hubbub

Open-Source Research: The SAP Global Blogging Project

So, today we're taking off the wraps on a global, social-media research project for client Mike Prosceno at SAP. We've tapped Shel Israel for the first leg of this journey -- he's a hub and a bub, and perfect for the job -- which he describes as follows:

Here's what I am doing. I am trying to answer a single, overwhelming question: "What is going on in the world with regard to social media? I am looking for useful statistics, but those are often outdated before they are published as we learned with the book.

Mostly I am looking for real people with stories and personal experience about what is happening with blogging, video, online communities and assorted conversational media. I'd like to get some anecdotal granularity on why blogging is taking off in Poland these days, or how social media behavior is different in Italy than it is in Russia and Canada.

I want your stories. For those of you who started reading this blog after the book was published, I interviewed most of the people in a Q & A style and posted them on this site. Then other people left comments. Those interviews got incorporated into chapters. Early versions of the chapters were then posted and we received more comments before finalizing the chapter.

So, please start those cards and letters coming now. If you have a story that reveals something about blogging, blogging trends in any country of the world please let me know. SAP is more interested in business than consumer, but what people are doing is valuable in that it shapes all markets. You are encouraged to leave a comment here. If you are shy you can email me at [email protected].

I have only 59 1/2 days until deadline so please start helping me now.

Norwegians Love Pizza

I first heard this from a PR pro based in Norway, and I heard it again today at lunch with a Norwegian marketing guy. Norwegians consume more pizza per capita than any other country in the world (that funny fact is confirmed here). But why? Well, this is a place that has always struggled to provide its people with fresh food. Remember -- this is the land that gave us gravlax, a salt-cured salmon that Norwegians and other Scandanavians used to preserve by burying the fish in the ground (grav = grave, laks = salmon). Most of the pizza consumed by our Viking friends is frozen pizza. Beats frozen fish sticks, for sure, and it can always be jazzed up with special toppings.

I'm inspired -- anyone want to help me start a gourmet frozen pizza company called "Norwegian Woods"? "You gotta try our gravlax pizza!"

My Global Career

Sounds like the name of a rock band. But, in fact, it's the name of the first commercial blog dedicated to the global job market. Rusty Weston, Chief Blogger and Founder, is hoping to carve out a rich niche of research, conversation and data on an increasingly relevant subject. The site officially launched last week, and the first posts included a list of the 500 largest global employers (the first list of its kind), an article on virtual mentoring, and a case study on relocation. Useful, timely, and different ... I think Rusty will do well.

Earlier this evening, I sorted through the top 500 list, and was startled by one statistic. Wal-Mart, the world's largest employer, has 1.8 million people on its payroll (number-two on the list is Deutsche Post, with roughly half a million employees). So, how big is 1.8 million? Well, the city of Houston -- the fourth largest in the U.S. -- only has 2 million residents. Which will be bigger in 2020 -- Wal-Mart or Houston?