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The New Web...

"The New web is about verbs, not nouns." 

That's a great quote by Ross Mayfield, the owner of Socialtext.  How true!  The original read only web was a static and boring organism full of nouns. The new web allows us interaction.  It's all about doing.  It's a canvas instead of a museum and we are all invited to participate in the collaboration that will comprise it's content. 

There is an entire generation that is being raised with this mindset.  This generation will be the future leaders, business owners, politicians, etc... I am beyond excited to participate in this movement as a connected generation with a global mindset takes center-stage.  It promises to be a society... well, I suppose filled with more verbs and less nouns. 

Collaborate or Perish!

And they mean it!  The authors of WIKINOMICS, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams, are serious when they lay out the principles of the future of business... no, for the world, "Collaborate or Perish".  Example after example of both failures and successes show us that there is more than possibility or potential in this concept, there is inevitability.  They share the 4 basic principles of Wikinomics: (be it for a company or a country) openness, peering, sharing and acting globally.

Yes, it's true that we are in a shift.  And while many are quick to say that as we move from the Baby Boomers to Generation Y and now to the Millennials, we are merely undergoing a generational transition.  However, this is a paradigm shift, that is occurring simultaneously to a generational transition.  The changes we are seeing are so vast and radical that every generation will be affected in unmeasurable ways.  Other examples of similar shifts include the printing press, the automobile, the telephone, etc...  These are all new tools that make the world smaller.  Tools that create a smoother connection between people, companies and countries. 

Now, we have the web.  Not just the "publish and read" version of Web 1.0, but the "read / write" version of Web 2.0.  This is the next connection that will catalyze change and introduce us to the future.

"The new Web - which is really an internetworked constellation of disruptive technologies, - is the most robust platform yet for facilitating and accelerating new creative disruptions.  People, knowledge, objects, devices, and intelligent agents are converging in many-to-many networks where new innovations and social trends spread with viral intensity." 

"The next twenty years of globalization will help sustain world economic growth, raise world living standards, and substantially deepen global interdependence.  At the same time, it will profoundly shake up the the status quo almost everywhere -- generating enormous economic, cultural and political convulsions."
   
-Wikinomics

IdeaVirus + Shoes = Good

I finished "Unleashing the IdeaVirus" this morning.  It's a great book for all of your marketers out there.  Despite the fact that it's nearly 6 years old, the principles still apply.  After reading I visited Seth Godin's blog to see what else he is up to.  Today he blogged about "Tom's Shoes".  I heard about Tom's shoes in MOTTO Magazine, a rather decent magazine focused on young entrepreneurs, work/life balance and business thinking in a very non-business way. 

The general premise is that for every pair of shoes you buy, Tom's Shoes gives a pair of shoes to a child who has none.  Here is a video clip that explains it better than I could:

Future Directions...

I have been reading a lot of Seth Godin lately and I can't get over his idea of the downfall of interruption marketing.  His pragmatic approach to business, and marketing specifically, is such a breath of fresh air.  My pain is that some of these books were written 5 years ago.  It's insane to look at the companies who have taken his advice in account.  process is continuing to use some of these strategies in our new products.  When reading one of his books, Unleashing the Ideavirus, he continues to nail a concept I have been mulling over for quite a while.  (Apparently, I'm 5 years late.)

Content and Context. 

Definition of Content: "The things that are held or included in something" OR even better, "the substance or material dealt with in a speech, literary work, etc... distinct from it's style or form."

Think about that for a minute.  In your brain when you think about 'content' in media, are you able to think about it distinct from it's style or form?  If so, than this is the next conversation...

Definition of Context = "the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood or assessed."  (Think of this in a Medium sense)

If we are able to completely integrate these two concepts realizing that they are dependent on each other, it changes the way in which we communicate.  This is a basic 'advertising principle' no doubt, however, context is shifting more now than ever.  We are still heavily relying on traditional advertising methods where the context has been provided for us.  We are creating content to fit into context, instead of simultaneous development.

With that said, the next 6 months at process will be very interesting.  As a content creation production company, we are getting ready to take it to the next level of incorporating context.  Since so few companies / clients are understanding of what that means, we're just going to do it ourselves.

It's that 'Connection' talk again...

We are really starting to transfer the business, process into a business of connectivity via meaningful content.  Everywhere I look these days it seems that the true separator of businesses who are moving forward in their industries are those who have the ability to 'connect' at a higher speed and with great "accuracy".  Connect with their current and potential clients, their internal departments, etc...

Here is a blog by Paul Dunay regarding Eastern Mountain Sports and their recent activity to further connect their communities (externally and internally) by implementing Web 2.0 tools.  He has another great blog on calculating ROI on web 2.0 tools.  This is extremely important as more and more companies (including myself) are beginning to rely more on this "soft" aspect of spreading ideas.

All this talk of Web 2.0 brings me to my favorite blog of the week provided by blog expert, Andy Wibbels, who referenced a conversation on the explanation of web 2.0 from this site.

"<dsully> please describe web 2.0 to me in 2 sentences or less.

<jwb> you make all the content. they keep all the revenue."

Well said.

Guy talks with Smart People... again.

Guy Kawasaki talks with smart people again... This time it is Scott Berkun, Author of "The Myths of Innovation".  Here are a few of my favorites lines:

This one hit me like a ton of bricks...

"People who earn the label “creative” are really just people who come up with more combinations of ideas, find interesting ones faster, and are willing to try them out. The problem is most schools and organizations train us out of the habits."

Here is another good one:

"New ideas often come from asking new questions and being a creative question asker. We fixate on solutions and popular literature focuses on creative people as being solvers, but often the creativity is in reformulating a problem so that it’s easier to solve. Einstein and Edison were notorious problem definers: they defined the problem differently than everyone else and that’s what led to their success."

Read the Full Interview here.

Do I have an iPhone?

No, I do not.  I am very upset and I don't want to talk about it.