Pay a Blogger Day – How to reward a blogger’s work?

Have you ever paid a blogger? Paid for your content love? I mean not for writing some good PR for your business. Just for them being bloggers, sharing valueble content, thoughts, ideas, and providing new food for thought. In some days you can do that. The “Pay a Blogger Day” is here to come. Some thoughts that came to my mind with it…

Some months ago, Flattr started their outreach program to bloggers. And some months ago, they were on their way to revolutionize the monetization of blogs. Those days, the Flattr button went live on my blog, and in every post. I rewarded blog posts, and got some rewards. Just the way Flattr works. They had the idea for the “Pay a Blogger Day”.

On Flattr Cents pass from bloggers to bloggers to… Well. Companies never paid anything. They have the biggest budget pockets though. And I asked myself if bloggers want companies to engage in the monetization process, or if reputation is of higher value for them. And why should companies pay a blogger for something they produce for free. Still trying to figure that out…

Some blog posts generated some Cents immediately through Flattr, never enough for some nice ice-cream in a week though. Somehow the activity to “donate” for a well-written piece of thought or idea felt like an act of charity. Some Cents felt like a pat on the shoulder. Sometimes, I discussed with bloggers if that is encouraging, or frustrating? Every blogger argued differently about this gesture. Many were not convinced. I have seen not many buttons on blogs since.

And often when I wanted to spend some Cents, those bloggers did not use Flattr. So, my reward for them often ended in a Retweet. Maybe Retweets are the killer of positive blog comments…

The main problem many bloggers saw in Flattr was that it will be challenging to get attention for this payment theory outside the bloggosphere. Sounded like: “Bloggers will pay themselves and thus reward their work within an inner circle of the blogging community.” One of the reasons why I finally decided to remove the button from my blog.

Now, Flattr starts -in cooperation with Bambuser, Twingly and Posterous- the “Pay a Blogger Day!” on November, 29th. They intend to start a movement with the mission “Give something back to bloggers!” A good idea…

How to reward a blogger’s work?
If I may inspire you -companies, marketers and managers- with reward opportunities for bloggers, then maybe you want to read this…

a) Companies that have used shared knowledge to improve their business could write a reference quote for the blogger why and how they benefit from reading a blog. It could be a comment, tweet or a blog post on their blog. Just be creative…!

b) Managers that have used shared knowledge for their career purposes could send a present when they think the blogger has deserved it (does not need to be on the “Pay a blogger day!”). A flower (digital or real), a freebie of your products or an invite to a paid for workshop about corporate blogging. And hey, chances are high, bloggers might write about it. Just be clever…!

c) Marketers that have used shared knowledge for their campaign ideas could start thinking about whether they shovel money into a print grave, rely on TV reach or hope for radio commercial payback. Maybe they want to start sponsor a blogger who is worth it as they act like brandvangelist, testimonial or brand advocate for a brand or company. And why are not many marketers trying to make use of bloggers in the offline world? Just be curious…!

d) Followers, fans, “plusers” and bloggers that have used shared knowledge could start discussing the monetization of their work in an authentic collaborative manner. Do you want banners ads, text links, affiliate programs, brand advocate prgrams, or…? What is authentic blog monetization? Or is it reputation only? In short: money, products or reputation currency like Floout.me?

Here is how Flattr wants to inspire you to reward a blogger…

Think about the thoughts and then start acting! I am sure, bloggers know how to say “Thank you” and all bloggers would love to see some of these rewarding opportunities. Right…?

Innovation study: Is culture or strategy the key to success?

Obviously, the headline question is not easy to answer. Both elements have their impact on business success. At this years IBM JamCamp, we could hear many presentations why “culture eats strategy for breakfast”, and how to turn your business into a social business (i.e. Sandy Carter’s speech) that will drive innovation to new dimensions (and here is some hint how companies might get huge investments for social business realization).

A new study by Booz & Company also shows that spending more on R&D won’t drive results. The results from the study illustrate that the most crucial factors are strategic alignment and a culture that supports innovation. The study surveyed almost 600 innovation leaders in companies around the world, large and small, in every major industry sector.

So what makes a truly innovative company? For sure, a focused innovation strategy, a compelling business strategy, deep customer insight, intelligent networking, as well as a splendid set of bright tactics. These are all elements that help giving your company an innovation boost. Still, the study states that corporate culture ties everything together — the organization’s self-sustaining patterns of behaving, feeling, thinking, and believing.

Still, the results of this year’s Global Innovation 1000 study make clear that only about half of all companies say their corporate culture robustly supports their innovation strategy. Moreover, about the same proportion say their innovation strategy is inadequately aligned with their overall corporate strategy. And although entire industries, such as pharmaceuticals, continue to devote relatively large shares of their resources to innovation, the results are much less successful than they and their stakeholders might hope for.

What I like about this study is that it supports my assumptions and thoughts of the Community Centric Strategy model. Across the board respondents identified “superior product performance” and “superior product quality” as their top strategic goals. And their two most important cultural attributes were “strong identification with the consumer/customer experience” and a “passion/pride in products”.

Statements like the following from the study could be taken as a proof for the future development towards a more cultural business attitude that puts the consumer in the middle of your innovation efforts…

“Our goal is to include the voice of the customer at the basic research level and throughout the product development cycle, to enable our technical people to actually see how their technologies work in various market conditions.” Fred Palensky, Executive Vice President of R&D and CTO, 3M Company

In my presentation at the IBM JamCamp 2011 I made clear that companies and brands need to close the perception gap between consumer’s demand and company goals. If companies don’t respect the 5 C engines of the Community Centric Strategy these two expectations cannot be aligned. We will continue to talk of target-groups instead of consumers that are grouping together in “community centers”. This is more of a cultural development companies need to go through than definable strategic capabillities by companies to drive innovations. By closing both the strategic alignment and culture gaps, companies and brands will better realize their goals and attributes.

Spot On!
The study results show that companies and brands should rethink the way they drive their innovation strategy. It suggests that the ways R&D managers and corporate decision makers think about their new products and services are critical for success. This includes all aspects how they feel about intangibles such as risk, creativity, openness, and collaboration. When nearly 20% of companies said they didn’t have a well-defined innovation strategy at all, it offers the chance to start anew and with the right approach. The Community Centric Strategy might be one solution for companies to evaluate culture as one of the main drivers to achieve your strategic goals in a modern way of doing business.

1 in 3 of 18-34s will do mobile shopping this christmas

Are you going shopping in stores to find some christmas presents? Or will you be doing your shopping tour via mobile? Well, if you use your mobile you are not alone…

According to a UK survey by marketing community site UTalkMarketing and online survey platform Toluna. 32% of 18-34-year-olds will use their mobile to buy Christmas presents this year.

However, this might sound as if only the young generation is shopping via their mobiles, the study makes clear that also older age groups are purchasing mobile with an increasing amount: 14% of 35-54 year-olds and 9% of over 55s year-olds also plan to get their presents for Christmas by using their mobile.

“The fact that a third of young adults are planning to buy their Christmas gifts via their mobile device is proof that the year of mobile-commerce is finally upon us. The fact that most mobile shoppers will do so directly via a retailer’s app is also strong proof that brands wishing to contend in the mobile-commerce arena must do more than simply provide a mobile optimised website,” says Melanie McKinney, Publisher, UTalkMarketing.

The survey questioned 1,300 UK consumers and found that iPhone users are the most likely to make a Christmas purchase via their device. 42% said they will make a Christmas purchase via their iPhone devices. 31% of those that say they will make a Christmas purchase via their mobile will use a BlackBerry and 27% will do so via an Android phone.

However, the advent of HTML 5 is near, apps are the retail channels of choice for the survey’s respondents. 88% of mobile shoppers will only make a purchase this Christmas if their retailer of choice has a transactional app. Only 12% of mobile shoppers will make a purchase directly from a retailer’s mobile-optimised website.

“The results of this survey are a clear indication that retailers cannot ignore the mobile-commerce wave. They need to adapt to and embrace the changing ways consumers now shop,” states McKinney.

Spot On!
Poor shops on the streets… The study is a good proof that mobile commerce is on it’s way towards mainstream. Also, the tablet movement, especially with the increasing use of iPads these days, will change consumer habits to go shopping in the future. Another YouGov survey released earlier this week suggests that 84% of consumers will buy at least one gift online this year with a third saying they will buy all of their gifts online. However, marketers have to be clear about the fact that more than a quarter of consumers (26%) are concerned about privacy issues when it comes to shopping via mobile according to the uTalkMarketing survey.

CMO’s studies: Yes, Social Media is key! – Can someone gimme a plan on “Social”…?

CMO’s and marketers all over the world and across industries understand the increasing value of Social Media in (their) business. However, I sometimes wonder whether they really recognize how to use Social Capital and Social Business effectively.

How did I get this view…?

Well, studies show me the reality… and many seminars and webinars open eyes. Today, I came across two studies which might illustrate what marketers and CMO’s need to get their heads around. If they are good, they create brand advocate programs, if they act badly consumers will see brands as boring, poor, and even worse… not obeying the rules of social business. And today brands cannot miss out on “Social”. That is a fact, CMO’s understand…

Market Research vs. Social Research
In one of the latest IBM studies of 1,700 chief marketing officers from 64 countries and across 19 industries, 82% of CMOs stated that they will increase their use (or budgets?) of Social Media over the next three to five years. The flipside is that just 26% are currently tracking blogs, 42% are tracking third-party reviews and 48% are tracking the consumer reviews which might help change their market positioning, their marketing insights, their marketing programs. Let’s take the qualitative aspect of Social Research first.

From a quantitative research perspective, 80% rely on market research and corporate benchmarking to rely on as their primary sources for market insights. Obviously, most companies also obey other “non-social” monitoring tools to value the development of their business: 68% use sales campaign analysis for strategic decision making.

In the end, it comes down to numbers. 63% of CMOs believe the ROI on their marketing invest will be the primary measure of effectiveness by 2015. However, almost half of respondents don’t feel prepared to satisfy those business figure aspects. The reason is obvious: CMOs often don’t have enough influence on radical company-wide change processes. Over half of responding CMOs stated they have no impact on pricing process and even less have any impact on new product development or retail channel selection.

Community and Brand Reputation
On the other hand, another new Weber Shandwick study found out how companies understand and plan their social efforts. So, why are some marketers more social than others?

The challenge is to find the key tactics with best possible metric efficiency. Most marketers know about the impact of the 3 “r’s”… reviews, ratings, recommendations on their business efforts. 52% attribute their brand reputation to their online social presence. And even more, 65% project online sociability will boost their reputation in the next three years. However, I would doubt if they act accordingly.

Today, Social Media is part of CMOs marketing mix. The question is, why only 16% consider their efforts as “world class”. This study also makes clear that marketers have trouble establishing clear goals for their social media strategy. Finding the right KPIs is essential. No wonder, companies state they are not well-prepared for the social future in terms of effectiveness. Most o fhtese companies don’t really integrate their social engagement into their enterprise processes.

Spot On!
CMO’s and marketers need to get insights beyond traditional market sources like page impresions, click-throughs and superficial numbers like fans and follower. The good spot is that 54% of global executives experience rewards to outweigh risks – versus 23% the other way round, and some European bosses even focus their attention preferably on Twitter. Although, C-level often does not know how to leverage Social efficiency. The community gives input on the value of products, services and preferrences. When did we have that years ago?

Somehow, marketers are in a poor position as they are working in the transition period. Top down target-group thinking is out, community centric thinking is the future. In some day, we will publish a new strategic theory on this at the IBM JamCamp. Nice coincidence…

The Virtual Handshake

When I was a kid, my grandparents had a little pub. Nothing special. Nothing glamorous. Just a comfortable meeting point for friends or business partners to catch up for a drink. The best day always was the “market day”. Merchants were setting up their booths at the marketplace in the little village my grandparents were living in, early in the morning when most people were still snoring in their beds. When their job was done, they popped up at the pub around 7am when their wives took over to sell their goods.

The guests in the pub did not expect very much. A drink was their desire. A tasty sandwich was luxury to them. Competition amoung pubs was tough, even in this little village a long time ago. There were many pubs around in that coal distrinct north of Germany. The owners of the other pubs in the village changed more or less every year, some even earlier. My grandparents’ business stayed for over a decade, until they decided it was time to stop working. The guests loved their attitude, their individual touch, their personalized way of talking to them. My grandparents’ business was successful.

What was the key to their success story?

Before I answer this question, let me ask you something… When did you shake hands last time with a friend, or a business partner? Do you remember? Did you ever think about why we are shaking hands with people? Have you ever not returned a handshake? It is a common habit of introducing ourselves and of saying Goodbye. We just do it. Well, let’s say in the offline world we do it…

Those days, whenever somebody came into my grandparents’ pub, my grandma and granddad gave them a personal handshake, embedded in some small talk about the weather or last nights sports results. The conversation made people feel good, feel wanted, not just being anonymous guests. They created a living room. People started talking with them about their personal hopes, fears, issues. The handshake had broken the ice…

In our social web world of today, customer relationship management and social networking become an increasingly important factor to be maintain a successful business within a more and more challenging and competitive world.

Many relationships today begin with a virtual handshake. So you may ask: What is a virtual handshake? Today, it comes in the format of a comment on a blog post, a LIKE on a status update on a Fanpage, an introduction mail inside a social network, or an invitation to join a community (Facebook or LinkedIn or a company specific).

In the offline world, nobody would turn away and not return the handshake. However, in the online world individuals put effort in terms of writing, talking and engaging with companies and brands, making their brand passion transparent, or just opening their minds to “business” (or privat?) conversations. All of that often before having received a virtual handshake with those companies that are reaching out to them via their -often anonymous- social hubs.

By participating in a community or engaging in conversations, customers take the initiative, they state a case and describe an act of will. Companies tend to forget that this is a virtual handshake. “Hello! Here I am! Look what I am telling you…”.

Many companies and brands do not answer. They don’t reply on social networks. They don’t value the hand that is right in front of them waiting. The hand which feeds them and their business. The free opportunity to connect, collaborate, or convert. Lack of time and resources is the killer of many of their social web activities.

My grandparents never forgot to shake hands with people that came to visit their pub. This was their success story. So simple, right…?

Think about it next time you set up a group or a community. Relationships start with a handshake – whether real or virtual. There just needs to be somebody that returns the handshake. For some this might be a change management process, for some it is just natural attitude towards customers…

Marketing automation – A sleeping lead generation star…?

Although companies get flooded with information concerning the benefits of marketing automation, the topic is still “not self-explanatory” to most marketers. The majority of B2B companies understand the general benefit in principle. Nevertheless, only a few are using marketing automation yet (7-10%). It seems that marketing automation is a sleeping star…

Still, the market for marketing automation is growing as you can figure out from the numbers below. Not surprising. The solution providersfor marketing automation proclaim an increase in lead generation and explain companies how easy it is to manage the sales lead funnel. And generating leads is what drives the B2B world around…

The annuitas Group just recently published some statistics from numerous sources that summarize the marketing automation market and published an interesting infographic.

- 110 vendors are seeling products and solutions in the marketing automation space
- 81% of best-in-class companies see the benefit in closing deals faster
- 76% of marketing decision makers see generation of high-qualified leads as the biggest challenge
- 64% of them have neither an internal nor external process to manage marketing automation
- 36% use marketing automation for lead nurturing
- 451% increase in qualified leads get businesses that use marketing automation for lead nurturing
- 47% more closed werde generated via lead nurturing generiert
- 10% use marketing automation to follow up later in the buying cycle

Spot On!
The statistics illustrate the power of marketing automation and what it could do to lead generation. However, when companies use marketing automation, only 25% use the full potential of marketing automation. It has become a “must have” in the marketing departments, at least of enterprises. If small and medium-sized companies use marketing automation or their a pre-sales/telemarketing to leverage their marketing and thus sales potential would be an eye-opening statistic in these terms. In many cases, time and resources hinder most companies from diving deeper into the potential of marketing automation and thus their brand content, the context in which it appears, and the community that talks about their business, products and services. The approach that I came across the last three years was an outsourced solution to service providers like agencies, publishers or software providers. And the main challenge of lead generation and nurturing is to align marketing, sales and customer service for a more efficient web strategy.

Would you agree that marketing automation is still a sleeping marketing star for lead generation…?

Poll: Mobile commerce taking market share of desktop shopping…

Mobile commerce is definitely on the rise, and some technological trends seem to be making an impact on this fast development in the future. According to data from the Global Consumer Survey from MEF, the global community for mobile content and commerce, consumers embrace mobile commerce globally: 91% in UK and 79% in Brazil have used their mobile device for commerce, to either research or purchase a product.

The MEF’s Global Consumer Survey commissioned OnDevice Research was conducted in nine countries across five continents, and polled 8,530 respondents. The findings showed that the number of people getting engaged in mobile commerce did not drop below 72% in any of the markets surveyed.

The research shows that 82% of UK respondents access the mobile web on a daily basis – Brasil was even higher with 84%. It seems that the opportunity to have a mobile device with internet access at hand, takes the importance and necessity to have access and use to desktops to go shopping online. 41% of Brazilians and 34% of UK respondents access the internet on their PCs less often than 18 months ago.

“This global research clearly demonstrates that consumers across the world are embracing mobile as a key access point for their content and commerce needs. (…). It also illustrates that mobile is an essential platform for companies wishing to drive consumer engagement and monetise their goods, services and digital products”. Andrew Bud, Global Chairman, MEF

Spot On!
The only issue people have with mobile commerce is the lack in trust in security. The study says that over a quarter of North American consumers would buy more often on their mobile if they trusted the security. Nevertheless, 38% have already purchased via their smartphones. Mobile banking gains ground in some countries (32% in Singapore regularly check their balance on a wireless device, and 18% pay bills). No doubt about that. However, most people globally will probably wait with mobile commerce some more years. No matter which payment method will be the future but definitely for sums of 100 USD and above. Don’t you think?

Social Commerce – An impact on purchase decisions?

Some weeks ago, someone said (and please comment here as I cannot access my elder tweets anymore) I might be the next and right expert to thing about social commerce of the future. OK, here we go… brief and based on studies as usual.

Many companies ask themselves if social commerce ist he next big thing and what impact it might have on the buying process of consumers. Let me give you two examples to think about social commerce visions with two of the latest studies that I came across in the last two days.

An optimistic view…
The E-Tailing Group Inc., sponsored by PowerReviews, finds in a research that one in two respondents say they spend 75% of their overall shopping time researching for products (compared to 21% last year). Customer reviews have the biggest impact on the decision to buy: 90% respond reviews have an impact on their decision; 60% say they’re the most important factor.

The report The 2011 Social Shopping Study finds that 29% of shoppers are turning to social networks to research products. However, only 18% of retailers in The E-tailing Group’s annual mystery shopping survey in the fourth quarter of 2010 feature customer reviews on their Facebook pages.

“People are willing to take the time to do research,” she says. “They will do anything to find the right price. (…) Social is emerging as a significant way that some consumers research products (…) The real question will be whether social media is adopted by most younger consumers and become a standard way consumers research products.” Lauren Friedman, President, The E-tailing Group

Some essential findings for social commerce future consideration…
- 59% say they read customer reviews (if on social platforms or not is not quantified)
- 42% access question-and-answer features that allow a consumer to pose and respond a/to question(s) to/of other shoppers
- 26% converse in community forums
- 15% view user-generated videos or create their own video
- 13% access a retailer or manufacturer’s Facebook page
- 9% monitor, respond to, or post tweets on Twitter.

A pessimistic aspect…
A representative study conducted by Havas Media and Lightspeed Research of 1.007 UK social networkers finds that 89% of respondents not having bought anything on Facebook. Above that, 44% of people are not even interested in doing so.

However, if the provider or manufaturer offers some special discount and deals, 77% of respondents are more likely to buy via Facebook shops. And targeting then becomes key: 70% of the people said, they would buy things from Facebook tht were based on their interests and prevous shopping behaviour (so business intelligence and data mining are welcome with consumers it seems). Also Location-Based Advertising (LBA) gets some impact then: 55% would even „check-in“ to a venue or stire via Facebook Places or Foursquare promotions.

Exclusivity is a main factor for social commerce according to the study. One quarter (25%) responding they would purchase a product on Facebook if it wasn’t available anywhere else, 22% make trust in a brand they know dependable on their buyiong process, and 17% said, they would purchase if it was easier than shopping via ecommerce solutions. Even, 11% stating they would buy something that was only offered to ‘fans’ of a brand.

Brand advocates and brandvangelists are essential. The study shows the power of online recommendations and the influence of friends is essential for socail shopping. If friends recommend a brand, 53% of consumers were more likely to look up information about a brand. 17% were likely to buy from a brand if it was recommended by someone they knew.

And crowd shopping for discounts seems to become a trend. More than half of respondents were interested in getting together with friends to buy products in services in groups. 60% of males finding this opportunity compelling, compared with 48% of women. And women are generally speaking more “neutral” and “negative” when they see a brand on a social networking site (83%), according to the “Women & Brands Online: ‘The Digital Disconnect’ Emerges” study, from ad:tech Chicago and Q Interactive’s “Women Channel”. Those same female Internet users responded they were more likely to be affected by coupons and discounts (41.6%).

Spot On!
Social Commerce is evolving to play a bigger role in the purchase decision process. And like in earlier offline ages, it is the social graph (friends and influencers) that make the important difference in my eyes. You buy from those people you trust (if they are the middlemen and know about it, or not). The studies show a clear trend: People, especially men while women being more difficult to affect with social branding activities, buy when they are addressed with the ads of the poeple they know and trust in. Brandvangelists are an essential factor that companies and brands need to consider embracing in their customer acquisition tactics when thinking about the future of their web strategy.

Outlook or flashback? The (mobile) reward advertising model…

About 12 years ago, when I was about to join silicon, I remember my first meeting in the Chelsea office. I got to know the founders and management team in London and we had first discussions about the future of the business model. It was all very exciting to be in the UK, talking business with that innovative team that was reaching out to the big VC’s for more venture capital as web TV and community building seemed to have been the new rising starts for the next hundred years. And today all business is focussing on mobile…

At that day, we were brainstorming opportunities how to engage users in advertising, and how to reward them. Reward them, when they were watching the pre-rolls at our daily (on-demand) three minutes news show, when they were clicking on display ads, when were reading articles that might fit their business needs and then send them personalized advertising… and reward them when paying attention to any forms and activities of sponsored areas.

To be frankly open, the time was not ready for these types of advertising rewards from a user perspective (as well as the ad industry understanding the capabilities). However, we thought about clever loyalty programs and how to let users participate in the revenues we are generating. As we were working in the B2B scenario it was even more difficult to get this into the heads of our users. I remember, we even tested the silicon point reward model and had a personalized point counter on our side for some days. Yes, we were quite ahead of our times…

So, where are we today with the reward advertising model?

Some weeks ago, I met Julian Fourgeaud at Rovio (Angry Birds) when I was speaking at the istrategyconference in Amsterdam. Julian told me all about the opportunities they have with their mobile gaming business. If you think about their reach – Angry Birds just cracked the 200 Mio. downloads barrier- it all makes perfect sense. I was surprised how much time people spend with the game, and how addicted people became during the istrategyconference dinner (just ask my kids…) but wondered how to make a clever advertising model out of it. And I thought if reach is as benefitial as relevance form an advertising point of view. But that is another story…

Today, I was reminded of the old silicon days. I came across a new business model which is called kiip. Their business is quite simple. A code is implemented in a game which is basically an ad. The ad is a reward points model or coupon that shows up in mobile games when people achieve certain high-scores or levels in the game. So, when you beat a level, you might get a coffee from Starbucks or a discount from MINI’s merchandising shop. Or you just collect points via their loyalty schemes which motivate you to think about purchasing their latest products.

Here is the video how kiip works…

Kiip: An Introduction from kiip on Vimeo.

Spot On!
There are so many advertising opportunities or loyalty programs (i.e. like Multiply to increase the worth of brand fans) these days that won’t be as offensive as the traditional advertising model. HOWEVER, in my eyes there is one thing which needs to happen: Personalization. With silicon those days we saw who was logged in, just like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter do. So, personalized reward advertising ad models should no be a challenge anymore (under given permission). Still, I cannot see any of these rewarding systems really working for now. Or is Facebook Stories heading towards this idea? Groupon, Foursquare and Gowalla could come up with similar ideas if they just collaborate with the guys from kiip. And if credit card providers as well as loyalty card providers would change their strategies and group with these guys, chances would be amazing to make advertising engaging, personal, rewarding and finally efficient for brands. We would get offers in a personalized format, at the right time and in the right environment.

What do you think about reward advertising models? Is this an exiting area to focus on? Do you fear that data privacy (remember this Google spoof commercial…) becomes an issue as usual? Let us know…

Participation 3.0: Thoughts on attending web events

Before we start… Yes, I have published this post as Partizipation 2.0 in German some weeks ago. Now, after having been to different other web events like i.e. TEDx yesterday, people told me to translate the post, upgrade it to 3.0 and make it part of the series The Social Society (Part 1: Social Networking and Part 2: Social Engagement & Jobs). So, here we go with part 3… Participation 3.0.

In the last weeks, I have followed different reviews on web events. And I have to admit, reading the latest posts caused wrinkles on my forehead. Doubtful on the real long lasting output. Questioning what impact those events have. And also, asking myself, what is the best way to attend these events and participate in the content and context these events have to offer?

What is the additional value in participating in all these events that are taking place in London, Paris and Amsterdam (although the last one was definitely the best of those!).

With all these future of web events, I am always asking myself: “To go, or not to go? Attending, or leave it?”. Attending is more work than ever before. Would you agree…?

Only if you really participate, as we call it today. So what is participation in the future? How do we define the luxury to attend an event offline in the future? Writing Tweets, editing and creating live blog posts, following and commenting on the latest conversation around the event – apart from participating in other realtime online conversations that are interesting? It is a challenge… and exhausting. Or do we see participation 3.0 more as listening offline, starting communications around the speeches and panels? Lively discussing with attendees “face-to-face” instead of “digital-to-digital”. Or both? Won’t we loose the visionary and revolutionary of thesis, the essence and matter then? It would be more than hard work to listen to everyone, right… Resulting in a “social media hangover” as Michael Brenner describes nicely in his post…

So what is participation 3.0 at web events in some years? My view of participation 3.0 looks as follows…

Participation 3.0 is interactive, i.e. a modern offline discussion panel that shares latest real-time knowledge among participants. No monologue of a great speaker, evangelist or business leader. It is moderation rather than presentation, stimulation not penetration, that these people on stage offer. Stimulation instead of penetration. Giving attendees the opportunity to be completely focussed on the discussion. No distraction. No wandering around between offline and digital conversation strings. An open for communication build lecture or workshop that asks, that enables knowledge sharing. People who understands sharing, disturbing and double-checking conversations as the imperative of speeches and presentations.

When have you seen somebody being inspired or animated by the speaker or presenter to giving their input? When did you see someone getting involved in the speech? And when is a participant criticising the speaker on stage (thought about the Aristotelean theatre are allowed)? Or would this be too spontaneous, unpleasant and disagreeable for the “homo connectus” in our nice offline world 1.0? Is participation 2.0 just one step too far away for us human beings…?

For years I am asking if the invested time in these “future of web events” will pay out? For years these events come along as usual events, very well-behaved, not hoody-styled, not freaky, not… whatever. Style 1.0! For years, I am waiting for the symbiosis of offline and online discourse which not even Twitter walls achieved to get going (if at all available and from the moderators used as an input tool for the conversations).

How sensible is it to listen to the web avantgarde without any interruption, or exchange ideas or visions with them when offline engagement does not exist, or is not even close to being alive? Remember how the “inner circle” was sticking to their smartphones, their talets or notebooks at the last event you participated? At the last events I joined, I followed tweets and comments where attendees wanted to drag the speaker or moderator off stage. Don’t even think someone shouted out loud… Did the critics really participate in these futuristic events?

Quite often I got the impression on national as well as international web events that a community in a community is self-inventing, self-justifying and “self-centrifying” their social world. And yes, it seemed they have celebrated their existance – without even participating in the event anymore. “Heard this speech and statement from the speaker already twice, let’s grab a coffee…!” Quotes I have heard often… Is it not essential to cut through the presentation and motivate people to think ahead in order to aggregate, catalyse and animate “shared knowledge”? Are we not standing offside and neglect our leadership position without realizing it – resulting in not added value for all?

Some years ago, it was seen as a premise to be part of the web avantgarde and to be invited to attend these events and to sip from the fountain of futuristic web intellect and insights.

Today, as of the old-fashioned event set-ups, traditional speeches and marketing intentions of the speakers 1.0, these events tend to become sum-ups, networking parties and reunions. Nohting special anymore it seems as everybody thinks the trend of shared knowledge does not offer any new input on stage?

Where is the realtime offline mapping of online conversations of participants following the event? Moderators often forget it and don’t get input from the technical staff. Somehow the boring monologue of the presenters seems to become the sleeping pill for the dialogue-fatugue audience – definitely during the speeches you can see it.

As soon as the event is over, the thirst for conversation starts immediately in blogs, forums or communities again. We find critic and virtual tapping on the shoulder. The blogosphere is alive again. During the event silence rules. No engaging offline conversation. No Wifi. Lack in bandwith. Lack in motivation for real participation initiative or motivation? Although, attendees feel the pressure to engage and participate in the offline monologue on stage, often nothing happens…

Maybe all this is the reason why the bloggosphere seems to be untouchable, outstanding, extraordinary? Or did these web geeks just find a way to differentiate from the community of the “web normalicus” by not really engaging anymore in the offline discussions? That would be a superficial approach as a specialist, wouldn’t it…?

So where is the barrier between participation 3.0 and thought-leadership 3.0? Or is this new type of web thought-leaders learning, growing and adapting and thus will always use this to build a gap between them and the mainstream user? Or will the event input get more sustainability and long lasting intensity out of “after-event participation” in online conversations? Then participation 3.0 would be even more interesting. Although some might see chaotic scenarios at events…

Maybe these are some thoughts are going too far away from reality, might be too revolutionary… What do you think about participation 3.0?

« Vorherige Seite — Nächste Seite »