In a recent post about the Social Media revolution in the always interesting blog by Brian Solis, we are introduced to this concept of “distributed participation”. The post echoes the results of a Forrester Research study about the use of social technologies in 2009. Not surprisingly the growth of usage is not stopping with only 18% of US adults not taking part in the social game.
Taken from http://www.briansolis.com
But the real interest lies in the qualitative conclusion that “now is the time to build social marketing applications and that Interactive marketers should influence social network chatter, master social communication, and develop social assets – even if their customers are older”. That’s distributed participation.
As Solis states, it’s about strategic engagement focused on listening and research. We have to listen to the conversations because they take place even if we don’t listen or take part. “We are either part of or absent from the decision making process”.
In the PR world we have always prouded ourselves for “knowing” the media. We should embrace, engage and take part in the new media because it will empower our services, our capabilities and our results.
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December 3, 2009 at 10:27 am
gabor60
I see an interesting contradiction now with the adaptation of social media by the companies. They seem to like the idea, the time is here to change the ways we used to do things. On the other hand, limited budgets leave little scope for new developments. Social media is not a money consuming tool, it is a time consuming tool. These days very few companies dare to spend many workhours on something which only works if you are there. Not once, not twice, but all the time.
December 14, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Jacobo
Yeah. It’s not only about time, but about accepting the rules of the game. Some companies want to be there because it’s what everyone talks about. But they don’t understand that communication is different. It’s a conversation, engagement, a community…