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The New Web...

"The New web is about verbs, not nouns." 

That's a great quote by Ross Mayfield, the owner of Socialtext.  How true!  The original read only web was a static and boring organism full of nouns. The new web allows us interaction.  It's all about doing.  It's a canvas instead of a museum and we are all invited to participate in the collaboration that will comprise it's content. 

There is an entire generation that is being raised with this mindset.  This generation will be the future leaders, business owners, politicians, etc... I am beyond excited to participate in this movement as a connected generation with a global mindset takes center-stage.  It promises to be a society... well, I suppose filled with more verbs and less nouns. 

Collaborate or Perish!

And they mean it!  The authors of WIKINOMICS, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams, are serious when they lay out the principles of the future of business... no, for the world, "Collaborate or Perish".  Example after example of both failures and successes show us that there is more than possibility or potential in this concept, there is inevitability.  They share the 4 basic principles of Wikinomics: (be it for a company or a country) openness, peering, sharing and acting globally.

Yes, it's true that we are in a shift.  And while many are quick to say that as we move from the Baby Boomers to Generation Y and now to the Millennials, we are merely undergoing a generational transition.  However, this is a paradigm shift, that is occurring simultaneously to a generational transition.  The changes we are seeing are so vast and radical that every generation will be affected in unmeasurable ways.  Other examples of similar shifts include the printing press, the automobile, the telephone, etc...  These are all new tools that make the world smaller.  Tools that create a smoother connection between people, companies and countries. 

Now, we have the web.  Not just the "publish and read" version of Web 1.0, but the "read / write" version of Web 2.0.  This is the next connection that will catalyze change and introduce us to the future.

"The new Web - which is really an internetworked constellation of disruptive technologies, - is the most robust platform yet for facilitating and accelerating new creative disruptions.  People, knowledge, objects, devices, and intelligent agents are converging in many-to-many networks where new innovations and social trends spread with viral intensity." 

"The next twenty years of globalization will help sustain world economic growth, raise world living standards, and substantially deepen global interdependence.  At the same time, it will profoundly shake up the the status quo almost everywhere -- generating enormous economic, cultural and political convulsions."
   
-Wikinomics

Community based on Connectivity.

It's safe to say that will the increased presence and viability of online social networks, we are well into the next phase of the internet; connectivity, a main component or THE main component of web 2.0.  A few years ago, or maybe in the early 2000's, one of the biggest buzz words was 'community'.  Maybe it was a a backlash of the 90's, or maybe it was a silent desire for a web 2.0 model, but it was present.  Everyone became very 'community-oriented' from businesses to churches.

As I was thinking about this next turn of events, this newfound connectivity will most likely rearrange our previous thoughts of what community is.  I cannot speak for sure, but I would venture to say that most people say their "myspace" friends would count as their community.  I balked.  That cannot be community.  They probably never even see these people.  In order to debunk this theory of true "online community" I took crazy measures... I looked up the definition.  Don't be alarmed, I used dashboard, I didn't actually go OPEN a book, because then I couldn't have done this:

 

The first definition satisfied my thoughts.  "Living in one place together". 

Then I moved onto Number 2.  A group of people having a religion, race, profession or characteristics in common.  Shoot...  Rather nebulous.   

Number 3 shot my theory to hell.  "A feeling of fellowship with others sharing common interests/goals". 

Number 4 obliterated it,  "a group of interdependent organisms together or found in the the same 'habitat' at the same time."

Community is or can be pretty much what we decide it is.  Work, family, Church, University, online social networking, forums, people who all like Gouda cheese,  pretty much whatever you want can be declared community.  However the ONE thing that is consistent in all of these definitions is without a doubt, connectivity.  Yes, they are all different types of connections, but they are present nonetheless.

We are moving into an age where connection is becoming easier to obtain, manipulate and/or dictate.  I think this truly has serious implication for our "modern day" communities.  While this prediction could have been made, and was, 20 years ago, I guess what I am saying is that it is happening right now.  We are experiencing a new time period in which you have friends you've never met and your closest allies are on a different continent and all become you share common interests.  You were able to find or connect with one another.

If you work in a high school, university, a church or you manage a business,  think long and hard about this and the implications is has on your organization.  And the rest of you, if you are breathing, this impacts you as well.   This is important and it's not going anywhere.

Calvin Klein is In2U (if you blog, that is...)

For a long list of reason, Calvin Klein's commercial for CK ONE (the infamous, "Just BE") commercial has gone down in history as one of the weirdest, best, strategic, successful, grungy & anti establishment commercials in history. Glorifying anorexic ambivalent teens, CK One became an overnight success selling 20 bottles per minute at it's peak! IN April 07, CK tried to strike again with CK in2u. Using similar materials to an Ipod and using shorthand text message speak, there is not surprise who the target market is. My favorite line in the article, "Can Calvin Klein seduce the Millennial Generation" is: "We have envisioned this as the first fragrance for the technosexual generation." Here's the best part. What is the technosexual generation? Anything Calvin Klein wants it to be. They trademarked it. Right now they are targeting to "texters and bloggers." If you can't put a title on your target market, create a new title and then exploit it. My other favorite thing about this cologne/perfume? You can actually buy it in Second Life. How's that for taking advantage? Digital perfume. And here's another nugget for you. Check out the website for in2u.

Virb vs. Myspace

I like Virb better than myspace. I think it looks cleaner and I like the fact that it is more centered on media (or so it seems). Check it out. www.virb.com