Posts tagged sociology


Social Web Ushers in “The Era of Alone”

Oct 15th

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To a large extent, civilization has been defined by the way it communicates and the tectonic plates of of our culture have shifted. Permanently.  The social web has ushered in the ”Era of Alone.”

You can witness this transformational power of communication in almost any history book.

Look at a map of Europe. Ever wonder why all the countries are approximately the same size? It was largely determined by how much territory a messenger could cover on horseback in two days. Even the vast empires of the past were divided into states that approximated this size. You could not possibly control a territory larger than a two-day ride from the center point. Communication determined kingdoms.

Communication also defined our social structures. Even the smallest Medieval village had a town square where people could meet, trade and socialize. Gathering each evening to meet was the only communication channel we had for centuries. The entire city was built around that center of communication.

With radio, for the first time, we could get immediate news and entertainment without stepping outside.   The TV became the centerpiece of the home, a place where families gathered each evening to watch a flickering screen. That innovation, combined with the automobile, ended the need for city squares, but it was still a “social” communication channel – you could do it with your family and friends.  In fact, it was better that way.

Today, seemingly every person under 40 is wired to a portable electronic communicator to provide news and entertainment how we want it, where we want it, when we want it.  It’s called the Internet and social media, but there isn’t much truly “social” about it. We don’t gather in a city center to share Facebook. We don’t sit around a fireplace and read tweets to one another.

For the first time in history, daily communication and entertainment can be a solitary event. I’ve observed hordes of teenagers hunched over cell phones, frantically texting one another … even when they are surrounded by friends! Isn’t it ironic these new tools actively, incessantly pull us away from live human interaction, and yet we call it “social” media?

The basic premise of the popular “World is Flat” book is that people and place don’t matter any more. We can be employed, connected, global citizens and never step outside.  If we do, it’s to the coffee shop for WiFi rather than camaraderie.

How strange and sad. You and I never have to meet or speak or touch one another.  We can be completely informed, entertained and connected individuals, while sitting alone in a small dark room.  Civilization is still defined by how we communicate. Welcome to the Era of Alone.

I’ve learned that when I spew deep thoughts like this nobody reads it, so congratulations, and thank you, if you’ve made it this far.  : )   I appreciate your indulgence and would value your comments!
This is the Fourth and final segment of a series on “Self and Social Media.”
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The invisible rules of social media

Aug 18th

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This is the second part of my interview with Robin Frank, who leads social media efforts for Gap Outlet, Banana Republic Factory Store and other well-known brands. The first part is here.
After being in the social media trenches for some time, what organizational or cultural changes need to be made at a company to succeed with the new channel?

In the world of improv comedy, there is a concept called invisible rules – the rules you play by, but have never really questioned and aren’t explicitly stated. Traditional brands have a few invisible rules that social media pushes them to articulate, explore, and eventually move past, and each company has their own set.

One such rule is that large brands historically use any opportunity for customer interaction to push their product and promotions. Engaging their brand advocates in conversations, rewarding their customers with special deals and promotions, and encouraging word-of mouth on a daily basis is new territory. The real fun begins when they branch out and offer relevant and useful content for their social media audiences. Sometimes this is an easy leap and just a matter of giving them a few creative ideas that are aligned with their brand.

For Gap Outlet and Banana Republic Factory Store, we created a series of tweets (and soon Facebook posts) that run several times a week called “Fab without a Fortune” – these are tips that speak to their social media audiences and show them the brand “gets” what they want and is there to help them shop smarter, stretch their dollars, and still be fashionable. We’ve had a great response with these.

The other invisible rule I sometimes come up against is the “email is king” mentality – brands want to use social media to drive people to their email lists because then they’ve GOT them. I see many companies with big budgets for email marketing, and they need some help understanding that social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook can be less intrusive, more direct, and offer better results.

Customers are more likely to follow you or fan you than give you an email address. And, it is mega opt-in – customers want to hear from you more than say, once a week – they want to hear from you several times a day. I have seen double digit click through rates on Twitter and Facebook that put email marketing to shame. These companies need some guidance to transfer resources and rethink their approach so they can ask their loyal customers to join them on Twitter and Facebook.

As every brand competes for the consumer’s attentions, the emerging social media channel is becoming noisy and crowded. Is consumer overloading a real risk for you?Sure, there are a lot of brands and noise out there, but there will always be loyal followers who want to HEAR from your brand and want to be HEARD. Going forward, consumers will actually demand higher engagement from brands – more useful content, more useful promotions, more entertaining links, more conversations.
Smart brands will give consumers the ability to CHOOSE how they want to interact – email, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or any other channel. Just remember that social media followers are finicky – the will unfollow you in a click, or simply not participate if you do something they don’t like. My advice is to stay focused, stay engaged, and make it as easy as possible for consumers to do business with you.

Tomorrow: Robin’s six social media strategies for YOU!

Robin consults with a wide range of companies – retail, banking, clean/greentech, and B2B – helping them establish cost-effective Social Media programs that increase marketing ROI and foster broader and deeper customer engagement and education. You can reach her at @robeen, robeenf@gmail.com, or linkedin.com/in/robinfrank.
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“Digital natives” will need special care in the workplace

Aug 11th

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portrait black 2006I’m thrilled to have my friend Gil Crosby contribute to this series on social media and the workplace. Gil is a leading organizational development consultant, author and teacher. He and his father, Robert, the founder of Crosby & Associates, are among the most influential teachers in my life. Here’s what Gil has to say:

Technology has always done so. Although we’re accustomed to them now, the telephone, television, and automobile each created radical changes in society. Mark wrote of a time when our primary neural development came through “intense socialization with family members and friends, physical activity and interacting with nature in some way,” yet all of these technologies also eroded the same patterns of socialization, and were lamented (for good reason) by the “older generation” of their times.

Implications for management

Some believe our emerging wired culture is leading to a global increase in ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and I tend to agree. I particularly worry about the impact of increased ADD on leadership, as the tendency to jump from one initiative to another without ever getting the preceding implementation right is already a plague in modern organizations.

Again, these tendencies didn’t start with the latest wave of innovation. But the effects do seem to be sinking deeper. In my work with young engineers I find they are consistently bored, have a low tolerance for authority figures (like many adults but with even less perspective they quickly conclude that the problem is that “the boss is an idiot”), will simply “drop out of the game” without weighing the long term consequences, and will try to communicate electronically especially if there is any discomfort or conflict involved.

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Managing Generation Zombie

Aug 10th

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Consider:

  • The average teen in America texts nearly 1,500 times a month and 15,000/month is not unheard of (that’s 500 messages per day!).
  • Kids under the age of 20 spend a total of 3 billion minutes on Facebook every DAY.
  • The average teen now spends an average of six hours a day in front of a computer, TV or video game.

Screen-based stimulation has become the primary source of socialization and entertainment among teens and increasingly younger children. Just a generation ago, socialization occurred when a child was playing with friends, kicking a ball, or playing “house” (or if you go way back, I guess they played “cave”). Are we re-wiring an entire generation? And what does that mean for recruiting, managing, and retaining the workforce of the future?

The social media zombie?
An individual’s fundamental neural framework is nearly complete by the time they are 15 years old. Everything a child experiences forms neural pathways, and the most-used pathways become critical aspects of their personality and the foundation of how they interact as adults. Before the days of screen-based entertainment (most of human history!), the strongest pathways were naturally formed by intense socialization with family members and friends, physical activity and interacting with nature through play and work.

With so many children spending MOST of their time in front of keyboards and flashing screens, a new framework, “the social media brain” is emerging and it is not going to be all good.

A disregard for consequence
New research claims social network sites risk infantilizing the mid-21st century mind, leaving it characterized by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathize, and a shaky sense of identity. That does not sound like the model employee.

The author of the study said the rapid-fire reward of video games and text messaging could be a cause of the three-fold rise in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) over the past 10 years and warned against “a marked preference for the here-and-now, where the immediacy of an experience trumps any regard for the consequences.” She says the behaviors exhibted toward digital media are similar to compulsive gambling, eating and addictions.

Hey, they’ll grow out of it, right? Wrong. The neural frameworks set-up by this incessant conditioning will determine behavior patterns into adulthood … and into the workplace.

What does this mean for companies?
All of this research points to a real challenge for business: many young people entering the workforce over the next 10 years may severely lack critical life skills such as an ability to interpret non-verbal behaviors, holding sustained conversations, and dealing with face-to-face conflict. How will the workplace adjust? I see it happening in several ways:

1) Companies will have to offer new levels of emotional intelligence training to new workers.

2) The work environment will conform to the new workers, creating jobs and work situations with constant stimuation, short bursts of work and a focus on individual contribution.

3) Universities will recognize the need for an emotional intelligence curriculum and differentiate their offerings based on this need.

There’s no going back. These are the realities of the new workplace. So as you think this through, what other business opportunities and challenges will occur as traditional company cultures collide with Generation Zombie? Do you see it already happening?

Tomorrow, noted organizational development authority Gil Crosby will offer his insights on this topic in a guest blog.

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