The Momentum Factors
Author: Jay Deragon
There is a lot of noise and activity aimed at the medium of social networking and the relevant advancing technologies that fuel the medium.
A day doesn't go by without a major media story pertaining to the space. Major print and online publications are now devoting entire sections in each editions covering relevant stories about the growth of the medium and the creative ways businesses and individuals are using it for personal and professional gains.
Business Week now has a section called "Networks". Forbes cover story in May of this year was about "A Networked World". The last edition of Business 2.0 was titled "The Next Disruptors" and one third of the firms labeled as "disruptors" where those involved in the technology of social networks. Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly and The Wall Street Journal are now writing about the medium of social networks on a regular basis.
Our inboxes are bombarded daily with stories, news and research about the phenomena of online social networks. In a relatively short period of time this blogs readership has grown exponentially because it has centered on reporting and commenting on the emergence of The Relationship Economy and the relevant "factors" that drive it. Our reader base is growing at 300% per month and our reporting and commentaries are being quoted throughout the blogsphere globally.
A "System" is in the makings:
An economy is a system of products, services, consumers and economic exchanges. While many consider the medium of social networks a hype with a short cycle, the pessimist and traditionalist, others see the medium emerging as a major global force of opportunity that will emerge as a historical "systemic shift" in markets, economics, politics, social change, communications, media, productivity and the list goes on penetrating every segment of commerce.
The Cluetrain Manifesto states that markets are conversations. Now consider the expansive conversations happening globally and at rates never before conceived. The collective conversations are facilitating creativity, imagination and profound knowledge at throughput rates never previously imagined possible. The system is taking shape with defining processes, technology, inputs, outputs and much is being brought to market by individual end users and the corporate giants are fueling the growth with significant capital infusions.
Where will this train take us and when will it stop? Based on today's market indicators, the influence of innovation and the pace of technological changes this momentum has a long, very long tail and not likely to stop anytime soon. The momentum is likely to create yet another shift in advancements and applications for mankind.
What does you lens see? What does your heart tell you? What say you?