Since the birth of the Internet many have been trying to figure out just what it is, how big it is, I mean how big is it in terms of mankind. What is the role the Internet plays in terms of the world, maybe the universe as we know it. The question of what the Internet will look like in 50, 100 years from now looms large and is still is unanswered. The future is much easier to predict over the next 30- 50 years but 100 is a stretch, most likely we have no idea what technology will be like if we even get to live that long. With that in mind, what will Social Networks primary function be in the next 50 years?

Today we are producing content at a rapid pace, and using Social Networks to distribute it, hoping to get attention, and hoping to be recognized for providing good value. Most are trying figure out how to make a living here without the reputation of being unethical, wanting to be an honest business person and still generate income. In Social Networks it appears everyone is helping each other, building one another up, and encouraging each other to keep moving forward and to never give up. In some way these social networks behave like a church, maybe even better than, taking care of each other and speaking positive about all we come in contact with, as if we’ve known each other for years. It’s actually one of things I like about social network environments, it’s humane, it’s not about the system, it’s about people.

Almost everyone is willing to come and be together on Social Networks, see old friends, and meet new ones. It all sounds so wonderful doesn’t it? There is a dark side and we have yet to figure out what exactly it look likes and how to keep in check. I only mention it because we must keep our wits about us while chatting here faceless.

The church of the future will be more online than off, and many of the old guard will fight it, just like the music industry, they’ll fight back and try to keep control. In fact, today a new copyright law was introduced to prevent you, all of us from downloading music. I expect the copyright law will fail just as the previous document. Many question come when the idea of doing church online, sharing the gospel in a digital way. What about denomination, what happens to membership? The concept of broadcasting, streaming church services live online will become common place in the future even with the resistance of today.

The reality is, the church our Mother’s & Father’s attended, that model of church, is no longer working and a new model needs to be introduced. The new model means opening the doors up to the soon to be 5 Billion people that will take up residence here online. It won’t be enough to just stream services, but virtual churches will literally need to transform traditional church so it works online. Then the questions of, would people attend, would virtual churches survive financially? I belive they will, and they will most likely increase giving because they have opened the church doors and seeing that they to have become even more human.

Some say the Internet is evil, it’s the same statement as saying people with guns kill people, the truth is, guns kill people. The motive and heart of the people determine whether that happens or not, but that’s another story.

The Internet is changing our world(s), in such a way many are having a very difficult time trying to understand just what is happening and what it all means in the big picture. I can only say, this change is going to happen and we have to learn how to adopt. The details have yet to be worked out, but the picture is clear, the church will come here whether those today like it or not. The same applies to business owners resisting the reality that the Internet, that their business must be web-centric rather than not.

Will social networks be the new church, will they be accepted, or will they be viewed as outsiders as they are today? I like to think we are all people, we all have the same desires and frankly the same needs. If that is true, then social networks we know today will remain behaving the same way with very little change. That remains to be seen, but I can say without an hesitation, the church will be here doing the good work that they do, and I say AMEN!

In the next 3 -5 years there three major things that will force how we think and how we do business on the Internet. You need to prepare today in order to adopt new ways of doing business online in the future. To adopt new ways of thinking, a paradigm shift unlike you have ever had to endure in the past. Giving customers what they want is paramount, if you don’t, word of mouth will work against you at a faster rate than you can ever recover from. The future is filled with change, how you embrace change matters more than ever today. The next 5 years will test your ability to make changes.

Questions to consider: 1.) Does the Technology you use today help fill your sales funnel? 2.) Does your current technology improve productivity? 3.) Do you have easy ways for your customers to connect with you or talk to you? 4.) Does your current technology help build your brand? 5.) Does your current technology match your business objectives? 6.) Is your company web-native, is the web your primary way of doing business? 7.) Does your current technology make paying for your product or service easy and in a seamless way? 8.) How easy is it to do business with your company online?

3 Things to pay attention to:

1.) The 3 Billion yet to come

In the next 5 years we will see the arrival of 3 Billion people, that’s 3 Billion more people online than there is to date. This will create a sound boom, an avalanche of new content and a serious need for filtering the noise. Filtering content will be more important than creating it, and you will need to be tagged to be heard. If you do business online, getting attention and converting will be much more difficult if you don’t prepare today. These new consumers will want more control and will not be forced into paying for something they can find elsewhere. Hence the phrase, Proudly Found Elsewhere. Your Ecosystem will need to harness the power of an open economy to survive.

2.) Web-Centric

In the next few years 30% of all commerce will be done online, do you have the right systems in place to adopt that 30%? It is expected that that number will eventually hit 60%, are you ready to serve them? Do you have a team working on creative ways to adopt to the web in a primary way? Are you still treating the Internet as an add-on to your business?

3.) Mobile & Social

The Internet is shifting from computers to mobile devices, eventually these devices will be embedded into eyecare and possibly bionic lenses. More text messages are being sent than actual vioce calls are being made in the USA today. Is your business channeling to mobile devices? Are designing systems to adopt mobile devices that integrate social networks? Each day new mobile devices are being developed, and each day more and more business is being funnelled through mobile social networks, is your business leveraging new technologies that maximize presence and attention?

The world is getting faster and very mobile, the web is central to everything being developed today, are you there, will you be ready? The world is coming like a tidal wave, will you ride it or be hit by it? It’s an exciting time, embrace the open economy and the open & free business model, adopt this new way of serving others and generate more revenue than the past.

Technology is getting very interesting these days, augemented reality, holograms and nanotechnology, these technologies are reshaping our future faster than we are willing to accept. I’m not convinced most men would buy in this fashion because, well, we’re shy. But I do believe that technology will make it easier for all to embrace, get ready because it’s here!

Here is a snap shot from a Cisco clip, take alook and enjoy:

This has been the topic of discussion for a very long time, the argument of making people pay for content over giving it away. The landscape is changing rapidly, the world is and will not tolerate being forced to buy content whether it be music, files or the written word, you can’t enforce control when you need trust! It used to be that he who had control made the money, today, the good news is, that is changing, he who has less control makes more money. The bottom-line is the bottom-line, we will always try to monetize anything and everything. It seems we are very short-sighted though, we are still trying to make people do things they don’t want to do. Trying to control what people can access is not the way to go about building trust, in fact, it puts the guard up and raises questions as to motive.

One of the bigger challenges I see with making money online is, it’s not seamless enough yet, people still have to jump through far too many hoops. You would think with all the advancement in technology this would have been solved long ago. As mobile technology improves, the more and more we become mobile, the more transactions and advertising will be come seamless, it has to because we won’t tolerate what is cumbersome. Mobile advertising is where you should be developing your content, convert your free content into an app for iPad, iTunes or mobile phones and what have you. Advertising (At-vertising) is now Appvertising. The world will almost be 100% mobile in the next 5 – 7 years, focus your distribution through Appvertising. Feed your Blog content through an app, distribution is not the problem anymore, the Internet solved that for us years ago.

The easier you make it for your audience to come in, the greater return on your investment. Attention is the new currency, and in that currency there is an underlying trust osmosis component. The equation of tomorrow is:

EXPOSURE -> DISCOVERY -> COMMUNITY -> REVENUE

We are moving from selling products & services, to selling our attention, Google is doing it all the time.

The power of the future is in sharing, sharing music, sharing content, and sharing means doing it freely, not being forced to pay for that sharing. The problem is we are in the midst of a copyright gridlock (coined by Gerd Leonhard), there is much to be figured out here. Making the money happens around all that sharing, your primary content is distributed freely, this paradigm shift of Free & Open will change behaviour. The revenue change will come after the behaviour, habit & culture changes first.

Being connected scares companies and business owners, because we are going through a fundamental shift, from Closed to Open. The fear of loss is far greater than the desire for gain in this shift. It means not controlling how the money is made, the open & free marketplace means you & I are in control, we get to decide, big business doesn’t want that. So think of ideas that will allow you to maximize the Open & Free Business Model,  that will allow you to attract the right kind of attention.

We have to change our beliefs in how the world really is. Today only 25.6% of the world is here online, what will the world look like in the next 3 – 5 years when that number is over 60%? What would 5 Billion people online change in your online presence and brand? Think about that for just a moment, should you be doing things differently?

We have a Global Trust Crisis, Copyright Gridlock where the value of money needs to be re-determined, and there is so much to unlearn, but that’s what makes all this fun, the future is perfect because we haven’t screwed it up yet!

Give your audience access first before paying, Collaborate instead of Dominate, Coordinate & Cultivate instead of Command & Control, Control is Dead. We are becoming a broadband culture, we click to get before we ever pay. Access first, pay later.

I would love to hear your thoughts, my goal is to make you think, nothing more nothing less.

What do you think?

I’m thinking out loud today and thought I would share those thoughts with you. It’s been said we know the future, and we know what it looks like, but do we really? Yes we can predict with some accuracy what might happen, we just can’t describe the details, what color and what shape. Most people keep their head to the grind stone, look up once and awhile but for the most part they work till the bell rings. There are a chosen few who can’t stand the grind stone and have their heads in the clouds. I’m one of those characters, I love looking at the future, I love seeing what has yet to come and I love to share what most can’t see. It’s not that visionaries are better or smarter, they just see the world differently.

It’s not too hard to see that technology is getting more and more advanced and much smaller, we all embrace the use of handheld devices. Computers…towers and laptop’s will be a thing of the past in the next 5 years or so. Some of you remember the 1st Cell Phone, it was HUGE, today it’s  almost the size of a credit card. If Ray Kurzweil is correct in his predictions, we will become wireless devices by merging with technology. Imagine that! Soon the Internet will be readily available anywhere in the world, it won’t matter which device you use, you will have access.

Embracing ambiguity is the secret sauce, and I mean embracing ambiguity in most things online, not just technology. Technology is growing exponentially, therefore we can’t really predict it’s advancement with accuracy. We can however see where technology is going, the deliverables are another issue. Like most things in life we can deduce them to an equation but we really can’t tell you in great detail or when it actually delivers. Visionaries can see what’s coming and they work hard to help you understand it, they just aren’t clear on when you can have it.

Creativity is a function of ambiguity really, we start with an idea, a concept and work within that ambiguity until it takes shape. If you invested in that ambiguity, that would suggest you have huge faith that it will come to fruition. Afterall, you wouldn’t risk without some form of faith that thing you are creating will actually deliver. So why is it so hard for most people to function in ambiguity? It’s a thing called security, we want some kind of quarranttee we won’t lose anything, but will gain everything. Technology is one of those rare fields where that’s possible and we are willing to accept almost every technilogical invention we lay our hands on. For some reason, most are comfortable here in the technology sector, even though the risks are the same in any other catagory or profession.

My point, we can’t possibly know the outcome of any one thing. We must dream big, and with that means we will have to risk big and create within the ambiguity until we have a clearer idea of what’s really going on with our creation. If we always played it safe, do you think we would be where we are today? I doubt it.

So, no matter what you do, whatever profession you happen to be in, try to embrace ambiguity and make it your friend. It won’t be easy, if you have ever been poor or had more month than money, you know what it means to not know where or how you were going to make the ends meet. That kind of ambiguity can turn you inside out, if you’re in Ministry or are required to raise funds in order to pay your bills, you know what I’m talking about.

I share alot about the future of technology, and the new open & free business model, and I need smart people to make sure the predicted progress is done right. Not only do I embrace ambiguity, and not everyone can, it is however easier to embrace the ambiguity of technology.

Are you a risk taker, are you comfortable with ambiguity? Is it the mystery that draws you or is it the anticipation of something new and cool to use?

Back in 1994 the world was on fire for the World Wide Web, thinking then that we have finally found something that was going to change the way we worked and lived. Well, that’s partly true, we can do things we couldn’t do before, but it also didn’t save us time on a personal level. Technology merely allowed us to get more done in a day, we’re still working ridiculous hours each week. What happened, we didn’t see the crash that was coming. Today everyone is embracing Social Media as if it was 1994 all over again, bragging about those organizations that have embraced this environment and are having success. Many think that they have figured it out and will be the example for the rest of us. I believe we are wrong yet once again.

I’m 52 years old, allot has changed in my lifetime alone, Microsoft was birthed the year I graduated, 1975. I remember the introduction of Texas Instruments first handheld calculator, it was clunky and huge just like the first cell phones. Tape recording machines were as big as a suit case, 10 1/2 inch reels of tape spun forever. In the last 5 years, we have almost connected every person in North America via the Internet, 340 Million people use the Internet on this Continent. It’s amazing isn’t it, and yet we still don’t see what’s coming.

In the past 5 years Social Media has made it’s presence known, early adopters tried to tell us about it but we didn’t have time for it. Now we live on FaceBook and others like it, we can connect and talk with anyone who shows up. This phenomenon is also creating challenges for the Corporate world, we are moving away from a business model of control, that scares the daylights out of them. Control implies order, out of control means KAOS!

Today there are 1.7 Billion people on the Internet, that’s 25.6 % of the worlds population. Google is planning to send up 16 Satellites to provide free Internet access to parts of the world not connected today. Imagine if you will, if in the next 3 – 5 years, we were to have 5 Billion people connected on the Internet. How will the Internet look to you then, how are you using it now, will you change what you are doing, and how will we handle the problem of bandwidth? Imagine a day when Internet access is free, or covered in your property taxes. Have you spent time looking ahead, I do, and I can tell you, The world is coming, are you ready, will you be ready?

The Internet is moving away from computers as we know them, everything is going mobile, wireless handheld devices, and in the near future you will spend most of your time in Virtual Reality. The way we do business is changing yet once again, where a conversation is the sell, not the product or service. We are moving into a way of work where collaboration is required to build anything, we will coordinate and cultivate, we will change the way we organize our work. This broadband culture, click to get, access will come before ownership, the value of money will have to be re-determined and so on. We are slowly moving to an Open & Free Business Model, this will be a painful shift, it means the opposite of what we are doing now for the most part. Attention will be the new currency. Trust will be everything.

The World is Coming, Will You Be ready?

The Internets future is of great interest to me, I study some of the worlds smartest technology people because they see things differently than the rest of us. The Futurists are an interesting lot, they even cause me to chuckle now and then, but we need them because it forces us to look outside the box. I share and talk about the possibilities technology can bring, I care very much how it impacts society and our economy’s, plus I love looking into the future.

So I ask you Bloggers & Marketer’s, have you stopped to consider what and how the new economy is going to work, what it might look like, and how it will impact how you Blog and Market? Do you know what the New Economy is? There is and will be a New Economy, it will be The Data Economy, the New Content Economy. We will connect data to data, line to line, not web-page to web-page, this economy will set the table for a revolutionary way of doing business on the Internet. Google is ensuring this will happen, everything will be mobile and on the cloud.

We are entering a time where Command & Control will become Coordinate & Cultivate, where domination is out – and Collaboration is in. Where the current economic egoism no longer works, because now we are all connected, it breeds mediocrity. Mediocrity is what we have / had under the control model. We need to build an Ecosystem, where we freely, openly share & collaborate, with the right blend of sharing rather than piracy. Collaboration is and will be required to build in this new economy.

An entirely new way of thinking comes from being connected, Trust is the Key, Trust is the new currency. This trust will be developed over time, it will make or break organizations and indivduals with large followings and high levels of influence, but this trust won’t come easy. Advertising in the connected world has to be radically different, otherwise it will keep declining. We can no longer market on the Internet by yelling. Marketing needs to hit the RESET button and figure out how to function in the new economy.

Content today is copied, you download a PDF, an MP3 and what have you, it’s a copy. The Internet is a giant copy machine, if you disconnect the copy function, you disconnect the listening function. The fight to keep control of copies is a losing battle on this network, but how do we get the money from a network that can copy everything for free? We need to sell things that can’t be copied, the conversation is the sell. We need to sell things around the content, the packaging, the experience. Money is moving from the selling of copies, to selling the experience. After all, your Brand will be judged by that experience, if it’s bad, you will be out of business sooner than later. You can see the landscape is changing, the end of control is taking shape everywhere.

Social Media is a very human driven practice, it can’t be done with a single person, it just doesn’t scale well that way. Gary Vaynerchuk has shown us how hard it is to keep up and stay on top of all that is data, he won’t be able to sustain the demand on his time and become ineffective.

It’s important to state that Social Media is not about technology, it’s about a culture change, a paradigm shift, we have to get better at believing in the impossible.

We need to think about how we Blog & Market, re-write the books on how it’s done, because what we are doing is a diminishing return. What kind of experience do people have when they come to your Blog, and what kind of emotions are engaged when they see and hear your marketing messages? The power is now in the hands of the people formerly known as consumers, how will you engage them?

You’ve heard this message before a million times, you probably preached it over and over, but the real question is, are you one of the change agents helping shape this new economy? Have you studied what’s to come, do you know and see the indicators? The New Economy views content first as a service, then an experience – and only then (maybe) a product.

I know my voice gets lost in the noise, that’s OK. I know the Internet is a big place, and a very large network that dissects, crosses over and loops back, and some how we are supposed to find what we are looking for. Companies like Google are trying to filter the content and help us all get exactly what we want. But that my friends, is whole nother story. Filtering and curation are the keys to the next phase, and eventually we’ll find ourselves dealing with smart noise.

Are you paying attention, what do you see?

I’m certain this isn’t the first time this title has been used for a Blog Post. One of the most confusing things to most business owners and those not technically savvy is, what exactly is Social Media and how will it help me. Social Media in my humble opinion is seriously misunderstood by most. You can tell by how it’s being used for the most part, you can see the traditional marketers doing their typical advertising outbound push. Hell, even some so called Social Media experts are doing the same thing.

The definition of Social Media taken from the Wiki site:

Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.

I’m probably going to do a bad job at sharing this but I’m going to give you some things to think about, a list if you will. Let’s take a peek:

1.) Social Media is a very human driven practice.

2.) Social Media can’t be done or driven by a single person.

3.) Social Media is not about technology

4.) Social Media is about sharing

5.) Social Media is a mechanism in which you are tagged

6.) Social Media is about ubiquity

7.) Social Media is a tool for listening

8.) Social Media is not about pushing your product

9.) Social Media is what e-mail used to be

10.) Social Media is not a channel

11.) Social Media can help build trust

12.) Social Media deepens relationships

13.) Social Media is real-time expression

14.) Social Media is not new, it’s just different

This list could go on and on, I would love to hear from and add to this list.

What is Social Media to you?

I have been surfing about looking at sites selling different products & services, it got me to wondering if the technology they chose is working for all these business sites. I thought I would share a few questions that have been rattling around in my knoggin. Here ya go:

1.) Does technology help fill your sales funnel, and how?

2.) Has or does technology help build your brand?

3.) Does your current technology build community?

4.) Does your technology match your business processes?

5.) Is your technology easy to use?

6.) Which technology do you like best?

7.) Does your current technology improve productivity?

8.) Is your technology doing what you need it to do?

The strategic planner in me wonders how much work or time was put into determining what was going to work best and how they measured the solutions used. I’ve often said, if you don’t have your business process documented, how can you possibly know if a software or hardware solution actually handles 70, 80, 90% of your problems.

Anyway, I was thinking out loud and thought I would share my technology questions.

I have been thinking about this question for some time, because there appears to be a gap between IT Departments / Leaders and the rest of the organization. IT departments tend to think in icolation when it comes to the I.T. Plan. I’m generalizing but, this is normal because IT departments believe that the rest of the organization couldn’t possibly understand the complexities of technology let alone know how to implement it. That’s no longer the truth today, everyone has stepped up and learned more and do infact understand far better what technology means and what it can do. That’s not what I want to share with you right now, lets talk about who the I.T. Plan is for.

If the CIO or the person charged with the technology needs of the organization builds an I.T. Plan without consulting all departments and subject matter experts first, should be relieved of duty. The secret to a successful I.T. Strategic Plan is to ensure you have talked with all areas of the organization. It’s a MUST! If you don’t, you have no way of knowing what they struggle with, what they would like to be able to do, and what things they would like you to fix. The subject matter experts in the organization are your greatest allies, they can help you execute incredible customer service. The organization will know you care about each person, that makes buy in much easier when change takes place in systems they use.

Your responsibility is to deliver the right solutions, the right technology and above the best customer service to your organization. It has nothing to do with technology, it’s about people and always will be. The I.T. Strategic Plan is a road map for the IT Staff, it lays out the years work, and how you will serve the organization on a daily basis.

So, who is the I.T. Strategic Plan for? Who do you think and why?