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Turning the Tables

What happens when users

are really in charge.Doc Searls

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1) Bullshit will lose leverage.

To explore how, let’s look at the role of bullshit in the otherwise okay meme we call Web 2.0.

Quick, what is Web 2.0?

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If Web 2.0 is about “design patterns and business models

for the next generation…”

Why are they using advertising as an example?

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WhyTF shoud advertising be what Web ANYTHING

is about? Ten years ago, portals were all

the rage and advertising was going to pay for everything.

Now “social networks” are all the rage and advertising is going to pay for everything.

Meet the new bs, same as the old bs.

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Google’s customers sayWeb 2.0 is about

advertising:

Does that mean Web 2.0 is bullshit?

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Web 2.0 bullshit gets results.

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Dack nailed Bullshit 1.0:

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BuzzPhraser nailed Bullshit 0.1:

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Emptybottle nails Bullshit 2.0:

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Uh oh:

Something has jumped the rails. If not the shark.

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Jeez… Cluetrain was a rant

against bullshit.

What happened? Or hasn’t happened yet?

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Now Bullshit isn’t justin everybody’s face.

It IS everybody’s face:

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Now bullshit gets personal:

All of which isa huge pain in the ass.

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Now you’re not just a face.

You’re a target. And a tool.

Why just consume when you can produce…

For advertisers! Yay!Hey, what are friends for?

Yes, Facebook will recover from this mess.

But it’ll still be selling eyeballs to advertisers. Welcome to

1997.

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2) Advertising as we know it will die.

That includes this kind:

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3) Herding people into walled gardens and guessing about

what makes them “social” will seem as absurd as it actually is.

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4) We’ll realize that the most important

producers are what we used to call consumers.

A “consumer” is “a gullet that lives only to gulp products and crap

cash.” — Jerry Michalski

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5) The value chain will be replaced by the value

constellation.

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6) “What’s your business model?” will no longer be

asked of everything.What’s the business model of your cell phone?

Your driveway?Your shoes?

Your happiness?These are useful expenses.

Use and usefulness come first,Along with happiness and productive obsessions.

Money is an effect of those. Not a cause.

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7) We’ll make moneyby maximizing “because

effects”.

“Because effects” are what happen when you make more money

because of something than with it.

Two examples: search and blogging.

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8) Markets will be understood in terms of

relationships.

Of course…

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Markets are all three things: transactions, conversations &

relationships.

The real killer app is relationships.And advertising isn’t one.

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9) The Live Web is more important than Web X.n

Because it’s what’s happening in our lives, and on mobile devices, in

real(ity) time.

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The Live Webis branching off the Static

Web.Think of the branching as one between space and time.

Space (Static)

Time (Live)

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Google lets you search the relatively static Web:

We find the conference.

But , what about What’s Going On? Like, now?

We’ll go elsewhere…

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Google Blogsearchsearches the Live Web:

That’s by relevance

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How about by date?

And how about elsewhere?

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Technorati sees the live web 2:

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And gives you a bit more…

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10) We’ll marry the live webto the value constellation.

The Live Web isn’t just about stars.It’s about relationships. Of anybody to anybody.

But in real time. Not in static places.

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For example I should be able to notify the

whole market of my car rental intentions.

If I want a hybrid in Denver with 4-wheel drive that plays MP3 CDs, I should be able to notify the whole

market of that.Think of this as a personal RFP.

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I should be able to express global preferences outside of

anyone’s silo.

For example, IF I am calling for tech support,

THEN I don’t want to hear a commercial message.

Especially for something you should know I have no intention of buying.

Ever.

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I should be able to manage

my own health care data.

Instead of risking my life when I fill out manual forms with names of diseases I

know I have but don’t know how to spell.

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I should be able to inquire and relate to whole markets,

on the fly.

For example, send a message from my moving car that I need a stroller for

twins somewhere in the next 300 miles on I-40 eastbound.

Without going into a silo, or giving any more than the required information.

Which mainly consists of being trustworthy and having money to

spend.

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11) We’ll be able to manage vendors

at least as well as they manage us.

That means “agreements” need to go both ways.

No more 10,000 word piles of legalese from Verizon saying they can cut you off for no

reason at all.It means real relationships between truly

consenting patries.Whether those relationships are enduring or

transitory.

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We’re calling this VRM,for Vendor Relationship Management

It tests the belief that markets can be truly free and open.

And in control by customers as well as vendors.

With real relationships, and not just coerced agreements we call

“relationships”.

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ProjectVRMis where we’re working

on it

It’s HQ’d at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. It’s a development project. Meaning we are supporting

development wherever it happens. Or needs to happen.And we need help. The only code I know is Morse.

We’re at http://projectvrm.org.