Links for 2009-11-06

The next big hurdle for the online world to overcome will be converging interactions with the offline world that are organic, natural and can be quantified. As companies look to online networks to solve a lot of their traditional problems they’re going to want more and more accountability. This is where a converged influencer score will greatly help everyone out in the process in knowing someone’s real value, not just their perceived value.

Target-Marketing Becomes More Communal –

While the idea of target marketing has been around a long time, marketers until recently have had a hard time buying on enough Web sites to make the targeting truly effective.

A new survey investigates how individual leaders lead and how that has changed in the past year.1 For example, respondents say that during the crisis they have seen far more leaders focus on monitoring individual performance—even though they see that as one of the least helpful ways of managing the crisis.

This report adds new insights to an ongoing debate about the extent of social isolation in America. A widely-reported 2006 study argued that since 1985 Americans have become more socially isolated, the size of their discussion networks has declined and the diversity of those people with whom they discuss important matters has decreased. In particular, the study found that Americans have fewer close ties to those from their neighborhoods and from voluntary associations.