World leaders network on exclusive ‘facebook’ site
Nothing makes me happier than reading stories about the imminent demise of ‘social media networking’, even when they’re published in my least favourite newspaper. But wouldn’t you know… just as everyone else is growing out of this puerile nonsense, the World Economic Forum (who are meeting for their annual shin-dig in Davos this week) are embracing it.
The exclusive networking site for the world’s elite is called WELCOM and mysteriously, it doesn’t appear on acronymfinder.com. If you’re wondering why world leaders may want to join it, well, I just hope you understand the words – because I can hear the conspirators laughing.
I suspect this WELCOM might be what some call a ‘knowledge eco-system’, an online community that uses ‘knowledge ecology’, or confuses people’s understanding of the prefix ‘eco’ by using it in a context completely unrelated to the environment.
Apparently though:
“With a range of innovative tools for locating and accessing expertise, sharing knowledge, and meeting and working with peers, WELCOM empowers a multi-stakeholder approach to addressing the most pressing business and global governance challenges.”
I wonder what sort of tools you need for “meeting and working with peers”? And why do they have to be innovative? Presumably with this lot you probably need a private jet or two, some henchmen perhaps. But otherwise is there something wrong with the traditional tools like the telephone, writing emails or – call me a radical – having a chat?
According to the webpage, WELCOM is: “a powerful network of over 5,000 leaders which is set to expand beyond 10,000”. So either they’re very optimistic or they’re not aware that social media networking – like the oil supply – has probably peaked.
And if you’re lucky enough to get to join WELCOM you can “join deep dives on cutting edge issues”.
This almost sounds like an extreme sport, or perhaps something a bit blue. In fact this term is so obscure they don’t even have it in businessdictionary.com or on Wikipedia. Apparently it is an indepth discussion or deeper investigation.
And to think all this time I’ve been blaming middle management for hideous corporate speak!
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