What a relief it was for me to have lunch with Gary Baney at Boundless Flight on this election day.  A relief because–not only was I starving (we had Chinese)–Gary is one of the rare Clevelanders who actually GETS IT.

See, the Web 2.0 push has Cleveland business people shrugging their shoulders.  Things like the automation of social networks and the need to adopt a social networking strategy in every business are foreign, newfangled ideas to many in the midwest.

Yet in parts east and west, people live and die by social connectedness. So does Gary. So do I.  But we’re birds of a feather, “coastal thinkers” who’ve somehow managed to set up shop in northeast Ohio.  A great place to be sure–the leading bio-technology center in the world, a leadership zone for polymer chemistry and alternative energy, as well as the place where my mom grew up–if not a little behind the times from the perspective of networking.

So listening to Gary’s ideas about how social networks are converging with the arena of “vouching”.  That is, the old-school “employment reference check” has turned into a sort of credential certfication app of social networks.   Ie., why bother checking References 1.0 when you can see a candidate’s entire network, read their network’s feedback, and read the feedback of the person providing the feedback?

Reputation management is one of the things businesses can do with social networking. There are dozens more.  But, at least in Cleveland, we’ve only just begun to communicate that to our local business leaders.