It is in the nature of social networks that the traditional hierarchy of control becomes less pronounced. Even though one person created the Facebook group, could they really be said to be in control of the event? People forward the event to their friends and through the network effect different groups of people independently cocreate the event. Rather than one point on control there are many nodes. So the creator of the event cancelling it will not necessarily stop some of those who had said they were going turning up in any case.
In the end they didn’t. As the local Herald Express says:
Police, back-up staff and the media were the only presence on the beaches during the weekend instead of an anticipated 10,000 party goers.
Although, now there is a suggestion that the party may be this coming weekend instead. I suspect this might be a story that never ends.
If you’re interested, here’s a clip of me talking about this issue on Sky News last week:
I just read a good post by Chris Brogan today called what social media does best. I’m never a big fan of lists, but this is a useful one, making clear some specific benefits of social media (just in case you were wondering - which I know a lot of people are).
My top three points (and the reasons why) are:
Podcasts encourage different types of learning, in portable formats - I listen to a couple of podcasts as I cycle to work and a couple on the way home. That’s 30 minutes of learning every single day that I would not have got before the social media revolution. My favourite ones are Business Week Cover Stories, TED talks and Behind the Numbers.
Social networks make for great ways to understand the mindset of the online consumer - given that my first business was a research company this ethnographic style of research is of particular interest to me.
People feel heard - I think the best way for brands to engage their customers is through conversations. Online customer communities give your customers a platform to make a point and give you the right of reply and ability to say “thank you”.
I came across this set of slides from Joery Bruijntjes about PR 2.0. How the world of Public Relations has moved on from a traditional (1.0) world where journalists are the middleman, to a new (2.0) world where people create their own content. And how
For me the slides are a great overview of how to engage consumers and enter a conversation with them, it highlights the need to understand who they are and how to reach them. Take a look at the slides below.
