THE WEB IS NOT A CHANNEL

Phil Whitehouse, Joined The Team last year from BT

I hang out with these guys - geeks, nerds, scientistsThey built the web, continue to do soIn agency world people talk about the web as a channel or series of channelsI’m going to present a different way of thinking about the webHelp our clients and help them develop more fruitful relationships with their customers

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How the web worksAll traffic treated equally - Pope/President/youThis equal nature of the web is the foundation on which it is builtA million flowers bloomed - Amazon, search engines, innovation

Happy person

Even before Google and Amazon people loved it and signed up in their millionsPursued by corporations...pause.

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Human failing: we take complex or abstract situations, and simplify them.We use familiar analogies to help us cope with them.That’s what happened with the web. It’s forgiveable...but wrong.

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Those corporations had a clear analogy handy.Clearly defined frame of reference - channelsEstablished lexicon: we monetise, we own the audience, we broadcast

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The broadcast model, this concept of a channel, really understates it’s potentialThat isn’t to say that you can’t have great campaign sites...Advertising is becoming less effective, but it ain’t dead yetBut from the CEO perspective, that is just one capability, and UNLIKELY TO MAKE OR BREAK THE COMPANY

THE WEB IS A NETWORK

Because the web is not just a channel or a series of channels. It’s a game changer that underpins everything. THE WEB IS A NETWORKIt isn’t a one to many relationship, It’s a many to many relationshipThe power isn’t just held by the people who buy ink by the barrel, it’s held by everyoneIt is fundamentally different. We oversimplify it at our peril.

Question mark

So...what should we do about this?How should we change, and help our clients change?

First of all, recognise that it is about behavioural change.

Good neighboursIf you misbehave, people talkHow would you want your neighbours to behave?Our job is to improve the interaction between clients and their customersBe nice - stranger in a pubDoc Searls: The wedge in our head

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The former audience isn’t just just talking to each other, they now have tools to self organise.If you consider the democratic nature of the thing...it was inevitable...and this is how the web will continue to evolve, not so much favouring the little guy, but putting him on an ever more equal footing

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FiltersAnd tools..and these will improve (Facebook car park)And these improved filters and tools > web gets into more places“Anywhere the network goes” - XBOX, Kindle, iPhone, Fridge

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A good website is still essentialBut the substance of the company that will permeate through the web is becoming more important than what you see on the web siteIf you act in a neighbourly way, help people out and share information people will trust you in return.Pet project: NHS Backstage.

Cap in hand

Social networks => humilityTwitter is not a competitionIf you’re chasing followers, you’re chasing the wrong thing.You reach a point where, the more people you follow (and follow you), the less valuable the connection. The less valuable the engagement.BUT Behave in the right way, your follower count will be naturally high rather than artificially high.

Observe and learn from these communities, if you’re lucky they’ll tell you what you’re doing wrong...it’s a meaningful dialogue

Examples of companies messed with communities and came off worse - Skittles, Habitat, Ryanair, even Yahoo and Facebook

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Differing business models - might have to give stuff awayNever before has so much valuable stuff been given away free of chargeIncrease your social capital by proving you understand

To the victors go the spoils...these organisations understand that the web is a network, and not just a channel.Google - give stuff away for free, supports their ad modelObama ’08 - inspired the American people by giving them control of his messageBBC - Work hard to give away their content through the iPlayer and BackstageThe Guardian - released their entire database for free to developersBART - did the same, now developers in SF make sure that info goes everywhere the network goesTwitter - 1/10th of their traffic goes very their website, the rest via apps built by someone else.

For those interested in learning more, I can recommend these booksHere Comes Everybody, by Clay ShirkyCluetrain Manifesto, by Rick Levine, Chris Locke, Doc Searls and David WeinbergerLong Tail by Chris AndersonThe Future of the Internet And How To Stop It, by Jonathan ZittrainThe Starfish and the Spider, by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom

http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com

Summary:Start thinking of the web as a network rather than a channel.Help our clients understand this.Help them plan their strategy around this.Be a good neighbour!

Thanks!