Real-World Marketing for the Social Web

The great web of human identity and relationship has begun to express itself on the Internet. I mean "express" in the same sense as a gene expresses itself as a quality in an organism. Just as my genetic code expresses itself as my blonde hair and stubbornness (it's genetic because I SAY it is!), the collective creativity, action, and beingness of humanity expresses itself online as what we call the Web.

The Web of HTML pages and hyperlinks, of databases, protocols, and services, is less like the framing of a house than it is like the canvas of an Expressionist painting. Or so I like to think if it: Human expression is the generative force online, technology the raw material.

And the Web is in no way a simulacrum of a more "real" analog world. It's as real, in every meaningful sense, as the offline world. And the relationships, interactions, and experiences we have online are as real as their offline equivalents. Sure, they're lower-resolution. But they're not illegitimate as channels and containers of meaning and value. I can't give my grandmother a hug online, of course, but she sure appreciates it when I drop her an email with photos of the kids.

People who fret about a decline in the quality of our relationships in the low-resolution online environment are missing the point. The Web isn't an alternative to the offline world, it's a complementary dimension, and online relationships and interactions aren't a replacement for our offline relationships and interactions--digital and analog, rather, are parts of a whole. And that whole, online and off, is being created every moment by the sum of human activity.

So when we as marketers and publishers say we aren't in control online any more, it's not some kind of generous gesture acknowledging that the customer now has a voice--it means we really, really are NOT in control.

Which is fine. As a matter of fact, we never were. We just thought we were, because broadcast media are echo-chambers. Until recently, we could fool ourselves: La-la-la, I can't hear you. Everyone else was participating as they always had. They would have liked to engage us, but broadcast channels only go one way.

And as you know, the Web isn't a broadcast channel. One difference online today, compared to three years ago, is that word of mouth has gained exponential scale, and network effects happen faster than ever. The voice of the customer is amplified, and the tools are now in place for customers to talk back where we can listen.

Comments

[Jen]

Aw, I was hoping for truly crazy, but all I can say is "Bravo!" :) I particularly love the concept of online relationships being "lower resolution" - that's just it! They don't have all the nuance and texture of our analog interactions, but they are no less real! Very pleasurable reading to end my workday. Thanks!

[Ryan]

Yeah, maybe that post wasn't as crazy as it felt to write it. What I kind of feel is unconventional is the sense that the online social world is as legitimately human, and potentially humane, as the offline world--as much a part of our reality and consciousness as anything else. With that notion comes a bit of responsibility-taking, the kind I hope marketers will increasingly take to heart.

Anyway Jen, thanks for the note and I'm glad you enjoyed the post.