When the customer becomes the designer and the tweeter the revolutionary

The time has come now for customers to start taking a more hands-on approach to see the products they want to consume (after all, they do have the right to buy exactly what they want, right?). No longer do unsatisfied consumers have to keep their dissapointment to themselves...now, with the evolution of social media, they have a multiplicity of ways to report that they are not very happy with their product. But what's most important about this, is that they might actually be being HEARD this time.

The Groundswell is about sharing: it's about listening to what people have to say - and it's also about talking back to people, only to hear back from them. What became to clear to me when reading the assigned readings for this week was that the fundamental change that new social media brings about is that customers can now tell producers what to do. "The Groundswell effect is that custoemrs are chomping at the bit to tell you what to do and are actively complaining and praising your products": now customers can be the designers of the product, too. They - we - can be part of the process -more so than ever before.

A case study that I found interesting was that of Dell's IdeaStorm which allows customers to post ideas about what products or services Dell should offer. After that, customers get to vote (promote and demote ideas) and finally see what ideas have been selected for future action.

This is a perfect example of how a company is, using Li and Bernoff's words, embracing the Groundswell. They have also put up a video on Youtube about the IdeaStorm which has been watched by 13,461 people.



Not bad at all for one of DellVlog's 1,015 videos, right? Interestingly enough, one of the ideas posted on IdeaStorm is to encourage Dell to change it's website. This exemplifies what we have been talking about and what Li and Bernoff don't seem to get tired of telling us: the customer is driving the process of change. If a customer, in this case, iamnotjamesh thinks the website - a tool that he uses very much as a consumer - is not up to his standards then Dell opens up the opportunity for him to share these concerns. Dell knows that there may be many more iamnotjameshes that can benefit from a new website as well...therefore making sales go up and customers happy.

Let the revolutions taking place in the Middle East and northern Africa give me the courage to say this: the Groundswell does not only allow customers have a direct say in the process of designing and putting together a product, but the social media revolution has also allowed people tell governments what to do. Much is being said about the role that new media has played, is playing, and is continually going to play in the uprises around the world. Other bloggers in the class have written about it. Beverlie, for example, or Kayan.

Of course, the counter-argument says that revolutions have happened way before the media revolution. But there is no questioning that new media is a tool that is increasingly playing a role in how people organize, communicate, express solidarity and take part of the process. Today I came across a video that showed Libya's president, al-Gaddafi, taking part of some shootings (killing people that refused to take his orders). I'm not going to share the link to that video now (because I want to save you from some traumatic experience) but the point of me sharing this is to show how social media, too, can be used as bad propaganda. We h ave talked a lot about examples of horrible PR campaings that are born and reproduced in the web - it's the same with a government. If I, as a websurfer miles and miles away from Libya see something that reflects negative upon the country's president, then I'm most likely to be sympathetic to the protesters that are trying to overthrow him. This could possibly translate into me spreading their message further on the web, making a donation to the movements, blogging about it (!) and standing in solidarity with those Libyans working for change.

The power of the web, in that and many other senses, is unprecedented. I think you would agree with me, right?

Beyond privacy and narcissim - facebook as a powerful tool

Personally, I find that facebook can be a little bit overwhelming sometimes. Sometimes I really don't care about what this person that I met that other time is doing for their spring break - I don't, I really don't (this is not to deny that I enjoy looking at pictures of my beloved ones (especially being far away from home I do really enjoy stalking my brothers and friends...). It's also a bit annoying to see people posting their Valentine's celebration pictures...shouldn't that be private? But let's be honest...I'm not that annoyed by it that I'm going to close my account. Imagine, how would I respond to "You don't have a facebook?" - Oh, my. But here I am to understand facebook's potential better.


I read the article about how today's online world - and facebook - have made out of privacy just a mere illusion. And while the article follows the sentiments I was describing above (I really don't care about how you feel about the weather today...hate news feeds) it also made me realize the extreme potential that facebook has a networking tool - beyond just peoples' private lives.

On one of my previous blogs I got a comment from Trista who shared some interesting tips with me. One of them was this link to one of the most popular blogs for non-profits written by Beth, the author of a book called "The Networked Non-Profit". As I explored her blog (thank you, Trista), I came across this interesting - and very much related to our class discussions and the topic of this blog - article about how to create and optimize a facebook content strategy.The article interviewed Allison Zarella, the co-author of a book called "The Facebook marketing book" which she wrote with her husband, Dan. The article mentioned the strategic importance of facebook as a (free!) marketing tool and explains ways in which the book gives advice as to how to make use of facebook's features (e.g. events) to maximize its use. I found this article great (and hope to get access to the book soon) because it pushed me to think of facebook as beyond just a exemplary case of narcissim (mashable, CNN, Huffington Post, etc) that destroys previously agreed standards of privacy. Although this doesn't mean I (we) should not be critical of some social media uses, after all, I'm here to learn about how to maximize the use of new social media tools.

I thought I knew, but I don' really know all that much...

It's one thing to understand what drives the groundwell - it's quite another to dive into it and turn those forces to your advantage - - (Lee and Bernoff, 2008)

Reading Groundswell made me realize just how much more I need to learn. I thought I knew about social media (although I still don't really get why people tweet, I really don't) but there are so many things I still haven't explored. I didn't know that French prefer DailyMotion over YouTube. I didn't know so many people like to Stumple Upon. I also had no idea I could be so entertained myself with someone's else's ideas of the most awesome 1000 things. I was fascinated by the different categories of involvement in social media: there are creators, spectators, collectors, joiners...etc. After this reading I asked myself what I was: wow, I realized I'm a joiner/spectator/inactive. I join, I have a facebook. I'm a spectator, I stumble upon from time to time or read blogs ocassionally. I'm inactive, I don't really 'produce' any social media data - at least not beyond facebook (something I should probably cut down on anyways).

So I said "Aha, well, let me do some surfing" (I do really talk to myself like that). I recently discovered mashable (I briefly mentioned it last time), so I went on their website. Great idea this was. My Celitronica identity that is committed to understanding how social media can be used for social change immediately jumped onto an article on about a website that drives users through the homelessness experience. "No, that's not possible" I thought (to myself, again). But yes, as surreal as that sounds Spent does this. If you dare play, then you will be asked to make tough decisions about what to do with the little money you have, about what job to take after you have been rejected at others, about where to sleep.

The point of the game, according to one of the creators is not about disparaging the user but creating empathy: "You have to make the best decisions you can. The people that are in these situations don't do this because they're stupid but because they're stuck between a rock and a hard place". I played it. Although it is hard to remove one's engrained idea that this is "just a game", Spent was scary. Just a little imagination is needed to really fear about the next step to take in this virtual like. There is no doubt that if anything, Spent makes one think and that's a good first step for social media users that are interested in innovating ideas about how to bring media to good use. We'll see if Spent catches on.

Last blog I wrote briefly about Play for Change - an initiative to bring people throughout the world together through music. February 6th, Bob Marley's birthday, was the ideal day to do this again. And so, Play for Change made this amazing video that I wanted to share - it's just wonderful.

10 ways to change the world through social media

While surfing the net I came across this recent article in Mashable.com - a site that prides itself of being "top source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture" - actually, Mashable is a pretty cool website...this is just the description they have up about themselves: With more than 40 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the most prolific news site reporting breaking web news, providing analysis of trends, reviewing new websites and services, and offering social media resources and guides. Mashable’s audience includes early adopters, social media enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, influencers, brands and corporations, marketing, PR and advertising agencies, Web 2.0 aficionados and technology journalists. Mashable is also popular with bloggers, Twitter and Facebook users — an increasingly influential demographic. Check it out yourself: mashable.

Anyways (I'm clearly a victim of social media: I get distracted easily!), the point is that I came across the article titled: "10 ways to change the world through social media". I thought it was pretty interesting - and here is what I got out of it.

You make a difference, we make it easy. That's the slogan of the first idea discussed in the article: Social Actions. Basically, if one day you wake feeling like you want to "do good", go to socialactions.com and you can search different ways of taking action that same minute - whether you want to sign a petition, make a loan, volunteer...Social Actions is the place for you when you are feeling altruistic. If you feel that maybe your "doing good" feeling is here to stay, then Social Actions has "packages"for you which means you can get action alerts on the issues you care about. What are you into today? AIDS, Animal Rights, Cancer, Homelessness, Autism, Darfur...the list goes on and on. And Social Actions has it all ready for you.

Another very useful thing that I learned is that social media has enabled each of us to have an audience - whether through Twitter, Flickr, Yourube or a personal blog, each of us can have influence and reach. And what’s more, it can be used for GOOD. That's the whole vision of SalaamGarage who set believes in the equation:

Citizen journalism + NGOs = Social Change

Bright, right? The idea is to partner citizens with organizations to travel together around the world...and report about it. So basically the audience has the incredible opportunity to learn about first-hand experiences from around the world, even if they are seating at home. A neat explample posted on their website follows the story of Jonathan, a guy that traveled to Ethiopia to learn about midwives. It's amazing.

Finally, another fun thing I read about is...Where is Matt? Apparently (might seem obvious by now) new social media can unite the world - albeit only through video. Matt is a guy who thought it would be 'unifying' to dance all around the world. The video of him dancing in who knows how many countries has an astounding 34,464,126 hits on Youtube (42 countries, actually) inspired many to believe that we are, indeed, only one species living in one world. Perhaps this is a first revolution in the path to social change. Others have followed Matt with unifying the world via videos, such as Playing for Change which connects the world through a song.


Not bad for a first blog on new media and social change, eh? If you are interested in reading the whole article (highly recommended, by the way) you can find it here: 10 ways to change the world.