The Network Economy … Influencing the Rules of Economic Networks

 

The dynamic of our society and our new economy, will increasingly obey the logic of networks. We are connecting everything to everything.

-      Kevin Kelly

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In his article from WIRED in 1997, “New Rules for the New Economy”, Kevin Kelly writes about the network economy and its influence by connecting everything. Every now and then I like to revisit the previous thinking of smart people like Kevin Kelly… to renew and revalidate.

 

In this case most of what Kelly wrote in this article is even truer today.

 

Kelly writes that Donald Hicks of the University of Texas studied the half life of Texan businesses for the past 22 years and found that their longevity has dropped by half since 1970. That’s change.

 

But Austin, the city in Texas that has the shortest expected life spans for new businesses, also has the fastest growing number of jobs and the highest wages. That’s churn.

 

Hicks told his sponsors in Texas “the vast majority of the employers and employment on which Texans will depend in the year 2026 – or even 2006 – do not yet exist.”

 

Implication?

 

We need to create churn through innovation to continue to prosper.

 

Kelly’s concept:

 

Wealth in this new regime flows directly from innovation, not optimization. That is, wealth is not gained by perfecting the known, but by imperfectly seizing the unknown.

 

 

Are you moving your business forward through optimization or innovation?  What do you think of Kelly’s views of connecting everything in the network economy?

 

Please share your experience on this topic with the readers.

 

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 Read more:

8 Popular Social Media Initiatives for Customer Engagement

Social Commerce Business … What Ben and Jerry’s Knows That You Should Know

12 Ways to Build Social Commerce Business through Great Customer Service

 

 

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Let us give you some more recommendations on improving your social technologies, on-line and in person.

 

 More reading on customer engagement and social technologies …