Brian Solis Archives -

Why Social Media Darwinism is the Most Wonderful Way to Success

Like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it sticks, social media Darwinism can be your fastest, craziest, and funnest way to success. If you’d like a quick overview of Darwinism, you might want to check out Natural Selection and Biological Evolution for Dummies. It won’t be as fun as this blog post, but still.

Mistakes, Failures, and Startups

What propels you forward faster than making a bunch of mistakes, and the ensuing embarrassment? Nothing, that’s what! You may have read about how mistakes and failure are important to your brand and your startup, right? If not, here you go: What If Failure Didn’t Exist? Anyway, how can you create something new, and something wonderful if there’s no failure involved?

Mark Zuckerberg’s Mistakes

Even Mark Zuckerberg admits he’s made every mistake you can make. Well, maybe not all the mistakes! I’ve made some of them, so he doesn’t get to claim all of them. His telling employees to “be fast and be bold” could be why Facebook is still thriving now.

Twitter’s Survival

Remember when Twitter proposed losing the 140-character limit? And we all said “C’mon! Don’t do that!”? If you don’t remember, here you go: Will Twitter Dump Its 140-Character Limit? They learned pretty fast through that mistake! Talk about survival of the fittest!

Biomimicry

While social networks may not lend themselves to Darwinism per se, cooperation can help those in the physical world. Cooperative relationships can help organisms with their reach (for example, Mychorrizal fungi form symbiotic relationships with host plants, greatly extending the “reach” of a plant’s roots). Our own tendency towards cooperation can help us with our own reach. And I think that’s pretty neat.

Brian Solis on Digital Darwinism

One of my favorite writers, Brian Solis, has this to say about social darwinism (article from Wired):

“This is a time of digital Darwinism — an era where technology and society are evolving faster than businesses can naturally adapt.”

And Solis adds this:

“But make no mistake. Digital transformation efforts grow market opportunities and profits as well as scaling efficiently in the process.” Plus the hashtag #AdaptOrDie.

By the way, here’s a review of Brian Solis, What’s the Future of Business: Generation C that you might like.

The Speed of Change

As technology races ahead, businesses must learn to adapt. They don’t need to blindly adopt new tech, but need to stay open to new changes coming down the pipeline. Think of Kodak (R.I.P.) or Blockbuster. We thought they were permanent institutions at one time. But now? Not so much.

Are You Practicing Social Media Darwinism?

How so? Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

What’s the Future of Business: Generation C

Brian Solis and Friends at Yammer

Recently, I had the privilege of hearing Brian Solis speak in person at Yammer in San Francisco. You’ve probably been hearing about Brian’s’ new book What’s the Future of Business because when Brian speaks, social media people listen. At this event, not only did Brian give his time freely, he also gave away stacks of his new books (in hardback, no less), stuck around for his fans, answered questions and signed autographs. So while the content of the book is innovative and exciting, the context and the giveaway are what really surprised me.

Social Media “Gurus”

Being in and around social media myself, every single day I get bombarded by people who call themselves gurus and leaders. Many of these self-proclaimed gurus spend little time actually engaging: instead, they broadcast! They don’t answer questions or engage with their followers. Instead (prepare to clutch your pearls!) some of them actually buy their followers. Brian doesn’t call himself a guru like a million others–he does the unexpected–by doing a massive giveaway. I’d say that’s inspiring! And also something that I’ll personally remember for a long time.

Generation C

Brian focuses not on Gen Y (the “Millennials”) but on Gen C, where “C” “represents a connected society based on interests and behavior. Gen C is not an age group–it is a way of life.” To Gen C, connection is everything. Which means, ultimately, that if you or your brand are not spending time connecting, then you’re missing a huge opportunity.

Shared Experiences

What’s the Future of Business

Clearly, Brian Solis is famous already and doesn’t need to share his expertise for free. So why did he give away his book? I think he did it to drive home his point: if businesses want to connect with Gen C, they will need to create memorable and non-traditional experiences for their customers.

Are You Creating Experiences?

What are you doing, as an entrepreneur or a brand, to create experiences that will appeal to Gen C? Are you using a combination of social networks and more traditional marketing to sell your products or services? Please leave a comment below!