Lubricating the Groundswell

In their book, Groundswell, Forrester Research VP's Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff define the groundswell as "a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other instead of from companies". I love this book because I'm seriously intrigued by what's happening with online social technologies and the impact they are having or can have in my life, both personally and professionally.

There are so many online "social" tools and their use-cases are mind-blowing. My current favorites are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Campfire & Netvibes.

But, these technologies are changing so fast that I can hardly get comfortable with one tool or use-case before another one pops up. That's where I've found Groundswell to be insightful and useful.

Part One of the book is dedicated to providing context....Why the groundswell and why now? It then gives an overview of the key groundswell technologies and how to use them. Part One ends with The Social Technographics Profile, which is "a way to group people based on the groundswell activities in which they participate. This is some seriously cool stuff and you can even use their free tool to profile your customers' social computing behaviors! After all, it's important to know your audience's profile in order to create an effective social strategy.

Part Two goes on to discuss strategies and tactics for "tapping the groundswell" and Part Three, which I haven't finished yet, outlines the real impact of the groundwell on corporations now and in the future.

What I've learned about myself is that I reside somwhere between "Critic" and "Creator" on the Social Technographic Profile. At a minimum I'm keeping track of what's being said out there on the web and am contributing my 2-cents worth in response to what I see. Today, for instance, I posted my comments ("Disappointed...") and rating ("C") for the movie "Wall-E" on Yahoo Movies.

By evidence of this blog, I'm also participating in some "creator" behaviors although I'm not yet consistent enough to consider myself a full-fledged "creator". In the context of the groundswell, afterall, "creators" are at "the top of the ladder" and are unique in their ability to influence the behaviors of others. I'm not there, yet, BUT....

...I'm intrigued enough about the power of the social web that I'm going to keep exploring ways to leverage its tools personally and professionally.

Consider a case study presented in Groundswell. The authors present the story of Jason Korman, the founder of South African winery Stormhoek. Jason "decided his wine would be the first to succeed thru the groundswell", realizing that the key was to concentrate on the wine experience. In Jason's words, "....wine is about what happens after you open the bottle." "Wine is a social lubricant".

Jason's strategy was to get people who were having a good time with his wine to start talking about it, online. Apparently they did! After sending bottles of wine to bloggers across the UK and Ireland, over 300 blog posts later, Stormhoek had created a new meaning for "wine buzz". Two years later, Stormhoek's business had grown from $1M to $10M.1

I think it's fascinating how the dynamics of influence are changing thanks largely to online social media technologies and the people who use them.....

What social technologies do you use and to what end?

".....there is something fundamental behind this drive to be social - something that touches, or will touch, all of us. It's a need to connect." - Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

1 Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. Groundswell-Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Harvard Business Press, 2008.