While on vacation last week in Kauai I sat beachside relaxed and entranced by the awesome power of the ocean.
I was entertained watching wave after wave hit the beach, toppling kids and adults as they played in the water. As I sat there, I became curious about how waves are formed. So I turned on my smart phone and went to the Internet in search of an answer. In a matter of minutes, I learned that waves are formed (in part) by the force of wind and in some cases (such as tsunamis) by the affects of massive earthquakes that occur in the ocean.
I then went to YouTube (from my smart phone) to find videos of the most powerful waves recorded. Many of the videos found were associated with the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 that killed over 300,000 people including 168,000 in Indonesia alone. The videos told a power story about the tsunami straight from the people affected by it. It was a very powerful education. I then searched for blogs to find stories about this tsunami. Many blog posts that I found were written by people from around the world who were traveling in/around or lived in Indonesia at the time.
Within an hour, I learned how waves are created including the power and devastation of tsunamis - through the experiences (words and video) of people who were affected by one of history's most powerful and destructive, on record.
That same afternoon our beach was met by a couple of visitors from the ocean - Hawaiian Monk Seals. This stirred great excitement among the people on the beach. Within minutes, a crowed formed around the seals and local environmentalists arrived to place a rope barrier around the seals.
I wanted to learn more!
Again, using my smart phone I went to the Internet and found a number of educational videos on YouTube and blogs about these endangered mammals. Through Twitter I was even able to see where other seals (35 known to the island) had been spotted over the past few days.
My search also led me to the website of a local organization that supports the protection of monk seals. As I explored the website I was motivated to make a donation to help protect and educate the public about these beautiful and endangered mammals.
At the end of the day, I was amazed at the speed and accessibility that I had to a vast amount of information regarding these two 'curiosities' while sitting on the beach in Kauai.
Through my smart phone I was seamlessly connected to a wealth of information on the Internet and the social web (blogs, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) that in the case of seals, motivated me to take action and give. Just amazing.
This impressed upon me the power of Web 2.0 technology and social media’s increasing importance to society.
During my day job I spend a lot of time designing and executing marketing and communication programs that combine the power of the 'social web' with traditional ‘offline’ practices to engage customers and other external stakeholders (analysts, academia, bloggers, thought leaders, etc.) to help accelerate sales and the adoption of SAP products and solutions.
My ‘social media’ experience while on vacation gave me a new perspective as a marketing and communications professional working to adapt and lead change against a new set of rules of engagement in the industry.
For instance, a great deal has been written about how social media has forever challenged the traditional business and syndication models of mainstream media (newspapers, publications, broadcast media).
There are also many famous examples of how social media has helped to bring new meaning to words like 'transparency,' 'trust,' and 'accountability' that has forced the evolution of traditional business models and beliefs of marketing and communications (as professions), sales and relationship management (personal, citizen and customer), politics, philanthropy and general business management.
Web 2.0 technologies and social media has transformed society in many ways. It has provided a platform for everyday people to participate in the creation and syndication of educational and business content and 'news' that is accessible to the world – instantaneously. We are also seeing the proliferation of online social networks and communities designed to connect people in powerful and influential ways. This connection of people has changed the dynamics and the process of influence in our society - how people source information and make and influence decisions of others. It has strengthened the rules and social contract of 'trust' by forcing accountability (of individuals, businesses, governments, etc) to words and actions.
As I think about this I am inspired to look more deeply at how social media has affected the dynamics and rules of 'social influence' across a number of areas of society (business, politics, philanthropy/giving, personal productivity/advancement, etc.). To understand how the phenomena has affected the behaviors and motivations of people for greater benefit and activism.
Over the course of the next few months I will focus on this (through my blog) with an eye toward identifying best practices of successful use of social media and the real impact (as much as I can identify) across each of the below segments.
Politics: The 2008 U.S. Presidential election legitimized the use of social media in U.S. politics that will have a lasting impact. Through the masterful use of social media tools like blogs, twitter, YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, President Barack Obama strengthened the ideological and emotional connections with voters and the general public (U.S. and Global) – in ways that traditional media would not have allowed.
Key Questions: How are other governments and politicians successfully using or abusing social media for policy and political advancement? What are the implications of social media on politics in the future (2020 and 2030)? How has social media challenged governments and politicians through new rules of open/public scrutiny toward trust, transparency and accountability?
Social Causes: Non-profits and philanthropists have used social media to raise awareness and advocate change to support very important social, economic, and environmental issues. As an example, organizations like DonnorsChoose.org have redefined approaches to charitable giving and fundraising. DonnorsChoose.org is an online charity that connects people and business to classrooms in need. It has famously used social media to organize people and fundraise millions of dollars for a good cause.
Key Questions: What are the social media tools and techniques that successful non-profit organizations/institutions use to advance awareness and motivate people, governments and businesses to take action and affect positive change (giving of time and money), creation of policy, etc.? How has social media impacted the nature of philanthropic design and social responsibility (local and global)?
Individuals: Social media has empowered individuals by giving them a platform to amplify their voices in ways that have forced accountability on corporations and governments regarding important issues around policy, products (quality and design) and services.
Individuals have also used social media to expand their personal and professional networks that have helped to secure new jobs and business opportunities; develop new friendships (romantic, social and professional); and accelerated education and productivity as a great complement to their ‘offline’ networks and activities.
Key Questions: How do people use social media and social networks to address personal concerns and support better decision making? How has social media affected trust and relationships between people and organizations? What are the implications to future generations of individuals (who today share everything about themselves) on politics and business? What are the most effective tools used by people to influence change in business and government?
Mainstream Media: Smart media organizations (newspapers, broadcast media, etc.) have embraced the social web by incorporating tools such as Twitter, blogs, social networks, and podcasts into their portfolio of news and information dissemination and exchange to build community/readership and citizen journalists. CNN, Wall Street Journal and New York Times are shining examples of mainstream U.S. media that have adapted successfully. There are also many examples of mainstream media that have not adapted fast enough or at all – that have gone or are going out of business.
Key Questions: What new syndication and business models have emerged for mainstream media today – to adapt to the phenomena of the social web? How has the influence of mainstream media changed as a result of social media?
Business: Businesses are using social media to redefine service and customer support; improve and in some cases accelerate innovations of products and services; build new sales and marketing channels as part of a shift to Business-to-Person relationship management.
Key Questions: How has social media and social networks affected professional/business decision-making? What approaches and tools are business using to ‘listen,’ ‘interact’ and ‘engage’ more with their core audiences to improve the way they do business? How as social media affected and transformed traditional marketing and communication beliefs and strategies?
There are certainly more questions and ideas to explore regarding how social media has affected change across society (business, social, and political).
In my mind, the common factor is the importance on ‘the individual’ (person, employee, citizen, customer, etc.) at the center of engagement. The empowerment of the individual has given social media amazing credibility forcing disruption and disintermediation of long-standing business and cultural beliefs.
Social media is without a doubt fluctuating through the hype cycle on its way to maturity. Privacy issues are at the core of many debates taking place right now - helping to shape the policy of social networks such as Facebook. As social media tools become more mature and more actively used by people, we will undoubtedly see new levels of misuse, corruption and deceit – that will challenge the social contract of trust with this evolving medium (although the people who misuse will be weeded out).
It is also my belief that the ‘generational’ affect of social media will not be realized for another decade or two. As millennials and Gen Y’ers share more information about themselves – posting pictures/videos, creating detailed personal profiles on social networks, and using blogs as an open diary of their lives that will live forever on the social web. All of this makes anonymity and privacy very hard to control. What will be the affect on the next generation in business and politics?
I will tap into the expert minds of colleagues and Fellows at The Society for New Communication Research (SNCR) and others in the industry who follow these issues more closely - to support future posts. If you have expertise, or questions that should be explored, links to information/research, or would like to collaborate on any of these topics/issues - please leave a comment or send me an email at [email protected].
Hi Don, It was great to meet at the SNCR / Jeremiah event at your offices last month. I'm in! Let me know when you're ready to collaborate on this. Maybe a prelim brainstorm via group chat?
Posted by: Barbara French | July 15, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Hi Barbara:
Thanks for the comment and the offer to work together on this!
A few other people have reached out to me via email expressing interest to collaborate around these issues as well. I will look to bring people together to talk through an approach to address/evolve these issues over the next two weeks. I also want to reach out to Jen McClure (president of The Society of New Communication Research - SNCR) to identify a way to potentially integrate these ideas into SNCR research agenda.
This said, I already have a few primary research initiatives with SNCR underway that will look at the influence of social network on personal & professional decisions (two separate research projects). The first survey looking at influence on processional decision making will launch within the next 1-2 weeks. I am working on both initiatives with a colleague (and fellow) at SNCR - Vanessa DiMauro from Leader Networks. She is great!
Please stay tuned, on next steps. Again, thanks for the interest and support. I hope that we can use this effort to increase our understanding of the new rules of social influence that will allow us to advance and improve our effectiveness in working in the 'new world' (day-to-day) on all fronts.
Best regards,
Don
Posted by: Don Bulmer | July 15, 2009 at 01:24 PM