Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
AND NAYSAYERS:
BY KAREN CHRISTENSEN,
EXPLORING
THE WORLD OF
BERKSHIRE PUBLISHING GROUP
SOCIAL MEDIA
THE WORLD OF SOCIAL MEDIA BELIEVES USER-GENERATED
CONTENT AND OPEN-SOURCE TECHNOLOGY WILL TRUMP
COMMERCIAL PUBLISHING AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT.
IN FACT, ORGANIZATIONS COMBINING THE BEST OF ALL
I
WORLDS ARE THE ONES MOST LIKELY TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS.
I’m a lover of old books who also blogs. I potential. You’ve no doubt read the When they paint a picture of the
grew up in the Silicon Valley but have evangelists’ claims, heard the shorthand future as they see it – a future dominated
become a skeptic when it comes to exag- (Web 2.0, the “long tail,” the “tipping by online interaction – social-media
gerated claims made for the social benefits point”) and probably experienced the zealots appear to assume that teenagers
of human-computer interaction. I am tent-meeting atmosphere of a lot of con- (the age group most switched on to
fascinated by possibilities of Web 2.0 ference keynotes. Bloggers who say we social media and the one the zealots
publishing, but I have shocked friends should get rid of all editors and just let focus on) are going to be doing exactly
who are true believers by pointing out the people speak. Internet experts who the same things at 40 that they’re doing
that not everyone knows the difference think publishers just print books. today. They fail to take into account the
between a wiki and a blog. Let’s take a Overexcited journalists who write, fact that teenagers have considerably
look at these different worlds. “When it comes to information, the bal- more free time than 40-year-olds. People
ance of power has truly shifted to the with families and careers and community
THE EVANGELISTS consumer.” (One assumes the writer activities, however tech-savvy, can’t
People involved in social media are doesn’t think his own job should be spend all their free time downloading
almost fanatical about them, while tradi- done by the magazine readers, however.) humorous video clips and chatting in
tional businesspeople seem to dismiss Web media producers who boast they MySpace. If a renowned professor and a
them as fad rather than seeing them as do everything online. (Surely not every- high school kid get into a debate on
phenomena with truly transformative thing?) Wikipedia, the student will win. The
W W W. S I I A . N E T UPGRADE | 19
and move if it feels too hassled, and com- delete the well-intentioned dead ends, lish now, most people have absolutely no
panies may find themselves chasing their to rewrite the explanations that are too idea what a <strong> tag means and
target demographic around cyberspace. long and complicated and to test the would no more edit a page in a wiki than
Companies engage with social media final instructions. Because in a medium try to drive a tractor-trailer truck. But
to differing degrees. Some love to wait like this there are no final instructions. one thing is certain. Regardless of
and see. Others proudly announce a blog Forums are full of good ideas and bad whether or not social media will turn
and then use it to post press releases. ones, and if it’s your special subject and out to be our bread and butter, it is far
Others decide to add every kind of whiz- you don’t have anything else planned more than icing on the cake.
bang interface they can find, without for a rainy afternoon, you might want
ensuring there really is a community-in- to while away the time this way. But
waiting. Virtual communities need some after first creating trust, which is key to
initial spark to animate them. Sometimes any social network, the tech forum lost
KAREN CHRISTENSEN,
it’s a political issue or a crisis of some kind. me because it didn’t answer my ques-
Co-founder & CEO,
Often there’s an offline community or tion in a way I could understand. And
Berkshire Publishing
many small communities ready to come that is good news for publishers, Karen Christensen is co-founder and
CEO of Berkshire Publishing Group. An
expert on Chinese guanxi (business rela-
Perhaps the greatest challenge social media tionships) and online community build-
ing, she serves on the SIIA Content
pose to corporate media companies is Division Board of Directors and spoke
blurred boundaries between producer and about social media in China at the first
Global Information Industry Summit in
consumer. And the barriers need to be much, Amsterdam in September 2006. She
blogs at www.berkshirepublishing.com/
much lower. blog/.