Here are some fascinating authors I discovered – Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. I am tracking down their book called Trust Agents and yesterday watched a webinar through www.summary.com.

They introduce this concept of serendipity engines. Web tools such as Twitter change the environment in which we do business – exchanges are immediate and can happen in real-time. Unplanned value events and opportunities occur, without us necessarily knowing it is going to happen. It’s not about the tools, it is about how people are doing business and interacting on them. The authors spoke about how the web is essentially catching up with human behaviour.

I have already experienced these types of exchanges with my own LinkedIn and Twitter communities. During executive search projects I come across candidates and clients, and I have been found at opportune times, which has in turn led to other events. I’m not talking about deliberate research where you go out looking specifically for a person or information, that’s just part of the job of a search consultant. What I am referring to are those “wow” moments, which seem to come out of chance.

The Dictionary.com definition of serendipity is “an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident” and “good fortune; luck.”

In web 2.0, how do we know what is coincidence, what is deliberate and what is serendipity? Interesting thought to ponder.