Wikinomics & The Tipping Point

I'm trying to catch up on some reading and these are the most recent: Wikinomics and The Tipping Point. For me, they were fascinating. At the core, Wikinomics is about the concept of crowd-sourcing...using people outside your walls...to further, better, or assist in your product/service development. It's a great read and interesting. The question left is if this is the way things are headed, is it true (as the writers suggest) that free will cannibalize value? Will Wikipedia put Encylopedia Brittanica out of business? If enough people are willing to do it for free, will there still be a market for businesses to flourish? These are the questions you'll be asking yourself.

As for the Tipping Point, the book in and of itself is really interesting. Aside from the topic, it is packed full of anecdotes, stories, and case studies. I found those as interesting as the core itself. For instance, everyone assumes Rudy Guilliani cleaned up NY. I've heard countless people say it. When you look closer, it started before he was in office. It started in the subway. His name is on 'clean & better' NY, but it was likely a wave he was able to ride. It's stuff like that.

Anyway, read them both. You'll be happy you did.

Brock