Got an exec breathing down your neck wanting to know the ROI on your social media budget while you scramble around trying to develop monetization schemes and explain why social network ad revenue is down? Don't show her this video. Instead, grab yourself a big cup of something steamy, sit down, and watch it yourself. Watch it to be reminded that behind the curtain of the social media revolution you are monetizing your career on, is a cultural paradigm shift so fundamental that there is absolutely no way an expert or anyone else today can know what the marketing plan of the future really looks like.
Watch the video while anthropologist Michael Wesch (KSU Asst. Prof) takes you on a hour-long insightful and entertaining tour of the dynamics of social networks' popularity through the example of YouTube. The social media maven will laugh but the true expert will see that behind the fun Dr. Wesch is explaining how the social revolution in communication (not media) is building new models of human interaction and even self-identity that promise to shift our definition of community as deeply as the shift from tribe to nation state did thousands of years ago, but along entirely new dimensions (he doesn't' go that far, but I do).
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And after you've watched the video - all the way to the end, past the silly teenagers and babies spawning viral fun on a global scale to where the crotchety old man reveals his many selves and the people cry and feel betrayed to where the man who lost his child talks about how YouTube helped him live again - reflect on your own social media experience that makes you so sure you're an expert (ever mindful that even experts can disagree).
Ask yourself if your concept of 'authenticity' when you blog goes to the core of who you really are, or just past the surface to your professional self, no matter how real. Ask yourself if you are taking advantage of this cultural shift to grow your soul instead of just your resume. Then ask yourself if you really understand how to advise an organization on how to use this paradigm shift to be authentic to itself as more than a collection of authentic individuals. I personally believe that for businesses, governments and non-profit organizations it is this potentiality that holds the greatest promise for value creation. I also believe that as a profession, marketers do not yet have the tools or support necessary to define and nurture true authenticity in an organizational context, and that this is the greatest challenge for the marketing profession in the years ahead.
My point is this: if you are experiencing the social media world primarily as a professional exercise in exploring new media channels, you may be missing the boat. Conversely, if it's moved you to tears, gotten you on an airplane to fly half way around the world to introduce yourself to your best friend or helped you redefine yourself (the true potential of "personal branding"), maybe you will be better able to help your clients and employers navigate this brave new world, knowing when the best advice you can give them is to retool themselves instead of their messages.
The shift taking place through social media goes beyond communications channels and media itself. It's a shift in how individuals and cultures interact and define themselves in relationship with each other. And it's a change in personal and business paradigms for which we do not yet have widely agreed upon vocabulary and well understood patterns we can call "rules." Without vocabulary and rules, which would indicate patterns we can measure reliably, large scale ROI is impossible - and for now, irrelevant. (Which isn't to say there aren't good ROI examples or value beyond ROI to explore during the transition.)
Sometimes being an expert means admitting that even if you don't yet completely understand the solution, you do have a clue as to the problem - and concomitant opportunity. That's certainly how I see it at the moment. For me, 2009 will be a year of further listening and watching carefully for the beginnings of reliable patterns to emerge. It will be a year in which I look at organizational identity and authenticity below the level of "personality". It will be an exciting year and a challenging one. Personally, I can't wait:)
Happy New Year, everyone.
Thanks to Collin Douma of RadicalTrust for posting the video on LinkedIn where I could find it.
Photo: The Wizard of Oz (1939)
