Challenging Social Dogma

by Jay Deragon on 07/08/2010

This entry is part 59 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

The marketplace of conversations is filled with social dogma  — “a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative.”  Social marketing, SEO, social advertising, get twitter followers, make money online etc. and the dogma proliferates our  attention and steals our time while the meaning and value becomes useless.

What does it mean to challenge the social dogma? Creative thought challenges  existing dogma, instead of complying with it: to reject what is and instead creates something that isn’t.

People and organizations tend to buy into the dogma: “this is how things are done,” they think — and then they do it over and over and get the same results but at higher cost. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity

Social dogma needs to be challenged or the value of social media gets diminished. Here is my list of common things we are seeing in the social space that I would consider dogma:

  1. Social products. Most companies use social media to do the same thing they have always done, push their products in our face. Even companies that are producing social products have designed them to do what has always been done. A product isn’t innovative unless it does what has not been done. Consider Apple’s products.
  2. Social strategy. Everyone seems to be adding the term “strategy” to their online presence. Yet few seems to have any experience thinking strategically. Strategy and strategist means to think differently because the aim of a strategy is to do things differently. What is it — really — that makes you different?  Facebook created an experience and an experiment in social interaction — and that’s why its rivals are desperately playing catch up. Playing catch up is missing the point: It’s not about following Facebook. It’s about challenging the dogma of your own thinking. Will your strategy produce anything different that isn’t already being used or available?
  3. Social distribution. Social technologies are  rolling out wave after wave of portals, channels, and platforms: all new distribution mechanisms. The problem is that they quickly become the same old distribution mechanisms, with a slightly different interface. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and whatever else you use  will eventually be challenged. The preconception that content could only be distributed in walled gardens will be torn down. As the social technology moves to more of a truly open market it will challenge anything that came before it.
  4. Social business models. Have you noticed that publishing business models has turned upside down and inside out? Have you also noticed that all business models are being effected by all things social? Governments, organizations and people are trying to adapt to the impact and dynamics of all things social. Social media are communications and one thing is certain about communications, it will change. Change is the business model. Wasting time investing in a model for today means you have to waste more time chasing tomorrows model.
  5. Social sales and service. Now organizations are discovering how to use social to better serve the customer and enhance sales. The art of engagement has become personal, passionate, and in real-time. The sales process has inverted where the customer is now the sales person and the process. Service has where self-service is the mantra at the moment. Group buying is reducing the cost of middlemen and technology is advancing which is enabling buyers and suppliers to connect directly. Suppliers using social to sell and service will awaken to enabling the buyer to choose what they want, when they want it and do so with seamless virtual service.

As soon as you stop challenging the social dogma your thinking begins to accept the “code of beliefs as being authoritative and definitive”. The reality is that all things social are changing everything and thus nothing will remain in a constant state. To see and create  change requires you to challenge your own thinking and those who believe their own dogma.

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A Social Strategy Isn’t A Silo Exercise

by Jay Deragon on 06/30/2010

This entry is part 58 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

The social media conversations are now being elevated to strategic vs. tactical levels. The difference in these conversations are more about the whole rather than the parts.

Business strategy is the overarching, long-term plan of operations that will achieve the economic objectives of the organization. It is part of the four levels of business success: organizational goals, strategy, operations, and tactics. Marketing is one of the parts but it doesn’t represent the whole. Yet the conversations about social media are consumed with its implications on marketing.

Social media , to have the proper business impact, is a process of well defined strategy, tactics and execution. It must be applied appropriately and in the proper mix, using several key principles:

  1. Core strategy development
  2. Corporate communications
  3. Public Relations
  4. Feedback and research
  5. Channels of communications
  6. Strategic relations
  7. Brand monitoring
  8. Metrics measurement and data insights
  9. Systemic Integration
  10. Social Media 3.0 architectures

Many  ‘deploy’ elements of social media marketing, such as, blogs, Twitter, Facebook. They do so because they feel that they are applying newest marketing techniques. But many do not fully understand the strategic implications required to turn social media into a measurable and meaningful strategic tool that goes beyond marketing.

Social media is no longer an optional element in your overall strategy . It’s integral to effectively managing your brand, your business, your reputation and your relationships. The Human factors are the greatest influence on any strategy. Without people to think and do you can’t develop a sound strategy and execute an effective plan. The attraction of social media is centric to the factors that attract the human DNA to engage and participate. The equity of a brand is directly proportional to its attraction to the human DNA.

Your brand equity is driven by your strategy, marketing is simply one element of your strategy that relects your brand equity. As Chris Anderson, author of ‘The Long Tail’, said, “It’s not what you say your brand is, it’s what Google says it is.” Today, because of social technology, your brand and services are ‘owned’ by the community of people  you serve.  Unless you have a clearly defined service strategy that separates you from the pack you’ll end up using social media to chase the pack.

What is important in deploying a  strategy is to understand how effective it is and to what extent it is having an impact on achieving the objectives of the organizational plan. Unless all the elements of your strategy are connected they are likely to create waste and rework. The tendency of the human network is to avoid waste and rework. Many are using social media as a marketing channel but the human experience created by the marketing messages become wasteful and non-productive for the human network.

Social media is a critical tool for interacting with the human network and for listening to relational issues.  Whether internally or externally the human network is and always will be the driving factor to development and execution of sound strategies. Look at the ten core principles above and consider which single principle is more important than the other.  None, they all fit together and create the whole. To focus on one without the others reflects silo mentality. Silos aren’t connected to anything else.

The human network is connected to everything. Social technology is about connecting everything to everyone. Get it?

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No Strategy? Your Plan Is Going Nowhere!

by Jay Deragon on 06/29/2010

This entry is part 57 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

Let’s say you discovered a new process that could revolutionize your business. Lets say this process enables you to do more with less and allows you to engage all stakeholders efficiently. Lets say this new process holds the promise for the future of your business.

That being said would you simply use the process or plan to use the process effectively?

If you decided to simply use the process without planning for its use then the probability of achieving the potential it offers is slim to none. It would be like driving without a map, starting a trip with no destination in mind or defined routes to get where you want to go. Even if you know where you want to go without a plan you may end up going nowhere.

Going nowhere is the best way to describe the majority of organizations using social media.

What Comes First, A Plan or a Strategy?

Strategy is distinct from tactics. Tactics is concerned with the conduct of an engagement while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked. In other words, how a plan is executed is a matter of tactics: the terms by which a  plan is executed and whether it should be executed at all is a matter of strategy. Business strategy is the overarching, long-term plan of operations that will achieve the economic objectives of the organization. It is part of the four levels of business success: organizational goals, strategy, operations, and tactics.

A plan without a strategy is a waste of resources, productivity and time. Wasting resources, productivity and time does not produce economic gains.

The Social Media Wasteland

Neil Glassman writes: 50% of Companies Entering Social Media Have No Plan

According to the R2i study, while a majority of marketing professionals and company decision makers view social media as essential to their business, most have not made any money using it. However, the R2i study makes a compelling case for a social media strategy. It compared the 35% of companies that reported increased revenue or profit using social media with the companies that did not report a growth outcome. Those benefiting were:

  1. About twice as likely to have a formal social media strategy
  2. Almost twice as likely to have a dedicated headcount for managing social media
  3. About twice as likely to rate themselves as “proficient” or “expert”
  4. Almost three times as likely to have read a book on social media

Matt Goddard, CEO, R2i said “Despite the presence and popularity of social media, many companies remain relatively unfamiliar with its practices, pundits, and principles.”

Some interesting highlights from the DBE report include:

  1. Of the firms reporting that they have no plan in place for social media, DBE found 88% agree it is important to have such a plan, suggesting perhaps the lack of a cohesive planning process is preventing the company from moving forward to adopt strategies for the social channel.
  2. Of those companies that work from some plan, 94% say that marketing activities are included in the plan and 71% say that the Marketing Department is the group with the primary responsibility for creating and maintaining the firm’s social media presence.
  3. Seventy-one percent of respondents with a plan (71%) indicate they use social media for public relations communications, and 55% say that they use social media for sales-related activities. Only 16% say their human resources team is using social media for recruiting, employee retention, training and development, etc. Just 26% use it for customer service.
  4. Of those companies that don’t have a strategic plan but think it is important to create one, the number one activity rated as important to include in a social media plan is allocating resources for ongoing activities.

DBE

The above report emphasizes both a plan and a strategy. Notice the report above says those benefiting from social media compared to those that don’t were twice as likely to have a formal social media strategy.  Remember the terms by which a  plan is executed and whether it should be executed at all is a matter of strategy. You may have a plan but without a clear strategy your plan will take you to the social media wastelands.

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Wasting Social Currency?

by Jay Deragon on 05/25/2010

This entry is part 55 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

Communications are a currency of exchange for producing something valuable. The value of effective communications is an engagement which propagates learning. Learning begets knowledge  that we can apply to solving problems. Problems solved represent increased productivity. Productivity adds value to any economy.

Social currency represents a communications exchange relevant to relationships we have or develop. Some people and organizations treat these exchanges like toilet paper.

Evaluating Social Currency

Social currency is information shared which encourages further social encounters and exchanges. It is a significant factor for any business .  People talking and sharing things is a form of social currency that draws attention and attraction to the things or person being discussed. People  feel the need to learn about things, people and businesses to help and become part of social interaction. However people can easily move to a new topic or person quickly if a new topic, business or person offers more social currency.

What is completely new or unique within the human exchange about things, people and businesses are the reach and influence by the masses of people vs. mass media. The new dynamic brought on by all things social is forcing traditional mass media outlets and programs to try to  create content that people will use as social currency. People  choose an action based on the context of relevant content to create social currency.  The actions generated from social currency then influences the behavior of people who ultimately create multiple forms of transactional value, economic, social, political and spiritual.

Fame provides the person, organization and groups with social currency, where a poor reputation deprived them of it. Fame is when a large market of “people” recognize someone, a topic or a business as a result of mass awareness fueled by people, one to one to millions.  Social currency becomes significantly valuable when the accompanying fame has a strong affinity and influence on a “mass of people” and their relevant behavior. Social currency transforms information into knowledge which is traded, acted upon and used to create or reduce value, capital.

Wasting vs. Improving Social Currency

As organizations and people engage using social media a critical factor is whether the use of it improves or waste an exchanges of value, information and knowledge. Value exchanges carry relational attributes where people consider the exchange worthy of their time and attention. Traditional marketing, advertising and PR tactics have historically been used to “grab people’s time and attention” without considering the relational value wasted or improved, social currency. The internet has now enabled the “mass of people” to create relational value and reject media not focused on relevant value exchanges.

Those that will and are winning the most value are those creating and giving the most value. The relevant social currency being exchanged is the result  of distributed value received and then shared, one to one to millions. The obsession with getting economic gain through social media reflects a focus on an end result. Said focus misses the relevant “production processes” that create results. An economic gain is the result of knowing (knowledge) and understanding (wisdom) social currency.

The word “social” means attitudes, orientations, or behaviors which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account. The word “currency” means an acceptable means of exchange of value. The result of producing anything represents a gain or lose of value for people. All of these results creates or destroys more value than money but money, or lack thereof, may be the medium of measure indicating an end result.

No one likes wasting time or money. Spend both wisely and the return from the human network creates more than expected. Think differently and provide value then results comes naturally.

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Facebook Strategy: Surround & Capture

by Jay Deragon on 05/24/2010

This entry is part 54 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

Facebook’s massive growth and recent tactics paint a clear picture as to its strategy, surround and capture. Is Facebook following a military strategy?

Military strategies try to  surround and capture as  an objective.  The military applies simulated maneuvers to define the enemies possible moves when certain strategies and related tactics are used against them. By doing such exercises the military can decide how to best use “war assets” including technology, air, land and sea equipment as well as weapons and human resources.

Businesses have examined and applied military strategies to dominate a market and demolish competitors for years. Many businesses look at the marketplace as war, always trying to surround and capture people.

Today these same strategies are being applied to win a war for consumer attention on and off  the web. This war is aimed at surrounding and capturing people and organizations data which becomes the primary objective.  Data drives information  that creates new knowledge. It is a war for gaining economic control fueled by the knowledge of what drives the digital economy. An enemy is viewed as anyone or organization that has the power (knowledge) to capture people’s activity (data) and use that data against you. So in the world of all things social who is your enemy?

Is Facebook Engaged in War?

Lets consider the relevant issues that leads one to consider that Facebook is engaged in a war to get our data before others do. How? By dominating the web and our attention aimed at surrounding and capturing our collective data. Consider the  multiple strategies used by military operations and compare it to Facebook’s behavior.

  • Attrition – A strategy of wearing down competitors to the point of collapse through continuous loss of attention, attraction, affinity which keeps the audience contained for more actions.  Contained in Facebook.
  • Bait & Bleed – A military strategy similar to the concept of divide and conquer. Facebook pulls people and organizations into their web only to fuel advertising revenue. But the bigger position is to garner the data from what, where, when, what, why,how and who has an affinity to what and whom. The data is the gold which reveals information and knowledge about the intersection of technology and human behavior. The digital economy represents said intersection and its relevant meaning.
  • Annihilation – The goal of destroying an opposing forces in a single planned pivotal move. Have you noticed what Facebook does when something like Four Square shows promise? They copy and improve the model and the attraction with the aim of dominating attention.
  • Shock & Awe – Technically known as rapid dominance, is a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power.  Wonder why Facebook changes privacy terms, adds functions and features without consultation with brands or organizations using their platform? These moves distract and leave you in shock and awe.
  • Blockading – Trying to cut off data, information, knowledge or communications from a particular area by force, usually taking place without notice. If you are a brand ask yourself who has your consumer data. You or Facebook? Does Facebook try and sell brands the data against user preferences?
  • Switch & Hold – A counter-insurgency strategy. As soon as you think your advertising and marketing strategies are working on Facebook they change the terms, conditions and do so to their advantage, not yours.
  • Counter Offensive- A strategic offensive taking place after your patience and reserves have been exhausted, and before you have had the opportunity to assume new defensive positions.

All of these strategies ultimately lead to a master plan of “surround and capture“. In the digital economy if your offering surrounds the media and all the media points their audience to you well you have effectively surrounded the market. The irony is that the market has helped you surround themselves. Brands beware that you are giving Facebook weapons of data to be used against you. Name a brand that doesn’t encourage their market to “connect” with them on Facebook?

Once you’ve surrounded the market, businesses and people (500 million strong on Facebook), then you have captured them. In doing so you now have their data and all the information about their activities which creates a powerful knowledge inventory that no one else has. Ever heard that knowledge is power? Those that have more of it can win a war. Have you noticed that Facebook’s traffic has now exceeded Google’s?

People Don’t Like to Be Surrounded, Captured or Involved in War

If Facebook has adopted a military strategy and is waging a war (certainly appears so) then the people and businesses that live in Facebook’s country will probably leave sooner or later. Have you noticed an undercurrent of the market distrust, exodus, concern and questioning of motives?

The battle for people’s attention will always be waged but the war will be won by the will of the people. Maybe Facebook ought “pay” attention to the will of the people and brands before the people exercise their will and leave.

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Insource or Outsource Social Media?

by Jay Deragon on 04/29/2010

This entry is part 53 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

It seems as though more and more companies are looking to hire internal social media managers and strategist. The problem with this approach is that the field of experienced and knowledgeable resources is very limited given the short period of time social dynamics have arisen.

What Is More Effective?

Outsourcing wedged its foot in the door as a cost-cutting measure, but it’s increasingly viewed as a strategic planning and business outcomes tool.

According to an Accenture survey of more than 800 executives in the United States and Europe, cost savings are still a key outsourcing benefit, but the additional business controls generated by outsourcing are driving the trend to external providers.

That increased control shows up almost immediately with 25% of respondents reporting first-day improvements in business processes.

The most frequently cited improvements included better ability to plan, higher levels of operational reliability and knowledge assets, and more rapid implementation of new strategies and initiatives.

The trend toward deriving broader business benefits from outsourcing stems from both increased maturity and experience with the process and, the spread of outsourcing to develop and deploy effective social media strategies from competent knowledge resources.

More companies are turning to outside sources for social technology operations, learning and training, human resources, accounting and financial services, marketing, branding, web development as well as customer relationship management. 43% of the executives surveyed prefer outsourcing arrangements over hiring internal social media managers and strategist.

The effect of moving outsourcing into multiple business process has brought a wider range of business experience and insight to bear on the ever changing landscape of social technology.

The trend looks to be long-lasting, with more than 80% of the survey respondents expressing commitment to permanent outsourcing of at least one key social media business function.

True Cost Calculation

The true cost of using social media strategically is representative of having the right knowledge assets in place to effectively deploy strategies, initiatives and relevant measures to such efforts. Not doing the right things for the right reasons can cost you not only money but reputation and brand equity. Chose wisely and at least consider the value of outsourcing. That is outsourcing to the right knowledge assets.

Thinking that you need to hire someone to manage your social media efforts is like saying I need someone to communicate for the company. Communications is everyone’s job. Don’t believe it? Soon you’ll find out everyone is communicating and unless you have the right strategy, policy, education and guidance they may be saying the wrong thing to the right people.

Giving people the knowledge of what, when, how, who, where and why to communicate is more effective than establishing a position that simply communicates.

Knowledge usually comes from the outside but it can be transferred inside. It is less costly to obtain new knowledge and transfer it inside than to hire the wrong knowledge and bring it inside.

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Org Changes From Social Technology

by Jay Deragon on 04/28/2010

This entry is part 52 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

Someone once said “The world doesn’t fear a new idea, what it fears is a new experience.”

Business as usual is no longer possible. Business as unusual is now the norm in every market globally. Why? Because change is accelerating daily and much of the changes are being fueled by communications. Communications is the foundation of every business and the right of every individual. But now communications is fluid, transparent and exploding at the click of a mouse on-line and off.

Numerous studies have shown that many businesses fail at to make necessary changes that are critical to success. For example, 50 – 75% of all implementations of integrative technologies or methodologies, e.g., CRM, Business Process Improvement, Social Technology, etc., fail to achieve the financial results which justified their investment.

The ability to react quickly to change is critical to business survival. Yet, the inability to implement  change hinder the organization’s ability to keep pace with its competitors. The implications of these issues go beyond the obvious short-term direct results of wasting resources and not achieving stated goals.

The social technology landscape is evolving at an ever-increasing rate, with security, compliance, and the expanding utility of mobile devices all being in the forefront in 2010. In addition to exploding technology advances, organizations continue to try and reorganize and focus on improved  business processes aimed at greater efficiencies and effectiveness in a marketplace of increased expectations from consumers and investors.

All of these issues share a common theme as involving changes in process, technology and people. Constrain to successful change is usually not with the technology, methodology, etc. Rather, the direct cause for “failure”  is the lack of knowledge required for the human and organizational response to change. People don’t resist change they resist being changed.

What Knowledge is Required to Lead Change Successfully?

Traditional thinking has approached change management as a structured approach. Structured approaches to leading change in a world of unstructured communications is doomed to fail.

Historically the change management strategy adopted by many businesses is focused almost entirely on development of new documentation of procedures and training of personnel on the new changes. The irony of historical approaches to change has been top down while the driving forces of change are bottom up. Again, people don’t resist change they resist being changed.

The knowledge of what needs to change and how to make the change is no longer contained by the few rather it rest with the many.

The critical elements for enabling change to work successfully include:

Management Willingness –  Management’s visibility and consistent commitment to changes that the people recognize as needed is critical. Many change efforts have failed when management has not been aware that their role is central to convincing the organization they will allow the changes to happen and they themselves are willing to change.  Instead management’s reaction to all things social is to control, constrain and police it.

Change Agents– Change Agents, the people who are passionate about change and have the influence to insure that changes are acted on not just talked about . Who are these people? You’d be surprised to find out that they are everywhere in and outside the organization. There is a pent up demand for change in society and people want things to change from business as usual to unusual. The change agents are self organized “nodes” inside and outside the traditional organizational structure.

Culture – For organizations with strong cultures, any change that runs counter to that culture will have additional barriers to success. Unless the culture can change it will be a barrier to any change required or requested by and for the people.

The critical lesson, however, is that change management is not an “add-on” or separate activity from the rest of  operational activities. Change is the new imperative for all operational activity, organizational visions and innovation initiatives. Period!

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Profound Knowledge & Social Technology

by Jay Deragon on 04/27/2010

This entry is part 51 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

Early in my professional career I was introduced to Dr. W. Edwards Deming and his teachings in the early 80′s.

The Deming philosophy has stuck with me since then and subsequently when I view business and market developments I always view them from the lens of Profound Knowledge. This is both a curse and a blessing.

What Is Profound Knowledge?

The System of Profound Knowledge helps us to see the complexity of how organizations work. When we understand this we can then figure out what we have to do to get long-term improvements in effectiveness and efficiency. Ultimately, organizations led by people who are guided by the System of Profound Knowledge are likely to be much more efficient and effective than organizations which continue with the prevailing thinking where emphasis is on short term results.

Why is This So Important?

Because everything comes from organizations of people, processes and communications. To get more of what we want the organizations involved in supplying us must work efficiently and effectively. To work efficiently organizations have to learn new knowledge about how the system, or that of the market, actually works or doesn’t work well.

For example, when we decide to use social technology effectively we need three things:

  • we need to understand how the technology impacts the “system”
  • we need organized methods, messages, technology and people aimed at collaboration
  • we need to learn what new knowledge is gained from assimilation of what is communicated

Simply using social technology is not enough. For a start there must be an adequate understanding of what, when, how, where, why and who is within and outside the  “system”. Organizations and individuals will need to understand how to use technology efficiently. Data collection from usage  must be accurate and real time. The messages, methods, processes and relationships sot must be aimed at quality not just quantity. And using the technology must be done efficiently. All this needs good organization(s) – not just good individuals – to deliver them.

The System of Profound Knowledge

The System of Profound Knowledge  has four parts.

  1. Appreciation of a system: understanding the overall processes involving suppliers, producers, and customers (or recipients) of goods and services which are driven by communications. Now consider what social technology does.
  2. Knowledge of variation: the range and causes of variation in quality, and use of statistical sampling in measurements (understanding data patterns). Social technology creates variations in markets, institutions and society. Do we understand how use of social technology creates variation?
  3. Theory of knowledge: the concepts explaining knowledge and the limits of what can be known. Social technology propagates knowledge if used correctly and creates new knowledge to be applied.
  4. Knowledge of psychology: concepts of human nature. Every wonder what the attraction social technology has with people? It is the intersection of technology and human behavior at rates never before imagined.

“Profound Knowledge” is a system. This means that the four parts interact with one another. Real time transformation will only start when there has been some progress in all parts, not just one. On the other hand real time chaos happens when people and organizations use social technology in one of the parts of Profound Knowledge rather than the whole (i.e. delegated to marketing & advertising).

Social Media are a System

Everything is a system that should be continuously improved and not confined to parts of the system. Social technology is largely being applied to marketing, advertising, PR and recruitment. These silo efforts are and will continue to disrupt “systems” because efforts and communications are disconnected.

Profound knowledge creates order out of chaos. Without it social technology creates disorder and chaos. To learn how to use profound knowledge requires a knowledge, not social, network. Know the difference?

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Google Maps For Social Media?

by Jay Deragon on 04/26/2010

This entry is part 50 of 58 in the series Social Strategies

Search is advancing to the point of finding people and things on-line and off easily. The location of people and things has relevancy to certain things but true relevancy will come when “knowledge” can be mapped.

Applications such as Brightkite, Foursquare, Gowala and Yelp are examples of finding places of interest. Apps like  Checkin Mania allows you to see places of interest from all four services side-by-side.

Checkin Mania is based on Google Maps,  their site (here), you can enter a location and then see places of interest offered by all of the above mentioned services.

Places or People of Interest?

While the above mentioned applications provide utility for finding things in places of interest the next wave of value will come when “knowledge” will be mapped and we can easily find people whom have the knowledge we need for whatever purpose.

You might think that finding people with the right knowledge to solve whatever problem or create whatever solution you need can be done today. The reality is that the web doesn’t index knowledge rather it indexes content that is in context with what we may be seeking. Content is information not necessarily knowledge.

Knowledge is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.

Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning. The term knowledge is also used to mean the confident understanding of a subject with the ability to use it for a specific purpose if appropriate. Knowledge rest in the minds of people and our minds have the capacity of processing, storing and using  more information than the entire web.

Is Social Media a Mind Map of Knowledge?

What if that which we “know” could be indexed for others to find? Are we more interested in finding places or knowledge?

The web is facilitating the creation of content faster than ever before. Trillions of bits of information are created everyday. Information turns to knowledge when it can be categorized into useful taxonomies. The information on the web is created by people and machines. It is the people who know how to use the information that represents “knowledge assets” yet to be indexed for use in efficient or effective ways.

Social media represents the communication of information. Someday in the near future we will see “knowledge maps” that enable people and organizations to efficiently find the right knowledge for the right purpose from the right people. That will be the day when learning and innovation accelerate like we’ve never seen or experience since the beginning of time. Why? Because knowledge is tangible when you can see and find it then apply it to solving problems or creating innovation.  Today that happens in very inefficient ways. Tomorrow it will happen at the click of a mouse or a request from the spoken word.

Many talk about knowledge management and the knowledge economy. The current discussions do not reflect what will happen when the “knowledge inventory” of the human network becomes findable and usable my the masses.

The “Google map” will shift from places and things to people and knowledge. As Dorthy said in “The Wizard of Oz”, this doesn’t look like Kansas anymore.

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