How Social Media is Teaching Us to Give Again
Back in the 80′s, there was the yuppie movement. Short for “young upwardly mobile professional”, the term represented everything that was bad about greed and personal selfishness.
That’s not to say that all yuppies were greedy, but generally the majority stood for all the negative aspects of capitalism gone mad.
It was a case of “I’m in it for what I can get and only for me” – basically looking to see where the next big deal would come from and who cares if someone gets screwed over in the process. This malaise may have continued if it hadn’t been for the massive stock market crash of October 19, 1987 – Black Monday.
The result of this crash was that the whole money-over-everything attitude pretty much disappeared as humility and stark reality took over. For the next few years, it seemed as if people had learned lessons and were instead using an “I’ll succeed by helping others” approach.
Yet over the last few years, particularly in corporate America and the UK, the greed factor of the 80′s seemed to be creeping back in. Large companies and the CEO’s that presided over them seemed to be more about what could be taken from the company. Just Google the likes of Enron, WorldCom, Barings Bank and BCCI for examples.
The result? Today’s financial mess. Companies that were propped up by false reports crashing down to Earth. Leaders without a clue – or with bulging wallets after kickbacks – allowing the economy to disappear into a meltdown situation.
So, getting back to my opening statement, why does it all remind me of social media?
Simple – because social media has the opportunity to show how to really build a business model that we can all benefit from. Instead of being out to get everything we can, social media is helping and encouraging growth with other like-minded people.
Users of social media sites are using their blogs to offer free advice and tips to help other users succeed. They’re organizing podcamps and similar seminars (offline as well as online) to ensure that everyone is getting the most out of the medium. They’re openly discussing do’s and don’ts in forums and chatrooms. Simply put, they’re being social.
The result of this is that there are more people with the knowledge and confidence to go into business for themselves, knowing that they’ve built up a wonderful network of contacts that they can fall back on for advice. Or they’re taking this new-found knowledge and support network back to their full-time jobs and increasing their use to the relevant company.
No longer is it, “I can’t help you” – now it’s “I can’t help you but I know someone that can”. And as social media continues to mature with a wider audience, this network of help, knowledge and encouragement will only get stronger and more relevant.
Now if only the people that make the decisions would join the party…
image: Andy Woo
Hi Danny,
You raise a great point about the digital age! Social networking has changed our lives in so many ways and it’s refreshing to see how it’s changed business and networking for the positive – sparking, as you put it an “anti yuppie” or “how can I help mentality” of building and growing brands. Through our work we see this service oriented attitude now spreading throughout enterprises as brands use Social Intelligence platforms like ours and others to find related social media conversations – allowing them to go beyond reactive call centers to proactively seeking to help customers with their issues, problems and needs online.
Thanks and best regards,
Jennifer Rodriguez
Director of Community Outreach
Visible Technologies
Been saying this for a couple of years, the 80's were mashed up by an old cowboy actor and a green grocers daughter. Engaging and building long term relationships with trust and loyalty embedded will always provide a stronger future at any level.
Hi Danny
I remember most of those events and it was a shock for some of those massively wealthy people to come crashing to earth!
What I have found in the blogging community are experienced bloggers & marketers offering me so much encouragement, help and generally being there for me when I get stuck :-)
They have helped put my small niche blog out there and often offer help before I even ask for it. They see things that need adjusting and know I have almost non-exitent techie know-how and so over they come to sort :-)
I have now been able to start offering assistance to some newbies who are struggling with their writing skills. I'm so pleased that I can now give back to this amazing community that has and still is so generous with their support of me and my blog :-)
And cos I love networking, I can RT their posts and get them known too.
Patricia Perth Australia
Hi Danny....
I love the message here and I don't think anyone who's experienced the sort of social media generosity that you're talking about could disagree.
It's definitely made the average social media user more generous with advice etc....
But what I love even more is that (as you say) there is now so much freely given information that the barriers to entry are so low. This allows people to dream bigger and jump in to try to and change something big. There are some great people out there who are starting charities & causes etc off the back of their communities support & with sites like Kiva to support them they've got an even better chance of success.
Great post Danny & I love the new-ish design btw.
Sam
Hey there Sam,
Great to see you around here, my man. Agree - I have a Kiva account and it's great how you can set up teams from friends, colleagues and connections, and support a bunch of different people who you'd never know without the social web.
Here's to more use of social media like this. :)
Hi Danny,
You raise a great point about the digital age! Social networking has changed our lives in so many ways and it’s refreshing to see how it’s changed business and networking for the positive – sparking, as you put it an “anti yuppie” or “how can I help mentality” of building and growing brands. Through our work we see this service oriented attitude now spreading throughout enterprises as brands use Social Intelligence platforms like ours and others to find related social media conversations – allowing them to go beyond reactive call centers to proactively seeking to help customers with their issues, problems and needs online.
Thanks and best regards,
Jennifer Rodriguez
Director of Community Outreach
Visible Technologies
Hi Jennifer,
Surprising how something that basically connects total strangers who would have previously passed each other in the street can be so collaborative, huh?
Here's to that mindset winning out over the other kind. :)
Yes - Cheers to that!
Been saying this for a couple of years, the 80's were mashed up by an old cowboy actor and a green grocers daughter. Engaging and building long term relationships with trust and loyalty embedded will always provide a stronger future at any level.
Hi Danny
I remember most of those events and it was a shock for some of those massively wealthy people to come crashing to earth!
What I have found in the blogging community are experienced bloggers & marketers offering me so much encouragement, help and generally being there for me when I get stuck :-)
They have helped put my small niche blog out there and often offer help before I even ask for it. They see things that need adjusting and know I have almost non-exitent techie know-how and so over they come to sort :-)
I have now been able to start offering assistance to some newbies who are struggling with their writing skills. I'm so pleased that I can now give back to this amazing community that has and still is so generous with their support of me and my blog :-)
And cos I love networking, I can RT their posts and get them known too.
Patricia Perth Australia
You know, that's one of the things I've always loved about the blogosphere, Patricia, the real community feeling that pervades throughout.
Even with some of the bigger bloggers sharing less and concentrating on themselves, there's still a ton of great folks willing to help each other - and at the end of the day, that's all that matters :)
Hi Danny....
I love the message here and I don't think anyone who's experienced the sort of social media generosity that you're talking about could disagree.
It's definitely made the average social media user more generous with advice etc....
But what I love even more is that (as you say) there is now so much freely given information that the barriers to entry are so low. This allows people to dream bigger and jump in to try to and change something big. There are some great people out there who are starting charities & causes etc off the back of their communities support & with sites like Kiva to support them they've got an even better chance of success.
Great post Danny & I love the new-ish design btw.
Sam
Hey there Sam,
Great to see you around here, my man. Agree - I have a Kiva account and it's great how you can set up teams from friends, colleagues and connections, and support a bunch of different people who you'd never know without the social web.
Here's to more use of social media like this. :)
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