Stowe Boyd
These days, when people ask me “What do you do?” I hardly know where to begin. One facile answer is “I am the front man for Stowe Boyd and The /Messengers.” Since it sounds like a band’s name, it throws the conversation into an oblique direction.
The /Messengers is really my consulting service focused on the social web revolution.
I am best known for my writing (and the thinking behind it, I hope) at /Message, which is focused on the growth and adoption of social tools, and their impact on business, media, and society. Since coining the term “social tools” in 1999, I have become deeply involved in what I call the social revolution.
I work with startups trying to attack the social tools marketplace, more established software companies, service organizations, and investors trying to make sense of the rapid changes on the social web, and enterprises grappling with the challenges of applying social tools to their operations. The startups include Bit.ly, FreshBooks, Imeem, Travelpod, and many others, too many to mention, and also larger companies like Microsoft, AOL, Businessweek, CIO.com, and GlobalLogic.
For more information on various services I offer please see Advice, Consulting, Speaking, and Research pages.
I have a masters degree in Computer Science, although sometimes I wonder how relevant that is to my interests these days. I think the time I spent studying linguistics and media might have been more formative.
I spent about ten years in the ’80s and ’90s working in software research and consulting around programming languages and software tools, and then got hooked on collaboration technologies. During that time I worked in standards development in programming languages, SQL, and operating systems. I served as an ACM National Lecturer in Programming Methods. I jumped out of the world of software tools after I merged Meridian Software, where I was president, with Verdix in 1992, and then Verdix, where I was SVP of Engineering, with Rational Software in 1994.
I started tracking collaboration technology in the mid ’90s, and as the web started to emerge, I fanned the flames. I have primarily worked as an independent consultant and analyst (a ‘software product theorist” as I like to say) since the mid ’90s. According to Technobabble I am one of the top ten analysts blogging.
I coined the term ‘social tools’ in 1999, and have remained focused on their impact on business, media, and society ever since. Since that time I have worked with dozens of start-ups and more established firms like AOL, Microsoft, iMeem, TravelPod, Mozilla, Freshbooks, Bit.ly, Empressr, MOG, The SchoolOfEverything, Bview, Xing, and Jabber.
I have presented my views internationally in venues like FutureSonic, DeFrag, Reboot, Lift, Shift, Mesh, Enterprise 2.0, Office 2.0, Under The Radar, Next, and Web 2.0 Expo, to name only a few. I am on the advisory board of Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, and other conferences. I am developing a conference and community around social business, called Social Business Epicenter, in collaboration with Jeff Pulver and others.
I am dividing my work between consulting with various start-ups and more established companies in the social tools area, as well as various non-profits. In particular, as on May 2009, I am heading up Microsyntax.org, a non-profit investigating the embedding of structured information within microstreaming applications, particularly Twitter. As an outgrowth of that work, I serve as the director of 301Works.org, an initiative of the Internet Archive, a working group of URL shorteners.
I am having a lot of fun.
