Medical uses for Facebook

A new article highlights the benefits of Social Media for the medical world.  In the article is given a description of how ‘Facebook users are coming to the aid of children who need life-saving transplants as the networking website presents its users with more serious dilemmas than they usually have to contend with as they stay in touch with friends. Campaigns launched on the site have inspired thousands of people to join groups urging them to become members of tissue transplant registers. Joining the registers helps widen the pool of bone marrow and blood donors available and increases the chance of a match being found for patients.’

Inspirational uses of Social Networking like this should at least deter even the hard-line skeptics away from thinking that Facebook is just for playing.

‘The parents of 23-month-old Iona Stratton, who fell ill with leukaemia when she was 13 weeks old, launched a Facebook appeal in October to find a bone marrow donor. The appeal attracted almost 7,000 members and they found a match in Australia within weeks’.

Jon Favreau: boY GENius

In the struggle to cut costs and grab what little resources are still available, many businesses are tightening their belts and changing their management strategy, from a ‘looser’ style, as preferred by Generation Y, to a more ‘authoritarian’ approach - thereby exerting maximum control relieving the feelings of fear of wasting precious time and money.  Jobs have also suddenly dried up for Generation Y: 40% of the predicted three million unemployed at the end of 2009 will be under 25[1]. Does this mean that Gen Y needs to both ‘pipe’ and ‘knuckle down’, at least until the storm has blown over?

Well, how does this sound? Working most days till 3am and doing vast amounts of research in personal time, breaking only to spend a few hours gaming;-[2] This is the work pattern of Jon Favreau, the 27-year-old speech writer for President Obama. Hailed as ‘boy genius’[3], Favreau is the youngest Director of Speech writing to the White House on record.  As a Generation Y, by all accounts he should be making ‘unreasonable’ demands of an employer; flexible hours, Facebooking his friends during work, and generally openly questioning the command of authority. Instead, Obama’s ‘mind reader’ works day and night for his ‘master’[4].  Jon organised a team of talented researchers, spending weeks gathering information from which he worked into the early hours crafting Obama’s speeches. And the result? From a little-known politician, Barack Obama succeeded against all odds in winning the Presidential election in November 2008 and is now taking his throne as, essentially, world leader.

This should send a strong message to employers that if their Generation Y really believes in the organisation, and that they feel trusted, they will reveal themselves to be an incredibly loyal, productive and all-round powerful workforce.

---

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/10/graduate-employment-crisis-rescue-package

[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/barack-obama-inauguration-us-speech

[3] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/adaf9610-e708-11dd-8407-0000779fd2ac.html

[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/barack-obama-inauguration-us-speech

 

President Barack ‘Hope’ Obama

President Barack Hussein Obama was sworn into office as the 44^th president of the United States of America on Tuesday.  Amongst the buzzing crowd of more than a million faces in the Washington DC Mall there was an air of anticipation and ultimately ‘hope’.

But, as you would imagine, we aren’t here to comment on the political accolades of of Obama, but the motivation of a Generation to support him to get to the position of, arguably, the most powerful man on the face of the earth. 

Grab a hold of these statistics:  the BBC reported that Obama won the votes of those under 30 by 68% to 31 %!  From the US-based CNBC news channel we can further add that this was the highest ever score of the youth vote achieved by any presidential candidate ever (since exit polls began in 1976).  Here’s the crunch... out of the total number of voters 10% were voting for the first time, and in this group 72% voted for Obama, and in the sub-30 (largely Generation Y) category 69% voted for Obama (compared to just 28% in favour of McCain). 

So, Why?  Here’s our analysis.  What caused the best part of a generation to support Barack Obama over McCain?  We see three elements:  Vision, Ownership, and Community.

First, Vision:  Obama created a new vision and was able to communicate it such that he achieved agreement from his supporters.  This inspired a generation to take ownership for communicating this to their peers.  It signalled their backing for the ‘audacity of hope’.  Second, Ownership:  Obama, whilst able to paint the picture, then actively sought the involvement of his supporters. He maintained, throughout his campaign, undertones of ‘You got me here’; ‘This is your doing’; and ‘Thank You’ – creating now almost iconic images of Obama clapping stadiums full of supporters: ‘It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy [and] who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep’ (Obama, Illinois, November 4, 2008).  Thirdly, he used, very effectively, 16 social networking sites – ranging from ‘Facebook’, ‘MySpace’ and ‘Twitter’ to ‘AsianAve’, ‘Faithbase’ and ‘Eons’ – to build a community of supporters aggregated in one place to whom he could blog (well, someone on his behalf we imagine), and importantly with whom he created a two-way dialogue (as opposed to a web-based corporate bill-board of promises summed up in values, behaviours and future projects).  In so-doing he listened to supporters, fence-sitters and cynics and espoused the generation y motto ‘ask, don’t tell’. 

There’s one final thing.  A sub-story perhaps, but one that is worthy of note.  Obama has been using a generation Y speech writer – Jon Favreau.  At 27 years old he has become the youngest ever director of speech writing to the White House.  Significant?  We think so.

Make ‘Flickr’/ MySpace/ Facebook your office!

A recent article in the Financial Times (‘Social Networking sites elevate geeks to online gurus[1]’) illustrated how three young forward thinking and entrepreneurial individuals started making cash by having something as simple as a ‘Flickr’ [sic.] page! “Cant’ have been making much” I hear the pessimist say. Well an extra £9,000 p.a. worked okay for Kevin Meredith (a.k.a ‘Lomokev’). In February 2009 he will also release his first book (‘Hot Shots’) and it’s already on pre-order in Amazon! His clients now include shoe manufacturer Dr Martens.
Let’s try another example: Paul Griffiths (21) sold £500,000 worth of tee-shirts, hooded tops and badges from humble beginnings 24 months ago through a MySpace profile see: Babycakes Clothing (the profile has sound effects when we last checked, try http://www.bbycks.com/ if you’d rather see the site without sound!) and now he has a shop in Manchester, and employs 10 people! From what we can see though, this isn’t just a tee-shirt printing business, it’s a kind of ‘following’. There’s a blog; buyers can upload their photos of them wearing the clothing and they have BabyCakes parties... OK, so it’s not everybody’s ‘cup of tea’ but... for 21 it’s no bad effort.
So what can we learn? First, Naked Generations will be the first to say that we predict a trend: As the cost of higher education increases and the uncertainty of what were ‘permanent jobs’ continues, we predict that a noticeable portion of Generation Y (and Generation Z beneath them) will not enter traditional jobs or training programmes like the generations before them. Instead they will capitalise on the mediums of sites such as facebook, flickr, Ebay, and YouTube to sell home-grown ideas to the masses.
And if you’re still thinking (to quote Boris Johnson) “that’s a load of boulder-dash” and, it will never cross over into the real world listen to this:
Ms Lauren Luke (27) launched a series of video tutorials through YouTube about applying make-up to copy the styles of the likes of Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears and Leona Lewis. They were watched, the styles were copied, she received a whole lot of attention and now writes a column in the (UK’s) Guardian Newspaper weekend magazine. Oh, and just before Christmas she flew to New York to begin designing a make-up range for Barry M. Our guess is the Guardian is attracting the next generation of readers by using the leverage that Ms Luke has created for herself online.

[1] Bradshaw, T., http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/68d9ef4c-d86f-11dd-bcc0-000077b07658.html Financial Times, 2 January 2009 (p.10)

Corporate Tribes

Generation Y is inherently a generation of multiple, yet separated, communities – an interlinked set of ‘urban tribes’. They have always been grouped together in large numbers throughout school, and particularly at their universities. Generation Y now has in the region of 40% of its population enroll into higher education (Daily Mail[1]), which marks a significant increase from their parents generation, in which less than 10% of them went to university (Brunel University[2]).

This shift in expectation, combined with the increase in communications technology, and in particular social networking sites, such as Facebook (launched in 2004) and Twitter (launched in 2006) are having a huge impact on the expectations of ‘Community’ for Generation Y – and one which is worth considering for the big corporate giants.

In these online spaces Generation Y can ‘re-group’ their previously physical communities from school, university and even previous places of work. This is a trend and shows that this population exist simultaneously in multiple, and sometimes over-lapping communities, virtually and physically.

Why is this interesting to any big graduate recruiter? When these Generation Y enter business, for the first time in their lives they are separated from being in vast communities of like-minded and aged individuals. Not being in the majority off-line, they may seek solace in their communities online – to keep in touch with friends, share stories and gather opinions.

The Builder and Baby Boomer generations may not have strayed as far from home as the Generation Y entering the workplace today and so the ability to connect is an important daily/ weekly habit that employers would do well to allow. It is a social need. Furthermore, big ‘Blue Chips’ should encourage Generation Y to build new communities internally, physically, inside their companies, so that they ‘find a new home’ and become loyal.

Where their friends are, there their heart is also.

[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-547593/Number-students-going-university-falling-despite-millions-despite-millions-spent-recruitment-drive.html
[2] http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/history/memories/1960

Online Partnerships

Networking, socialising, interacting, selling and learning: it has all changed.


Companies that are realising this include Mercedes Benz who signed a media broadcasting deal with the online networking site A Small World (ASW) – their mission: ‘to aggregate the world’s most interesting people with the world’s most interesting information’ (as explained by CEO Joe Robinson). Olaf Göttgens (VP Brand Communications) from Mercedes Benz Cars explains how along with their competitors Audi and BMW they have launched Mercedes Benz TV in order to keep up with online representation. So, is TV, Radio, Magazine, dare I say it ‚face-to-face communication obsolete for the next generation? Emphatically no. Nonetheless, they communicate in many more ways than the Baby Boomers, even the Xers do. Online is a trend, more than a fad - and it is an important and strategic new opportunity to distribute (see BMW/ASW press release here).
Generation Y grew up with technology. They were encouraged to use it. You could drive from London to Paris in a time of 4 hours 46 minutes (according to ViaMichelin.com, and assuming you have a car already it would cost you about 60 Euros to fund the petrol). Instead you could fly in 1 hour 20 minutes with a low-cost airline for less money (alternatively you could meet up online).
The mentality for this generation is: ‘It’s here so let’s use it’. To have over 300 friends on Facebook is quite normal. (Do i need to have met all of them face-to-face? No. and where i haven't they are gateway's into other communities, pockets of information or invitations to events). Imagine being able to harness those networks through your employees for the reputation of your company. Its sheer innovative capability. The distribution opportunities. What will be the value of individuals in the 16-30 age bracket as influencers, or consumers in your industry over the next 3 years?

With so many people vying for their attention, what will you do to secure your distribution channels of the future?

What are they saying about your brand online?


Change Matters.


Charles Darwin had this sewn up, somewhat prophetically and ahead of his time when he said: ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change’ (Charles Darwin, 1809-1882).

Virtually, anything is possible

So who’s actually in ‘there’? A quick look at the Second Life map (powered by Google, notably) through a programme called ‘Slurl’ revealed some interesting facts: CNN has set up a news station to report on events in Second Life! Sun Microsystems has bought land for (seemingly, at the moment, 'just') advertising and Coca Cola launched a campaign (‘Virtual Thirst’) in 2007, through a viral You Tube format (of course!) to design vending machines to be used inside Second Life.
Coke set the online community the challenge of building a vending machine that could vend the ‘essence’ of Coke – the Coke experience (refreshment, joy, unity and experience). The contest challenged individuals to submit concepts for new world vending machines, an appliance that could vend virtual experiences. Coke assembled a virtual avatar board of advisors (metaphysical, real, people of course control these virtual characters) and worked with a marketing firm ‘Crayon’ and ‘Millions of Us’. Throughout the process, submissions were made through YouTube, MySpace and VirtualThirst.com. The winning concept ‘Lucky Puzzle Bottle’ by Ann Marie May (see 'You Tube' for the video) , was a concept that meant avatars had to ‘solve’ puzzle bottles in return for a coke experience ranging from ‘virtual snowball fights’ to ‘giant bubble rides’. The virtual contest was Coke’s first interaction with the virtual world – it was an opportunity for them to learn about virtual worlds. (Oh, and by the way, for anyone who enjoys Second Life it raised a huge amount of brand awareness for Coca Cola as well).
Coca Cola also (indirectly) sponsored a music concert in Second Life. The ‘early adopters’ of these new online worlds are there for extended periods of time – multiple hours. These companies, that are subconciously communicating their brand inside these virtual worlds, have an individual’s attention for a considerably longer amount of time than is possible in the real, fragmented, media world we are used to. Think, for how long does anyone really look at a billboard?
So what else, is it just about brand awareness? No. One London creative agency ‘Rivers Run Red’ has taken to creating ‘immersive workspaces’ online. Rivers Run Red (RRR) boasts these virtual opportunities to communicate with each other all around the globe cuts down on carbon footprint, air fares, and time. Moreover, clients can see their work in progress: through modelling avatars in the online space they can quickly see how designs are working out. So, it would seem reasonable to assume that their clients would be only the one’s on the leading edge of online and web technology (Google, Microsoft, Apple...?) Not so, it is Boots (No. 7); Penguin Publishing; and the charity Bernardos that show up in their online portfolio.

So is this all play, a fad or a trend?

At least one company, River Runs Red, has a multi-million pound (Sterling) turnover and seems to be getting a positive response from its clients.

So what about some 'big names'. People that would really know about whether this can work in big business. In his 'view from the Top' interview with the FT John Chambers (CEO and Chairman of Cisco Systems) said ‘Collaboration is the next big step in terms of productivity’ (FT.com). Cisco has also been working on this since 2000.