To Tweet or Not to Tweet - That is the Question                                Despite the fact I’m intrigued by social media, most of my friends don’t use Twitter. For now, I suppose, they don’t feel compelled to share their thoughts...

Apple [NASDAQ:AAPL] is often cited as a model of innovation, leading BusinessWeek's Most Innovative Companies list every year since it was established in 2005. We know that design and cool are key elements of Apple's success. However, the old-fashioned concept of vertical integration is critical to the company's innovativeness.When Apple introduced the Macintosh in 1984, they controlled all aspects of the hardware, operating system, and software. This focus on vertical integration...

I just read an interesting blog by Paul Gillian "The Decade That Transformed Media" about the contraction of traditional mass market media over the last decade.  The mind-boggling statics he cites illustrate how quickly things are changing in the world.  A mere decade ago, most people had never heard of Google or blogs.  People used their mobile phones for talking, and got their news from old-fashioned newspapers and magazines.  Facebook and Twitter hadn't even been...

Last year, the social media phenomena captured the attention of marketers everywhere.  New Twitter pages, corporate Facebook profiles, podcasts, and blogs proliferated like mushrooms after a rainstorm as companies experimented with these tools to engage customers in ways that were once unimaginable.  Clearly, social media isn't just a fad. However, going forward, the trick will be for companies to incorporate social media into their traditional marketing...

Unquestionably, executives everywhere dialed back on their investment in innovation -- in some cases, losing the edge that they had worked so hard to gain.  But some interesting trends were noted this year, including instilling new discipline in looking at innovation,  bottom-of-the-pyramid innovation, and many more.  To read the article...And see their Best List of Innovation Books for 2009 - I for one am going to start reading the Chief Culture Officer today!