Social networking business models are growing at a break neck pace in the expanding global Web 2.0 environment. What impact is this having on the capacity of owners of proprietary information to protect their valuable assets?
Companies, such as Kazaa, who have developed file sharing technology and software have increasingly encountered tremendous resistance to the application of their technology by consumers to facilitate content sharing among wider networks.
At one level, the basic premise of developing proprietary content, is so that the true owner of such content will exploit directly (or at their sole discretion indirectly) their proprietary information for commercial gain. This traditional model of commercialisation requires a few people to control the access and distribution points to proprietary information.
How does the traditional proprietary information access and distribution model stack up against an every growing group of people that actively share and swap content among colleagues, friends and family on blogs, chat rooms, with file sharing technology, and in person whether the content is proprietary, confidential or open-sourced?
The need to share and communicate content seems to be growing as fast as the need to search for content.
Social networking websites, such as MySpace and YouTube are feeding the desire to share and communicated entertainment content.
How long will it take before the social networking business model distills throughout the global business world to fill the need for business colleagues to share proprietary information with colleagues and their wider network in order to make business decisions and stay connected to deals and emerging industry trends?
In a Web 2.0 world, an owner of proprietary information is now faced with a fundamental choice in intellectual property protection, access and distribution models:
1. Do I take the traditional closed door approach to controlling every point of dissemination of my proprietary information to achieve commercial gain? How much is it going to cost me to defend my rights if someone infringes my intellectual property rights or breaches contractual obligations, assuming there is an appropriate confidentiality agreement and/or licensing type contract in place with adequate protections? How likely is it that my proprietary information (or the people that have created it) will connect to Web 2.0 access points?
VERSUS
2. Do I open up my content library (legacy data, registered intellectual property, R&D bench developments, strategic thinking etc.) to growing social network access points in order to connect my proprietary information to the right business decision makers, information supply chains and business decision makers?
Assuming that your proprietary information is sought after by a wider community than just your own internal staff and customers, you may want to consider whether it makes sense to open-source your proprietary information to a wider community. In doing this, it will be imperative that your traditional legal foot prints for sharing proprietary information, such as confidentiality deeds and licensing arrangements handle these issues of growing access to and distribution of your proprietary information in a way that caters for doing business in a Web 2.0 environment.
Questions that may assist you in understanding how dynamic the communication requirements are for the people who have access to your proprietary information include:
If you have your reservations about whether granting wider access to your proprietary information is a strategic issue for your business, consider how many people currently have access to your proprietary information as you read this article (ie. staff, supply chain partners, customers, the wider public, competitors etc.), and then ask yourself how many of these people live in a growing Web 2.0 communication and information sharing environment.
Companies such as Microsoft, DuPont, Procter & Gamble and Cisco Systems have been tremendously successful using traditional commercialisation models involving a closed door approach to proprietary information. These same companies are also redefining entire industries, creating new lines of business, enhancing R&D trends and global supply chains by leveraging their proprietary information in an open-source environment that uses social networking business models to disseminate and aggregate information, including proprietary information.