Algorithms are what makes the world go round, at least, that is what appears to be the conventional wisdom, and, which starts off my post today.  And you know what, there’s algorithms for everything, including Art and Incidental Comics shows how The Algorithm can help make it easier to create art.

In theory, using the right Algorithms should make life a lot easier, but often, companies and individuals choose the wrong Algorithms and make life a lot more complicated (and that’s where you end up with 10 people to change a light bulb - one to screw the bulb in and out, the other 9 to turn the ladder).

Still, what we should strive for is choosing the right platforms along with the right algorithms and the right people – that is a winning combination  (and what Social Media Analytics is all about …..).

Figured that too often, businesses that I have seen pick the wrong algorithms and platforms, often to have a reason to over hire or over charge clients, move the ladder around, almost robotically.   But I want to take this notion of algorithms further by suggesting they can be automatic/unconscious or consciously chosen, as discussed in a recent Marketing Pilgrim post by Joe Hall.

In this case, algorithms chosen by others can trap us, and that seems to be what Douglas Ruskhoff is saying in this post where many of our business decisions, are a result of the environment we operate in.  The implication is that, in many cases, organizations are innovating and seeking to grow in, what I take to be, the wrong way, instead of thinking about new products and services, they should be looking at changing the environment that created the dysfunctional results.

I believe, with the right algorithms, you don’t many people, just the right teammates, but with the wrong algo, no matter how many people you bring in, or how many systems are added, or how many processes are made up or forgotten, nothing really moves forward, or is sustainable, or even scalable.

There were also some good posts by MetricsMan on Social Media Listening along with the iCARD ECG, which is a pretty interesting device that could make it much easier to get a cardiogram in the near future.  Plus, the story about Neuromarketers Using MRIs to Predict the Next Teenie-Bopper Sensation and the Lytro self focusing camera, which seems like the next new thing,  a camera you can focus after the fact (the picture is taken) and any way you want.   The stories I read were great – but I found I had actually noted less of interest to me than usual – and often I have double this many stories to share for a busy two week period.