Social Networks and Friendship

Back from a great vacation. We spent 10 days on my friend Albert's (and my best-man) boat cruising in the southern coast of Turkey.

After checking with my colleagues, it seems that there has not been any earth shuttering development in our industry. Thomson WOS has a new face and Scopus has a new re-branding. So no major changes there either, still neck to neck.......On the boat I was with my best friends Albert and Efraim both succesfull entrepreneurs, and we were discussing new business opportunities in Turkey and the key criteria of being successful in this very competitive and global market place. Among one of the things that we all agreed was that companies need to be at least two steps ahead from their competition if they want to be successful. The same will be valid for WOS and Scopus too, the one which is going to be few steps ahead will be the winner at the end.

I haven't read all my feeds yet but it looks like that there has been some discussion about how the web is changing the definition of friendship. In my personal experience, friendship is more about quality and not quantity. There are acquaintances, social friends, business friends and real friends. There is a great value of having a good social network but I don't think that I'll find a real friend like Albert ( in picture) in all these social networks.

I have known Albert since I was 12; we went to the same middle school, high school and university. We did some of the crazy stuff that you can imagine together. We volunteered in the same non-profit organizations. We experienced together driving in a car that the breaks failed. We were attacked by the monkeys in Gibraltar........We always kept in touch in good days and bad days even when we were thousands miles away. I can go on and on about our relationship......Suffice to say that he is a real mensch and a great host. My family and I can't thank him enough for what he and his family have done for us this summer.