“Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff fits right into the progression of what we have been learning thus far in class. Up until now we have been discussing major online trends that show, among other things, that internet users are now interacting with information in new ways; Groundswell answers the question, so what do we do about it?
First the book defines the groundswell as: “A social trend in which people get things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations”. I have personally experienced this as I increasingly get my books from places like half.com, and information from personal online blogs. Then the book explains how this does not mean that institutions are doomed, but rather provides an opportunity for institutions to join the groundswell.
The first major thing I appreciated from this book was all the concrete advice it gave. Start with a social technographics profile that will show you if your users are online and if so if they are creating online contact, critiquing online content or just reading it? Then you should match your online strategy to the type of activities your users are doing, keeping in mind that it is often most beneficial to reach the users who are critics and creators of content because they can spread the word about your product to everyone else.
A really crucial point that comes up in Groundswell that builds upon concepts we have already learned is now that consumers have more power in the way they get information and who they get that information from, to effectively market to these new consumers, you need to engage them. This means allowing them to be more active participants in your company through asking for their feedback, giving them more transparent information, and giving them additional benefits they did not get before, like the ability to join an online community you created of people who share their interests. There is also so much information you can gain by listening to what your consumers are saying about you through their blogs, online discussion forums and other mediums.
One of my favorite themes of this book is that shouting advertisements or information at your customers no longer works, conversations work. Going back to my analysis on public diplomacy, this implies that effective public diplomacy in today’s era needs to change to engage citizens, actively listen to them and actively connect in online conversations with them. If you set up a blog, you need staff that will answer all the comments that the blog receives, if you set up a facebook page, you need to make sure there are plenty of ways for users to interact with the page, through posting comments, watching videos, downloading widgets. You can no longer just expect citizens to listen to what you have to say, without them wanting to join the conversation.
All in all my biggest take-away from the book so far is that it drives home the point that internet users must be treated with respect, must be encouraged to interact with you and must feel like they are interacting with real people, not just big institutions. The more this occurs, the better an institution’s chances of surviving the groundswell.
