The Future Of Business – Klout & Influence
Most of you believe that Klout & Influence are important, you want it, and you tend to work towards finding ways to get it. I warn you, be careful what you wish for, you may get it only to find you don’t want it. Everyone, and I mean everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame at some point in their life, it’s part of human behaviour, and especially in affluent countries.
In the future, the next 15 years or so, it is predicted there will be 1 Billion Millionaires in the world, that number isn’t really that impressive because, the population will be over 9 Billion when the time comes. The majority will not be millionaires, it’s just more of what we have today.
In the future of business you will hear a lot about Klout & Influence, social networks are measured with these two terms as a way of determining who’s who. Websites like Klout and others are trying to bring credibility to individuals through mathematical measurements, it’s a digital representation of one’s possible klout & influence, not something human and tangible like integrity. One’s character and integrity should be in the equation somehow, it should be part of Klout & Influence scores in my humble opinion. But how do you measure motive and or doing the right thing, not too mention keeping your word.
Now Klout & Influence are not always related to money, so the number (millionaires) at the top is pretty small. The thing about Klout & Influence is, it wasn’t meant for those who have it. Those who have Klout & Influence are merely stewards of it. It’s really meant for those who don’t have it.
Martin Luther King had Klout & Influence, but he didn’t use it for his own gain, he used it to make the world a better place, more specifically for people that were being exploited, murdered and abused. For all people, not just black people to be blunt. This individual set an example of how Klout & Influence should be exercised, not hoarded and hidden away for private use, it was and is meant to help and serve others who don’t possess Klout & Influence. Unfortunately, we are greedy, we want more, and we want to be the one who says who can have what and when, we want control. I’m not convinced this is going to change anytime soon, it might change shape, but it will still be a problem for mankind for as long as we are on this earth.
Social Networks has brought out the kinder side of the human race for the most part, we genuinely want to help others, sometimes without expecting anything in return, but the dark side lurks. Unfortunately, there will always be those who take advantage of folks trying to make the world a better place.
The Future of Business, and success, will be measured by Klout & Influence, it’s the way we are headed, and it will be difficult to determine the true sense of the word success. It will be misleading at times, but I think it’s personal, we need to figure out how to link Integrity & good character into the equation. To ensure we are dealing with honorable individuals.
Your Klout & Influence should answer one question in your sphere of influence, your immediate world, How Many People Are Better Off Because You Lived?
The Top 3 Social Networks
In my last post I touched on our aging population and how the Baby Boomers creat a problem, but they also present endless opportunities. As we become more mobile and social, I thought it would be interesting to look at some data in regards to the social networks I use. The real question I am asking these days is, will these networks be around in the next 5 – 10 years? I think the social part will be embedded into everything mobile, Twitter is really a glorified version of IRC don’t you think, just more open and out there, not private or closed. Real-Time is probably the key to everything mobile.
Social
Social Media Networks are very popular, and they are growing at an exponential rate, the world is loving these networks, and that creates challenges for the business world. There are hundreds of social networks on the Internet, but the most popular ones we hear about most tend to be the three below. We have become a connected world, this trend is not going away. Here are the Top 3 Social Networks I use, Twitter is my Primary Network and that’s where you will find me 99% of the time.
FaceBook is the most used of these three, but I don’t spend much time there, it’s too cumbersome in my humble opinion. FaceBook does have incredible support and huge numbers compared to all the rest, check it out below.
– More than 550 million active users
– 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
– Average user has 130 friends
– People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
– There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
– Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
– Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month
– More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.
– More than 70 translations available on the site
– About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
– Over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application
– More than 2.5 million developers and partners from more than 190 countries build with Facebook Platform
– People on Facebook install 20 million applications every day
– Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external websites
– Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day
– More than two million websites have integrated with Facebook
– There are more than 200 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
– People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
– There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products
– 351 Employees
– 190 Million Registered Users
– 65 Million Tweets Per Day
– 800 Million Search Queries Per Day
– 80% of visitors are outside of Twitter.com
– As of January 2011, LinkedIn has more than 90 million members in over 200 countries around the globe.
– A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and about half of our members are outside the U.S.
– Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.
– LinkedIn started off 2011 with about 1,000 full-time employees located around the globe.
What are your top 3 social networks?
City Hall Are You Paying Attention?
With the Global population rising to 9 Billion over the next 10 -15 years, some municipalities are still going to shrink, and many will increase beyond it’s ability to provide services. What will City Hall do with it’s collapsing tax basins. A disclaimer, I don’t for a minute claim to understand what it’s like to sit on a City Council. I wouldn’t want the job truth be told, so I’m not saying what they do is easy, anyone can point fingers and complain. We the people have really set City Hall up to fail, but that’s not my point. I am however, praying City hall is paying attention to a trend in our aging population, and business community.
Third world countries will have the most population growth over western countries, but we will eventually reach 9 Billion in the coming decade or so. The current challenge is not with the growth as much as it is with those wondering off to pasture, the baby boomers. The first of the baby boomers will turn 65 this year, but the real challenge is, the tail end of the baby boomers are turning 50 in 2014, and this generation is the largest portion of our population. That means the average age will be 40, the generations to come are unable to replace the boomers in the workforce, we will have to rely on immigration to fill the that gap. That is another topic for another time.
Imagine, today 50% of the population is over the age of 30, it won’t be long before 50% of the population is over 50. This trend will continue because we no linger birth children at the rate we used to, we could birth them fast enough to catchup and solve the problem of an aging world. The numbers alone don’t really show you the problem, it’s not the numbers as much as it is how the generations yet to come think. They won’t value what we value today. If you were to poll the under 20 generation today, they will tell you that ownership is not that important to them. The idea of owning a home, or a car for that matter, is not on the radar screen for most of them. They don’t value ownership the same way people do over the age of 40. What does that mean, less money filling the tax bucket in many municipalities. Is City Hall even looking at that problem?
The under 20 generation and the one’s to follow, will most likely buy into the co-op housing, or shoebox appartments long before owning a house on land. Why, They value lifestyle over workstyle. They are not willing to give up what many of us did to have the lifestyle we have, we traded our time for dollars, we worked to live. The younger generations don’t value work the same way, most people over the age of 40 have their identity wrapped up in what they do for work. Their work validates them, it is who they are, not what they do. Gen C and beyond do not have that conditioning to deal with, creating a different thought process on ownership of home and country.
City Hall also has to deal with another shift, 60% of all commerce is going online, that to may help shrink the tax basin. How? A local bricks & mortar business decides to sell it’s products and services online exclusively. Let’s say they have success. Before you know it, they have shutdown that bricks & mortar location, they discover they don’t even need an office, they’ve put everything out on the cloud, and then run their business by smartphone. How will that impact real estate, (read my thoughts on agents becoming obsolete here) let alone the tax revenues cities rely on. As you can see these shifts in thinking by the generations to come will rewite the rule book in every municipality. Is City Hall paying attention?
While all this is happening, we will have other issues to deal with, water shortages, possible food shortages and so on. We will enter into a society not unlike the one in the movie “The Book Of ELI”, in that movie, we kill (people) for things we throw away today. One man’s garbage is another mans treasure.
I don’t know how our City Hall’s will be able to change the way they think, but I hope they do, our communities depend on it. Protectionism and control are the current model of running a city, I fear that will be the undoing, because my kids kids won’t tolerate it.
This problem of an aging population belongs to all of us, we will have to work hard to maintain the economies and lifestyles we enjoy today here in the western front. What other challenges do you see?
Why Is Social Media So Hard To Understand?
I’ve been struggling with this question for some time now, I could go in so many directions on this question but, I’ll just share some random thoughts. Why is it that we default to our old conditioning when we don’t understand something? It’s a natural human behavior to either lash out or try to fit what we know to make things work. The square block into the round hole kind of thinking. Some businesses treat Social Media like any other advertising channel, they continue to practice what they have always done, they advertise, they yell, and then try to force you to listen, and then force you to buy. A HUGE mistake if you are asking me. The future of business is not business as usual friends, we are in the midst of a paradigm shift we can’t control with old practices.
To make matters even worse, the mobile movement is going to reshape not only how we communicate, but the landscape of commerce in the digital world. But that’s another topic for another time. The RESET button is being pushed, business is trying to prevent that reset. Why? They don’t understand what it means, and worse yet, they realize they can’t control it.
In order for the business of the future to survive, they will have to figure out how to give up some control to consumers. Provide access before revenue, actually listen to their customers, build a different relationship, and hire the right people who have a better understanding of this space called Social Media. This list is long and confusing, it requires a willingness to admit your business doesn’t get it. Humility will take you along way if you are willing to risk embarrassment.
In my community, we have people being hired to market on social networks, some of these people either don’t understand what to do, or they are being told to do things in a traditional manner because that’s what they know and understand. Business owners need to get out of the way, but how can they, they are wired to be in control. Taking risks in business these days only seems to happen in the start-up phase, why is that, probably because they believe the community needs what they are offering and will do whatever it takes to make it (risk). Once established, they lose they ability to risk again because they go into a management mode over what got them there in the first place.
Social Media has the ability to keep your business moving forward if you are willing to risk again. Let me give you a very low level, low risk, and simple example.
When a company wants to change something, it could be anything, what do they do? They go into the board room and try to find a solution to the problem, they look inward rather than outward. They try to solve their problem with the same thinking that got them to where they are, with a problem. Why not go out onto one of the Social Networks like Twitter or FaceBook and ask the world for a solution to your problem. You will be very surprised at the response you will get from the people formerly known as consumers. These are smart people, why not hire them for free and have them help you solve your challenge. Talk about building trust, an opportunity to actually have a relationship with those who buy your products and services. Your transparency and willingness to listen changes the relationship at a level yet to be calculated.
You as the business owner or leader, have an opportunity to take this even farther, what if you were to recognize the person or person’s responsible for solving your problem in a very public way? I’ll let you ponder that one.
We all are becoming very public, more and more we are putting our lives out there for all to see and learn. There is a risk in that act alone, consider long and hard what you put on the Internet, it’s now your legacy once it’s out there.
Building relationships is not new or changing, it like 60% of commerce has merely gone via the digital realm, that changes the rules, ummmm….what rules? Maybe the rules are the problem, maybe that is what the business world struggles with most, I think it still goes back to one thing and one thing only, Control.
When it’s all said and done, Social Media is not that complicated really. It’s forcing businesses to be human rather than machines that run by unchangeable rules. Start giving your business away to customers, let them help you and more importantly, treat them with the respect they deserve. Why? Because that’s what a Social Business does, it values those the same way you value people in your personal life. Stop trying to complicate Social Media by thinking too much. I could go long and deep on this topic but I’ll let you do comment and add value to the subject.
3 Things 2011 Will Bring
Now that the Christmas & New Years Break are behind us, we all have to get back to work at some point this week, except for the financially free folks who can do what they want. I thought I would give you a snapshot of three things that will come to fruition this year. They are very easy to predict but I can tell you this, many people don’t understand why or how it will impact their future in business. It’s not what happens, it’s how you see the future of business before it happens.
Let me get into it. Firstly, you need to understand 60% of commerce is and has been shifting to the Internet, online commerce is already huge, but it’s morphing. This will happen over the next couple years.
1.) Affiliate Programs – This year we will see a shift to where everyone will be part of affiliate marketing, it will be based on your following, how much influence you have, and of course credibility. These are just a few of the indicators that will be looked at for you to be a part of company “A’s” Affiliate program, they want to know that you have influence, a big following of consumers that will buy. Look for these programs to grow up away from the typical Internet Marketer, but do your research if a company approaches you.
This shift to the Affiliate Model, it may get a better name, will be part of the 60% of commerce I mentioned above. Consider how much and what you purchase online, you are now being looked at as a business partner rather than a consumer in 2011.
If you are a business, you may want to start your own Affiliate Program, you will also want to take advantage of Apps for the mobile market, why, read item #2.
2.) Everything goes Mobile & Social – the landscape I talked about in #1 means most of this commerce will be done through smart phones. The big three as of this writing are Apples iPhone, Microsoft’s Windows 7 Phone, and of course Google’s Android Phone. Each of these three have App Stores, not too mention the hardware makers have their own App Stores, like Samsung, Nokia and so on. This is a huge untapped marketplace, why, not everyone has a smart-phone, but they will.
Even if you are just a Blogger, get your content into one of the App Store Channels, give your content away for FREE, or charge a dollar for it, this is a new place of business for the majority. This is the year Mobile changes how we communicate and how we purchase many products and services, start making your move now, if you don’t….you will become a statistic.
Almost all of this commerce I speak of will come through Social & Mobile means, it’s the way of the new world. We are connected now, which means we are social & on the fly.
3.) Strategic Alliances – This description of doing business is not new, but it will be paramount to survival in business. Most of us will partner with someone or a some business, it’s a resource and reach thing. The have nots will not be able to fly on their own, they will need help more than the haves. The truth is, we will ALL partner up at some point to succeed in business, going it alone will be an exception rather than the rule. Prepare to have others on your team, prepare to share your wealth as well, having smart people on your team is worth the investment.
What do strategic alliances look like, Wal-Mart & McDonald’s is a good example of the term. They share revenues to leverage the number of consumers each has to offer, refer to #1, your following, your FaceBook Credit Points, your Twitter Influence will matter, these numbers will be attractive to companies. You don’t have to be as big as Wal-Mart or McDonalds. It might be just two people with large followings that get together to do business as strategic alliances, why, because it makes good sense and good business. Get ready to partner in 2011.