The Knowledge inventory will become the most important element of Social Capitalism.  Today, knowledge is largely sequestered behind the walls of corporation in the form of titles, skill codes, resumes, job descriptions, certifications, and college degrees.  In order to predict the future, we point to the things that we have done in the past.

2nd Place is 1st Loser

10% of the country is unemployed and less than 10% are fully actualized in their profession.  Competitive forces drive the hiring manager.  The consequences of all business decisions eventually lead to win-or-lose market scenarios.  People compete with each other for promotions, the boss’s time, the corner office, or just staying off the unemployment line.  That is the only future anyone can truly predict based on the past.  It’s easier to predict the loser than the winner – so that’s what happens.

Social media is very different.

People are organizing themselves in a new form outside the construct of the corporation.  Linkedin aggregates intellectual capital, Facebook aggregates social capital, and You Tube aggregates creative capital.  Millions of blogs, Twitter, and a generation of search engines reassemble all these parts in ways that create social value.  People are not competing with each other, instead, they live on a bell curve.  They are seeking cooperation and collaboration. People use “like” buttons, tweet counts, and analytic data to “value” the quantity and quality of another person’s knowledge.  There are fewer losers, hence more winners,  because there are a greater number of  markets – not just one corporation.  Everyone is a corporation.

No Governance, no anarchy, no problem

Since social media is outside the construct of a corporation, there is no governance. There are lots of people trying to control only to experience diminishing returns.  Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Facebook must tread extremely carefully on the landscape of public opinion precisely because of their dominance.  People use Facebook to attack Facebook, PowerPoint to attack Microsoft, YouTube to attack Google, and Twitter to attack everyone.  Retribution would be suicide.

The Last Mile of Social Media

Now, geo-location services are filling in the Last Mile of Social Media where communities will form to produce things that are tangible and real.  As a result, there is a sharp increase of interest in a form of currency that can represent this social value.  Some of this is because the dollar is losing its ability to represent people’s productivity.  So they engage a different economic system.

Social Productivity

The next great leap in Social Media will happen when people reorganize themselves in an external knowledge inventory, outside of corporations, and segmented in high granularity of knowledge assets in close proximity to each other.  Entrepreneurs can then assemble people in unique, efficient, and productive ways.   People will then build things for profit using a new currency – a new social currency.

In the old days being called a “Hippie” brought certain negative connotations which related to sex, drugs and rock & roll. Times have changed and the word “hippie” is no longer a common term used in our nomenclature. Hippie as been replaced by Gen Y and Gen X or Republican, Democrat or Tea Party.

The terms Gen Y & X along with Republican, Democrat or Tea party do not necessary reflect “how” the demographic of these labels think rather the labels reflect “what” they think. The difference between “how” and “what” people think is the difference between  philosophy and strategy.

The word “philosophy” means “love of wisdom“. It is the critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.  The word “strategy” means a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result. “How” we think is reflected by our philosophy. “What” we think is reflected by our individual and organization strategy. Our philosophy does influence our strategic thinking. Our strategy is the reflection of our philosophy, how we think.

While many, if not most, organizations and people attempt to deploy social media strategies that fail because their strategy is not in-line with the social philosophy. The social philosophy is a reflection of “how” people, the crowds, think about life, business and the intersection of technology with the human network.  Social technology is accelerating communications and the subsequent dynamics reveal “how” and “what” people, the “human network” thinks. At the same time social technology is also revealing “what” and “how” institutions, the “business network“, thinks. The difference between the two “networks” reveals a “clash” in philosophical differences, how and what is important, useful and valuable.

Hippie 1.0 vs. 2.0 Philosophy

Hippie 1.0 was an  a time of social change where “cultures clashed” over ideology, freedom and policy. The younger generation was against the Vietnam War, Corporations, Politics, “The Man” and everything “The Man” stood for.

It was an era where drugs, sex and rock & roll reflected the “Hippie” philosophy. The word “hippie” was initially used to describe early adopter ideologies included the counter cultural values of the Beat Generation.

Some created their own social groups and communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs to explore alternative states of consciousness. Since the widespread movement in the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture and philosophy have been assimilated by mainstream society.

Today Hippies 2.0 are using a different kind of psychedelic drug called social technology. Instead of THC and LSD the drug of choice is PHP, Linux, SQL and others which enables the freedom of expression in the “clouds“. The new drugs are as addictive as the old drugs and those that become enlightened from using it understand that it does change one’s state of consciousness. The new state of consciousness is the enlightenment of power created by “social groups and communities” igniting changes in philosophy about business as usual and demanding business as unusual.

The Hippie 2.0 Social Philosophy

Remember the word “philosophy” means “love of wisdom“. It is the critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs. Here is the top ten fundamental assumptions or beliefs of 2.0 Hippies:

1. Copying old thinking doesn’t produce new knowledge rather learning to think does.
2. Marketing, Advertising & PR are no longer driven by suppliers rather buyers.
3. People aren’t targets of media rather media is now the force of the people.
4. Cooperation is much more productive than Coercion
5. We are no longer the audience to engage rather we’ll decide when and if to engage you.
6. Social media are not media stuck in silos owned by “the man” rather it is our media free to roam, engage and connect with whomever, where ever and whenever.
7. Our reach exceeds your grasp.
8. Your network is a trap and you want our friends for bait. Trapping us and using our friends as bait is not part of our philosophy.
9. We will no longer be contained in your silo rather we will decide if we will contain you in ours.
10. If you cannot understand what we see and believe and act accordingly then we are not interested in a relationship.

So now it is time for you to decide. Are you a 2.0 Hippie or not? If not then don’t bother to join the conversation.

2.0 Hippies don’t think like the “crowd” rather they think about the “crowd”.  The “crowd” represents the masses being lead down the wrong path only to be captured and used for “the media’s and the man’s” benefit. The media represents “the man” which reflects the philosophy of the past.

Many who stay stuck in the old business philosophy think they understand the power of social technology and try to apply it to old corporate practices in marketing, PR, advertising, customer and employee relations etc. only to learn that their strategies fail because they are driven by the wrong philosophy.

Hippies 2.0 challenge the assumptions and beliefs of organizational and personal thinking stuck in 1.0 philosophies. You can spot thinkers of Hippie 2.0 by their media which reflects profound changes in knowledge, values and reason about the human interaction with markets of conversations. Hippies 2.0 are early adopter ideologies which show the counter cultural values created by the intersection of technology with the human network.

What Do 2.0 Hippies Think About?

Thinking about things is a philosophical practice for examining what could and should be done vs. what is and has been done. 2.0 Hippies look at the emerging landscape of technological advances and not only think and talk about what will change but lead their followers to rally for and create the change. So what do they think about? Try these top ten then decide if you are a 2.0 Hippie:

1. They are more interested in “thinkers” than followers.
2. They appreciate “followers” who can add to the thinking with related dialog.
3. They see obvious change that would benefit “people” and not “the man”.
4. They don’t chase economic rewards rather they attempt to create rewards for everyone by influencing how people and institutions think.
5. They think about “holistic benefits of change” and not “selfish gains” from creating change.
6. They think with abundance and not scarcity.
7. They are not concerned with what is popular rather what is good for the populous.
8. They think about common sense change that is uncommon to the “establishment”.
9. They think about creating new knowledge and not applying old knowledge.
10. Last but not least they think about people’s relationship with markets and not the markets relationship with people.

What 2.0 Hippies say and do reflects a counter-culture shift from the way things are to the way things ought to be. The 2.o Hippie thinking isn’t stimulated by drugs like it was during Hippies 1.0 rather “the thoughts”are stimulated by a philosophy that challenges old assumptions and beliefs that are common and then creates uncommon thinking that takes root and becomes the new common.

Using the web to change how and what we think is much more valuable than using the web to propagate old messages and “established” practices. If you assume the web can best be used to propagate the wrong message using the wrong practice then don’t be surprised when 2.0 Hippies create changes that not only challenge your thinking but totally disrupt your “established” way of doing what you’ve always done. Continue to do so at your own demise!

2.0 Hippies need to gather together and leverage the power of a “social community” that propagates the philosophy which will truly create change we can believe in.

It can’t be done individually but it can be done when we speak in a collective voice. It can’t be done with politics as usual but it can be done by leveraging unusual politics. If you “think” about the same things as described by the thoughts of 2.0 Hippies then join the conversations and bring a bunch of other hippies with you. Together we can begin to change the “thinking” which in the end will change the markets, the man and the world.

Don’t think so? Then  take the same “hits” you’ve been taking and get “high” on frustration.  Continue to watch your eyes, and everyone else,  glaze over in disbelief of what is happening  to our world. Join the revolution and believe in something!

Are you old enough to remember the 60′s and 70′s? It was a time of social change where “cultures clashed” over ideology, freedom and policy. The younger generation was against the Vietnam War, Corporations, Politics, “The Man” and everything “The Man” stood for.

It was an era where drugs, sex and rock & roll reflected the “Hippie” philosophy. The word “hippie” was initially used to describe early adopter ideologies included the counter cultural values of the Beat Generation.

Some created their own social groups and communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs to explore alternative states of consciousness. Since the widespread movement in the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture and philosophy have been assimilated by mainstream society.

The hippie legacy can be observed in contemporary culture in myriad forms — from health food, to music festivals, to contemporary sexual mores, and even to the cyberspace revolution. Hippies stood firm on freedom of expression even if the expression was opposite of cultural norms and the law of the day. The Hippie generation has grown up and today they are industry leaders, politicians, Presidents, musicians and employees with grand children, pets and jobs.

The “Hippies” are Back in 2.0 Form!

Notice that the “Hippie” movement of the 60′s & 70′s represented a “counter-culture” formed into “social groups and communities”. Sound familiar? It should because today there is a “counter-culture” forming into social groups and communities online that reject established corporate cultures, media and age-old philosophies that accept things as they’ve been done instead of changing things that can be done better.

Today hippies 2.0 are using a different kind of psychedelic drug called social technology. Instead of THC and LSD the drug of choice is PHP, Linux, SQL and others which enables the freedom of expression in the “clouds“. The new drugs are as addictive as the old drugs and those that become enlightened from using it understand that it does change one’s state of consciousness. The new state of consciousness is the enlightenment of power created by “social groups and communities” igniting changes in philosophy about business as usual and demanding business as unusual.

The freedom of speech empowered by massive collaboration and real-time reactions to business as usual is and will continue to create a wave of change for business as unusual. Many from the old business philosophy think they understand the power of social technology and try to apply it to old corporate practices in marketing, PR, advertising, customer and employee relations etc. only to learn that their strategies fail because they are driven by the wrong philosophy.

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems about matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The word “philosophy” means “love of wisdom”. It is the critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.

Hippies 2.0 challenge the assumptions and beliefs of organizational and personal thinking stuck in 1.0 philosophies. You can spot thinkers of Hippie 2.0 by their media which reflects profound changes in knowledge, values and reason about the human interaction with markets of conversations. Hippies 2.0 are early adopter ideologies which show the counter cultural values created by the intersection of technology with the human network.

People like Seth Godin and Doc Searls and others create massive attention and followers because their media reflects profound changes in knowledge, values and reason as it relates to the shift in market philosophy, the market of people. In other words to get the attention of markets you have to understand the philosophy of the market, Hippies 2.0.

To pursue a strategy that isn’t grounded in the right philosophy is a waste of time, energy and attention. Hippies 2.0 reject useless media that steals their time, energy and attention. The reason is that it is philosophically out of touch with the soul of the human network.

Join the Hippie 2.0 community here and email your philosophical conversations to  post@hippie20.posterous.com   or Write a new post here!

As more and more organizations use all things social to attract audiences the issues of “spread” becomes a focal point for reaching the right audience.

In statistics, statistical dispersion is variability or spread in a variable of probable distribution. Probable distribution is important to distribution of relevant content in context with your audience.

Dispersion is contrasted with location or central tendency, and together they are the most used properties of distributions. If your content is not being dispersed to locations where your audience is then you are wasting efforts to attract the wrong audience.

Many people and organizations make the mistake of not clearly defining their audience. Without definition of “audience” you could be “feeding” content to people and businesses that have no relevancy to your intent. Without relevancy to intent you end up increasing the “spread” rather than “decreasing” the spread.  When you increase the “spread” you reduce the probability of reaching the right audience channels. When you decrease the spread to improve the probability of winning by reaching the right audience.

The power of social technology, properly used, is in the “reduction of spread”. Traditional media has wasted trillions in mass marketing because of the waste associated with increased spread. Just like gambling spreads in context to betting, spread betting carries a high level of risk, with potential losses or gains far in excess of the original money wagered. Gains come from reducing the spread. Losses come from increasing the spread.

The spread for social media is influenced by a number of factors:

1. The profile of readers attracted to your content (the audience)
2. Supply or “float” (the total number of stories outstanding that are available to share and attract the audience). The search engines provide “float indexes”.
3. Demand or interest in your content. Without demand and interest their is no hope for a transaction.
4. Total sharing (trading) activity of your content. The higher the “trading activity” the more value is created with relevant audiences.
5. The efficiency by which you decrease the “spread” and improve your productivity of the spread.

The graphic used in this post is a representation of relevant data I use to reduce my spread and improve my productivity. The data was generated by a tool called Flowtown. Flowtown is a marketing platform that helps businesses turn contacts into engaged customers. Flowtown helps make sense of all this data and turns it into meaningful output in the form of stronger business relationship by assessing your “spread”.

I loaded 1,000 of my readers into Flowtown. What does the data show? My “spread”. Will I use this data to improve the context of my content? I use other tools to determine other relevant “spread” data. Is it helpful to know your spread? You can bet on it!

PS: Stay Tune for Wednesday’s post:

Hippie 2.0: The “Social” Philosophy

Most corporation are obsessed with having a plan. The plan is supposed to explain strategies, initiatives and actions that produce a desired result.

Much of the plan is tied to financial forecast which is used to communicate “planned results” with investors, markets, employees and suppliers.

The “planing process” usually includes an assessment of all the related factors that influence the business. Once completed metrics are usually established to measure whether the collective actions of the organization are in fact creating the desired results predicted in the “plan. Many leaders cannot operate without a plan. Planning  becomes the “holy grail” for many and the effectiveness of the plan is measured by the results produced. If the results change then usually organizations change their plan. Sound familiar?

Can You Plan For Chaotic Change?

Historically change was incremental rather than real-time. Since it was incremental change was predictable and thus it was anticipated in the planning process. However, disruptive and chaotic change is not predictable thus trying to plan for it specifically is a waste of time and productivity. During chaotic and disruptive change all you can plan for is more change.

If you haven’t noticed today’s economic, business, technological, political and global environments are all in a state of disruptive change. No matter how hard the media tries to say “things are stabilizing” they are only saying so hoping to speak stability into existence. Analyst and politicians are changing their stories, their spin and their ultimate justifications constantly because everything seems unpredictable. Yet consumers, business markets and governments seem to ignore the constant state of flux we’re in and instead of simply accepting it they make yet another plan, another prediction and spin out the latest and greatest insights, their new plan. Here is a clue, the change behind all the change reflects a new philosophy which is grounded in different beliefs. Understand the beliefs of a market and you understand the changes required to adapt.

No Plan Then What?

Suppliers can’t produce without a plan. Businesses can’t fulfill sales without suppliers. Market demands can’t be satisfied without supply. Supply and demand are fueled by communications. So what should a business, an individual plan on?

It isn’t about not planning rather it is about planning for the right things at the right time. Instead of thinking about what you’ve been doing your plan must be grounded in a philosophy that matches the behavior of the market in real-time. Throw out the high gloss thick plans and tell people to think and create one page short term plans that reflect what the market of people believe in. Sound impossible?

It isn’t when you consider that the basis of all plans are fueled by beliefs. Beliefs are reflected by communications, data and collaboration.  collected, created, analyzed and driven by human beings, one to one to your entire audience. Planning is now a real time function rather than a future or past function. To do anything less is a waste of time and productivity. Wasted time and productivity is a pathway to failure, both short and long term. Why? Because people believe that  media that steals their time, productivity and attention is a waste.

What are you planning for NOW?

PS: Stay Tune for Wednesday’s post:

Hippie 2.0: The “Social” Philosophy

Mouse and Pen, a pro bono social media service, launched today to help organizations market themselves using emerging online strategies.

According to a recent study*, only 41% of firms using social media vehicles said they have a strategic plan to guide their activity in that space.

“It’s time for local organizations of all sizes, from sole proprietorships to large companies, to create strategies that engage their customers through social media,” said Scott Fuhr, owner of Mouse and Pen. “The economic climate may have been better earlier, however now there is a once-in-a-blue-moon chance to grab market share from competitors. No one else is pursuing it. Dive into the online world now and get more results.”

In addition, the study also showed that 55% of companies said they use social media for sales-related activities.

“This research demonstrates that developing an overarching social media strategy for your business will increase sales, but many organizations don’t know how,” said Fuhr. “Customers and prospects are more likely than ever before to strike up a conversation directly online. In fact, they now expect to communicate in real-time with a human online and get product news and information around-the-clock. If they can’t, they’ll spend their money elsewhere.”

A Philadelphia-area author recently enlisted the services of Mouse and Pen to promote a book about helping children with autism.

“Mouse and Pen was instrumental in helping me redesign my web site and also supported me as I started my first blog,” said Mary Barbera, Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, and author of The Verbal Behavior Approach. “The increase in traffic to my blog and website are up 74% since the blog launched. Within the first few days of advertising the blog redesign and my first post, I received three new inquiries for consultation.”

Fuhr added that organizations or services that are not operating with an appropriate social media strategy are risking major opportunities for business growth and can expect their competitors that do have active social media elements to pull ahead and take leadership positions.

Areas of concentration for Mouse and Pen include creating and executing online promotions by leveraging the growing power of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication).

For more information about Mouse and Pen, email scott@mouseandpen.com, or visit the blog, at www.mouseandpen.com.

About Mouse and Pen
Mouse and Pen provides social media strategies and marketing services that improve sales via blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, RSS, press releases and websites. All projects are executed with two goals in mind – to engage readers and to achieve business results. Mouse and Pen is powered by Scott Fuhr, a marketing professional with over 13 years of strategic public relations and communications experience. Services are currently provided pro bono. Visit www.mouseandpen.com.

Contact: Scott Fuhr, owner of Mouse and Pen: scott@mouseandpen.com.

* Study Source: Digital Brand Expressions, LLC.

If we combine the parallel transaction with the series transaction we have what now looks like a  neural network. In practice, we know that strong networks of people freely exchanging ideas make organizations better, smarter, and more efficient. Networks are where knowledge and  wisdom is literally stored. A network is  fault tolerant, if one person leaves, the network survives. For a relatively small input into a network, we can produce a large output of new knowledge – we have a  learning organization.

However, in society, these interactions are largely accidental; people meet at Church, Starbucks, and Social Events or by word of Mouth. Other times, these interactions are concentrated inside a single community of very similar people such as a technical conference, group meeting, or lunch buddies and are often not well diversified.

Suppose the  interactions among people were not random, instead, they could be designed by the entrepreneur to produce a unique outcome. The Innovation Bank will combine people of complementary knowledge assets in a calculated manner in order to arrive at  specific business approaches and applications.

A special case of the above business method and resulting social network is called the Multiplier Effect. A financial bank enjoys a  multiplier effect with the ability to lend the 10 times more money than they hold in reserve. Money changing hands has a  multiplier effect on an economy. Again, financial analogies hold.

Suppose that a company owns  composite material technology for use on aircraft. Since they specialize in airplanes, they have no intention of pursuing other applications such as recreational equipment, energy production, or health care products.

Suppose that the company could deposit this asset in a bank and collect interest. The Search Engine can scan the business landscape to find companies with a knowledge deficit in the area of your technology and make loans of your technology. As the originator, you have the  option to see what those other companies invent and you hold the right to use their new ideas in your aircraft application.

With an innovation Bank, you can reduce your  Research and Development costs and create additional revenue in a tangential innovation market. With reduced cost and risk of innovation, you are likely to specialize more and more in innovation as your enterprise. In the event of a cyclic downturn in the business of an originator, instead of “laying off” knowledge assets, people can work in tangential industries where they will continue developing – literally putting “Knowledge in the Bank” – to be called back when market conditions improve. A mobile knowledge asset increases in value becoming smarter and more productive over time.

While many if not all major brands are using social media most if not all miss the opportunity to “connect” all the dots.

How many brands have gone out with a “social media” campaign only to discover that they under estimated the power of the medium or failed to “connect” the internal supply chain with expected external demand? Many if not all.

An Example:

When Dunkin Donuts used social media to launch a campaign for Free iced coffee many went to their local Dunkin Donuts  only to find that their local store was not participating.  Here are some of the reactions from the “crowd”:“talk about false advertising, or at least misleading, dunkin should be ashamed”

“We were told in Boston that Massachusetts wasn’t participating free ice coffee day. I always go to Dunkin Donuts, but I think it’s time to start giving Honey Dew my business.”

“Is this a viral marketing scam to get us into the stores, find out there is NO free iced coffee today so 90% of us will buy something anyway? Maynard, Concord, Acton MA locations had no idea what I was talking about when I went in”

The problem was the promotion was only happening in select markets across the country. What, Dunkin Donuts didn’t realize there are no geographic boundaries to “social media”?  Or maybe they failed to put a disclaimer on their campaign. As if that would not have helped.

There are many other examples of brands not thinking about the implications and related dynamics of using social media. What becomes obvious is that those appointed as “heads” of social marketing are failing to “connect” their message, the medium and the related implications of their actions with the rest of the “body”.

The Human Network Is Connected & Interacts

Organizations have historically had common problems of “silo actions” by departments or individuals not being connected systemically with other people and processes. Subsequently the aim of organizational acts misfire, create variation, increased cost and the cycle of destructive forces goes around and around the corporate merry-go-round.

Ask any employee of any good sized company if they knew what the other departments were doing or had done. What answer would you likely get? No idea!

Today the “disconnection” of people, processes and technology is one if not the most significant threat to organizational survival in a “connected world”. The reason this is true is simply. While your organization may not be “connected” and “communicating” the people and the market are and the difference is transparent. If your head is not connected to your body well that means the body cannot perform as the head wishes or commands.

Before you think about running a “social media campaign” (which is yet another marketing scheme) ask the “body” the following questions first:

1. Do you know what social media is?
2. If people respond to your message how will you respond to them?
3. If people ask about your use of social media how will you respond?
4. Would you share your message with your friends?
5. What do we need to do to be prepared for people’s response?

How well is your head connected to the body? Watch the video below.