The story is not that social media enables us to connect to the world. The story is that, given access to one another, the world is now actively connecting (and swapping stories).

I say this because I'm not altogether confident that the real story is getting out there (and I'm a "message first, marketer second" kind of gal). So let's assess, ok?

I'm a BIG marketing book reader. And yet the book I've most raved about all year is not about "The rise in new marketing!" Nope. It's about the rise of new markets.

If given the choice, I'd be the geek over the cool kid any day. Because the geek is tackling global problems.

We no longer give a second thought to where the person we're having a conversation with is located. North Carolina, Nova Scotia, New Zealand, Buffalo, Belgium, Omaha or Oman, no matter. What matters is the value of the varied viewpoints that we're now able to access.

Blogger Social was special because so many of us--from so many different states and countries--went to the time, trouble, expense and travel to come together...after all, we come together through the tools of social media every darn day.

The Beijing Olympics will bring the Chinese much national pride (and well-deserved at that). But the true story is that of China working to win hearts and minds outside of China.

This morning I was asked my recommendation on speakers at an event that takes place halfway 'round the world from me in Dubai. My answer? While the event may be focused on the same subject matter...the speakers need to be from different continents.

In speaking with a prospect last week I explained that, ironically, it's an odd quarter when my clients are all NYC-based (they're usually scattered all over the U.S.). He asked why. I explained that NYC is my home, but far from my only market of interest, and that my real hope is for more projects outside of the country.

In seeking the mp3 for the beautiful Olympics theme song, it was a new pal from Singapore that helped me, because he too loved the song and its spirit--and because he was up when I posted at 2am my time (2pm his time). As a night owl, I'm so glad that timezones no longer confine my conversations.

Speaking of timezones--since the Olympics debuted, the biggest gripe I'm hearing is due to the Americans (NBC) limiting real-time viewing of the Olympics. Apparently they don't yet know the story either.

We often say that social media is about people, not technology. I echo the same sentiment. But the real story is different people from different places with different viewpoints and different experiences all craving the SAME thing: to be able to share their viewpoints so that they can learn new ways, understand new markets, meet new colleagues and have new experiences.

Because same old is just the same (and way old).

Sure, globalization has been going on for decades--but it's only in the last handful of years that the average person could access so many global viewpoints. And that's giving way to many new stories.

I feel lucky to be marketing through these groovy new media technologies. But I feel far more blessed to be living in a time where I have access to so much more of the world. Because this marketer has A LOT of learning ahead of her...and I'm not going to learn through more of the same.

Social media ain't the story. Smaller world is.

I find it funny that many think "BIG!" when they speak of global things. Because now, given access to more people from more places, it's actually that this big world is becoming smaller. At least it sure feels that way to me.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

PS: The "smaller world" story of the pic above of Arun (Oman) and me (NYC) is located here.

Comments

[Ed]

I am glad you can have the song rocking in your iPod now, and your readers too.

Come one day, the world will become so small on the internet, it will feel as though we work just a street across and greeting each other good morning everyday. Less is more, indeed.

[Jon Burg]

Great perspective. The venerable Greg V said it very well when You Tube first hit it big - something along the lines of - it's not about the fact that video is being viewed, but that people are talking, expressing and connecting. I'm paraphrasing, but it was an amazing presentation.

This throws marketing metrics a major curve ball. It's not about quantity (generally a media and marketing goal) but total performance (qualitative quantity scores). Thanks for sharing!

[Gavin Heaton]

Don't know if you have seen the latest Michael Wesch video, but he uses some compelling statistics to demonstrate that the audience has shifted. For example, the combined network production of the 3 big networks in the USA over 60 years is about 1.5 million hours. This is roughly equivalent to the content uploaded to youtube in the last 6 months. And 88% of this is new, never seen before content.

But, it is also the long tail in action. The majority of content has an audience of less than 100. Anyone say media "fragmentation"? Anyone say "relevance"?