Big questions for social media strategy

Tom's updated The Building Blocks of Social Media Strategy diagram after a first round of feedback.

It's getting nice and simple. You can judge if its getting clearer for that.

I've got a few broadbrush questions to throw into the pot. I have in mind some answers - but I'd rather raise them first before joining in with my own responses.

Here's some things we might consider:

• Let's think about the actions in each case. Perhaps this will help clarify the language? What is it that must be done to make the strategy reality - element by element?

• And to help that, let's maybe consider the Purpose of this project. Why are we doing this? What wrong are we trying to correct? Are we fed up of the smoke and mirrors and misdirection that many are using in the name of social media? Are we attempting to invent a language to describe a new set of actions?

• I thought it may be interesting to look at jobs, terms and processes which emerged as a result of the printing press (for a revolution of similar scale to the arrival of the networked world) and map that on to this project? (image courtesy)
  

For example there were scribes before and printers after. How would those people have started describing what they had to do to fulfil the strategic change? You'll be able to think of numerous other post-printing press roles and processesn - and results of these. How could that approach apply to mapping social media strategy?

Biggest question really is, 'the why,' though.

For example, if this is a project to reassure frightened people the result will be very different from one which is about evangelizing the truth - and different again from one driven by a desire to provide a toolkit for those ready to make fundamental change.

• And then there's the scope.

Is this a 6-24month transitional model (to help broadcast mindset businesses make their move to the networked world) or a 2-100 year transformational model taking account of the fact that the network will disrupt where-ever it touches and that the eighth mass media is upon us?

Big questions. And perhaps only answered by more than one model?

A tax on virtual currencies: And other ways of sharing the wealth

The Chinese government is planning to introduce a tax on virtual currencies.

This (via Dan) is apparently leading to confusion and consternation in virtual gaming circles.

I'm a little surprised there's so much surprise. All currencies are virtual. They get based on a bedrock of value. Once it was gold. But which nation remains on the gold standard now?

I'm not an economist. But it seems to me that valuation built on the creativity imagination and productivity of a population is as good a basis as any. (image courtesy)

And isn't that what a virtual currency values, too?

We really shouldn't be surprised when treasuries want a piece of the profits that this creates for ALL those taking part and benefiting.

If you create value, while there remain inequalities, expect some of that value to be redistributed.

Now. Has my stock risen or fallen with that last post? ;-)

There's no tax on thinking. Yet. But if I get paid for my thinking, there is.

That's why it seems reasonable to me that any treasury wants it's share of virtual currencies too.

But that's just my snap judgement. What do you think is right or wrong about how value created in this way, or in the networked world in general, gets redistributed?

How could the new fiscal rules be drawn?