world wide web

Social Media, to me, is a nebulous subject, constantly on my mind because of the business I′m in, more importantly, how I choose to conduct my business and my life in general.

When I traveled to New York a couple of weeks ago to attend Affiliate Summit my mind was swimming with thoughts about the significance of this "new phenomenon" called Social Media in relation to our business, what is our strategy, what are people doing with it, how are they monetizing Social Media, and so forth.

I’ve always thought that Social Media is there to be embraced, it fits squarely into my ambition to be free from constraints, able to work, and communicate, from anywhere I have a connection to the internet. I certainly don′t think that it′s a fad. I think it will be quickly identified by what it facilitates rather than what it is.

Peter Shankman’s keynote address at the Affiliate Summit, apart from being really entertaining, put a lot of things into perspective, and reaffirmed a lot of my own thinking on the matter. I wont go into the detail of Peter′s address, you can view that yourself, but the key takeouts for me were;

• Social Media is a two way conversation, it′s about establishing trust, and your reputation.
• Social Media has heralded in the age of immediacy – traditional news media is no longer the primary source of ″news″ rather it has become a secondary source of supporting content and background information.
• Social Media, despite what might be apparent right now, is not Twitter, Facebook, or any of the other applications we use at this point in time, they are merely the applications that support it, for now.

Like all new developments (is it really that new?) on the Internet, I see attempts to pigeon hole, categorize, capitalize, monetize, specialize, and generally go around in ever decreasing circles of analysis paralysis until…well…you know what, then stick on the ″I′m a Social Media expert″ hat and proclaim some sort of insight into it′s future, what it is and what it isn′t, what it means in this that or another context, oh and you’d better buy the e-book before you miss your chance and the whole Social Media bandwagon up and leaves you in the dust.

I′m a Social Media user, and an advocate, I′m certainly not an expert. Contrary to emerging opinion I regard any application that puts me in touch with a broader community, that expands my neighborhood, my peer group, business contacts, or allows me to share my opinion and participate in conversation with people who, previously, I would never have met, as Social Media.

Like many I use a number of applications; Facebook for family, friends, acquaintances, and community. Where the activity is somewhat frivolous and lifestyle oriented. Linked In as some kind of quasi resume or record of my work history, business connections and probably a source of employees at some point in the future. This Blog (yes, I know there are people out there that differentiate blogging from Social Media, but I don’t) where I write and discuss topics I’m passionate about, and Twitter.

Twitter is like a seething mass of humanity all talking at once. To make matters more colorful we have to deal with the likes of the 15 Most Annoying Types of Twitter Users (thanks to JD Rucker for putting it so nicely) cluttering up the twitter space. It′s been likened to the junction between narcissism, ADHD, and stalking, and now we′re seeing a preponderance of people who need to understand the difference between please buy my product, or, click my affiliate link, and creating the kind of reputation where people trust you enough to be compelled to do business with you in the first place.

But, every so often a wave of congruence flows through the Twitter chatter, we’ve seen it with the rigged elections in Iran, the death of Michael Jackson, etc. and that′s where the real power of the medium lies. Those who once controlled the message now face the reality that they no longer can (unless they turn the Internet off, of course), or certainly not to the same extent. Twitter can get the message out faster than you can say “shit, I hope this doesn′t get out”. I like that.

Denver Business Strategies Examiner, Kevin Boulas wrote, in a particularly astute post titled Four key questions CEOs must ask about social media…

Another question a CEO is concerned with is "How do we control the message?" There is an internal aspect to this question – "how do I control internal communications and proprietary information?"; and an external aspect – "how do I manage my brand if I don’t control the message?"

…the post goes on to look at things, very articulately, from the CEO′s perspective, but, looking at it from a Social Media (ok, my) perspective I′d say guess what, dude, you don′t.

In as much as this is now a two way conversation, and it’s happening almost immediately, you can only control your side of the message, your brand will now, more than ever before, be intimately connected to your reputation, not some one way strategy devised in your marketing department, and your reputation will be determined by the extent to which you participate in the conversation, and should you choose not to participate in the conversation, well, we will have it without you.

Take my recent posts about HP and Mark Hurd (CEO, HP), triggered by nothing more than hearing "if you don′t like it there′s the door" one too many times and deciding, you know what, I′ll take the door, thanks for the golden handshake and, buy the way, I happen to think you′re (Mark Hurd) the living embodiment of everything that′s wrong with corporate America, you′ve never been known for innovation, made all your returns to shareholders by shafting employees, and you′re leading HP down the doom spiral that comes from competing for market share in already saturated markets. Oh, and I blog.

How do you control that message?

Social Media represents, to me, a fascinating blend of democracy, anarchy, and freedom of speech, it′s power is that it′s given us a voice outside of the established news media, and as far as I’m concerned it′s now my primary source of information.

When newspaper publishers, probably reminiscing the good old days, when people used to buy newspapers, and the paperboy dropped one on your lawn each morning, decide to deal with the massive drop in the overall value, and revenues, from printed news papers, that dish up, in my opinion, a steady stream of comoditized, politically biased, dumbed down for the masses, garbage, by making me pay for online content, I just think…

…go ahead…make my day.

Recommended reading

I′m reading this book right now.

Chris Brogan and Julian Smith are Social Media veterans. In their book Trust Agents they discuss how today′s online influencers trade in trust, reputation, and relationships to build their businesses online.

This is fascinating stuff, the Internet has completely changed the paradigm of work and business for me and it′s become obvious, through experience, and emphasized in this book, that the more we participate in transparent, honest, and genuine relationships, the more our business grows.

The book discusses how social networks, and personal connections, have more influence than marketing messages ever will, how the most valuable commodity on the Internet is not cash, it′s trust, and it gives you strategies to use the power of the Internet to build your business through social networks, now, and with integrity.

I recommend it.

NOTE: I always give my local bookshop the first opportunity to sell me a book before I go to Amazon. It would be nice if you did too.

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