An argument in favour of dropping the inappropriate channel metaphor when talking about the web!

1. THE WEB IS
NOT A
CHANNEL
Phil Whitehouse, Joined The Team last year from BT

2. I hang out with these guys - geeks, nerds, scientists
They built the web, continue to do so
In agency world people talk about the web as a channel or series of channels
I’m going to present a different way of thinking about the web
Help our clients and help them develop more fruitful relationships with their customers

3. Picture of web
How the web works
All traffic treated equally - Pope/President/you
This equal nature of the web is the foundation on which it is built
A million flowers bloomed - Amazon, search engines, innovation

4. Happy person
Even before Google and Amazon people loved it and signed up in their millions
Pursued by corporations...pause.

5. Picture of brain
Human failing: we take complex or abstract situations, and simplify them.
We use familiar analogies to help us cope with them.
That’s what happened with the web. It’s forgiveable...but wrong.

6. Picture of pipes
Those corporations had a clear analogy handy.
Clearly defined frame of reference - channels
Established lexicon: we monetise, we own the audience, we broadcast

7. Broadcast icon
The broadcast model, this concept of a channel, really understates it’s potential
That isn’t to say that you can’t have great campaign sites...
Advertising is becoming less effective, but it ain’t dead yet
But from the CEO perspective, that is just one capability, and UNLIKELY TO MAKE OR BREAK
THE COMPANY

8. THE WEB IS
A NETWORK
Because the web is not just a channel or a series of channels. It’s a game changer that
underpins everything.
THE WEB IS A NETWORK
It isn’t a one to many relationship, It’s a many to many relationship
The power isn’t just held by the people who buy ink by the barrel, it’s held by everyone
It is fundamentally different. We oversimplify it at our peril.

9. Question mark
So...what should we do about this?
How should we change, and help our clients change?

10. First of all, recognise that it is about behavioural change.

11. Good neighbours
If you misbehave, people talk
How would you want your neighbours to behave?
Our job is to improve the interaction between clients and their customers
Be nice - stranger in a pub
Doc Searls: The wedge in our head

12. Picture of crowd
The former audience isn’t just just talking to each other, they now have tools to self organise.
If you consider the democratic nature of the thing...it was inevitable
...and this is how the web will continue to evolve, not so much favouring the little guy, but
putting him on an ever more equal footing

13. Picture of filter
Filters
And tools..and these will improve (Facebook car park)
And these improved filters and tools > web gets into more places
“Anywhere the network goes” - XBOX, Kindle, iPhone, Fridge

14. Picture of data?
A good website is still essential
But the substance of the company that will permeate through the web is becoming
more important than what you see on the web site
If you act in a neighbourly way, help people out and share information people will
trust you in return.
Pet project: NHS Backstage.

15. Cap in hand
Social networks => humility
Twitter is not a competition
If you’re chasing followers, you’re chasing the wrong thing.
You reach a point where, the more people you follow (and follow you), the less
valuable the connection. The less valuable the engagement.
BUT Behave in the right way, your follower count will be naturally high rather than
artificially high.

16. Observe and learn from these communities, if you’re lucky they’ll tell you what you’re doing
wrong...it’s a meaningful dialogue

17. Examples of companies messed with communities and came off worse - Skittles, Habitat,
Ryanair, even Yahoo and Facebook

18. Photo of free stuff
Differing business models - might have to give stuff away
Never before has so much valuable stuff been given away free of charge
Increase your social capital by proving you understand

19. To the victors go the spoils...these organisations understand that the web is a network, and
not just a channel.
Google - give stuff away for free, supports their ad model
Obama ’08 - inspired the American people by giving them control of his message
BBC - Work hard to give away their content through the iPlayer and Backstage
The Guardian - released their entire database for free to developers
BART - did the same, now developers in SF make sure that info goes everywhere the network
goes
Twitter - 1/10th of their traffic goes very their website, the rest via apps built by someone
else.

20. For those interested in learning more, I can recommend these books
Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky
Cluetrain Manifesto, by Rick Levine, Chris Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger
Long Tail by Chris Anderson
The Future of the Internet And How To Stop It, by Jonathan Zittrain
The Starfish and the Spider, by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom

21. http://
philwhitehouse
.blogspot.com
Summary:
Start thinking of the web as a network rather than a channel.
Help our clients understand this.
Help them plan their strategy around this.
Be a good neighbour!

22. Thanks!