It's Everywhere!

This book is phenomenal! I literally cannot put it down! I don’t think that I can just focus on one single concept that I have read because almost every chapter, page, and concept has spoken to me! So much so, that I’ve literally been talking about it to all my roommates…and anyone who will listen!

First of all, Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff has to be one of the most fascinating, useful and informative books I have ever read. It literally is a “How to Understand the Web” guide of sorts that I think every person who is online in any capacity should be encouraged to read. In the first few chapters, the authors define the concept of the Groundswell as “a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations” (p. 9).  It does not just state this and move on, instead it centers the entire book on constructively providing numerous different ways of explaining this concept in order for the reader to fully grasp what the groundswell really means.

Moreover, the book is so well organized that it even continuously gives the reader a road map of where the author is headed, how things connect, and what is crucial to understand.  After one chapter, the book had literally answered and posed all the questions I could have ever formulated about Web 2.0, but it does not stop there. As the book continues, I literally find myself stopping and thinking, “Oh, I remember when I joined that site…” or “Oh that’s what that review tool is for…” or “I could totally get more followers on Twitter if I do that!” The book has been and continues to be so applicable to my daily life and especially beneficial in understanding how to better root my own marketing company in the groundswell.

In the first six chapters that we read, some of the most important points I understood were: 

First off, the groundswell is PEOPLE based, we do not only determine how we organize and classify online, we can also change, shape, and create how we see the world at any time (Groundswell, p. 30). A great example of this is the Diggs.com example illustrated in Chapter 1. The second concept that I really held onto after reading was the idea of, "Why does the groundswell work?" The authors explain that though the technologies may differ among people, everybody has similar desires to connect! In Chapter 6, the value of using or "talking" with the groundswell versus marketing is higlighted as a cheaper, more viral, and the most accessible way of spreading information based on this connectivity. Though simple, this is a concept that I agree really propels people to get involved online and especially in the social media world!


More conceptual things I took from the chapters that I found to be fascinating include, but are not limited to:

The Social Technographics Profile a tool used to identify the behavior of your target demographic by  things such as age, country, gender so that you are able to gauge their social participation (see below)

The tool compares your audience’s participation as creators, conversationalists, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators and inactive (in comparison to the average US consumer). The results of using this simple social media strategy could take your company or brand to the next level and definitely give you the competitive edge over other companies not using this tool. The profile becomes so important as it allows you to understand your consumers’ behaviors and notice if they line-up with the effort you want to put in place.

To the left is Forresters Technographics Ladder which explains how the average US consumer participates in social networks and breaks down the activities on each rung of the ladder

Strategies for Tapping the Groundswell from Chapter 4 is another interesting and extremely important concept. In the chapter, the authors introduce POST which is broken down as:

·       People: by looking at people first you can understand the level of engagement based on the type of participation in social networks that is familiar to them

·       Objectives: the authors want to know if you are more interested in listening, talking, energizing, supporting or embracing people

·       Strategies: if you don’t lay out your objectives, you cannot measure the change in activity once the strategy begins

·       Technology: identify the technology whether it is a blog, wiki, social network… technology is extremely important to your strategy, the authors even discuss poor use of technology

Beyond the concrete concepts and ideas, Groundswell in general has sparked my interest in all things digital! Mostly the reading has made me think more about how each action, pin, post, tag, tweet, etc forever affects the groundswell (Note: Facebook and back to the Diggs.com example)!

***Stay tuned for my next reflection post as I am really excited to read more about how the authors describe, analyze and evaluate Twitter...I am a newly addicted tweeter myself!!

#SG