Decoding Social: How Are Social Technologies Changing Business, Media and Society?

Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by gaurav in Announcements, Ideas, Media

At 2020 Social, we understand that the nature of knowledge is changing from stock to flow and knowledge will become redundant in the blink of an eye, if not shared with others. On the other hand, if we share knowledge with other, often for free, they repay us with attention, and we create more opportunities for ourselves to learn and share more.

In this spirit, we will be sharing all our research, point of view, conference and workshop decks with the community of social media practitioners and enthusiasts we have learned so much from.

We speak at almost a dozen events every month, and sometimes use the same ideas across talks. For instance, I have given several related talks on “how to scale passion?” or “what can entrepreneurs learn from activists?” at BITS Pilani, IIT Roorkee, TEDIndia, Startup Saturday Delhi, Social Media Club Mumbai, IIT Delhi and Pecha Kucha Bangalore. Each talk is a work-in-progress artifact and I have seen these ideas evolve, each time I talk about them. While individual slide decks for each talk are interesting as artifacts, I’m beginning to think that it’s better to share a master slide deck (that’s in constant beta) so that people can easily refer to the latest iteration of our thinking.

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Social Media Strategy is Business Strategy Plus Technology Plus Sociology

Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by gaurav in Ideas

I often tell friends that what I do at 2020 Social is one third business strategy, one third technology and one third sociology. So, I felt a strange sense of kinship when I saw this presentation by Altimeter Group’s Deborah Schultz focus on how engaging people on social media is less about technology and more about sociology:

I have also heard Beeline Lab’s Francois Gossieaux talk about how online communities have less to do with web 2.0 and more to do with human 1.0 during his Tribalization of Business talks:

So, when you sit down to think about the social media strategy for your brand next time, remember that it’s one third business strategy, one third technology and one third sociology.

You might be spot on on the business strategy and the technology, but unless you get the sociology and the storytelling right, you’ll fail to connect with your consumers.

Cross-posted at Gauravonomics: Social Media and Social Change.