Great line at the end of yesterday’s piece on Obama’s online operation. Chris Hughes, who runs the operation and is a former Facebook guy said the following:
“You can have the best technology in the world,” he said, “but if you don’t have a community who wants to use it and who are excited about it, then it has no purpose.”
This is of interest to me on two counts:
- Isn’t it interesting that the business he helped found actually had the community before it had the technology. In fact, one could argue that the best tech pieces on Facebook are being done by the folks who plug in to their platform and not by the platform itself.
- RUN from anyone who walks in to a meeting and says “let’s use/do this because it’s cool”. You know what’s cool? Building sustainable businesses. If the technology helps you get there, I’m in. If it’s something that costs money, doesn’t generate revenue or revenues in excess of what it costs to do without any measurable ancillary benefits, count me out.
I think this is the point that Mr. Hughes was trying to make. Use technology as a tool, not as a business. It’s what makes the business happen.
Consult Keith 