Agree on the whole. I always find these categories a little artificial: Really "Forrester-speak". :) I think the recommendations are the most interesting. I'd make a separate post out of that.
- Meryn Stol
You say it yourself: "What’s interesting isn’t this vision for the future, but what it holds in store for brands, " . I'd like these recommendations to be fleshed out with concrete first steps to take. Doesn't have to be more than links to relevant resources.
- Meryn Stol
Meryn The recommendations are fleshed out in the actual reports. Our clients (brands) have access to see them.
- Jeremiah Owyang
Hmm ok... Then I'll need to get the details elsewhere I guess. :)
- Meryn Stol
Interesting categorization of the development into eras. Any consideration to the impact of scale on the 5th era? Just as a recent example with Facebook, their format evolution was not well received by what is not an insignificant number of members, and yet the reality is - that change - negative impact not withstanding is not rolling back.
- Patrick Boegel
There will be a give and take between communities and brands. The thing is, Facebook doesn't have a competitive alternative that users could go to. In my report, we suggest that active communities could define specs for products, and bid MULTIPLE companies to build it.
- Jeremiah Owyang
I completely understand that Jeremiah, just wondering if the nature of scale impacted or perhaps better said impacts the thought process for very complex long term brand relationships, ie Health Insurance, Financial Services, a college/university choice, where consversation and user invovlement can be complicated. Very interested in the full report either way. Thx.
- Patrick Boegel
good stuff Jeremiah, enjoyed and some good thought provokers there for the future
- Richard Binhammer
Nice paper but really expensive for young people. $750 means $41 for page.
- Alp
Great information, understanding the future's potential is more important than ever on the social web.
- Maria Reyes-McDavis
Interesting, but very general and hard to apply. I see companies more as å provide of tools/stage for conversation, aka the gold rush mining vs selling tools
- Anders Dahlberg
Alp, Many of Forrester's clients are large brands who have a subscription. We're still sharing a great deal on this blog, and have given the report to bloggers to cover, so there's value to be had there.
- Jeremiah Owyang
Jeremiah (and the team), a great piece of work and, I imagine, a labour of both love and loathing at times! I have been very interested in this area as I have looked at the shift in skills to deliver social media activity changes from one of basic coding knowledge to much more human, interactive skills.
- Paul Fabretti
Fantastic article! I found it SO intriguing that I've even printed it out!
- J. D. Ebberly
"How Brands Should Prepare" is a great bit of information. Jeremiah, it would be nice (i'd be reading) if you expanded in future blog posts about the "How Brands Should Prepare".
- frank barry
That's likely to be a research report I'm thinking about writing Frank
- Jeremiah Owyang
Probably correct in assuming that most online social networks will neither spawn nor solidify to the point of being considered ‘affinity groups’ with the level of cohesion, unified budgetary authority or organized implementation capability of NGOs, churches, or employee aggregations. Even in the era of social commerce. I hope I’m wrong.
- A Mitchell
Great post, understanding the future's potential is more important than ever on the social web.
- Vlad Hrouda
I love statistics, it appeals to my inner geek, and really like how Hans presents the changes in health across the world. Enlightening and entertaining. Well worth the 20 min, I wanted more.
- Robert Freeze
I'd like to see someone do a side-by-side comparison of Google search vs. Twitter search. I bet Google Search (used for site:Twitter.com) wins
- Jesse Stay
Twitter search should be called "things that happened in the last 24 hours"
- Daniel J. Pritchett
Speakapedia - http://shinydevelopment.com/speakap... - Neat app that creates albums from Wikipedia articles and imports them into iTunes. It creates separate tracks for each section of the Wikipedia entry. Also, the main picture of entry in Wikipedia is used as the album art in iTunes.
David: Ha. I can definitely understand the iPhone thing, but taking a laptop into the loo is something that probably requires other arrangements, eh.
- Nir Ben Yona
"Wolfram Alpha, set to launch Monday, is more of an enormous calculator than a search: It crunches data to come up with query answers that may not exist online until you search for them. And sites like Twitter are trying to capitalize on the warp-speed pace of online news today by offering real-time searches of online chatter -- something Google's computers have yet to replicate."
- Steve C
from Bookmarklet
Do I look like a cat to you boy? Am I jumpin' around all nimbly bimbly from tree to tree? Am I drinking milk from a saucer? DO YOU SEE ME EATING MICE?
- Simon Wicks
@Adi didn't they do that movie Club Dread or whatever and then Beerfest? :S isn't that enough!? :D
- Rudolf Olah
Yes Rudolf more! ;) Couldn't stand Club Dread for the longest and Beerfest had it moments. If I'm not mistaken Ramathorne also directed that Dukes of Hazzard remake.
- Adi
"Named president and publisher of the Gannett Co. flagship earlier this week, Hunke -- former CEO of the Detroit Media Partnership -- says some paid content could emerge on the USA Today Web site and he is not shy about making other innovations if they are required. "I do have a little experience shaking things up, don’t I?" Hunke, 57, joked Thursday, two days after being named publisher. "We've got to take an immediate look at alignment, alignment of the circulation footprint creating an audience, content attracting and retaining audience, and selling advertising against that audience.""
- Brad Williamson
from Bookmarklet
I agree. One issue in the demise of newspapers that most ignore is that many readers just don't trust the content they read in most papers.
- Michael Osterman
""We don't value our content anymore," Husni says. "It was a crime to sell a subscription to Portfolio for $12 a year." Even though Portfolio targeted well-heeled readers, it sold itself cheap on the newsstand and cheaper in subscription, and gave away its content online. When the economy soured and advertisers turned away, the magazine came up short. In tough times, Husni says, a greater reliance on subscription revenue is a safer bet than advertisers. "The chances of, say, a half-million subscribers going bankrupt and canceling subscriptions is far less than 50 major advertisers going bankrupt or cutting their ad budgets,""
- Brad Williamson
from Bookmarklet
"The New Yorker, Esquire, Backpacker and Wired were the big winners at the American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Awards on Thursday evening, taking home three Ellies each -- though none of the women's fashion books that were finalists won."
- Brad Williamson
from Bookmarklet
"What the research also goes on to state is that 50 percent of those that set out and establish or become involved in these communities will fail in their efforts. That's about 300 Fortune 1000 companies that will fail at social media: a striking number, especially in light of recent economic pitfalls."
- dougpollei
I agree. Most corporations don't value small things. I know the value of having only a couple of followers. Most corporations don't.
- Robert Scoble
I'm not shocked... This is looking like a CRM replay in the Enterprise. Massively over-hyped expectations, vague but large return, vague measures of success, and a completely vague definition of success.
- Brian Roy
The pull vs push marketing - good one "social media requires .... some fundamental shifts in marketers' attitudes toward online marketing"
- Yann Ropars
Our firm's high-tech and cleantech customers are eager to engage the communities they serve, but they (and most small and midsize companies) still struggle with *how* to keep up with disjointed conversations. They're realistic. They know they're not going to control the conversation. They know they're not going to shove marketing messages down people's gullets. They know they need to be authentic and responsive. They just can't afford to waste time beta testing services that don't deliver actionable info.
- Kawika Holbrook