"The groundswell is about to become embedded within every activity of our lives"

Today I realized that the first thing that I do when I wake up is turn my laptop on (of course, this routine is increasingly intensifying as I await to receive an e-mail to inform me whether I got a job or not). It is a coincidence that I had that thought today as I prepare myself to write this blog about the ending chapters of the Groundswell. These last two chapters touch on the importance of social media for our daily operations - whether we talk about our operations as humans (i.e. our interactions with other humans) or our operations as business and organizations (i.e. our interactions with our clients).

Chapter 11 describes the opportunity that lies ahead of businesses to make use of social media tools to advance their goals. The chapter focuses on the premise that a company's development is everyone's task and that listening to what employees have to say does not only keep employees satisfied, but it also can help the company be more successful. An example that was brought up in the chapter and that I believe we had discussed briefly in class already, is Best Buy's Blue Nation initiative which is an internal social network for employees of the electronics super store. The following video shows the reasoning process that Best Buy went through in order to put this initiative together and explains how it works and what are some of the positive things that came out of it.

Best Buy: The Company As Wiki from peter hirshberg on Vimeo.

The idea is to use social media tools and technologies to foster improved internal communications (without a doubt, as Li and Bernoff show us, one of the most effective activations of social media in the enterprise). There is no doubt that (especially) for large organizations, tapping into the underground conscience of the company through open feedback from employees has changed the culture of running a business. It's provides a great opportunity to keep your staff satisfied, engaged, motivated and contributing to the creative process so that the company can create a better product that is better suited for the public - and therefore that can have better profit margins. Other companies initiatives include creating wikis for their employees to share information relevant to the company's operations such as Intelpedia.

The main premise of chapter 12 is to urge us to NOT miss the high-speed train of social media! The authors remind us that the technology is out there already...all we need to do is use it. Whether it is for your own personal uses (e.g. socializing), for your organization's work (e.g. raising awareness) or for your company (e.g. selling more and selling better stuff) social media technologies are waiting for your to embrace them. Give them a handshake, a kiss on the cheek, and a huge hug. You will not regret it. The authors remind us, however, that there are some principles to follow in order to be successful in this social-media run world. They urge us not to forget that while everything can be done through computers (or phones...) this is still a person-to-person business - more than ever before. Listening, as the authors remind us, is key to success in the groundswell..."the best listeners will end up the smartest", right? Patience, opportunism, flexibility, humbleness and collaboration are all qualities that fit the winner(s) of the groundswell.

There is no doubt that the groundswell has reached every single aspect of our lives. Things are different now...and those that don't realize it will be left behind. A great example of this is the SuperMarmite idea which allows people to post the meal that they are cooking so that neighbors can come enjoy the food therefore creating a nice community, sharing resources, and doing something different. Rather than buying some cheap, nasty fast food, or microwaving a meal for yourself, using this website can guide you to someone else's kitchen or can help you meet people by inviting them to your place. Check out the video of the young French creator of SuperMarmite and learn more about this great idea...I loved it! What do you think ?