Only Dead Fish

IPA Social - Principle 06 - Being Authentic Not Persuasive

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So, on October 6th the IPA are running an event (at which I'll be talking) to have a conversation around what social really means for our industry. In the build up to the event, I've been working with a great bunch of likeminded folk from across our industry who all had opinions they wanted to express, and we have worked up ten principles to start the conversation. This introduction (written by Amelia) gives the proper context:

Social Media is a conversation. That seems to be one thing that we can all agree on.

But given that Social Media is a rather noisy and opinionated conversation, what value do we think we will have by adding our voices to it?

We are not Social Media gurus. In fact we are rather sceptical of people who claim they are. We are simply 10 people from across a wide range of communications disciplines in the UK and the US who would like to share some thoughts. Thoughts that have either been bugging us or inspiring us, thoughts that we believe could form some of the building blocks for succesful Social campaigns. We came together to respond to and add our voices to some work that the IPA had done earlier in the year.

We have each defined a Principle which we feel is important in this Social world. You will find each principle up here but they are also on our individual blogs where we will be curating the conversation which we hope they will generate. Please do get involved, maybe you think these principles don't apply, are there better ones? Are there changes that you would like to make? Are there examples that you could add to help illustrate them? The only thing that we ask is that as part of the advertising and communications community that you become part of the conversation. After all the more opinions that are being shared and built on, the more interesting and stronger the outcome. At least that's what we are hoping.

Thank you in advance.

The IPA have created a hub for all ten principles, along with a fantastic summary of the big picture written by Mark Earls, all of which you can find here. Each of us is writing about a single principle and encouraging as much debate through our own blogs, and around the #IPASocial hashtag on twitter, and the event itself:

1. People not consumers – Mark Earls

2. Social agenda not business agenda – Le’Nise Brothers

3. Continuous conversation not campaigning – John V Willshire

4. Long term impacts not quick fixes – Faris Yakob

5. Marketing with people not to people – Katy Lindemann

6. Being authentic not persuasive – Neil Perkin

7. Perpetual beta – Jamie Coomber

8. Technology changes, people don’t – Amelia Torode

9. Change will never be this slow again – Graeme Wood

10. Measurement – Asi Sharabi

These ten principles are just a starting point; provokers of conversation, thoughts, ideas… an invitation to you (yes, YOU) to join in. Why?  Our aim with this project is to move the debate beyond simply the theoretical, and into the practical; examples of approaches that have worked, and which have not.  What does success look like?  What do you need to do first?

We believe that by sharing information and case studies around ’social communications’ we will all, from the largest agency to the nimblest freelancer, from the most traditional client to the youngest start-up, benefit from this open source of knowledge.

So please join the debate by leaving your thoughts around the principle I'm writing about in the comments below, and see the other conversation starters here.

IPA Social, principle 06: Being Authentic, Not Persuasive

Social marketing earns, not buys attention so have an opinion, be true to what you say, be of value, be open - above all be human #IPASocial

As 'markets become conversations' customer relationships and advertising models are changing for good. Passive consumption becomes active interaction. Monologue becomes dialogue. Control becomes collaboration.

Customers are empowered, well informed, connected. Companies are becoming more transparent whether they like it or not.

It's an environment in which the balance of effective communication shifts from being less about interruption to more about participation, less about delivering a message to more about being part of a conversation, less about what you say to people and more about what people are saying about you.

It's an environment, which operates to social principles - creating not subtracting value, serving a larger purpose than your own, being useful, facilitating.

It's an environment in which the more human elements matter - having a point of view, being true to yourself and what you say, being open, honest, transparent. Ford use social media to (in the words of Scott Monty) "humanize the Ford brand and put consumers in touch with Ford employees", and regularly reach out to bloggers for feedback and to encourage the spread of positive word of mouth. Zappos believe that their "culture is their brand" and use social media to create touchpoints throughout every area of their business and ensure customer service isn't just a department, it’s the entire company.

Authenticity is the currency that encourages trust, involvement, engagement. Authenticity is what turns an audience into a following.

The Race That Was

A sweaty and knackered me

After the race that never was, the race that was. Yesterday I ran my first marathon. When I had to pull out of doing the London Marathon earlier this year due to illness I was massively disappointed, but I set my sights on doing another one before the year was out. To be honest, having done all the training and build up for London it felt like unfinished business, and although everyone kindly allowed the charity to keep all the money I'd raised, I still felt like I wanted to complete the distance to somehow 'earn' the sponsorhip.

So I signed up for the New Forest Marathon which meant a whole bunch more training, another new pair of trainers, and a few more blisters - but I'm not complaining, because it was an amazing experience. It's funny how it's the little things that give you such encouragement and inspiration. So thanks should go to the guy from the Royal Navy that I ran 8 miles with when the heat was really kicking in, the girl that high-fived me at 16 miles, and to the lady that offered me biscuits at 21 miles (it's the thought that counts). And at the risk of this turning into a gushing Gwyneth Paltrow speech, thanks again to all those who were so generous with their sponsorship (I raised over £1600 for the PSP Association), and special thanks to my better half for the immeasurable support (and the Hawaiian Lei). I loved it all.

Project 10tothe100

I'm quite fascinated to see how this turns out. Late last year Google launched Project 10tothe100, a "call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible". More than 150,000 ideas from over 170 countries were submitted. Google have grouped them into sixteen broad ideas, each inspired by numerous individual ideas, which are open for public vote:

Promote health monitoring and data analysis

Enhance science and engineering education

Create real-world issue reporting system

Create Genocide monitoring and alert system

Work towards socially conscious tax policies

Build better banking tools for everyone

Collect and organise the world's urban data

Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists

Help social entrepreneurs drive change

Make government more transparent

Provide quality education to African students

Create real-time natural crisis tracking system

Build real-time user reported news service

Drive innovation in public transport

Make educational content available online for free

Create more efficient landmine removal programmes

Clicking through to show the 'suggestions that inspired this idea' is the really intriguing bit ("Create a single world bank or supra-national currency, uniform rules and transparent public accounting", anyone?). Voting ends on October 8th. Like I say, I'm fascinated to see how it turns out. So go vote, and let's find out...

Continous Partial Media Attention

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Gareth's post about MP3s and the peak attention thing reminded me of these three sobering stats (from here) concerning media multitasking (or should I say continuous partial attention):

• 36% of UK broadband users (aged 16-55) state they have both the TV and Internet on in the same room every day. On weekdays the time when TV and internet multi-tasking is most likely to happen is around 8pm in the evening. TNS/YouTube Media & Audience Study (broadband users aged 16-55), December 2008

• Over 25% of internet users surveyed in the UK, FR, DE, IT, US, and Japan in October 2008 said they go onto the internet at the same time as watching TV "most of the time".Ofcom, November 2008
• People aged 12-24 are notching up 23 cumulative hours a day, engaged in up to five activities simultaneously.NMA, April 2009

Simultaneous media use is not a new story. But a number of studies have shown that it is a relatively (and perhaps unsurprisingly) widespread phenomenon that is becoming more prevalent, and that some media are more prone to be consumed concurrently with other media than others. I don't know about you but if I sit and watch telly, I am often online (or doing something else) at the same time. Seems I'm not the only one. I'm not picking on TV here, but I guess it bothers me slightly that the subject isn't talked about more. It's surely a quite fundamental behavioural change in how we consume media (and advertising). The way in which billions of pounds of media are planned and bought relies on good old reach and frequency metrics that are based on opportunities to see. But if that opportunity is much less of an opportunity (or at least a different type of opportunity) than it once was, perhaps we ought to take account of that. Reach is one thing. Attention is another. Anyone else?

Conformity Has A Higher Value Than Diversity

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"So many innovation processes are simply toxic to creating conditions in which people feel moved to acknowledge real needs. Bureaucracies flourish by subordinating spontaneous human responses and awareness to standardised systems. Organisational hierarchy means we're going to be guarding our status before we share anything resembling our vulnerability"
Johnnie Moore

I think we consistently underestimate the power of conformity in organisations and industries. It is almost always valued more than diversity. The barriers to change that it creates - fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of isolation - means that in cultures that attempt to 'manage' innovation it can take a lot of courage to innovate because, as Johnnie goes on to say, "innovation goes with disruption and disruption is what 'processes' (typically) endeavour to eliminate".

Great ideas often have lonely childhoods and, as Hugh MacLeod has pointed out, they often alter the power balance in relationships and so are always initially resisted. This I think touches on the real strength of social technologies in connecting agents of change within organisations and across industries. Groups with shared values, common interests, objectives, passions. Groups that are willing to challenge the toxic assumptions and sacrifice the sacred cows. Social technology helps to spread learning, refine opinion, share stuff that works. It helps people spread change and break down the silos that "help restrict organisational potential". It offers interaction and inspiration but just as importantly, it offers validation - as this simple presentation from Sacha Chua captures rather succinctly:

Smarter Work: Why Social Networks Matter

View more documents from Sacha Chua.

But it's worth reflecting on the other side to this coin. In The Element, Sir Ken Robinson talks a lot about the role of diversity and dynamism in creativity and an important distinction between finding and being in your tribe, and being part of a crowd:

"We aggregate as groups for the same essential and primal purposes. The upside for us is that groups can be tremendously supportive. The downside is that they encourage uniformity of thought and behaviour".

Research has shown that innovative ideas tend to emerge more readily in communities in which people work in small and relatively isolated groups where early stage, incomplete and vulnerable ideas are given space and time to mature. But an overabundance of connections, where everyone is connected to everyone else, can reduce diversity and keep radical ideas from taking hold.
So find your tribe, but avoid the crowd.

IPA Social

Back in January, the IPA ran an event to launch their Social Media Futures report. It caused quite a kerfuffle at the time because for something about social media the whole thing was, well, distinctly unsocial. It felt like another missed opportunity. But then something interesting happened - they listened.

A bunch of people (including me) from across the industry who had opinions they wanted to express sat down with the IPA and got to talking about how things could be done differently. The group have worked up ten principles to capture the breadth and depth of change that social means for our industry:

1. People not consumers – Mark Earls

2. Social agenda not business agenda – Le’Nise Brothers

3. Continuous conversation not campaigning – John V Willshire

4. Long term impacts not quick fixes – Faris Yakob

5. Marketing with people not to people – Katy Lindemann

6. Being authentic not persuasive – Neil Perkin

7. Perpetual beta – Jamie Coomber

8. Technology changes, people don’t – Amelia Torode

9. Change will never be this slow again – Graeme Wood

10. Measurement – Asi Sharabi

The principles are not definitive, but are intended as conversation starters. So the authors will be posting their initial thoughts on individual principles next week (look out for mine), inviting feedback and comment, and the conversation will be pulled together on an IPA blog. This conversation will continue at an event at the IPA (at which I'll be speaking) on 6th October. So please join the debate, come to the event.

Anything which helps push the debate is a good thing, but I think the IPA should be applauded for listening and taking action. I guess the point is that this time the process is more open, collaborative and far more, well, social.

#ipasocial

Post Of The Month - August '09 - The Winner

A clear leader throughout, the winner of this month's Post Of The Month is Tim Malbon's excellent post on serendipity and the web. Well done Tim. As well as the props of your blogging peers, you have the kudos of being our first double winner, and of-course are entered into the Think Tank 'Hall Of Fame (again).

Lessons

One year on from the event which triggered the worst banking crisis for decades (some say ever) and the policy makers have done very little to tackle the underlying causes of the deepest recession for 80 years. Meanwhile the Institute for Public Policy Research release a report warning that bankers are returning to old practices and increasing the chances of the same happening again. Meanwhile whilst corporate profits have dived 30%, top executives pay has increased 10%, more than three times the average increase for ordinary workers in the private sector. Meanwhile taxpayer support for European and US banks has surged to $15 trillion, equivalent to more than $2,000 for every person on the planet or about a quarter of everything the world produces in a year. If we don't learn the lessons we will make the same mistakes. It's time for something different. Just sayin.

Post Of The Month - August '09 - The Vote

Thanks for the nominations. Our shortlist this month is...

Why Solving Other People's Problems Is Easy by Mark McGuiness
A series of Thoughts On The Agency from Paul McEnany
Why I Do What I Do by Jon Howard
20th Century Media. The Encore... Graeme Wood
Serendipity...WTF? from Tim Malbon
Flip Flopping To Success by Alex Bogusky
Taking Stock from Mark Barrett

And you can vote below...

Birds On The Wires

"Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating."
Jarbas Agnelli

Lovely.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Via