Open Source Telephony and Social Media, Can't Take Them Seriously

 Interested in how small and large businesses are using social media like Twitter and open source telephony like Asterisk, openSIPS, Kamailio. and FreeSWITCH? We often want to pretend that what we do not understand "new disruptive ideas and services," i.e., social media and open source telephony... they cannot possibly be taken seriously, right?

 

One response to open source impact on overall communications industry recently included, "We view these solutions as helping to expand the overall market for VoIP by increasing awareness and enabling new applications to be envisioned..."

 

Is it true? Is that all? Not from my experience with talking to thousands and thousands of service providers, mobile operators, carriers and small businesses in over 170 nations about how their solution works. It's more than awareness.

 

Read New York Times article "Twitter has Left the Station." I've included a couple paragraphs here of how Twitter, a social media platform is being used by small and large businesses.

 

"Hundreds of thousands of people now rely on Twitter every day for their business. Food trucks and restaurants around the world tell patrons about daily food specials. Corporations use the service to handle customer service issues. Starbucks, Dell, Ford, JetBlue and many more companies use Twitter to offer discounts and coupons to their customers. Public relations firms, ad agencies, schools, the State Department -- even President Obama -- now use Twitter and other social networks to share information.

 

There are communication and scholarly uses. Right now, an astronaut, floating 250 miles above the Earth, is using Twitter and conversing with people all over the globe, answering both mundane and scientific questions about living on a space station."

I'm following an extremely interesting group of people on Twitter. I log in off and on each day to read, write, learn, interact, do some business, mix it with some GoogleTalk, Facebook, TelecomYou, , blogging, Youtube, Viddler, our company's IP PABX, Skype, 8x8, Gizmo, Nettalk, VoipSWITCH-birthed businesses, and many industry friends and partners. We end up making new sales, keeping current customers happy, coming up with new ideas, solving problems, making new friends ...