We’re building latent connections

I recently signed up for the SmartBrief on Social Media and already I can tell that the timeliness of my social media know-how is increasing. Here’s a taste of what you’re in for if you subscribe to the SmartBrief…

First:
Twitter plans to roll out a free real-time analytics dashboard in the fourth quarter. The phased rollout will show users information about how their tweets are spreading and who is influential in their network.

Alix Co thought: It is going to be much ‘easier’ now to understand the pods and nooks and such. I’ve begun to sing, “…come together, right now, over me.”

Then:
Seeking to throw cold water on a rumored “Facebook phone,” Mark Zuckerberg has given a lengthy interview discussing his company’s mobile strategy and plans. Facebook will put more resources into mobile social tools but aims to create a cross-platform layer of social tools, rather than enter into direct competition with any particular hardware or operating system, Zuckerberg said. “Our goal is not to build a phone that competes with the iPhone,” he added. “… It is really important for us that people understand what the strategy is and that the real approach is to make everything social, not to build a vertical approach.

Alix Co. thought: Ah ha! If social is horizontal then it has the potential to be everything to everyone. The guardrails have yet to be established. This resonates. We have to be mindful though that these guardrails will eventually be established. The segmentation snapshot will then look like those of newspapers or today’s TV channels. Breadth does not mean depth. The depth comes from the connection. Today, we are establishing and building latent connections. We’re gaining more ‘across’ than ‘down’. Potential of such connections is to be realized.

Also:
“Our strategy is very horizontal. We’re trying to build a social layer for everything.” -Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, as quoted by TechCrunch

Alix Co. thought: Is everything social?