Why digital maturity matters–”Digerati” drive true value from investments — George Westerman

December 19, 2012 – 11:14 am

MIT Sloan Research Scientist George Westerman

For all of the talk about how social media, mobile and analytics are transforming our lives, the majority of big companies still have a long way to go in their digital transformation. However, two years of study with more than 400 firms around the world shows that a quarter of firms are already achieving a measurable “digital advantage” over their peers.

This research, conducted by the MIT Sloan Center for Digital Business in cooperation with research sponsor Capgemini Consulting, shows that the digital advantage is not about luck or about the industry your firm is in. It is not just about how much cool digital stuff firms are doing. Companies that manage their digital activities in a certain way are 26% more profitable than their industry peers, and outperform on other measures as well. Read More »

Facebook IPO and beyond: Catherine Tucker sees rich new revenue source in social advertising

February 1, 2012 – 11:48 am

MIT Sloan Assoc. Prof. Catherine Tucker

Much of the attention on Facebook’s initial public offering this week has been on whether the social networking giant is valued too highly. But whatever its current worth, Facebook has a potentially huge new source of revenue coming its way from “social advertising.” According to a new research paper I’ve just published, Facebook itself is only just beginning to realize the untapped potential of social advertising, in which marketers use online social relationships to improve ad targeting using data on Facebook users’ friend networks.

Facebook "Frenemies Like These": trustworthiness of advice on Social Media

August 23, 2011 – 10:11 am

MIT Sloan Assistant Prof. Renée Gosline

Log on to Facebook or Twitter any time of day, and you’ll find a familiar scene: people asking questions. “In a book rut – can anyone recommend a good novel?” “Boyfriend and I had a fight – should I dump him?” or “Am shopping for a new suit — which color would look best on me?”

Social media has made it easier than ever before to ask questions of our friends, acquaintances, and other contacts. In some ways this is a good thing because we have more information to weigh, analyze, and consider before we make a decision. But in other ways, all this information and all these opinions can result in cognitive overload. It’s like going into the cereal aisle at the grocery store for every single decision.

Enter first worldwide Time Critical Social Mobilization Competition

June 22, 2011 – 4:06 pm

Think of it as a high-tech treasure hunt. The award is up to $16,500 and it goes to the first person or group of people who determine the whereabouts of up to five knights we’ve placed in public parks throughout Great Britain. Three of the knights are real – actual people dressed in shining armor – but two of them are of the cyber variety, represented by photographs that can be seen on Google Maps or Google Earth.

It may sound silly, but this is not a game; it is an experiment in time-critical social mobilization. That is, our objective is to understand more about the different ways in which large, geographically diverse teams use social media networks to organize and solve problems rapidly.

The inspiration for our grand experiment came from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon’s research outfit. Read More »

LinkedIn: When the party ends–MIT Leadership Center director discusses recent IPO

June 1, 2011 – 11:21 am

MIT Sloan Prof. Deborah Ancona

From the Washington Post

LinkedIn’s recent IPO is generating tremendous buzz in the world of high-tech and the financial markets. Doubling your stock price doesn’t happen every day, so company euphoria is completely understandable. In fact, passing around the champagne and caviar is a good thing. Company employees should be able to party when good news abounds; celebrating success helps build morale and team cohesion. It also lays the groundwork for Read More »