Lately I've started becoming more
and more interested in the business side of social networking - its effects on
business, marketing and the like; it's really quite a fascinating social
phenomenon. I think I’ve always had an
interest in a number of things in my life – obviously software development (the
under-the-hood, nuts and bolts, creative pursuit of developing a solution to a
problem) has always been a major interest, but so has business. Due to the fact that the world is starting to
catch up to the fact that computers are “cool” and, therefore, my investment in
them has become more marketable and social, my interest in business has grown
even further; now to the point where I think I might start blogging on not only
topics related to .NET development, but also the business applications of that
development in many areas.
Personally I think the next big “wave”
in the world of business is going to be in how it leverages the new social
medium to reach, interact with, and learn from customers (current or
potential). I think, in many ways, this has already started – companies like Microsoft,
Sun and even McDonalds are using RSS in some form or another to reach out to
their customers (their communities). It’s all just very fascinating and I think
that if we – as developers – can keep our eye on this new and interesting market,
we might be able to all profit from it highly. Remember that we have a power
that those who pay us do not; if we watch over their shoulders and keep our
focus one step ahead, we can be the ones cutting the paychecks.
Anyway –
if I write enough on this topic I might create a separate blog dedicated to
just that so that the focus here doesn’t drift too much. I guarantee I have
plenty to write out in the future in .NET development, but I also promise there’s
going to be a lot more on the practical applications of that development.
