SAIJE Thoughts

Or Viral Marketing vs Joe Sixpack

Guy Kawasaki wrote in his blog recently (blog.guykawasaki.com) a post titled “ Forget the A List After All” which actually references another blog post called ” Is the Tipping Point Toast” from Fast Company Magazine.  Essentially they refute “The Tipping Point” through some research that says “Influencers” actually have very little impact on a trend and mass marketing is the most effective means to market an item, depending on whether society is ready for a trend.  I think the answer really is somewhere in the middle. Like many quoted in the article, I find it hard to believe that someone others wish to emulate and have a lot of connections (either personally or through the media) would have the same impact as joe blow in suburbia. If that were the case, I don’t think there would be the success of the whole paparazzi / people magazine culture where everyone wants to see what these stars are wearing.

If we take the old model with influencers and just assume they have more connections (we aren’t even talking influence here, but the number of connections) and do your typical 2 friends tell 2 friends progression, with the exception of the influencer (I put 100 but I think in the case of many, the influencers would reach many more people), you get the following table (courtesy of Open Office). Of course in this case, this is just getting the word out (in other words, before the trend hits)

Side Notes: I found the article interesting regarding Malcom Gladwell’s response. He respects the work even if it is in opposition to his work, stating that the answer is likely somewhere in between and he likened it to his disagreements with Mr Levitt (Freakanomics) on the reduction in Crime (Broken Windows theory vs increased abortions).  It was interesting as in a short comment I had put in a book review on Goodreads.com, I noted that Gladwell Blurbed Levitt’s book, but the book disagreed with Gladwell’s use of the Broken Windows theory). Originally I was disappointed in both books (The Tipping Point and Freakanomics) as they seem to have answers that are too neat. In here Gladwell almost recognizes that., which tends to make me like him more. I guess for books to sell (or magazines in the case of Fast Company), they need to be conclusive, even if the real answers are not so pat.

Of course I found this post through an influential blogger and technologist (I saw him speak a while back on “The Art of the Start”) so that is a little ironic.

or Put One Foot In Front of the Auditor

This is the first, short post on the steps to successfully “passing” a SAS70 Type II audit. Hopefully this roadmap will help organizations looking to incorporate the SAS70 into their operations. This will not cover what a SAS70 audit is. For more general information, visit www.SAS70.org or do your Google/Wiki searches. Future blog posts will cover each of the main headings below:

1. Determing the Need for a SAS70 Audit
2. Selecting an External Auditor
3. Determining the Scope of the SAS70 Audit
4. Reviewing Existing Controls or Developing New Controls
5. Testing the Control Set
6. Selecting a Start Date
7. Monitoring During an Audit Period
8. Managing the Audit
9. Reviewing the Findings
10. Improving the Control Set

This list is not how everyone would do it or the order they may perform it, but I feel overall this is the best method. If you feel different or think I may have missed something, comment. I’ll either respond in comments or incorporate the comments in future blog posts.

or SUCKING UP ISN’T HARD TO DO

An Old Friend of Mine, Pete,  told me I should start blogging. Which is why I’ve been blogging at light-speed the last couple months (this IS my third post). In any case, my previous post was on the need for maps but also caution in not solely using the mapping as a substitute for knowledge. I occasionally look at Pete’s blog (Spire Security Viewpoint) to see what I’m missing and areas to work on. A couple weeks ago he had a post called “For Pete’s Sake” and one of the key points was the need for contextual mapping. Other than the word mapping, there isn’t likely any similarities in our points, but I just wanted to keep working on all the blogging tools out there and this gave me an opportunity to Trackback Pete’s entry. After spending the last 4 hours trying to bring this site back up and it being very early in the morning I figured a post is more appropriate than doing more work that could bring my site down again. (Sidebar: When switching domain names and following WordPress directions where it says “Delete Cache only if you are running WordPress 2.0″ and you are running WordPress 2.3.x, DON’T Delete the Cache.) (Side Sidebar - any major migration like a new domain is not wise when you are operating on about 4 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours) If you read Pete’s entire entry you will see he has a new column coming out. I look forward to it.

PS - I also added this blog to Technorati. You can add it with the Technorati button to the right in the sidebar. I’m currently ranked in the 4 million or so mark (of the top blogs) so get in early. If I get a couple links on that, I’ll be one of the fastest growing blogs, growing hundreds of percents in the course of a day or two. Of course going from 1 link to 3-4 links makes that statistic a Little misleading…..