Forrester Research: Social Computing Report

Grab the opportunities.

Forrester Research says we are in an “era of social computing” in a report released last month titled, Social Computing: How Networks Erode Institutional Power and What To Do About It, by  Chris Charron, Jaap Favier and Charlene Li.  The thesis of the report is that today institutions - corporations, media, governing bodies, etc. – have less influence over us and individuals have more. 

A quote from the report via Steve Rubel:

“Individuals increasingly take cues from one another rather than from institutional sources like corporations, media outlets, religions, and political bodies. To thrive in an era of Social Computing, companies must abandon top-down management and communication tactics, weave communities into their products and services, use employees and partners as marketers, and become part of a living fabric of brand loyalists.”

Yes. And no.

The “yes” part is what companies have to do to thrive in today’s business environment:  weave in communities, socialize their marketing, and equalize communications rather than sermonize.

The “no” part is individuals have always had more influence on us than institutions, it just wasn’t as visible to us as business people, and the individual’s reach wasn’t wide. 

The significance for business today is that we can hear the influence, see it, follow it, measure it.  And, individuals have access to lots and lots more individuals they can influence due to their ability to communicate and publish via networks.

The significance of social computing is business opportunities, innovation opportunities, marketing opportunities.

Without networks business was largely working in a vacuum, making products and spending enormous amounts of money creating markets for them.  Now, we make products and services that answer market needs and cost less because we have access to markets and to their behaviors.

Access your markets by letting them access you.  “Social computing” are the tools.  Grab the opportunities.

I encourage reading the report, or at least the executive summary if you don’t want to spend the $299 for the full report. In it Forrester pulls together trends in behaviors that have been evolving over the last 15 years and that are now reaching critical mass.