"When I walk into a coffeeshop (pick just about any one in Portland) and 9 out of 10 people are sitting by themselves in front of a screen I feel the wind knocked out of me. What are we becoming? We are a people who are constantly “together alone.” And I feel that. I feel that because many of my closest friends are somewhere else, many of my deepest concerns are somewhere else. When asked how I am doing, I do not want the first words out of my mouth to be “Busy."
"There are revolutions, actual political and legal revolutions, that are being led online. They’re just happening in new ways, and taking subtle forms unrecognizable to those who still want a revolution to look like they did in 1965."
"But it requires a really dramatic shift …. and saying actually, in the same ways as we talk about the members of the body, we are made up of you, not just made up of your money and our executive committee, we are made up of you, the members, as our existence."
Quote from David Armano’s piece:
“In the past few months I’ve noticed a trend. Organizations of all shapes and sizes are appointing people into “social media” positions. From VP’s of Social Media, to Social Media editors, etc. It’s indicative of the fact that businesses are taking the space very seriously and making investments to grow capabilities. But if you dig a little, you’ll often times find that some (not all) of the people placed in these positions have very small “footprints” in the space. A recently created Twitter profile with a very short history, a presence on Facebook that looks like an unfurnished apartment, no blog to speak of. You get the point. And it’s got me thinking. Should the people who lead the charge within your organization be active participants in the medium? Does it really matter?”
I left my own comment at on his site. I found this via Dirk at Herd.
From Zakazukhazoo via Dirkthecow:
“Social media is just another bunch of communication channels which work the same way as talkback radio and letters to the editor do. The only difference is that everyone gets to be Rupert Murdoch and the old people aren’t invited. It’s not rocket science, it’s just the way people communicate now. If you’re interested in it and you’re adept at expressing other people’s opinions in 140 characters or less, you’re looking through a small window of opportunity here to pimp yourself out as a social media consultant. You’ve got about 8 months left to hold seminars and help newbies guide the way, but by 2010 all the road maps will have been re-written and marketing managers, PR firms and advertising agencies will be bypassing your little bridge in the woods as they travel down the newsest section of the information superhighway, on which Twitter will have been relegated to the slow lane and Facebook will be a distant speck in the rearview mirror.”
Martin’s comment: Cynical and depressing, but true of how the PR people have been gumming up Twitter lately. It needs to be about communication and real engagement.
The reason for all this? Surprise, surprise, the democratisation of the Web and the rise of social media. According to the authors, brands by and large haven’t shifted gear still keeping hold of 20th…
