There is so much I want to write about the #LikeMinds conference and summit that I could go on for weeks. (And I may yet.) For now, all I can do is give you a glimpse of what is to come, and promise you a deluge of strategic, operational, and tactical insights into how to deploy, integrate and manage social communications.
Feel free to keep calling it Social Media if you must, but I am moving on to “Social Communications” until I find a better term.
Why the change in vernacular? Two reasons: 1. Terminology matters. Using the right words is important. 2. It never was about the media. Not for one second. The reason why so many people are confused about this, from integration and strategy to implementation, management and measurement is because of the focus on the media. Stop. Just stop. Think. Refocus. What are we talking about here? (Trust me, it isn’t the media.)
And if this is the part where you expect me to say “it isn’t about the media, it’s about people,” you’re only half right. Cliches aside, it’s about people, sure. It’s about a lot of things, really. It. But at its most basic level, all we have been talking about is communications. That’s it. Twitter, Facebook, the internet, mobile, all the technology, the media, the platforms, they’re things. They’re boxes. Pipes and wires and glass. There’s a bigger picture here that is tool-agnostic, universal, and easy to understand, define and reframe if we just take a couple of steps back and change our perspective by a fraction of a degree (which is what we did at the Summit.)
This stuff really isn’t brain surgery. How Social Communications can be engineered into your organization, it’s a lot of moving parts, sure, and it’s hard work if you want to do it right, but it doesn’t take quantum physicists to deconstruct the processes, methodologies and best practices. If Likeminds proved anything, it’s that beyond the presentations and show-and-tell sessions common to most “Social Media” conferences, when people who work in the Social Communications enablement space 150 hours a week get together to work out the kinks, the kinks get worked out.
Incidentally, perhaps the reason why so many companies and so many would-be consultants and “gurus” are still confused about how this all works is because we’ve been using the wrong terminology all along. How can you understand something you can’t even properly name?
Social Communications it is, then. For now. It isn’t a big leap really, but try it on for size. Drive it around for a few days, see if it grows on you. If it does, great. If it doesn’t, we’ll keep trying.
I don’t have time to write a real post before catching my flight back to the US. I leave Bovey Castle in Dartmoor before dawn to catch a train from Exeter to London. Then it’s the Heathrow Express, then Delta to ATL and ATL to GSP. So I can’t share videos, pictures and thoughts with you yet. And my presentation from the conference will be available on Slideshare in a few days, so hang tight. I need to add some commentary to it before I upload it.
Until then, you can get caught up on videos, photos and insights from the Like Minds conference here and here. Among the keynote speakers: Ogilvy Worldwide’s John Bell, Chris Brogan, Orange’s Yann Gourvennec, Joanne Jacobs and Jonathan Akwue, who are all brilliant beyond words. No matter what presentation you watch, trust me, you’ll learn something valuable.
One last thought I want to leave you with before I go try and grab a few hours of sleep before my early ride out of here: We’re going to crack this nut wide open for you. Social Communications, the whole bit, we’re going to lay it out for you, piece by piece, brick by brick. The white paper that will come out of this summit will outline a lot of it for you. Much more than we expected. The level of clarity we reached through the exercise surprised me, frankly. That’s what happens when the right people sit together and focus on the right things long enough to get something done. Why we don’t do it more, I don’t know.
So hang tight, get caught up on all of the #LikeMinds content, and I will be back with more updates throughout the week.
Oh, and please help me spread the word about Red Chair Portland on March 11 and 12. I am updating my deck to include some of the key findings and insights our group worked out during the summit, so… it might even be worth flying into PDX for this one.
Cheers,
Olivier
Social communications…I like. Although sounds an awful lot like a term and discipline we already have – public relations. 😉
@KimBrater
Of course communications isn’t very 140 char friendly! How about SocComs or SoComs as in MarComs? Semantics for a Twitter generation 😉 Bon Voyage 🙂
I like “social interaction” better…communication can be a one-way broadcast…but interaction implies give and take.
Good to know about what y’all are doing at the Fortune 100 level; loved that Post about teaching the C-Suite about these tools (good luck with that!) and I’m 100% in agreement with the renaming in terms of redefining and understanding this evolutions
Yet, since you’re redefininig it by dropping the “media” (a clear attempt at positioning and differentiation of your efforts, correct) I am also a bit concerned about the ‘tens of thousands’ of smaller outfits whom are left behind without a clear guide to how to even handle the media portions.
In other words, what’s your take on SMB’s and Professionals? those whose ‘computing ability’ may actually be challenged by the authentication challenges of creating a single account? of posting a single piece of this “media” which you state as irrelevant
Again, as I said on another post, it’s such a large pachiderm of a concept, that whilst some look at the trunk and the ears, others may need to look elsewhere.
So as the ONLY blog I’m actually subscribed to, you’re still providing some of us with strategic guidance – so we’re definitely looking forward to all those bits of ‘media’ you are to soon provide.
Onward and forward – at 40,000 feet!
@MMSocieties
That was a pretty nice post and I’m looking forward to seeing the white paper that comes out of it. I had a friend who lives nearby come for the afternoon on Thursday and she told me yours was the best conference (LikeMinds) that she’s ever been to.
I’ll be in that neck of the woods next month for #msmbc10 and .. hell, next time you have a conference in the castle, I’d like to be invited.
I’m kinda curious to hear what actually was discussed (behind closed doors) as it’s proposals and outcomes suggest they might affect us all. Since I have met many of the people who got invited to Bovey, I have a rough idea of what was discussed – and why. My only thought there is ….. in order to get to the castle, the case studies, and the expense involved, made the group exclusive, by necessity.
For example – who was in position to falk up a case study broad enough and good enough to pass peer review (mostly big advertising agencies – and sure enough …. that’s who was there). Same thing with the price – who could afford the castle … so in a sense – the group that met in Bovey, was exclusive – and most of us didn’t have the chips to play (we all know Brogan and Bell have plenty of chips, so to speak – no mystery why they were there … even though Brogan didn’t seem to want to talk much about it on his own blog).
But the fact you are going to open up the results – that overcomes the exclusivity factor – and with an open mind and heart, I’m looking forward to hearing what came out of this castle adventure into Social Communications.
Thanks,
Marshall
I like the name change. Taking the focus off the tools and on to the other, the “it” is a mental game changer. It’s just enough of an angle shift to make me think more clearly.
I like your twist on the vernacular. I also like the idea of Current Communications, because the nature and the tools will continue to evolve.
Check out the definition of “social” from the Medical Dictionary:
Main Entry: so·cial
Pronunciation: ‘sO-sh&l
Function: adjective
1 a : tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships withothers of one’s kind b : living and breeding in more or less organized communities
2 : of or relating to human society, theinteraction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society social behavior> —so·cial·ly /-E/ adverb
Sounds like you had a nice time and are buzzing with ideas again!
I will be checking up on the presentations and am looking forward to what comes out of this conference! In mean time lets think about this social communication term.
Olivier,
this was so good that I referenced it on my blog. For now, it is a term that covers the areas of social “media” that we know and operate by.
No doubt, this term will surely evolve as the concept gets drilled and digged!
It makes total sense. (plus, agents at the border may be less sceptical 🙂
Was awesome to see you, and yes, I’m changing my vocab to ‘Social Communications’ – works for me as I’m a Comms person, not a Media person.
Once again, I feel a mind meld coming on, Olivier. Did you see my column today? http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/03/03/the-problem-with-social-media/
Hi, nice post. Your post about social communication is really informative and useful.
Keep up the good work!