If you have a young child, you have undoubtedly heard of the movie series based on “Toothless” the Dragon[i]. The series hero is Hiccups – an expert in dragon slaying, who decides that he would rather befriend – than capture and slay dragons. Thus, a partnership is formed with “Toothless” the lovable, benevolent dragon who collaborates to do good deeds.
The “social” industry could use a similar “Hiccups” – like moment of reflection. Why? Because, as we should admit with intellectual honesty – “social” is broken. It is not realizing its potential. Not for the 1.6 billion users around the world. [ii] Not for the businesses that are subsidizing the industry to the tune of an estimated 16.1 billion of annual revenue (2014). [iii] We too are slaying dragons – using social for targeting and surveilance. Not so much for – engaging, helping, and leveraging social communication by respecting what makes it such a powerful tool – its cooperative character.
This is the beginning of a five part blog series that will express my point of view on several industry dynamics – and how we can enable social communication to reach a fuller potential.
In these posts, we will consider:
- The Purpose and Potential of Social Communication.
- Social as “The Business of Distraction” (and Commercial Surveillance).
- Social as an Opportunity for Engagement. (Here we will consider: Why “The Soft Stuff is the Hard Stuff”. ™)
- Social as a Business Growth Opportunity. In this multi-part post, we will reflect on how prominent social networks can both better serve users – and strengthen their business models and financial performance. Specifically:
- Linked In
- Instagram; and,
- Yahoo (I know it’s not a social network – yet!).
- Rebuilding Stewardship – A Vision.
It is my point of view that “Social” must embody a better user experience, and a stronger business ethos to grow and prosper. The basis for this belief is described in the posts that will follow.
[i] See Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Train_Your_Dragon_(franchise)
[ii] Statista, March, 2015.
[iii] CMO Council, Facts and Stats, January, 2015
