We spend our lives trying to distinguish ourselves from each
other, when we equally need to be concerned about what connects us. But what does
connect us? Affinity, purpose, beliefs, DNA, conversation, interests, a
purpose, experience, geography, traits, even laughter. Connections both revolve
and evolve.
Something has changed though. Something fundamental and
something scalable. Two hundred years ago, we started off with people. It was a
people to people environment. Then industrialisation happened. The mass
production of goods that we over consumed. All thrown in with the mass adoption
of the television. Since then there have been rapid shifts from computers to
the internet, web 2.0 and presently social media. Which ironically has all led
back to people again. The difference this time is the size or, should I say,
number of our connections. Pre industry revolution this was probably 200 people,
now it could be 2 million!
Humans are social, living things like ants, bees and birds!
We can get gripped by a connected urge to add intelligence to each other.
Through lots of connections we can potentially arrive at greater solutions for
all. Connection isn’t primarily about marketing or selling, its about peer to
peer value creation. These new ways of connecting are driving the conversation
away from organisations and brands. A brands role has changed from dictating
the conversation to facilitating the connections between people!
The possibility of being connected to thousands of people
can be exciting as much as overwhelming. It’s impact is significant, if not
liberating. Whilst at one end of the spectrum we will have the ability to scale
up those connections very quickly and innovate on an unprecedented scale, we
will also have to solve critical issues. There are some obstacles to remove,
some difficulties to suppress.
When the uninitiated mass majority arrive over the hill,
there will be conflict for those connections, people will try to ’sell’ those
connections, people will inevitably abuse those connections. We will need to
learn how to manage those connections whilst at the same time influence them.
How do you filter and engage simultaneously? How do you automate in parallel
with expressing the personal aspects of a brand? Tools to aid are emerging but
they are in their infancy.
There is an enlightening buzz around how we enable our joint
connections connect to each other and how those connections will bind consumer
and business communities around brands. Our brains are social, they love to
converse, talk, share and experience together. Connection can bring about
momentum, many businesses never thought they had!
