Thank you Andy - I am talking to people about Enterprise social networks - with more and more interest.

But uphill I agree.

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Andy - I think part of why business doesn’t understand or embrace social networking is because business itself largely hasn’t sought to be social. Sort of: “Bring your brain to work, leave your personality, soul, emotion and everything else about you that’s human at home.”

Then there’s the question of who owns championing this space? Traditional agencies just haven’t understood the medium. They largely just don’t get it. There are very few traditional agencies who have the skill to understand and engage the medium. Ad agencies for better or for worse largely own the strategic marketing relationship with business, and new media or specialist agencies are an adjunct.

However this will have to change. With advertising inflation and relevance of advertising increasingly becoming an issue, brand owners and marketers are looking for innovating, alternative and more relevant ways of engaging their audience online. Mediums that deliver and are quantifiable.

It’s the beginning of the curve with social networking, but I think savvy business will want to get in on the action. Relevant brands will lead the way.

But once they do what will this mean for the medium?

Interesting article.

And Walter - thanks for posting the link on Twitter.

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Lovely post, thank you Andy. The caution and cynicism you describe is one reason why I’m excited about working with smaller, more entrepreneurial companies who are less likely to be precious about their brands and more likely to take some measured risks — especially since they don’t have the budgets to merit the time of day from a traditional ad agency.

And one more thanks to Walter for the link!

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@WalterPike. It’s a pleasure Walter. The more we talk, the more we present - the easier it’ll become. I just hope the Web 2.0 “industry” understands that, like any immature, new industry - it’s all about how you treat the first couple of years. The web has always been measurable - it’s most fantastic advantage. I hope we don’t lose that in a mess of “any chatter is good chatter”…

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@MandydeWaal. Ah, quantifiable. Nail on head.

It is interesting about how traditional agencies have failed to adapt. It’s not often the “creatives” don’t hop on a new idea. I think that’s changing though. BMW / Aqua Online have done some great work at pushing traditional boundaries. It helps that they have a aspirational brand - but still.

Do you think some needs to own the championing of the space? Perhaps I’m misunderstanding - but the very nature of the “collaborative web” is that it’s owned by the community.

Perhaps THAT’s why we’re battling here. It’s the idea that a community owns your product as opposed to you. Paradigm shift.

I’ve got an interesting post coming up soon on the rules of building communities. Some Guy Kawasaki wisdom. Watch this space.

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@Pam Sykes. Only a pleasure. It is a scary world where tiny companies with minuscule budgets can compete with the behemoths. And win. I just hope it doesn’t affect the “quality” of the space. It’s all very well having everyone and your grandmother collaborating - eeking true business ROI out of that is the slighly more complex next step…

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[…] has gone this route. I do foresee many brands following, although at the moment many brands are fearful to tread down this new path, some brands don’t even have their own websites or […]

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