AsI read your post, I saw the word "recreating" and thought about the difference between creating something new in a new medium and its overlap with recreation- free time and goofing off.
Many new media projects sort of start in the overlap of this space- creating a new project, a new means of expression in your free time; hoping that it becomes a full time enterprise, but not always being certain how the skills translate, an at what cost to give someone return on investment.
The power of the 'net lives in the ability to build engaged and passionate communities around topics and interests. In marketing parlance, this would be the "targeted market" around interests and ideas- people who would be open to your messages and promotions, perhaps. But because communities are based on trust, any approaches towards them can't be as big and as crass as they are on TV for example, where you look to capture attention from your target audience and beyond. They can be subtle.
In the end, even if you are selling Widget A, you probably will sell more widgets if you engage people who already own Widget A or like it, because these people will become the influencers and evangelists for Widget A- a community based marketing department you don't have to convince, because they are already on your side.
And isn't that what we all are looking for, in the end? People that love us and what to carry our messages and ideas beyond us, into the world? This means the results of community builders and community evangelists isn't a quarter by quarter return, it's a longer term relationship building exercise that will pay off more than any magazine ad ever could.
Natasha Wescoat
· 2 years ago
ahhh! As always, this is another great article that has inspired and empowered me..and not to forget, redirected my purpouses once again.
With the "youtube generation" and the media's influences, we tend to get sidetracked with new media. Television keeps feeding us the "get me get me" mentality. Always doing something for some alterior motive.
Sure, we want to spread the word about our products, gain prospecive clients, gain notoriety for something we are doing with our media, but we have to remember our purpous with these tools.
It IS about collaboration, about friendship, about communication, and about connecting with people in a new and innovative way. We have to check ourselves and calm down, remember that we WANT to connect to people, not just SELL to them. This article really hit home for me. Thankyou!
mARSHAL SANDLER
· 2 years ago
Nothing to say Whitney has said it all!
DefogMyBlog
· 2 years ago
For me I think that through something like Twitter, that at first glance seemed daft, I learned that there are lots of people out there having a go and trying to follow whatever it is they want to follow and that it is really encouraging. Of course you also learn that people are having ups and downs the same as yourself or that some of them are very successful. Even if you are not in their league they are friendly and you can connect if you have a shared interest.
RealEstateCafe
· 2 years ago
Chris, your concluding questions:
"Now, how will you use it? How ARE you using it? What do you think about this talk of empowerment and ability?"
...led me to pull together a Ning site I had been contemplating for weeks. Initially, I thought of calling it "E-piphany" (inspired by the Feast of Epiphany); then "i-piphay" (inspired by Apple's i-product line); but finally decided to call the site "WE-piphany" for reasons you state:
"Social media tools are built to connect individual voices to a community."
Do you or anyone else know if there are already any private or public initiatives to help no tech, low tech, or slow tech friends & family join social networks for Christmas?
WE-piphany is primarily a gift to my own family and friends motivated by twin desires:
(1) Enable friends who gifted writers share their wisdom with world, and
(2) Extend connections rekindled at upcoming family and high school reunions.
Maybe other share the same desire... Anyone else giving the Gift of Personal Power / Gift of Connection to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or the New Year?
Hello Chris. I like the analogy between social media power and superpowers - I've been a comic book geek for over 30 years!
I don't think it's fair to compare enterprise applications to social media. It's a bit like comparing Van Gogh's brushes and paints to the machines that paint lines on highways. Line painters do an important, but repetitious and boring job and they do it well. Thank goodness! So do sales order systems, purchase order systems, general ledger systems, banking systems... they ultimately empower the organization to grow through consistency and conformity.
Back to social media: well, I guess you might say that I'm growing my "power base" as I learn more about the virtual world. I live in a fairly rural area, so Web/social media/etc. have made a big difference by granting me the "power" to tap into wonderful and varied things that I would never have discovered otherwise.
In some ways I wish all of this technology was around (in its current form) when I started university 20 years ago. Then again, I might not have graduated from university if it had been around - I'd have been too busy Tweeting, Facebooking, and playing online games!
Long term, I'm not going to pretend that I have many altruistic or charitable reasons for using social media, although it would be nice to use it to support causes that I believe in. I might do that at some point in the future. Right now I'm exploring the opportunities and working on my writing/content creation skills.
Besides, if I ever really wanted to have a superpower, I'd really want to have Peter Petrelli's! But social media mastery would be cool.
Albert Maruggi
· 2 years ago
OK I get your point, but I don't want to get lost in the "personal power" language. I would add one subtle distinction, these are personal tools to be heard (and hear others).
The power is in the collective, oops don't go Marxist on me, but it's true. When a guy bought ink by the barrel with limited newspapers to compete with, that's individual power.
today this ink is limitless and no longer an issue. The different dynamic is everyone is either a competitor, a supporter, or a bystander.
Moral of the story: the less bystanders, the more power spread across the people in the system.
All the best,
Greg White
· 2 years ago
A post after my own heart...
You could have written the sales letter for my new product. In fact I'd like to quote some of the text from this post if it's okay with you.
This is not a shameless plug, but an advanced notice to those of you who hold similar views.
I have written a piece of software that contains ~ 600 Social Media sites. It's a power tool for those of you who are interested in promoting your voice and your vision to the world.
It is not a spam tool. But a 'productivity tool' that you can use to increase your 'Personal Power'.
I was inspired by the 8th Habit... "Find Your Voice And Inspire Others To Find Theirs..."
Chris, I'd like to offer you an evaluation copy for your review. You don't have to review it publicly if you don't want to. But I think given the content of this post, you'll appreciate what it can do.
All I ask is that if you do take me up on my offer... Use Its Power for Good!
You can email me at the email address attached to the post.
You're saying the difference between enterprise software and social media software is the latter empowers individuals. While you don't explicitly state what enterprise software does, presumably it empowers groups (ie: companies).
You go on to say that "Social media tools are built to connect individual voices to a community." Here's where I see a disconnect: from this description, it appears that enterprise software and social media tools end up doing the same thing. Since I suspect that's not your argument, could you elaborate more on what the differences actually are?
By the way, was great to meet you on Twitter, and hope we can get together here in Boston sometime.
My ego radar is failing me .. I don't know why - just finding this now. Thank you for the pointer!
Makes wonder if social media can be used for evil and how ..
I tried to use my social media power for good and to help Cambodian children. I'm hoping that the collective power of social media networks can leverage the America's Giving Challenge which ends next week.
When the Challenge comes to close 1/31, I will be doing a workshop with poverty lawyers on social media and am hoping to to share some great screen captures ....
All Comments
Many new media projects sort of start in the overlap of this space- creating a new project, a new means of expression in your free time; hoping that it becomes a full time enterprise, but not always being certain how the skills translate, an at what cost to give someone return on investment.
The power of the 'net lives in the ability to build engaged and passionate communities around topics and interests. In marketing parlance, this would be the "targeted market" around interests and ideas- people who would be open to your messages and promotions, perhaps. But because communities are based on trust, any approaches towards them can't be as big and as crass as they are on TV for example, where you look to capture attention from your target audience and beyond. They can be subtle.
In the end, even if you are selling Widget A, you probably will sell more widgets if you engage people who already own Widget A or like it, because these people will become the influencers and evangelists for Widget A- a community based marketing department you don't have to convince, because they are already on your side.
And isn't that what we all are looking for, in the end? People that love us and what to carry our messages and ideas beyond us, into the world? This means the results of community builders and community evangelists isn't a quarter by quarter return, it's a longer term relationship building exercise that will pay off more than any magazine ad ever could.
With the "youtube generation" and the media's influences, we tend to get sidetracked with new media. Television keeps feeding us the "get me get me" mentality. Always doing something for some alterior motive.
Sure, we want to spread the word about our products, gain prospecive clients, gain notoriety for something we are doing with our media, but we have to remember our purpous with these tools.
It IS about collaboration, about friendship, about communication, and about connecting with people in a new and innovative way. We have to check ourselves and calm down, remember that we WANT to connect to people, not just SELL to them. This article really hit home for me. Thankyou!
"Now, how will you use it? How ARE you using it? What do you think about this talk of empowerment and ability?"
...led me to pull together a Ning site I had been contemplating for weeks. Initially, I thought of calling it "E-piphany" (inspired by the Feast of Epiphany); then "i-piphay" (inspired by Apple's i-product line); but finally decided to call the site "WE-piphany" for reasons you state:
"Social media tools are built to connect individual voices to a community."
Do you or anyone else know if there are already any private or public initiatives to help no tech, low tech, or slow tech friends & family join social networks for Christmas?
WE-piphany is primarily a gift to my own family and friends motivated by twin desires:
(1) Enable friends who gifted writers share their wisdom with world, and
(2) Extend connections rekindled at upcoming family and high school reunions.
Maybe other share the same desire... Anyone else giving the Gift of Personal Power / Gift of Connection to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or the New Year?
Share your story at:
http://wepiphany.ning.com
I don't think it's fair to compare enterprise applications to social media. It's a bit like comparing Van Gogh's brushes and paints to the machines that paint lines on highways. Line painters do an important, but repetitious and boring job and they do it well. Thank goodness! So do sales order systems, purchase order systems, general ledger systems, banking systems... they ultimately empower the organization to grow through consistency and conformity.
Back to social media: well, I guess you might say that I'm growing my "power base" as I learn more about the virtual world. I live in a fairly rural area, so Web/social media/etc. have made a big difference by granting me the "power" to tap into wonderful and varied things that I would never have discovered otherwise.
In some ways I wish all of this technology was around (in its current form) when I started university 20 years ago. Then again, I might not have graduated from university if it had been around - I'd have been too busy Tweeting, Facebooking, and playing online games!
Long term, I'm not going to pretend that I have many altruistic or charitable reasons for using social media, although it would be nice to use it to support causes that I believe in. I might do that at some point in the future. Right now I'm exploring the opportunities and working on my writing/content creation skills.
Besides, if I ever really wanted to have a superpower, I'd really want to have Peter Petrelli's! But social media mastery would be cool.
The power is in the collective, oops don't go Marxist on me, but it's true. When a guy bought ink by the barrel with limited newspapers to compete with, that's individual power.
today this ink is limitless and no longer an issue. The different dynamic is everyone is either a competitor, a supporter, or a bystander.
Moral of the story: the less bystanders, the more power spread across the people in the system.
All the best,
You could have written the sales letter for my new product. In fact I'd like to quote some of the text from this post if it's okay with you.
This is not a shameless plug, but an advanced notice to those of you who hold similar views.
I have written a piece of software that contains ~ 600 Social Media sites. It's a power tool for those of you who are interested in promoting your voice and your vision to the world.
It is not a spam tool. But a 'productivity tool' that you can use to increase your 'Personal Power'.
I was inspired by the 8th Habit...
"Find Your Voice And Inspire Others To Find Theirs..."
Chris, I'd like to offer you an evaluation copy for your review. You don't have to review it publicly if you don't want to. But I think given the content of this post, you'll appreciate what it can do.
All I ask is that if you do take me up on my offer... Use Its Power for Good!
You can email me at the email address attached to the post.
Greg White
http://socialbuzzmaster.com
You go on to say that "Social media tools are built to connect individual voices to a community." Here's where I see a disconnect: from this description, it appears that enterprise software and social media tools end up doing the same thing. Since I suspect that's not your argument, could you elaborate more on what the differences actually are?
By the way, was great to meet you on Twitter, and hope we can get together here in Boston sometime.
Michael Krigsman
Blog: http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mkrigsman
Makes wonder if social media can be used for evil and how ..
I tried to use my social media power for good and to help Cambodian children. I'm hoping that the collective power of social media networks can leverage the America's Giving Challenge which ends next week.
When the Challenge comes to close 1/31, I will be doing a workshop with poverty lawyers on social media and am hoping to to share some great screen captures ....
BTW, Ed Schipul did an awesome presentation on social fundraising - definitely worth a look.
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/01/soci...
And, even better, he helped pitched my cause from the podium - along with Frozen Pea Fund!
Now that's using both online and offline social media power for good!