WOM. The internet: is it changing the way we think? | Technology | The Observer. Every 50 years or so, American magazine the Atlantic lobs an intellectual grenade into our culture. In the summer of 1945, for example, it published an essay by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineer Vannevar Bush entitled "As We May Think". It turned out to be the blueprint for what eventually emerged as the world wide web. Two summers ago, the Atlantic published an essay by Nicholas Carr, one of the blogosphere's most prominent (and thoughtful) contrarians, under the headline "Is Google Making Us Stupid? ". "Over the past few years," Carr wrote, "I've had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn't going – so far as I can tell – but it's changing. The title of the essay is misleading, because Carr's target was not really the world's leading search engine, but the impact that ubiquitous, always-on networking is having on our cognitive processes.
Word of Mouth Is the Best Ad. Pro: Consumers Trust Their Friends by Shawn P. O’Connor, Stratus Prep What’s more valuable for choosing a restaurant, dentist, gym, or new smartphone—an online review or a suggestion a close friend makes to you? Even with the explosion of review applications and sites (eg, Yelp, Google, Urbanspoon), research clearly demonstrates that word of mouth—product or service recommendations made by friends, co-workers, or neighbors you know and trust—is still the most effective way to win new customers. Why? While there’s no single formula for word-of-mouth success, I’ve found it often starts with creating a culture that encourages your clients to consider themselves valued partners in your business.
I’ve seen firsthand the power of word of mouth. Despite the multitude of media platforms available, verbal buzz about your business or product passed from one reliable person to the next is still the most cost-effective way to build a loyal following, expand your business, and reach new customers. Needs-Based Innovation Reigns. Pro: Innovation Is a Predictable Process by Tony Ulwick, Strategyn After working on the IBM (IBM) engineering team for the failed PCjr, I realized there must be a better way to guarantee a product or service’s success at launch. What I have found during the past 20 years of study and research is that most companies lack a disciplined, predictable business process for listening to customer needs and turning them into true innovation. Where most companies fail is in their thinking that innovation starts with an idea, when the reality is that only one in 14 million ideas is right the first time.
Companies go through numerous product concept iterations to try and get it right, and the success rate using this approach is less than 20% and requires way too much time. Take Dyson, for example. Just as doctors need to know the symptoms of their patients before they can make a diagnosis, companies need to know the needs of their customers before they can develop the right solution. Debate Room: Experts' Opinions on Hot Topics.