Cutting Edge News From Justmeans Social Media & Change Conference

On 1 November I was in a room of high-profile influencers at the Justmeans Social Media, Technology and Change Conference in New York. I had flown from London to be there and I am so glad that I did. There were so many key note speakers that it would be impossible to mention everything in this post; instead I am going to bottle up what I have captured and share with you the things you need to know because this information is going to change the way we will think and do business.

The opening plenary, entitled, 'The Coming Revolution', focused on the concept of social media, and it gave me an adrenalin buzz. Adam Brown, Director of Social Media at Dell and Kevin Grandia from Greenpeace were on the panel. This is what Adam had to say…"Social media is about the social story, telling the best stories that are tailored for your audiences. It is not about mass communication and listening is essential."He described these stories like the stories we would hear as children at bedtime when the story teller would tailor the story to suit us, the principle is the same. Adam talked about importance of being authentic and that in business the days of PR and spin are well and truly over. Companies no longer have the control over the message with social media.

Kevin Grandia from Greenpeace reiterated this and said, "Powerful global conversations had begun, where we want to see the face of the seller/corporation. Business needs to be honest, open, natural…where the human voice can't be faked." He said business needed to do three key things-

1. Do the right thing

2. Be seen to be doing the right thing

3. Don't get 1 and 2 mixed up!

Before I move on I want to leave you with a powerful statement by Adam Brown -"Listening will become a commodity."

The session, 'Listening and Engaging with Customers and Employees' had three speakers; I am going to focus on John Pope, Social Media Head, Nokia and Marcel Lebrun, CEO Radian6. Lebrun at Radian6 said "There's a new reality where companies are sharing their brand with employees; it is about taking a risk, but is a risk worth taking." John Pope backed this up and said, "Social media is a powerful medium and Nokia engages its employees to use it to talk about the company. We ask our employees to be prepared, be transparent, be smart, be nice, be yourself and be professional." He added that 'location is the connector as it allows customer engagement' and that today we have 'half second news cycles, where most social media conversations are dead after 24 hours'.

There is more to share, particularly about gaming, how it will shape our future and how those businesses that are not actively taking part in gaming, won't be attractive to the next generation to the topic about metrics… I am going to leave you on a cliff hanger…so watch out for my next post.