Looking at human beings and human behaviour there are a few things that clearly stand out. We always loved social interaction and communication. When not busy hunting our food or securing our reproduction we always liked to communicate, express our opinion, have debates and discuss topics that are important to us. It is part of human identity to share what matters to us with those who matter to us like Hugh Mc Leod coins it in his book Evil Plans. Conversations have always taken place face-to-face in real life. Think about the cup of coffee with friends or a after work drink at a bar at night. Everyday there was something to talk about and we exchanged our thoughts and ideas about the latest events and news. Word-of-Mouth (WOM) was how news could spread within our communities. And we also have been part of such communities ever since: Family, neighborhood, schools, universities, sports club, religions, etc… But what has changed today?

These conversations have gone online. They are realtime and take place on new platforms and media and we are using new devices like our smartphones. They happen anytime and everywhere now. The internet allowed that conversations take place on a global level and the web gathers people around even the most niche topics. Brian Solis has visualized it very well in his “Conversation Prism” you see above – by the way: Check out Brian`s interview with me from last year.

Social media and social technologies as well as an improved infrastructure, affordable data plans and new devices like the iPhone have speeded things up and facilitate our basic human behaviour. We do what we always did just faster, easier and in new ways. Gary Vaynerchuck says that social media is “WOM on steroids” which underlines the power of the the social web.

As individuals, businesses and brands we need to understand how we can be part of these conversations and communities which forces us to re-think the way we do business, marketing and communications today. I am sorry to say that you cannot make it up by spending even more dollars on marketing, media, software  and tools. I am also sorry to say that you cannot outsource your social media engagement. At least not if you want to be really successful in the long run.