp Your Profile
Recently met with the founder of the business-focused social network LinkedIn to discuss how the crisis has affected online social networking and how brands can best interact with such sites. Video below this quick summary.
For those searching for a job, Reid gave a few tips on how to work with social networking sites:
Digital Self-branding: The important thing today is how you brand yourself on the Internet. Its good to be careful not only about how you establish profile but also how you run it on social networks. One of the things we do for you is we actually try to SEO your profile, so that people will Google you. Managing reputational information is that if you have an embarrassing picture it will be hidden because the LinkedIn profile is found first.
Endorsements: You should get some of your friends to recommend you, so you have recommendations there.
Brands and social networks:
At LinkedIn, we use our polling tool to allow people to run market surveys on specifically defined target audiences. When a car company like Mazda advertises and asks which of these characteristics you like the most in a car. From out polling tool, when you click on it, our polling product actually shows them how many people in a region, or how many senior professionals or how many from the Internet industry have said what about their brand.
One of the ways blogging is described is that it is essentially to establish your brand for conversation. Its another way of saying that o.k. I put my brand in a place where people are actually congregating, communicating.
Facebook has these fan pages. They say this is an area they like and this is a soft drink they like. They are treating a brand as another virtual friend.
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Can you trust the Davos crowd?
A study by Edelman PR showed that trust is hitting an all time in many institutions. This video includes quick discussions with:
Jeff Jarvis – who thinks that the Davos crowd really does not appreciate how much trust in them has slipped.
Richard Edelman of Edelman PR – describes the details of the report.
Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, who says we should continue to trust financial journalists. (He points out that some of the FT’s reporters were writing about the vulnerabilities in the financial system long before the markets tanked).
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Rich Stromback: Why bother going to Davos?
Former professional ice hockey player and serial entrepreneur Rich Stromback seems best known in Davos as the last man standing – at night in the piano bar, that is.
In fact, this year at Davos he celebrated his 40th birthday in the piano bar with Richard Branson, more than 100 grandees and magnums of champagne liberally flowing.
For some reason Rich insists on calling me T-bone, often shouting across rooms crowded with CEOs and world leaders. He claims the nickname is a term of endearment.
“No self-respecting person from the part of Detroit where I grew up is called ‘Thomas’,” Rich explains. “You gotta have a nickname. A tough nickname.”
Um, gee, ah, thanks Rich.
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Davos Summary by The Economist’s Matthew Bishop
To save you the cost of a hotel room and airplane ticket, Matthew Bishop of The Economist kindly summarized what he found after a week in the Swiss mountains.
Mainly, it was pretty depressing and will likely get worse!
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My newly expanded “People Page”
I recently expanded the snapshots on the “People Page” of my blog in order to accommodate the growing population of people I have profiled.
Always welcome suggestions for people who should be profiled.
Do drop by and check it out!
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Now available via iTunes and Huffington Post
This blog’s videos are, by the way, available in podcast form via iTunes.
If you try it out, do let me know what you think! I always crave feedback.
I have also started blogging on the Huffington Post, for things that I think will interest that community.
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Radio Free Europe declares me a Davos depressive
I had a good Davos wrap-up conversation with Ronald Synovitz of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He concluded – correctly – that I came out of the meeting with a fairly depressed view of the state of the world.
I found my breakfast with Shimon Peres particularly depressing. The feeling was that the economic crisis will be long, protracted and painful, but my sense from Peres and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan is that we will not see peace in the Middle East anytime soon.
Another theme that kept recurring was the rising cost of financing for developing nations.
Developing nations have made incredible progress in reducing the level of poverty and incredible progress in terms of raising people into [higher living standards] and levels of health care. They are now going to be facing incredible difficulty with refinancing their debts.
It’s not just the cost of borrowing for companies that is going up. When countries start refinancing bonds, they are going to face these same difficult financial markets. So that’s a further impact that we haven’t begun to see yet that is going to be trickling through the economic system.
There was talk of China and India being approached to set up an alternate development bank to the Asian Development Bank. There is a desire for such an institution that is not controlled by the US or Japan.
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Davos: Peter Gabriel sings Biko, a capella
The most amazing session I attended this year in Davos was a 2-hour Dignity Day event in a local school auditorium.
Speakers included the schoolchildren, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Richard Branson and Peter Gabriel, who sang Biko a capella.
Hearing Desmond Tutu speak was an incredible experience. I have rarely seen someone captivate and hold an audience with such simplicity, humility and light heartedness.
At the end of the event Peter Gabriel led the entire room in singing his tribute to Steve Biko.
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Thai PM to protesters: The Thai people are fed up
Summary – in text – below video.
By Thomas Crampton
DAVOS, Jan 31: Abhisit Vejajiva, Thai Prime minister, today warned protesters gathering on the streets of Bangkok that they should not further upset the Thai situation.
Speaking with a blogger on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Abhisit also urged former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return to Thailand and fight the charges against him.
As the supporters of Thaksin – so-called red shirts – gather on the streets of Bangkok, they should keep in mind that the majority of Thai people do not offer support, Abhisit said.
“The country cannot afford to slip back into conflicts and violence and into almost a standstill,” Abhisit said. “People have been fed up with the divisions in politics that have kept the country’s progress back.”
Thaksin, now living in self-imposed exile due to actions against him in Thai courts, would face fair treatment if he returned to Thailand, Abhisit said.
“The Thai government must prove that our country will enforce the law in a non-discriminatory way,” Abhisit said. “It is our clear policy and every intention to do just that.”
ENDSsssss (Full transcript below video)
On a personal note: I was extremely honored that Prime Minister Abhisit recognized my blog (largely due to my interview with Thaksin).
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Shimon Peres: Spain cannot prosecute Israel for war crimes
This morning I attended a breakfast with Israel president Shimon Peres who lashed out at a Spanish court probing Israel officials for alleged “crimes against humanity” relating to a 2002 Israeli attack in Gaza.
This is an accidental video exclusive, since no other journalist attending used a video camera.
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George Soros: I made money from the Crisis
George Soros, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, says that he made a “pretty good return” from the market turmoil which he foresaw.
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Kofi Annan Tries Out YouTube
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan tried out YouTube and I and briefly discussed it afterwards.
When I asked whether he thought Social Media could help bring about world peace, he suggested I ask Barack Obama.
Sadly, Obama is not here in Davos, so will have to wait on that question.
Popularity: 3% [?]
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Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...
