User generated content is slowly turning into talent generated content. People that truly have talent are finding that they also have an audience. The ones that are not so talented (the users) might still have a few pairs of eyeballs on the content that they produce, but slowly the talent is prevailing.

Many brands are experimenting with giving users tools and material with which they can participate in creating advertising for the brands. With mixed results. The brands that are getting the best results are the ones that have realized that more freedom for the users is better.

Companies that have large marketing budgets are paying large sums to advertising agencies to try to figure out what would entice the consumers to buy their products. Due to media fragmentation the agencies are having more and more trouble finding the audience. General apprehension towards advertising is making it harder for the agencies to find the big idea that will work. The bottom line is, traditional marketing is not what it used to be.

Let’s take all this a bit further (actually quite a bit).

Talent generated marketing.

Instead of hiring an advertising agency to create one-size-fits-all, lowest common denominator, mass marketing, let the talent create the marketing. They know what the right message is. They know the people that are enthusiastic about the brand. They ARE that person. And they have friends that are that person.

Instead of paying the agency a million, pay the talent. Use digital tools to measure and figure out which people are your best talent and pay them. Not one times a million. A thousand times a thousand. Instead of one large expensive agency, a thousand small agencies. Small agencies that know the product and best of all, really know what works for the audience.

Create your own private army of agencies.

Social media was the big thing last year. It will be big this year too, but how big? Is it already running out of steam?

Friendship and social relations are about quality, not quantity. People are realizing that connecting with as many “friends” as possible is not worth the effort. There must be some reason people have not kept in touch in the first place. Surely, a Facebook friend request does not change why you have not had a relationship for many years?

But how many social networks can one person belong to? Everyone seems to be building a website with some sort of social aspect. There just is not enough time in the world for people to be social everywhere.

It is very easy to get carried away with all the hype going on. The fact is social media is just one side of an ever-evolving digital world. A world where change is constant and fast.

My candidates for the next big thing:
1. Aggregation - Sifting through enormous amounts of content and gathering the meaningful stuff.
2. Mobile - The technology is finally getting there. Or is it?
3. Baby Boomers - They are active, they have money and, now that they are retiring, they have time.

What do you think will be the next big thing that everyone talks about, smart people capitalize on and eventually fades away?

Thanks to JanneW for the inspiration. 

Tippingeurope has a good post on brands and social media. I do agree with most of the conclusions but one fundamental question comes to mind.

What should a company or brand do if forced in to a social media setting?

“…But don’t go there if you are unsure or don’t fully know what you’re doing, since even if you are well intentioned, your brand will pay dearly…”

I think saying “don’t go there” is not an answer. It is just postponing the inevitable. Look at the music industry. They tried the “don’t go there” alternative. And now they are paying.

The companies that are really feeling the heat are the ones that do not have a choice. They are the ones that have a big problem.

The thing is, it is not just about social media. In my opinion, social media is just a label that is used far too often these days. Year 2007 was the year of social media, this year it is going to be something else.

The important thing is to look at the big picture. Digital media has given consumers power and it has taken power away from companies and brands. Being “real, authentic, open, democratic and transparent” is not only about social media. It is about every part of business. You do not necessarily have to enter social media (What the hell does that even mean? And I should know…) but you do have to change the way your company operates.

First thing to do is change the company culture. Get everyone that matters on board and go for it. Yes, it will be difficult. Yes, it will hurt. But it is the only way. Then think about entering social media or whatever the hot topic of the moment is.

Social media will not be the end of change. It is just one entry in a long list of changes that are coming. Many of them have roots in digital media, many do not. The wise companies and brands are prepared for change, be it social media or something else.

An afterthought: Consumers are people, employees are people. How come the same people think totally differently when they switch from being consumers to employees?

Most objects have not entered the digital realm yet and will not do so for many years, if ever. Despite that, all objects do have a digital extension. The digital extension of an object is all the information that can not reasonably be gathered or distributed in analog format. The information beyond user manuals, warranty cards and washing instructions. Questions previously unanswered, maybe even unasked. Who made this? What is it made of? Is it good? Who has used it? Where will it end up after I am done with it?

The digital world, limitless storage space and effortless distribution, has allowed us to start adding these digital extensions to objects. And the importance of the extension is growing day by day.

Think about Amazon. You can not touch the products they are selling. You certainly can not try them out. Basically, you are not buying the product, you are buying information about the product. The accuracy of the information can only be verified once you have received your purchase.

New technologies (sensors, gps, rfid) will give us even more information. It will be entirely possible to trace a product from its birth right down to when it is recycled or ends up in a landfill.

Digital extensions will enhance our experience and help us make more informed decisions but they also come with a price. We will receive information that we might not care for. Information about the origins and ecological footprints of products. Information that will confront us. How do you justify buying something when the data clearly shows that it was manufactured in less then acceptable conditions?

Smart businesses have already realized the value of the digital extension and are turning their information into a competitive advantage. The dumb ones are still doing what they have always done: concealing and evading.

I really like John Maeda’s ideas on simplicity. Especially his post titled more = survival got me thinking more about the whole concept of simplicity. We can only start to simplify when we have become full.

Looking at all the analog objects we have around the apartment, I noticed one very significant thing. All analog, non technical, objects are simple and they are used in a simple way. A book, a chair, a lamp, all very simple. Most of them have only one function but it is performed exceptionally well.

In contrast, digital things are very complex. Laptops, mobile phones and even the iPod are very complex when compared to analog objects. And from software to hardware, every new product release brings with it a lot more complexity.

The current trend of more complexity will not survive in a digitalized world.

When more and more people are in constant contact with digital objects, there is less time and desire for learning. Currently people only have a limited number of digital objects, so they still have time to learn to use them. Imagine if learning to use a chair took the same time and effort it currently takes to learn to use a computer. Impossible. The simple things will win.

More and more users also means a bigger variety in users. Young, old, experienced, inexperienced. The objects that will appeal to the largest audience are bound to be the ones that are simpler.

Using digital objects is currently very intense, time and concentration wise. On the contrary most analog objects require very little. Opening a door, turning on the light, putting a book in the bookshelf are very effortless. Ubiquitous digital objects will also need to have the same effortlessness. Simplicity wins.

The complexity of a user interface is also a big issue when interacting with most object. For one, the amount of buttons that can be put on an object is very much restricted by the size and shape of the object. Less buttons means less complexity, both interface and usage wise.

User. Even the word we use implies that digital things must be used. Analog things are not used. A person reading a book is not referred to as a user of books. A person walking is not referred to as a user of the sidewalk.

When digital gets simpler we will have to find new words that describe the things we do. Simple things.

An afterthought: The building blocks of digital are very simple: only ones and zeroes. On the other hand, the building blocks of analog are very diverse. Basically, you can take any material out there and build anything from it. Yet, the outcome is just the opposite: digital = complex, analog = simple. Why is that?

More tv-channels, more websites, faster internet access, more varieties of ice cream. More, more, more. The fact is we are getting more of everything with each day that goes by. The only thing that stays the same is time. Only 24 four hours per day and that is it.

People only have a limited amount of time on their hands, so it should become even more valuable as we get more of everything else.

The way I see it, companies are either in the business of saving or consuming the time of their customers. Those that are in the saving time business should focus their efforts on maximizing the time they can save. And businesses that consume time should maximize the value their customer gets when giving up his or her precious time.

The interesting part is jumping from one business to the other.

YouTube did it. Watching videos, tv or movies used to be a time consuming activity. They turned the whole thing around, now watching videos is a time saving activity.  Three minutes and you are done.

I think there is a lot of room for innovation in this area. Maybe some online newspaper could stop trying to compete in speed. Focusing instead on consuming their customers time by providing the most in depth news coverage available. Creating a relationship with people that do not just want to scratch the surface and giving them lots of value for their time.

I have been working on segmentation and personalization models for a client for the past few days. In analog the boundary between segmentation and personalization is clear. The line begins to blur when digital tools are used to do segmentation by behavior. Say, people who bought a computer less than seven days ago.

If you do it really well you end up with segments of one.

Segmentation = Personalization

My co-worker, blog and social media expert, Pekka Nikrus was on sick leave today, so I have not had the chance to talk to him about this yet. But I know he is just going to love this.

Helsingin Sanomat, the largest daily newspaper in Finland has an article about the online endeavors of Finnish media companies. The main point of the article is that only a few of the companies have been able to gather a major audience online.

The best part of the article roughly translated from Finnish: “The faster pace of the news cycle causes the time we have to consider things to shorten, a lack of variety and..”

wait for it, wait for it…..

“the range of journalism to become more limited.”

A lack of variety? More Limited? Excuse me? I know they are not exactly on top of things but this is too much.

To my knowledge, journalism has something to do with gathering, analyzing and presenting the news. I doubt that Mr. Journalist here has ever even used the internet. Otherwise he would be aware that millions of people use the internet for gathering, analyzing and presenting the news on a daily basis.

This is punk all over again. I am quite sure that similar comments were heard from quite a few musicians when punk was emerging. “That is not music. Music should only be performed and recorded by certified musicians with years of experience. Music requires a deep understanding of music that ordinary people can never acquire”

Sorry journalists, it is time for some punk.

Seems like the major labels have finally given up. Good for them. And congratulations to my friend Antti.

They do need some major damage control to polish their brands. My suggestion is this:

DRM was the last obstacle in going fully digital. Now that they have gone past the point of no return, they might as well capitalize on the things they have going for them.
1. Digital music means a lot less waste. No more plastic cd-cases, no more plastic cds for that matter.
2. Being ecological is a trend that is not likely to go away very soon.

Which one of the major labels will produce the first zero-emission album?

If they wanted to they could become the greenest industry of all. I think it would be worth a shot.

Education, privacy, democracy, copyright, media and commerce. I am repeating myself (see Silence is golden) but I thought some clarification might be in order.

Education

When information was scarce it was essential that people learned how to wade through large masses of text and remember the most important things. Education it was called. Digitalization has made information plentiful. Basically any piece of information that a regular person might need can be found in mere seconds.

Digital tools are even giving the sacred art of writing a run for its money. The tools are giving us the power to effortlessly combine images, video, audio (smell and taste are still going to take a while) and share them with others. Why try to write about something when you can just use the tools to show the real thing? Sure, the most talented writers are going to be able to capture the moment, idea or feeling perfectly but the rest of us are going to use the easy way out.

Education should not be the same as it was before. It should be about creating ideas. Creatively combining information and media to make something new. Something of value.

Privacy

Digital information is eternal. Once you make something public in a digital format it becomes eternal. It might be a bit hard to find, but chances are someone somewhere has it. There have been quite a few campaigns aimed at teens addressing this issue. The argument is always: “Do not put anything questionable online because it is going to lessen your chances of getting a job in the future. The people that are thinking of hiring you will not do so once they find the thing.”

The only flaw in this logic is that the people that are doing the hiring will also have some indiscretion tarnishing their reputation. At it will be online for everyone to see. Once everyone has something, it levels thing out. People are no longer going to care so much.

User generated content is going to change the way we think about privacy. What was once though of as private will no longer be so. And people are going to be ok with it, because humans have been living in small villages and communities where basically everything is public for a lot longer than we have been living in large cities. The only difference will be that this time the village is global.

Democracy

We have already seen a few examples of what digitalization is doing to democracy and politics. The free flow of information is going to wreak havoc on politicians that have something to hide. People are using digital tools to speak up about the issues that they care about. They are forming communities and putting pressure on people that are in a position to change things.

Unfortunately the public sector has not yet opened up the wealth of data they have stored in their massive databases. I bet that once that happens, even politically inactive citizens might find a good reason to become active. Going to vote on election day might still be too tough for them but they would have the possibility to do some watchdogging from the comfort of their own homes.

Copyright

From Wikipedia: “Copyright is a legal concept that gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited period of time. At its most general, it is literally “the right to copy”…”

Copyright is a very good concept. It rightfully prevents anyone from stealing another persons creative work. The problem is that digitalization is making it impossible to enforce the law. Copying, modifying and distributing anything in digital format is just too easy. In fact, digital is the the new punk. Only this time, it is not only about music. It is about everything. Punk news. Punk tv. Punk anything and everything.

So the only way to get out of this mess is to figure out something new. Something that ensures that artist and creators get paid for what they do and the public is not unnecessarily inconvenienced with laws that are unenforceable.

Media

Talk about turmoil. I bet that each and every media company executive in the world is scratching their head trying to figure out what to do.

Problem number one:
The old business model was based on creating content for an audience and inserting ads between the two. The audience has become the content creator so there is no place to stick the ads anymore.

Problem number two:
The internet is a lousy mass medium. By my unscientific calculations the websites per users ratio is currently at a little under 10. And that is only counting sites, not the billions of pages that the websites contain. Even if everyone visited a hundred websites a day the mass would only be a thousand strong.

It is just not going to work out when the business has been built on rounding up the masses and selling advertising based on that. No mass available.

Commerce

Yeah, eCommerce and all that. In honor of the new year I think something more inspirational is in order.

3D printing. Yes, printers that print 3D object instead of text and images on paper. The current 3D-printers are not very useful to ordinary people. Yet. Think about mobile phones twenty years ago. Very expensive, very cumbersome and not very useful, because not very many people owned one.

If 3D-printing technology evolves at the same rate mobile phones did, the next revolution in commerce will begin before the current one is over. Imagine if buying a household object becomes as easy as buying music from the iTunes music store currently is. A few clicks (or a few something else. It would be nice if someone figured out a better interface than the mouse and keyboard by then) to buy a 3d-model of the object and a few more to print it.

Now, that is what I call eCommerce.

Oh yeah, there are some other issues involved with 3d-printing, like copyright, but more on them later.