Google is a constant source of criticism among the “technocracy” here at the conference. Last night’s dinner conversation remained critical of Google Books and how it will further Americanize the websphere. Europeans feel especially threatened by Google, as they “own” not only American, but also European online culture. I agree 100% that these are serious issues.  To quote the first president Roosevelt (not to be confused with FDR) “Yes to big business… Yes to big government.”

Alas, day two of the conference was the source of discussion that kept me thinking about business culture and global culture – both very interesting topics. Here are some inspiring quotes and my thoughts for the day: (Quotes are not verbatim. My comments in italics.)

Online merchandising that inspires

“Whatever you are thinking, think BIGGER…culture, customer service, clothing….we didn’t spend much on Adwords…viral is the best thing to do, as well as building the customer experience online and offline.”

(Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com)

Quite amazing really, from 2001 to 2008, Zappos’ revenues grew from 0$ to 1 billion. They focus on selling a culture. Almost all their employees are on Twitter, and active on other social network sites. They are extremely focused on their HR department, and ensuring employees are a good fit. Hsieh says they have offered employees $2000 to quit after one week if they thought they had made a mistake. They have two interviews with employees: one classic interview, and one focused on assessing cultural fit. “We want people who will be able to share our culture… the definition of happiness is different for every person.”

His speech was very inspiring. I am motivated to take more time for HR and get better support for recruitment

“Be there before the sale”…let users promote your product…you don’t have to sell directly…”

(Chris Brogan, President, New Marketing Labs, Author, Trust Agents)

I agree; instead of spending thousands of dollars on PPC and Cos, it’s better to make good use of social networks. PPC is to online advertising what traditional ads were a few years ago. Everyone is spending on it but most don’t take the time to optimize it. Costs are rising as agencies are growing – it’s time to react and use social networks instead.

Let them build it for us

In response to market demand and nuances of banking regulations in different countries, Paypal is opening up its payment system. “We need programmers all over the world to work on the development of whatever remains to be done, focused on our use cases…”

(Osama Bedier, Vice President of PayPal Platform and Emerging Technology)

Smart. Paypal is letting programmers outside Paypal develop with Paypal’s APIs to accomplish their goals. I was saying this to my customers just a few weeks ago: invest more money on an API program instead of developing new features that will only be used by a few people.

…let others innovate for you…

Real-world Counter-Culture

(Danah Boyd, Researcher at Microsoft Research New England, Fellow at Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet and Society)

Danah gave a brillant presentation. It was very likely my favorite one.

Danah Boyd does random word searches on Twitter to discover twittering outside her normal comfort zone. …from racist words on Twitter to youth video content… she looks at the power of visibility online, getting a true picture of the real world. Is it sometimes better to be stuck with televised network programming? Not a chance.

Grinda: ‘le retour du succès”

OLX is a new classified site, very popular locally… it focuses on the South-American and Russian markets. 10M$ revenues per year with ad sense only…”

(Fireside Chat with Fabrice Grinda, Co-CEO, OLX, Inc. and Loic Le Meur, Founder, Le Web)

Grinda says “Whatever you do, you have to be within the top 3 leading markets. This could include your local market, but its best to focus on your top three.” I agree but I also think you need to think outside the box…there are other markets besides the US and Europe. I remember UNYK in Quebec, they were number one in South-America! Finally, they were sold to Viadeo (in France).

Russia Roundtable: Emerging Markets: Focus on Russia

Moderated by Jennifer L. Schenker, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Informilo.com

Sasha Galitsky, Almaz Capital Partners

Bernard Lukey, CEO, OZON.ru

Edward Shenderovich, Managing Director, Kite Ventures

Arkady Volozh, CEO, Yandex

Google is not a leader in Russia which is going to be the largest EU Internet market (Arkady Volozh, CEO, Yandex)

Amazon is not present at all in Russia and OZON  has taken the lead (Bernard Lukey, CEO, OZON.ru)

The blogosphere is not as well set-up as it is in the west…it’s more kitchen conversation. (Edward Shenderovich, Managing Director, Kite Ventures)

There is more US investment in the US. (Sasha Galitsky, Almaz Capital Partners)

I often wonder how it will all play out in Russia. Just like in Quebec, language can protect the market – that is why Russian companies have a lot of success – but it doesn’t last forever…just think of the Berlin Wall… it came down long before we thought it would…

Have a good week-end.

damien