Blog Council & State of the Revolution

Todd Defren on PR Squared has a good piece that argues what is happening today is an evolution of tools and not a revolution. I happen to respectfully disagree. You can follow wars through history and see an evolutionary progression from rocks in slings to nuclear, but that is not the point. The point is that some wars actually changed the course of history, actually moved the power and control from one group to another.

And the effect of that power transfer from the Czars to the Bolsheviks or from the British to the Colonists has been revolutionary. Social Media is transferring power from large centralized organizations into the hands of the constituencies they are supposed to serve and the impact of that on governments, educators, media, libraries, health providers and, of course, commercial enterprises of all sizes is becoming revolutionary.

The social media revolution may be bloodless, but it is as disruptive as Hell.

On a bold day, I like to think of myself as a forward observer in that revolution. Because I had the good fortune to write a book with a famous corporate blogger at the right point in history, I have helped to spread the world to a multitude of villages and farms across several continents.

Like most revolutions, this one did not start in the centers of population, but off in the hills. Fomented by pissed-off and laid-off developers who can be likened to the peasants of yore, they had an idea.  Unlike them, they also had a new tool in blogging. As the idea spread the tools would develop at an awesome rate and in diverse directions.

This revolution has spread slower than I had hoped and faster than I had reason to imagine. I cn state all the incredible numbers--Nearly 100 million bloggers, 125 YouTube downloads for every paper version of the NY Times sold, etc.

The revolution has now gain in strength and momentum.  There are relatively few institutions that do not feel discomfort from the power-demanding masses behind social media. It is now at the very gates of corporate power.

Which brings me to--of all things--the Blog Council. The Council is being heavily criticized by a good number of my revolutionary friends including the co-author of my book. Some of the criticism hits an accurate mark.  The selected name is pretty lame. Issuing a press release rather than blogging it would have made sense.  Listening before declaring would have made them a wiser body from the start. Stating flatly that this would be a closed body did not represent the brightest light on the ceiling of inspiration.

The Blog Council would be wise to state--via a participant's blog the magic words: "You're right.  We screwed up. This is how we're going to try to do better."

But let's get back to us revolutionaries for a minute, shall we. I for one find that I have spent too much time chanting by torchlight at the castle gates. I have clever answers to the really tough and complex questions being asked behind the Firewalls of power. "How do you measure?" "What's a best practice?" "What happens to your brand when you have 2000 bloggers free to say whatever they please. "How easy will i be to be sued if we do say, 'sorry, we screwed up?'

I know a few members of this council.  I have financial dealings with one of them. I see the members that I know as soldiers in this revolution. They are the forward observers, who have slipped through the bars on the gate, who believe as I do that the corporations will actually prosper greatly by yielding control to the masses.

They are also the ones who can best work out the answers to the sticky questions that I can only answer glibly. When I'm asked, what the ROI is on a blog, I ask what the ROI is on a press release.  it's clever and well-supported by folk n my side of the debate, but it gains no ground for the revolution.

That ground needs to be taken by people inside, people like the blog council. They need to address complex and tedious issues such as the rewriting of employee guidelines, redefinition of proprietary; decentralization of message, and ones I don't even know about. They need to have some of these discussions, some of the time behind closed doors.

This is very similar to my own behavior. When I have a big problem, I rarely come here and tll all of you about it. Instead, I talk to a small handful of friends, friends who perhaps are facing similar problems. This is our personal nature.  I am a huge proponent of greater transparency in the corporation, but it is foolishness to argue for total transparency.  Robert Scoble is the most transparent blogger I know, and even he keeps some secrets, which he shares with a small circle of friends.

So, I can see why the Blog Council is off to--let us say--an inauspicious start. But I hope it gets its chance.  I think they have the potential to bring the revolution to places that revolution has not yet reached.

Comments

[Todd Defren]

Hi Shel -
First, I am honored that you stopped by my spot in the 1st place, even if we wound up disagreeing.

Actually, though, I think we're debatin' semantics here. As I noted in the Comments at PR-Squared (where your basic theme was expressed by another reader):

"You'll get no argument from me that this is an EXCITING and TRANSFORMATIVE time...My take, essentially, is that the birth of the ARPANET in 1969 marked the beginning of this r/evolution."

Though it's not an issue that should keep us up nights, when debating revolution vs. evolution, I guess I'd suggest that Mankind has always embraced cheaper/easier/better ways to express itself. More self-expression always seems to lead to big changes.

Look back to Gutenberg's printing press: with its introduction came an explosion of low-cost Bibles...which Martin Luther subsequently translated into common German ... two events which allowed people to own & read the Word for themselves (vs. wait for the "translation" from the Latin by their priests), and start to draw their own conclusions... which in turn led to Luther's blog post - err, 95 Theses - posted to the church door. This led to a Reformation, not a Revolution.

Maybe that analogy works: maybe Social Media is leading to a Reformation? Can we split the difference? ;)

[Lewis Green]

Shel,

As a communicator by trade, I spent more than a few years in corporate manager and executive meetings pounding on the doors of those who would be gatekeepers. But since leaving and starting my third business, I have lightened up. We can advise on and show how to use social media as part of an integrated communications strategy, but we need to leave the heavy lifting to those who would be cheerleaders from behind the walls.

I support the creation of the Blog Council, despite its silly name and rocky start. It can only lead to better communications, happier customers, more productive employees and, yes, increased ROI by giving up control of the message and letting the seeds of brand evangelism and customer loyalty grow into forests.

Wonderful post. Great insights.

[Steve Mann]

Shel - my thoughts on the matter here.

http://ablebrains.typepad.com/ablebrains/2007/12/blog-council-kn.html
Good post.