Do these jeans make me look fat?

Ahh...the age old question that strikes fear in the hearts of men everywhere and one of the many reasons for the lack of co-ed shopping teams. So what's a girl to do when she needs an immediate response to her outfit of choice? Why throw it on her avatar and ask 647 of her closest IM friends for their opinions.

Welcome to social retailing ladies! Can't get everyone together for that oh-so-exciting shopping trip this weekend? No problem. With state of the art technology available at Bloomingdales, for example,

"customers can connect live with their online friends while they shop. An interactive mirror transmits high-bandwidth video to friends who comment back via instant message (IM) and who send their own suggestions from an online catalogue."

So why throw technology in the age-old pass-time of retail therapy? Wouldn't that be like adding a Dollar Menu machine at the 20 yard line? How convenient would it be get a side of fries from the redzone but honestly who would really do it? Well according to the powers that be at Bloomingdales,

"today’s young tech-savvy shopper expects to be connected 24/7 w ith her friends even while she shops. Social RetailingSM enhances that ability to connect and I expect will draw new, younger shoppers to our stores."

Fun, novel, worth trying every now and then? Yes but I can't see the Red Hat society logging on to check out their chapter president in this season's stock of red and purple regalia anymore than I can see hordes of teenagers forgoing the weekly mall night to stay at home in front of the computer while one of them shows off the latest fashion craze. Bloomingdales and other stores who use technology to enhance the shopping experience in this way shouldn't bet the farm on it as a major sales mechanism. The whole point of "feedback" shopping is the social experience together, in person. A few of the excessively narcissistic elite out there may find this to be the ultimate shopping experience but word of warning...the camera usually adds 10 pounds :-).

The fine art of collaboration

For most of our adult lives we've often realized that "who you know" is oftentimes more important than "what you know" when it comes to landing that hot new job. Those individuals possessing wider social networks increase their chances of rapid career advancement at a seemingly higher level than those individuals who knock on an organization's door with nothing more than a resume in hand.

Social networking, defined by wikipedia as "social structures made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, friendship, kinship" etc. (essentially the "family tree" of the organization I guess), is no longer solely an individual activity. Businesses and other organizations are rapidly realizing the benefits "social networking," can bring to their environment and are leveraging the collective social capital to increase productivity, allow for innovation, or make possible a strategic advantage or edge in some way.

Wikipedia describes these benefits (a.k.a social capital) of the social network better than I can: To illustrate more fully, "just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so too social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups."

"To collaborate or not to collaborate?" that then becomes the question. For any business challenged with innovation or in need of sustaining a competitive advantage, collaboration of employees across functional, organizational (and sometimes physical) boundaries can often yield extremely successful results. Ask the makers of the cancer drug Gleevec for their success story in bringing the drug to market and you'll find "it would not have possible without help from diverse external connections" (A practical Guide to Social Networks, Cross, et. al., Harvard Business Review) that allowed the makers to develop and manufacture the drug in record time.

Ask Glamour Editor Erin Zammett Ruddy (http://www.glamour.com/lifestyle/blogs/editor) who has been blogging about her battle with cancer and her success with the drug Gleevac for several years now and you'll see that "diverse external connections" continue to promote the personal benefits of the drug for those with CML. This is truly a product whose entire existence and life cycle would not have been possible without a collaborative, social environment.

While I find myself intrigued by and drawn to idea of networking and collaborative endeavors (both personal and organizational), I hesitate to throw myself whole-heartedly into such situations where no express goal or value exist to support the extra effort. It's not that I'm selfish, or that I actually see an I in team. Instead I realize that without the full support of everyone in and around the network and organizations who seek to create, maintain (and above all, diagram) a social network, the extra burden of effort can quickly cause employee dissolution and burn out. I do believe that collaboration is a fine art these days and that with the proper planning, support, desire and organizational mechanisms in place, individuals can greatly benefit from social networks and organizations can reap high capital rewards.

On my honor...

So...my first blogging experience stems from an academic exercise. To that end, I duly note that "On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own."

White space, dreaded white space. It reminds me of the weather we are currently having. Year's ago the snow would have driven people inside to sit by the fire and share stories or experiences. Today, the PC or laptop has replaced the fire and all over the DC metro region people are huddled over their gadget of choice sharing this same information. Is it as satisfying? Years later, will we look back on these days when we sent our thoughts and experiences out into the vastness of the web or will these days blend with every other day?

I guess that depends upon the response to the blog postings...