The social web is already like air!
March 18th, 2009 by pierreloic
Charlene Li, ex-Forrester, now Altimeter was talking over the weekend at SXSW about the fact social networks will be “like air”.
I really like the metaphor she uses of a gas that is invisible yet everywhere, hard to contain and that occupies the whole volume of a void space. I would only challenge the scope of her statement that I find too restrictive: the social web as a whole (meaning all online user generated content), not just the social network component, is ALREADY behaving this way and filling the void of antiquited processes and unaddressed needs by online communities.
Charlene uses Amazon as an example of the deepening penetration of the power of users over brands. This is not the future, this is today.
The power of this metaphor also goes to show the reason why efforts to contain and control the social web are bound to fail.
As an example, Apple has tried to control the review process for iPhone Apps in iTunes. Results? iPhone reviews take place elsewhere: blogs, YouTube, and even on Twitter.
Conclusion? The social web is like air: if brands like Apple don’t provide online users with the tools to express themselves, read unedited content, and conduct their own fact checking on authorship, then these conversations will take place elsewhere.
Tags: amazon, apple, charlene li, iphone, social network, social web
