Fifty one

“@eliappel What do you think of this? #savenorthstreet ow.ly/____”

I followed the link at the end of Rachel’s tweet to the website of an international urban design consultancy, to a page dedicated to a concise analysis of the North Street Skate Park problem, and two schemas that didn’t require the park’s closure.

I read on.

It seems the consultancy had noticed the noise the Defenders were making online and had decided to contribute some time to the debate free of charge. They listed caveats to their contribution (they’d need to undertake a more diligent consultation before committing professionally to either schema) and reserved the right to negotiate appropriate commercial fees for their consultancy if they were invited to input further in an official capacity. Regardless, they still encouraged visitors to ask questions and leave comments.

I thought this was awesome. I bookmarked the website for that day in the not too distant future, I hoped, when Attenzi would need to expand its production facilities, possibly by acquiring the units either side with no small alteration to the park’s layout.

I retweeted of course, appending “<< awesome”.

I wondered if this was an example of #socbiz in action. Or just #socialmedia? I guess it depends on how the consultancy in question is adapting its structure, culture, policies and processes – the journey we’d embarked on – yet no one can determine that from simply looking at a website and tweet stream.

On that point, it seemed to me that the Twitter community frequently considered #socbiz and #socialmedia synonymously. We do not as you know. Language is the output of a complex system of course, so it will be interesting to see how history records the eventual definitions, and I wonder whether Attenzi might influence that outcome.