Tipping Point 2.0
Left Brain often looks at emerging digital trends, but we should really be looking not just at the cutting edge, but also at what it takes for that edge to turn into a ledge, a platform, and a full blown mania. Tipping Point 2.0, if you will.
Most CEOs should already have the Gladwellian mavens working out what’s not just hip/trendy, but useful/profitable. These are very early adopters, who, as a library friend of mine pointed out, "often have to deal with bugs when a site is in beta. Essentially they’re helping test the software."
But these are "just" those who are "intense gatherers of information and impressions, and so are often the first to pick up on new or nascent trends." (via Wikipedia) How do they build large communities that can change the ways we communicate and do business?
As communicators, when can we say something has converted to mainstream, and is worthy of consideration as a corporate communications tool?
Digital trendsetters like Robert Scoble and Guy Kawasaki are by no means mainstream, and as such, would be poor gauges for telling when something has come of mainstream legitimacy age.
Politicians, however, may be the new bellwethers of the "mainstreamlining" of digital trends. The last two elections have seen an explosion in the use of web-based communications tools, and subsequently Web 2.0 tools.
In 2004, we watched the meteoric rise of the Howard Dean campaign, being one of the first to be based largely online. We also saw it implode as his charisma failed to convert small-time online donors into voters. Maybe this was because he was too early of an adopter of digital trends.
Obama’s Web 2.0 campaign has relied heavily on Web 1.0 tools that have now gone mainstream (website, blog, online donations). It remains to be seen whether his campaign will be able to convert the polling numbers into reality.
Most businesses have adopted Web 1.0 tools like websites, blogs, and intranets, but it will be interesting to see which ones hop on the Web 2.0 bandwagon of social networks and microblogging and whatever the next big thing will bring.
A major factor driving this will be whether these networks are adopted by meaningful communities. On Yammer (billed as Twitter for enterprise), so far just me and my colleague Noah are on board for Ruder Finn. That will only be a useful network if others start using it. Without the audiences that businesses want to reach on Twitter, it will fail like so many lolcats captions.
A tech enthusiast friend of mine recently said:
"There are so many new things to explore in the Web 2.0 world that I like to wait until I see there is a solid following. Bugs do not bother me as much as a lack of a substantial community. The only time I’m an early adapter is when I think something is going to really going to change the way we do things on the web."
What technology have you adopted recently? Has a company ever communicated with you effectively online?
More from RFI Studios
- Can you survive without Facebook? – Left Brain
- Friends among robots – Left Brain
- Office Politics – Left Brain
- Behind the trends – Left Brain
- Rudder Fin and Googleability – Left Brain
Comments (2)
October 20th, 2008 at 3:11 pm Posted by Alison
I don’t have any personal experience with this, but I know that there’s a guy at Comcast who watches Twitter & searches blogs, trying to find people who are complaining about the company. He then steps in and tries to resolve whatever issue the customer is having. (Consumerist often points out this type of thing when it happens.)
Most of my experience of being “interacted with” by companies is in the form of half-baked comments to my blog. For example, on a recent post about weatherizing my apartment, someone left a long comment about how to deal with the door. It was perfectly useful information and she wasn’t shilling a product, but her link went back to a webpage for a company that sold stoves (for heat, not cooking) and so I was immediately suspicious. Ultimately I didn’t allow the comment to be posted. I see this kind of thing as companies trying to use the community (however small) that I have built to sell whatever they are trying to sell, and that’s not the point of my blog. For heavens’ sake, I’m not even making money off of it, I’m certainly not going to help anyone else use my blog to do so.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:53 pm Posted by rfdarius
thanks for the comment, alison.
i’ve seen that about comcast, but do not use their service, so haven’t come into contact with it. there are plenty of other companies also glomming on to new media products like twitter, but i’m wondering when we’ll be able to say it’s here to stay. i think it’s far from it, even though CNN, NYTimes, and WSJ all use it fairly extensively.
what would be an enticing way for a company to interact with you online? how about beyond products, and into overall reputation?
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