We recently moved our business banking to Standard Bank because we weren’t getting the level service we needed from our previous bank, FNB.
The service I’ve received since from Standard Bank Sea Point has been warm, personal, and efficient.
So when I saw all the commentary on Muti.co.za about the Standard Bank website redesign, I felt (as one of their customers) that I wanted to have my say to help them do a better job of it.
So I left a comment saying that I couldn’t see their header image properly on Firefox for Mac (it has been fixed now, but the Heavy Chefs had the same problem).
So, I was really happy to see that not only did Standard Bank fix the problem quickly, but their Head of Online Banking and Communication Channels, Itai Maunga, is engaging with social media channels like Muti, and with bloggers, like me:) He sent me this email:
Hi Dave,
We picked up on your comment after Damien du Toit’s comments on Muti on the home page (www.standardbank.co.za) redesign, expressing his disappointment at the finished product. We value your opinion, aware that you are a thought leader in the online marketing sphere, and would like to establish if you are open to having a conversation with us about the site. We will get in touch with you next week if we do not hear from you before then.
I must admit that when Standard Bank released their new slogan “Inspired. Motivated. Involved.”, I thought that it was marketing fluff that a big old corporate would be unable to live up to. But Itai’s response is like a Cluetrain case study. I must say that this has reflected my whole experience with Standard Bank so far. I’m inspired!
The term “Web 2.0″ is derived from a naming convention in software, where upgrades that are released in the market get numbered (like Verstion 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 etc). This seems to suggest that the software of the internet has been upgraded, which isn’t entirely correct. However, the term is still useful if you look at it as a massive shift in the way the web is being used. Essentially, “Web 2.0″, refers to the functionality built into websites that allows people to more easily put their own information on them, to share it with others, and collaborate with them. These websites, then, shift from being simply “websites”, to being tools or “applications”.
The next “version” of the web (likely to be dubbed “Web 3.0) will allow these websites to integrate with each other even more effectively and naturally – so, for example, you will be able to incorporate many of the sites you regularly visit into one website, which also synchronizes your information, friends and updates so you don’t have to repeat yourself all over the place!
Social Media
Social Media, simply put, is a form of media created by people who post information (be that pictures, articles, videos, comments or votes) using Web 2.0 applications (such as blogs etc.). It is primarily driven by Amateurs, although big media companies have started integrating social media into their traditional offering too. This is part of what makes social-media special: it can incorporate other forms of media, increase it’s reach into niche communities of interest that are inter-connected on social-media platforms, and enhance it’s impact and effect by allowing interaction. So in social-media, the audience can become collaborators.
For this reason, the flow and process of creating Social-Media is often likened to a Conversation, which happens even if no-one actually speaks directly to any person in particular! Social Media depends on interactions between people as the discussion and integration of words, images, and sounds around a multitude of subjects and feelings builds shared-meaning around topics and experiences. For example, if a number of people who attend the same event post their own pictures, blog posts, and videos of it online, then by looking at the array of media around this event anyone will have a better understanding of it than if they just read one newspaper report on it.
Social Computing
Social computing a broader term, which incorporates Social Media. It refers specifically to the “sense-making” effect of all the interactions that are carried out by groups of people online. This is an idea that has been popularized in James Surowiecki’s book, The Wisdom of Crowds. Examples of social computing in this sense include collaborative filtering(such as on Muti.co.za), online auctions, prediction markets, reputation systems, computational social choice, tagging, and verification games (A great example is Google’s Image Labeler game).
A paper on Social Computing by market research company Forrester Research states:
Easy connections brought about by cheap devices, modular content, and shared computing resources are having a profound impact on our global economy and social structure. Individuals increasingly take cues from one another rather than from institutional sources like corporations, media outlets, religions, and political bodies. To thrive in an era of Social Computing, companies must abandon top-down management and communication tactics, weave communities into their products and services, use employees and partners as marketers, and become part of a living fabric of brand loyalists.
Although these applications are easy to engage with and use, they can be potentially destructive, and costly to organizations and individuals who don’t have a strategy and an understanding about what they hope to achieve by engaging with other people on the web in this way.
The term “Social Computing” is often used interchangeably with the term “Web 2.0“, although as the Forrester report points out:
Web 2.0 is about specific technologies (blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc) that are relatively easy to adopt and master. Social Computing is about the new relationships and power structures that will result. Think of it another way: Web 2.0 is the building of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s; Social Computing is everything that resulted next (for better or worse): suburban sprawl, energy dependency, efficient commerce, Americans’ lust for cheap and easy travel.
On Tuesday night, a small group of us had the pleasure of having dinner with Joseph Jaffe, one of the world’s top new-marketing bloggers/podcasters. He’s president of Crayon, and wrote the bestselling “Life After the 30 Second Spot“.
During the dinner he wanted to give someone a signed a copy of his just-released book called “Join the Conversation” (which he’d brought to SA for his mom!), but has instead dedicated it to the Cape Town blogging and podcasting community to be passed around.
The inscription says:
“To the wonderful Cape Town community, I’m proud to represent you in the big US of A and I hope this book inspires, motivates and reflects the power of us“.
I’m almost done reading it, so if you’d like to get it next (and you’re in Cape Town) then just write a blog post mentioning the words “Join the Conversation” and then let’s meet for coffee and I’ll pass it on to you:)
One of the cool things about the book is that Chapter 10 was written by a bunch of people interested in the subject using a wiki. Interestingly, if you feel compelled to write more about it, you can become a contributor on the official blog by registering yourself there.
Today is my second day back in the lab after three weeks of back-to-back online marketing and strategy workshops, lectures and conferences. The recurrent theme in all of them was the idea of authentic co-creation. Quite obviously the most important shift that is happening in marketing and strategy is a move away from centralized control of communications to a more decentralized user-oriented approach.
At the iCommons Innovation Series last week in Joburg, Jimmy Wales stated that any business that was dependent on people not copying its products or services was doomed, whereas those that embrace the culture of sharing, and that build in systems to facilitate and benefit from sharing would thrive. This is most obvious in the music industry, where even Madonna has left her old record label which was dependent on DRM and record sales and moved to a label that prioritizes alternative revenue streams such as her brand, her live performance revenues, and merchandising.
In the Attention Economy, having the goodwill of a community can make you rich, and power comes as your ideas, products and services circulate through that community. In this new economy, participation is key, since it is the highest form of Attention that a person can give. It must be pointed out though, that simply creating a platform for participation (such as a Wiki or a video-channel) is not enough to get people involved. You need to help them connect with people that have shared interests.
How do you think Wikipedia maintains the level of quality participation it has? The answer is that behind each article there are little communities of people who are connecting with each other through a shared interest in the subject matter they are compiling – each contribution, discussion and edit is a form of social currency that can escalate their status in the community. People blog for much the same reason. So perhaps the human need for recognition and connection is really the driver of the new web economy.
My advice is to do whatever you can to help reduce people’s sense of separation from each other and your brand. As a participant in one of last-week’s workshops pointed out: A relationship is an ongoing conversation. So I leave you with a question to consider: How will you start facilitating ongoing conversations through your company, with your company, and through your products, services, portals and communications?
I'm a Digital Media and Marketing educator based in Cape Town, South Africa.
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