What Twitter is for: Communities of Purpose

David Cushman has blogged that Twitter Isn't About Conversation - It's About Forming Groups.

This is a great point. Much of the value I get from Twitter is getting a feel for how the community is thinking about various subjects. Many times someone tweats on an idea or links to a new article which triggers a discussion and gets more new ideas flowing.

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Twitter is for forming groups - communities of purpose. Communities of purpose may be adhoc. They may come together to solve a shared problem for a short period and then disband, often with overlaps, as they evolve toward the next purpose. And Twitter is exceptional at doing this - because of its architecture, because of the
fuzzy-edge nature of the way groups form, reform and evolve.

The open sharing of our metadata, in the form of 'status updates' or 'look at this conversation-starting link' or 'look who I'm talking to' kind of tweets help us find our right-now community of purpose and start a conversation within it.

See David's post to read more.

IBM shows Microsoft that social computing is about the people

This morning, IBM and Microsoft presented Lotus Connections and Sharepoint in a head-to-head demo of social networking platforms. Of course, the play by play got published instantly on the public social networks.

Apparently Microsoft focused on email and document management, which did not wow the crowd. IBM got points for talking about how social networking is about the people. Quotes included "MS failing dismally at showing off Sharepoint collab tools. IBM totally ate their lunch.".

A few blog posts on the session:

IBM wins round 1 against Microsoft!
Enterprise 2.0 Conference - Social Computing Platforms: IBM and Microsoft
Social Computing Platforms: IBM & Microsoft Part 1
Social Computing Platforms: IBM & Microsoft Part 2

Finally, the conference has a social page devoted to the session:
Social Computing Platforms: IBM and Microsoft

Dan Reeves Comes to You

The Atlanta Lotusphere Comes to You Event has landed legendary NFL coach Dan Reeves as the keynote speaker!

I remember being at Lotusphere in 1999 watching the Falcons seal their trip to the Super Bowl.

Coach Reeves record speaks for itself:

• Was an All-Pro player for Dallas immortal Tom Landry.
• Led the Falcons to the playoffs (twice) and the Super Bowl, and became the NFL’s most successful coach with 167 wins.
  
• Won NFL Coach of the Year honors in 1993 (Atlanta) and 1998 (New York).
• Coached the Denver Broncos to five divisional titles and three Super Bowls.

For the keynote, he will deliver an inspiring talk on teamwork. Not only that, but he'll be on hand for photos and autographs.

Go here to see a detailed agenda and to register.

Lotusphere Comes to You, Atlanta

This year's Lotusphere included many exciting announcements from IBM and Lotus. Several years of work integrating SOA and the Eclipse platform into the Lotus products has opened up many new possibilities for delivering greater business value through social networking and composite applications (think business mashups).

If you couldn't make it to Orlando, Optimus Solutions is hosting the Atlanta Lotusphere Comes to You on March 4th at the Crown Plaza Ravinia.

Join us and you will hear:

• IBM experts delivering the Lotus Software strategy and roadmap for 2008
• The business value of Web 2.0: How IBM Lotus® solutions accelerate your organization's ability to tap into new trends in collaboration, innovation and the changing workforce
• An Optimus Solutions customer discuss their decision to implement IBM Lotus® Connections™ in their global infrastructure
• Unified communications and collaboration: the present, the future, the possibilities
• Extending your IBM Lotus investment with the Desktop of the Future, composite applications and open standards development

Go here to see a detailed agenda and to register.