Connection Dynamics - the Social Media Fool's Paradigm

One of the curious aspects of our society is how we are fascinated with our own interactions with one another.  Our days are spent sleeping, eating, working and surviving but it's the ways and means that we deal with one another that gather all the focus.

Watch a period movie about the 17th or 18th century, and it'll be about the letters written to one another that advance the plot, taking a long time as they did.  The messenger in those days always playing a vital connecting role. (I've always smirked at the need to respond quickly in thee fictions, as if an extra day of thought in response would be material to the months it takes to deliver the letters/messages in some cases). Go forward in time and the impact and popularity of mass media from the 1960's-1990's also seems disproportionately noted in any retrospective look back. Sure, it's shared identity, but there were other things going on too.  These days, it's hard to read a paper or have a conversation that doesn't touch on the rise of social media, the newest darling of how we interact.

Let's break this down a little though as there are interesting components here.

That we interact is the first thing.  We have done this for some time as a species in fact.  It's the foundation of our communities and shared vision of who we are and the basis of all politics and economics.  If there's anything that's apparent here it's that this is not new.  Raving about how Pinterest, Snapchat or Linked In connects us all is not only redundant, it belies a lack of understanding of history.

Social Media is here to stay - I'll call that the second thing.  We have already seen some social media die on the vine - AOL anyone ?  Like other mechanisms, it too will evolve and die off.  Arguably Facebook the grand-daddy of all based on it's membership is already losing it core constituency.  Kids are fickle, and what appeals to their mothers doesn't often also appeal to them.  This mechanism will change, and current players aren't guaranteed immortality anymore that the Post Office is. It isn't here to stay, it's simply the flavour of the moment until something more pertinent comes along.

We connect with those we choose to.  That's the third piece here and it's overlooked I might suggest. Way back when we interacted 1:1 as that's what the mechanisms allowed for.  Coffee-houses in London 300-400 years ago and newspapers started to change that, to push one message at multiple parties through portals.  Then mass media (newspapers, then radio, then TV and the web) allowed for broadcasting those singular ideas - in the form of commercials to sell something, or provoking us to believe in something political or emotional.  We all saw the same message as that's what the technology was geared to do.  As it has evolved, we've started to fragment and form sub-groups again, 'liking' a thing or idea on today's platforms, following one another in smaller groups, subsets and long-tails of society and this is impacting how we all deal with each other in the world.

I think this desire to only have a set number of connections is under appreciated in how we look at what social media success means today.  The idea is that it could be unlimited, when in fact we have historically acted to deal with only a small number of others.  Technology doesn't enhance trust, and the internet is full of crud - we all know that.  Instead, we have a small group we look to, that we lean towards,  and as there is more and more noise flooding at us, I'm guessing we'll retreat farther into our circle of trust, only connecting with those we choose to.

And that - perhaps more than any technology out there, will drive the next wave of how we interact.  Social media isn't the end-game, it's a step on the evolutionary ladder.

In Review - 2013

We can learn an awful lot about our future, by understanding our history.  What did we learn in this last year that we can re-purpose going forward..?

We learned that we're more obviously fractured in our views than perhaps has ever been - Miley Cyrus's twerking and antics gets her to be a front runner for Time's Person of the Year; Rob Ford - Toronto's crack cocaine Mayor with no class was vilified in the local media and yet retained tremendous voter support; and the US government shut down with half the country applauding and half appalled at the tactics used.   Going forward - we should understand that not only are we not all on the same page, we're not even reading the same book much of the time.  We're living in democracy gone wild - and there isn't a galvanizing person or potential issue on the horizon.

The environment and weather also continued to be unpredictable. Globally, we saw new record temperatures, unusual events abounded too such as Cairo's snow and extreme storms popped up all over, this time wiping out a significant portion of the Philippines courtesy of typhoon Haiyan, the strongest ever to make landfall.  The lesson here ?  We should expect the unexpected going forward. Storms will be bigger and stronger, and it'll be both warmer and colder than we are used to.  Patterns we have seen in recent memory won't be the norm.  Call it global warming, call it whatever you want to - just don't expect it to be predictable.

Resolutions

It's the start of another year, and hence resolution time.

One of my own that I hope you enjoy a little is to publish daily.   There will be deep thoughts and drivel, spelling mistakes, grammatical issues and hopefully a few profound statements.

They say that if you locked a few chimpanzees into a room with some typewriters that in something like an infinity or two (warning, bad math jokes will abound) they'd randomly produce the King James bible and complete works of Shakespeare.  They'd also create other, less readable material in abundance.  My aim is to be both more efficient and eloquent than the monkeys.

You be the judge.

Bright Days, Dark Spirits

All around, there are seasonal songs and signs of merriment.  By 'signs' I mean imagery of what we are all supposed to be feeling and doing.  We drown in it from media with 24/7 classic carols, and TV specials of every imaginable ilk celebrating Christmas.  The shops have December sales, and decor and push at each of us what holiday conformity looks like.   The messaging is clear - get in the spiirt, let gifting to one another demonstrate your true selves, kind, caring and sentimental.  

But look for a moment at each other.  Look into other's eyes and souls and you don't see it. I don't anyway.  We still cut one another off in traffic and argue for that last parking spot. We're still rude and self-centered in all the normal ways.   We say Merry Christmas, but it's perfunctionary as a means to end encounters. When it's said, it means "We're done talking now".

Show me the selfless acts, the desire to help each other.  Keep your gifts, but illustrate through changed attitude that this is actually the time of year when we place our fellow man ahead of our own needs and wants.

I'm not mad at Christmas or whatever version of it you celebrate, I'm saddened that we let the idea be corrupted and don't seem to notice.   It's unfortunate but I think this is a sign of the times, and so let's skip the formalities next time and just text or tweet each other 'Merry Xmas'.  At least then we'll be authentic.

The World's Favourite...ad

I love innovation, especially where it's clever and touches an unserved market. If you get all three of these - the marketing trifecta - then it's a huge win.

I think British Airways and their Ad Agency have accomplished this feat with this contextual use of an old medium - billboards : - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7vq7yS4ghE 

The clever things about this abound.  There are a series of variations in the video's launched on the board; it actually interfaces with the plane flying overhead so the results aren't random or canned, they are real.  And its engaging.

The use of new technologies to make a big impact is rare these days - there are lots of great ideas but many don't find traction with customers.  This one is simple and very effective.  Way to go BA.

The Aboriginal Legacy

I wanted to say kudo's to Australia.  Specifically Qantas, the national airline of the land down-under.

I live in a country that has a hard time admitting they were wrong for raping and pillaging the native people, and here's Australia with a not-so-different history celebrating it's indigenous peoples.

They paint their planes up in designs specific to their people, and they are indeed uniquely Australian.  I admire that on a few levels.  It says - "We have a great native people, and we're proud of them."  What other country that has a questionable history does this ?  Umm.. None.

Australia deserves recognition.  Not for the way they treated the aboriginal peoples, but for how they acknowledge today that their culture is richer for these people, and the native Australians are an intrinsic part of Australia's future as well.  We could all learn from this.

Asking the Right Question

A friend asked me an incredibly astute question about a big purchase I was considering.  So insightful was this question, that it made me think of my purchase in a whole new way. In fact thinking about his question and my answer meant I'm ready to make a decision now, something I hadn't been able to do before.  Often customers find themselves unable to make a decision to buy something as they aren't clear, just like the situation I found myself in.

The purchase I've been thinking about concerns a new car, and a fancy, sporty one at that.  As it's obviously not a need, you're probably listening to yourself think "mid-life crisis", just the same way I'm saying that to myself. I can live with that though.

When considering one of these it can either be a frivolous toy or it can be serious, and I've tended to look at it the latter way, trying to validate that I use a car daily and having a sportier one could fit my needs and provide some fun as well.  I've been hesitating for a long time though, and have looked at a used car for less money, or a newer, shinier one. Pro's and cons to both and I have been on the fence for a while on the decision.

My friend hit the nail on the head with his bright question.  It was: "which one are you more likely to drive in bad weather / winter?"  I live in an area that has a serious winter, and let's call be frank, few fancy little sporty cars are designed for winter, or even very usable in snow.  Underneath the question wasn't a query about traction or winter tires though, it was about use cases and value - depreciation vs usability.

You see the used car will cost less, but I think I'm less likely to drive it in winter (assuming it performs equally poorly as a new car) as I'll be looking to maintain it's value for a resale situation in the future.  A new car could be leased and if it's just mine for a defined period, I'm more likely to drive it wherever as depreciation won't be my concern.  I hadn't looked at the decision in this framework at all - and my friend knew that - as he's also gone down this road (no pun) lately, albeit on the frivolous toy justification side.  My indecision was based on the fact I couldn't figure out the question to myself that would differentiate the choices to be made - so I was waiting.  Now I actually feel very clear on moving forward.

The value of asking of the right question is incredibly high.  It can provide quite a bit of relief to your customer/friend, as it allows them to move past a log-jam in their own minds.  It does require knowledge of their situation and insights into their motivation though.  And that is almost impossible to do without discovering a little about them.