The maximum temperature in Sydney Australia and Washington DC today was only 2 degrees different. One in the middle of summer, the other should be icy and slippery. I wish it would get really cold, unusual (for me) weather reminds me that I’m in a new and different place. I’ll be heading up to Montreal on Tuesday to get some real snow into me.
So it’s the season for predictions and all the social media guru’s are talking of ongoing growth, adaptation and experimention in 2009. Not thinking of myself as much of a guru I’m going to just highlight a few of the ideas I think are interesting and dare a few predictions for how I plan to push Ashoka further into social media next year.
Former Forrester’s analyst Peter Kim has kindly done all the hard work for us, askeding 14 thought-leaders for their predictions and presented them in a powerpoint you can see here: http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/12/social-media-2009.html
Some of the predictions I’ve been thinking about:
“What Marketers Did in 2008: Spent most of their marketing effort crafting key messages and controlling the spokespeople that deliver them. What Marketers will do 2009: Find your accidental spokespeople (employees and customers) and give them ways to amplify their voices.”
-Rohit Bhargava, author Personality Not Included and SVP of strategy at Ogilvy
“Organizations are increasingly focusing on producing kick-ass content to attract and retain customers, rather than randomly grabbing folks off the streets.”
-Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs.
“Google will have mercy on us and buy Twitter.”
-Jason Falls, director of social media at Doe-Anderson
“Organizations will come to terms with the reality that although it is now “cheaper” to launch an initiative leveraging Web2.0 technology - it requires qualified and passionate people to make them successful.”
-David Armano, VP of experience design at Critical Mass
The Junta42 blog also collected 42 short predictions here: http://is.gd/cXrO. My favorite from this lot:
Name: Frank Martin, Marketing Magic
Prediction: Brand marketers will be exploring or building their Social Media presence in an attempt to further their messages and to boost the cost effectiveness of their marketing expenditures. They will continue to struggle with the lack of control over the content, which will push them to preach “living the brand internally.
Name: Giles Rhys Jones, Interactive Marketing Trends
Prediction: Distributed Eventing
The creation of an event to reach a few people, then the filming and merchandising of that event nationally, regionally and globally through both broadcast and digital channel to reach a much broader audience.
Name: Scott Monty, Ford
Prediction: Content will be more focused around conversation than messaging. Brand marketers will begin listening to what their customers are saying and will be able to reply in an authentic engaging manner.
Name: Rick Burnes, Hubspot
Prediction: In 2009 brand marketers will
And my predictions for 2009 for Ashoka’s Social Media outreach efforts? Here’s just a couple a humble hopes I have for the year, and which I intend to see fulfilled:
-We will enormously expand our online community by engaging more deeply with supporters and interested parties across a range of platforms, not just on our websites (although, also: we grow our on-site community by an order of magnitude with the relaunch of Changemakers.net in March)
-Staff are supported to engage personally with social media and this increases collaboration and collegiality across the organization as well as expands our relationships and reach beyond the organization
-Small-scale donations grow slowly but surely, even in the face of difficult economic conditions.
-We tap the incredible intellectual capacity of Ashoka and our network to create new forms of content across a variety of platforms and mediums.
Lots of fun stuff to get stuck into in 2009, I think it will be a big year for me and for Ashoka and I can’t wait.
I’m becoming a bit hopeless at getting going and doing things on the weekend.
Okay, more hopeless. And unfortunately this has been severly hampering my genuine desire to play my part in the movement for civil rights for same-sex couples. This Saturday night was Light Up the Night, and was meeting at Eastern Market at 5pm. Candel at the ready I arrived at 5.45 to an empty plaza. They’d left, and while I knew the protest was heading along 8th st I didn’t know in which direction. I gave up, just as I had about four weeks ago in the initial round of protests against Proposition 8 after sleeping in on a Saturday morning after a long week at work. Excuses.
It’s certainly an issue I care strongly about. On November 5 as I was basking in the joy of Obama’s victory and that of many other good Senators and Congresspeople my good mood was significantly dented by the news that Proposition 8, which strips same sex couples of the right to marry, had passed narrowly in California. It was a huge defeat for gay rights and the first time in US history that a constitution has been amended to reduce rights instead of expand them (unless you count the right to drink). The Prop 8 campaign was spearheaded and bankrolled by the Morman Church and spent about $50 million to secure passage. People were talking about the Same Sex Marriage Equality movement and gay civil rights generally being set back by decades.
And then something amazing happened. A genuinely grassroots movement in favour of marriage equality. Bypassing the ossified gay lobby groups like the Human Rights Campaign and coordinated throught the internet. Last Saturday was the national day of protest and with only a few days notice, promoted exclusvely online and with almost no organisation protests took place in hundreds of locations nationally, from all the big cities you would expect right through to small towns in Dakota. The protests were multigenerational and included many straight people. For the first time it seems like this issue is breaking out of its silo and being seen as a genuine civil rights issue. Not just a Californian issue. Not just a gay issue. There have been some amazing conversations on tv, the newspapers are full of stories of defiance and reading the blogs there’s definitely the sense that something really significant is going on.
Check out these stories and photos here http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/week46/index.html. It’s very moving and inspiring. More coverage here http://citizenchris.typepad.com/citizenchris/2008/11/stonewall-20-ne.html. The main coordinating website is http://jointheimpact.com/.
And what’s more Obama is on-board (not for full same-sex marriage unfortunately but that will come I think, but the rest of his gay rights agenda is excellent). He recently said:
While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.
I’ll be watching to see where this goes with a lot of interest and I hope to actually show up next time. Join the Impact are also running a postcard project, sending them to Obama, and I’ve got mine all written and stamped. Now to find a post box…
With our minds we’re saying, no more. With our hearts we’re saying, no more. With our lives we’re saying, no more war.
Anyone in DC going to Light Up The Night (for gay rights) this afternoon?
RT @jayrosen_nyu If true, the best news industry news we’ve heard in a long time. http://is.gd/cGO4 Jarvis on LA times web revenue
Saw an intense and amazing play tonight - Black Bird at the Studio Theatre. Only on till Sunday. Very heavy but recommended if you’re in DC
The Aussie govts own climate adviser, Prof Garnaut, has criticised its just-announced policy as inadequate and “craven” http://bit.ly/171Wq
RT @JoinTheImpact: Show your support for the 18,000 marriages tomorrow at Light Up The Night in your city http://tinyurl.com/6oajhr #prop8
