Power to the people
July 12th, 2008 | by admin | 95 views
As I continue developing my understanding of web 2.0 and organisations, I’ve been reading an excellent book recently called Groundswell.
Written by two Forrester analysts, it talks about the importance of organisations paying attention to what their customers are doing online.
They define groundswell as a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.
I’d add to this by saying its simply where people are freely having conversations online and sharing stuff with each other about loads of things including about organisations - but the organisations concerned are not part of these conversations.
And to unlock the business value they can gain from these conversations, they should be. Hence, organisations need to develop their web 2.0 strategies so that they can be.
People are using a raft of web 2.0 technologies to have these conversations and share information - everything from wikis to folksonomies to RSS feeds to social networking groups. And they are using these tools to say what they bloody-well want to. They don’t care about brand values, share prices, reputations, being sued and so on.
Here’s a great example.
Now, not surprisingly, the book talks about how Forrester has been asked by many organisations to help them develop their web 2.0 strategies for harnessing this sort of thing. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ (says the cynic in me 
However, I’d say that developing your own strategy is not rocket science! Based on the book, here’s how I’d propose you did it:
1 - Start by understanding who your target audience / customers are (you should already know this).
2 - recognise the fact that they are most likely to be having conversations online without you and decide what you want to do about it. ie. do you want to listen / support / take part in / lead these conversations etc (Forrester calls these your web 2.0 business goals)
3 - research the types of web 2.0 tools they are using. For example are they creating Facebook groups, do they subscribe to RSS feeds, do they write / comment / read blogs, do they vote on product ratings, etc.
4 - select the right tools from step 3 that will help you achieve your business goals in step 2
The book gives loads of examples of how to do this. e.g. There are thousands of groups on Facebook and myspace for MTV. If MTV wants to listen to the conversations their customers are having, they should at a very minimum observe these groups. If they want to take part, they should consider hosting a group.
But ignoring the conversations is probably not a wise option, as they will carry on happening regardless.
Web 2.0 truly puts power in the hands of customers - and organisations should pay attention. I can think of a few examples of web 2.0-friendly organisations that are already doing this. e.g. Amazon, Virgin Atlantic, Plusnet.
I wonder if McDonalds knows about this video …………
Thanks for reading this. I hope you found it of interest.
