In 2005 social media and Web 2.0 forefather Tim O’Reilly compiled a definition of Web 2.0: now a prophetic warning to the print media. O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 definition:
“Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an “architecture of participation,” and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences.”
Warning to All: Print Industry in Trouble
In a microcosm example, the “April issue of Portfolio magazine set a dubious record. With 106 total pages and 21 ad pages it is the slimmest monthly issue ever published by Condé Nast.”
According to eMarketer.com’s “Magazine’s Run Online”:
- In the US 525 magazines were shut down in 2008
- In 2009 87 more titles have folded
- In 2008 consumer magazine print ad spending down 7.1% to $13 Billion
- A 2009 ad spending forecast predicts that ad revenue will drop -16.2%
Paradigm Shift: “Architecture of Participation”
O’Reilly’s mantra within his Web 2.0 definition should be the rallying cry manifesto for every entrepreneur, small business, and corporation: Creating network effects through an “architecture of participation.”
Us vs. Them
For companies like Intel, American Express, Clorox, and HP the power of blogging and social networks produces:
- Brand recognition
- User participation
- Measurement of message, products, and services
- Viral opportunities
- Reputation management
- Breaking news opportunities
- Communication and engagement with their audience
- Crowdsourcing for new ideas
Conclusion: The Have Nots
For companies without a social media strategy, with no participation in social networks, and for those companies that do not publish a blog your time is coming. Your De-Evolution will take place as your competitors that are social media Web 2.0 first adopters and the second wave of adopters will fill the vacuum and void left by your lack of participation.
Worse yet, the consumer population looking for your brand online, within these social networks, will assume you don’t care about them or their concerns.
These consumers, made up of your current audience-clients and potential consumers, will hold conversations about your products and services. Some will compliment and evangelize your company-but you will never know it. Some will slam your brand, tell stories of dissatisfaction, and rant about your lack of participation-but you will never know it.
The blinders will remain a comfortable fit.
I grew up in the direct marketing industry, whose efforts live and die by measuring ROI. I learned early on that before you can begin to develop a marketing campaign, you need to get clear on the one key objective that will drive all your investment decisions. Without this objective, you have nothing to steer your planning or analytical efforts.
In the 1930′s, 1940′s, and 1950′s kids would flock to Hollywood, California in search of their dreams of stardom in the moving pictures aka the movies. These kids, like Norma Jean or John Wayne, would hit town and immediately begin the process of “being discovered.” The 4 steps they would often take can be equated to today’s job seeker or entrepreneur in their quest to find a job or “stardom” in their field.
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Lately I’ve been thinking about what I learned over the course of 20 years in the direct marketing industry, with a mind towards understanding how those lessons can be applied to engage with customers and prospects in today’s Web 2.0 world…without the hard sell, non-permission approach. In the late 1980′s, I got an intensive education in the psychology of response while circulation manager on the launch team of what is now 
