Cool thoughts from the social media-sphere

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2008-10-13 15:41:00 UTC
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There's a flurry of cool blogging and twittering going on around #SoCap08. Some of the most interesting things I've read so far:

From Sean Stannard-Stockton of Tactical Philanthropy:

Prior to the session I ran into an acquaintence who works for the the Institute for the Future. She was explaining to me that trends take 30-50 years to play out. So the internet was first developed in the 1960’s, but it took 30 years for the internet to go mainstream and yet we’re still likely 10+ years from the internet being fully “mature” in its growth cycle. I think the same is true in social investing. The first socially responsible investment fund was launched in the 1970’s, so we’re now 30 years into the trend. I have the sense (and the panel today was a nice affirmation) that we’re hitting the “knee in the curve” of growth in social investing. But that means that if you compared our industries to the growth path of the Internet, we’re probably sitting at around 1995.

I'm always a sucker for history and understanding trends over time. Its important to remember that this space is emerging from a specific set of antecedents and understanding where things have been can help us understand what's changing.

From the official @SoCap08 twitter account:

SoCap08: R. Paul Herman, HIP: "Walmart and Halliburton aren't all bad. We need to bring them along." That's provocative. What do others think? #SoCap08

R. Paul Herman is the founder of HIP Investor and makes what I agree is a provocative statement. The question is really just how big the Social Capital Market tent is? What does it take for a company to be good? One answer from another SoCapper is the B Corp.

From Francisco Noguera at Nextbillion.net, attending sessions in the "Social Entrepreneur" track:

A quick raise of hands at the start of the panel shows what could be an accurate diagnostic of this sector: When asked how many in the room were "early stage social entrepreneurs," around 80% of the room rose hands. A few minutes later Kirsten [Gagnaire, an advisor with the Social Enterprise Group] asked how many were currently functioning organizations and only a third of the initial hands went up this time.

Sounds familiar, huh?

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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