Social media and microblogging are having a massive impact on the social and economic world. Eric Qualman has written a well-structured book that makes sense of the multitude of changes taking place, arguing that they will benefit consumers and quality-oriented companies and products alike. With millions of individuals connecting on social media quicker than ever before, a paradigm shift is already underway both in the social sphere as well economically.
From a social point of view, with increased transparency, it is not only the kids of the "Glasshouse generation" (sic) that are growing up with a new set of rules. Everyone in the social media age is more transparent. However, in Qualmans view, this should not necessarily be regarded as a risk or threat to the individual"s privacy. Quite contrary, people should take on the responsibility for working on their own brand (status updates etc.). Who you associate with and how you are embedded within a network will say more about yourself than any data you might enter yourself into your social media profile. The potential downside is that "what happens in Vegas stays on YouTube". So we will have to start living our lives more responsibly, which will, according to Qualman, benefit society as a whole. He assumes that the rise of social media brings about the "Death of Schizophrenia": We will all lead our lives more responsibly and try to avoid any behaviour that could leave us with posted pictures of ourselves wearing beer bongs on Facebook.
This will in turn result in extra curricular activities becoming more popular (music, theatre, organized sports) because they provide alternative release mechanisms. In the context of social media impact on the social realm, Qualman also gives the example of status updates on social media summing up the activities of a month, so as to enable the author to review his activities at the end of the month, assessing "life every minute", thus eliminating "unfruitful activities" by taking "real-time inventories of their lives and answering the age-old question "What am I doing with my life?". In my personal opinion, it is in this section of the book that one wonders if the author has a perception of social interaction that is somewhat detached from reality, or "Socialnomics"-biased.
However, on the economics side, Qualmans "Socialnomics" is a superb account - and prediction - of how social media changes the way businesses and customers communicate and interact. Basically, in a Socialnomics world, interconnected, constantly growing communities exchange information about products and services in realtime. Clever companies "harness the power of the social graph", engaging in the conversation instead of trying to channel and prevent it. Old-fashioned one-to-many communication and the classic 30-second TV spot have become an anachronism. The marketer's philosophy of today involves listening and responding to customer needs, handing over a certain amount of control over the brand, and in doing so letting customers market the product within their community much more efficiently than ever before. ("Be more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy: Listen first, sell second") Brand budgets are more and more moving towards digital channels, mostly because of the fact that the customers have moved there ("Fish where the fish are"). Here, advertising will be less and less about campaigning and more and more about conversation. By listening attentively, companies can identify their own flaws regarding product portfolio, pricing or any other aspect of their business, and react quickly. If we all embrace social media rather than fight it, it will be to the advantage of the customer, result in greater business opportunity for those with the right ideas and high quality products, and benefit society as a whole. A "no strategy" is not an option anymore, anyway. See rapidly declining revenues of newspapers and the music industry.
A well-written summary of the social media revolution so far (2009) that has taken Web 2.0 to the next level. And of which we have only just seen the beginning.
