The Social Web - A “New World”
by Rob Paterson
Why do so many people really not get it? Why are so many institutional efforts to become expert about Web 2.0 such failures?
While working on a project for a client, I had a personal aha about this that I would like to try out on you.
I think that Web 2.0 is not just a set of tools but is more a label for a real “New World” that shares many of the characteristics of America in its more innocent years - post the Civil War. If it was just tools, any one could pick them up. No I think that Web 2.0 is a place. A world in fact that offers the same kind of opportunity and barriers that America did in 1890. Between 1870 and 1914 50 million people left everything of their old way of life to come to America. Why?
Because Europe was a place where you had to fit into your place - where the hierarchy ruled - where land was scarce - where no matter how talented you were, the system kept you in your place. You were also deeply embedded in your local society - often your entire world was bounded by your village or neighborhood. America was going to be hard work and had many risks BUT there you could be your own person, hard work could take you up in the social order, there was space and land, there were new relationships available throughout the country. There was social and absolute mobility.
So what then was the immigrant experience? If you were the grandparents - it was very hard. You might be able to learn the language and you were hard wired for the old ways. You came because your children came and they were your lifeline. For the young couple it was still a major struggle but all the incentive was present to put in the effort. If the young adults had children however - everything became easier.
A central theme of the immigrant story was the kids. They picked up the new language, culture and ethos very quickly. There were the advisors to their parents and grandparents.
So I am wondering might be the process for adopting the new Web. Of course there are exceptions - I am nearly 60 and am very comfortable in this new world - I bet there are some young who hate it. But generally, the kids, like the immigrant kids from Eastern Europe in New York in 1890, have no problems and can be a huge resource.
Many at the top of large institutions are like Grandparents. Some junior executives are like the core immigrant. So long as there are no kids involved, the Grandparents are going to make the call. I think the key is to give the kids a lot of power - in institutions that means access to key people and to key processes.
This summer at KETC, the interns, whose historic role has been to make and serve coffee, came into their own. I saw them showing the “old farts “how easy this tool or that one was to use. Or as to why we had to use You Tube or Facebook - because “everybody” was using them. The “Old farts” rather enjoyed being taught by the young - they were much less threatened and could be awkward and vulnerable. The power system had not been turned upside down, but the kids had access to the power people and to the power meetings where they had a say.
It was such fun to attend a meeting of the senior folks and watch them all ears as a 22 year old journalism student took the floor and held them spell bound as she used her own experience and knowledge to shift the group to take the decision.
It was just as it must have been in the immigrant tenements, where the kids became Americans first and helped their families cope and become Americans themselves.
My bet is that the secret ingredient for any organization that is serious about moving from the Old World to the New, will stack the deck with the young and give them a key role to play.
