investiledysfunction

David Hasselhoff has started a social network.  I will let those words sink in for a bit before I move on….

Okay here goes.

He talks about it on his website.  In Brilliont’s Top 10 Un-Commandments of Innovation, we talk about things corporations should not do as they go after innovation.  Without the authority to do so, I’m adding an 11th.

11th Un-Commandment of Innovation - If David Hasselhoff is doing it, it’s time to think of something else.

When growing up, I was a fan of Knight Rider, but is this is a sign that this whole social networking thing is going just a bit too far?  On his website, Hasselhoff (herein referred to as The Hoff) writes about Hoffspace as follows.  I’m unable to detect irony in any of the below so I assume he is serious.

In my travels round the world I have always been surprised that no matter where I go people recognize and know me, from Europe, Australia and India to the Philippines and the Zulu Nation in South Africa. This got me thinking… I realized that while two people from two entirely different countries and backgrounds may seem to have nothing in common, the only thing they might have in common is me… So I decided to start a network where people from across the world might come together and get a conversation started over me. Where it will lead, I don’t know but the world would be a better place if everyone talked a little more to each other…

So here is HoffSpace. There are videos and photos of the adventures of my life (THAT NO ONE ELSE GETS TO SEE) and also from the lives of other members. Read the discussions or start a forum on a topic that interests you. Check out Hoff TV, where I go live often. Chat with other members from around the world and make friends. Design your own home page. Add music and share your lives with others. Send me the weird, wonderful and wacky things that are happening in your life. Tell me the stories of how you are making a difference in your life and, if you need my help, ask… One man or woman CAN make a difference…

That not crazy enough for you?  Well, as of today, there are 14,217 members of Hoffspace.  Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn needn’t worry.  That is 14,216 more than I would have expected, but who knew?

In all seriousness, perhaps the craziest part of all this is that The Hoff’s social network will likely do better than many of the new half-brained ones being launched today dubbing themselves the next Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace.  (Read my colleague’s post on one such perpetrator, TalkBizNow by clicking here).  That said, the verdict is out on whether even these big boys of social networking really have a business.

While it won’t be valued at billions of dollars, HoffSpace will allow rabid fans of The Hoff to follow him in his exploits and let him sell more t-shirts, shot glasses, autographed pics and other assorted items to his fanbase.  The Hoff has this base and has actually figured out a way to tap into it.  Other social networks which are emerging don’t have this base and because of the network effects required for a social network, they will likely crash and burn quicker than you can say Baywatch.

For corporations, what does The Hoff’s emergence on the social networking scene really mean?  The one thing I’d take away from this is that before some innovation consultant tells you to start a social network for your customers or employees, ensure your customers or employees are engaged and care enough about you to join your social network.   In essence, does your company pass The Hoff test which is “Could you realistically get 14,217 people to your company’s social network interacting on a regular basis and doing something meaningful which strengthens your relationship with them?”  If you’re not sure or the answer is no, move on to another, better idea and leave the social networking to Facebook, LinkedIn and The Hoff.

I subscribe to several magazines which put out lists of most innovative companies.  They tend to generally have lots of overlap in terms of the companies they profile and generally lack much in the way of creativity and surprises.  Basically, Google Apple, Toyota, etc tend to be towards the top of all the lists and are then followed by the same anecdotes about continuous improvement (Toyota), the cafeterias (Google) and Steve Jobs’ awesome creativity (Apple).  Facebook gets on some of the lists because of their current media darling status. 

They tend to describe innovation as the lifeblood of organizations and other overused terms.  They often profile some up & coming head of R&D at one of the profiled companies and talk about how he or she is shaking up how innovation is done at XYZ company.  In essence, it’s the same article basically reformulated year after year. 

But, amidst all this unoriginality, some points, no matter how often they’re restated, are made which are worthy of repetition.  The best point as articulated by BusinessWeek in their latest list is that “As the recession shifts suddenly from ‘what if’ to ‘how long’, slashing research & development budgets just got a lot more tempting.  That high-risk product in your pipeline?  It’s about to get much more scrutiny…two camps emerge.  ‘One is saying times are tough, so it’s the most important time for us to innovate.  The other is saying ‘we simply don’t have the ability to think about innovation right now’.  There’s a real separation between the innovation haves and have-nots.”

As I’ve stated many times before, innovation is not something you should do when times are good.  It needs to be part of the organization at all times especially during downturns when a solid innovation effort can provide new growth avenues for when times get better.  From a contrarian stock market perspective, why not invest in innovation now?  The Street already has low expectations so why not just go for the gold?  Companies continue to write off billions of dollars and their stock prices go up because people feel the worst is over.  Low expectations are a wonderful thing.

I’d also posit that such times lead to a great deal of innovation from entrepreneurs and startups.  As people get laid off, many who have tucked away some money may look at the time as an opportunity to launch that venture they’d been thinking of.  And in some instances, these upstarts will become threats to big companies in the future.  So for the large, well-capitalized, market-share owning organizations, this is a great time to innovate.  Don’t cut back - invest more.