The SRI conference last week wasn't just about blogging. As such, there were several people there from the social networking space which I had the pleasure to meet. Ohad Jehassi, an HBS graduate and founder of friendsand.com, and online social networking and dating site, has combined the best of AOL style chat, locked pictures (amazing what you can learn from the adult industry) and a host of other features to make his dating/social networking service so unique. It's only been out a few months and there are already over 300,000 members.

I asked Ohad about where he thought RSS fit into the scheme of online dating. His site does not offer anything in the way of RSS. From what I gather from most folks, RSS has not yet permeated the online dating space in a big way at all.

The big idea here is that if I were looking for a certain type of person, I'd want an IRSS feed (individualized RSS) that feeds me custom results anytime someone that matchs my profile submits a new profile or updates a profile, or posts a video cast or podcast about themselves on the dating site.

We also talked at length about how the adult industry leads the way in many areas online. Perhaps that's what Hugh meant by Business Porn.

Tom, from the COF in Milwaukee, had these resources & notes to add to the discussion on Game Theory.

http://mba.vanderbilt.edu/Mike.Shor/courses/game-theory/

Lecture 7 has a discussion on irrationality on the right.
Lecture 8 talks about burning money.
Lecture 11 talks about auctions.
Lecture 12 describes the winner's curse from auctions.

Stick to the Readings on the right hand side of each page.
The lecture notes won't make much sense without the speaker filling in the concepts.

I found the previous url here:

http://www.gametheory.net/

There are many other lectures in particular areas of interest.
Alas, some of the lectures are no longer accessable.

The News section has many real life applications of game theory.
You can search the articles by application type up at the top of the News page.

Irrationality in online auctions:

http://www.ozmioz.com/resources/blurbsBusiness/eBay.htm

UPDATE: See Todd's post on this for more explanation on the whole night.
Last night I attended my first COF (Company of Friends) meeting with the Milwaukee group. I used to be in a group in Pasadena (there were several groups in So Cal), but finding one in Wisconsin has forced me to go to Milwaukee, as we have nothing of the sort in Green Bay. Maybe some day...

BTW, it never ceases to amaze me how many people have never heard of or read Fast Company magazine!? Ironically, it's always people in my age group (20-30). In all of the COF meetings I been to in CA and now in WI, I've never met someone "my age" (I was 24 when attending them in CA). What gives people?

The group is run by a few bright people, one of which, Todd Satterson, has his own blog on business and strategy, which I really like. I especially like all of his posts that start off with "Essentials", where he talks about must read magazines, books, authors, or concepts.

Anyway, James Miller, the author of Game Theory at Work : How to Use Game Theory to Outthink and Outmaneuvar Your Competition, was on with us via teleconference in the meeting last night. It was interesting, listening to someone who teaches Game Theory. I've studied it since college and still don't really get the whole picture. I suspect that by the looks on everyone's faces last night, I'm not alone in my thinking.

First, what is Game Theory? I found a great presentation which can explain things better than I, but for arugument's sake, it is known as:

"Game theory is the study of the choice of strategies by interacting rational agents."

The key point that most of us got hung up on was the "rational" part. We all make decisions which are completely void of rational thought, yet, game theory is built on said rational thought. Out of the entire discussion, we were able to agree on a couple of points.

- Buy Rational
- Sell to the Irrational

Complex, I know, but we really wrestled with this stuff!

We also talked about the "winner's curse". (BTW, there are MANY elements to Game Theory - the famed 'Prisoner's Dilemma is but one) Winner's curse is when you are at an auction, the person who "wins" the auction has most likely overestimated the cost of the item, vis-a-vis his competitors in said auction. While I argue that this is the "rational" mind speaking, because perceived value is not considered in this equation, and perception drives much more than rationality in my opinion, but this is how the game is played. Moreover, once that person buys the good, he/she feels what's called buyer's remorse, as they know they've won, but at a cost greater than what anyone else was willing to bear, thus entering the feeling that they may have "paid too much" if others weren't willing to go as high.

Interesting stuff. Read the book!

Across the nation, students are entering colleges and universities with their own perspectives on the times in which they live. Most of them were born in 1985.

For the sixth year, Beloit College has developed and distributed to the faculty and staff the “Beloit College Mindset List.” According to co-editor Tom McBride, Keefer Professor of the Humanities at the Wisconsin liberal arts college, the list helps to slow the rapid onset of “hardening of the references,” in the classroom.

The Beloit College Mindset List helps professors understand each new crop of freshmen. For this year's class...

"Ctrl + Alt + Del" is as basic as "ABC."
Families can drive SUVs without "being fuelish."
The Jaycees have always welcomed women as members.
There have never been dress codes in restaurants.
Peeps are not a candy, they are your friends.

Beloit College has been doing this for some time. There are numerous archives of the mindset lists.

Thanks to the Media Professional, Winning Writers Newsletter for this tidbit!

This came in today from Trend Setters.

Think people lack manners? You’re not alone. According to a Harris Interactive poll conducted for American Demographics, 95% say Americans are not as polite as they should be. Public Agenda found that 79% of Americans believe lack of respect and courtesy are serious problems and should be addressed.

The trend is due in large part to the rapid escalation of the faceless masses. Which is interesting, as the web proliferates, fast food/split second interaction dominates, and we all move further and further out into the burbs and close our garage doors at 5pm.

Let's think about rudeness from a corporate perspective. A good friend of mine once said that "it costs nothing to be polite to people." You can't really hurt the situation by being too polite! Who scoffs at the "ma'am" or "sir" from a well mannered store clerk? Having grown up in the foodservice business with parents that owned a restaurant for 13 years, I can attest to the value of building a business on respect, politeness, and honesty. These assets cost a business nothing to purchase, use, lease, or maintain!

On the flip side, let's examine the cost of rudeness. I'll relate a personal example: I was a big fan of going to the 'local' Starbucks right after they opened - I did this for some time, until some new employees filtered through. Gone were the candor, smiles, "what can we get for you today Dana/Sir" (depending on how well I knew the Barista), and gone was my business. This past weekend, I ran into the manager, who is the most cheerful, respectful, un-rude person you can meet. She asked why she hadn't seen me around for awhile, and I, in true 'rude' fashion, did not give her an honest answer that I felt the employees were rude and didn't feel welcome in the establishment. Should I have been frank with her, of course, but think about it, how many customers think to comment on the rudeness - they just stop dealing with you!

Unlike politeness, rudeness COSTS YOU MONEY in lost customers and missed opportunities. With the glut of choices in the market, why would consumers choose to deal with rude companies? I, for one, can't think of a single reason!

I think we should all give them a copy of Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Book of Etiquette, first published in the well-behaved days of 1952.