Convene Not Control

So I love the TED Talks on iTunes...I learn something after every one. I just watched one from Clay Shirky today entitled How social media can make history in which he told some real social media stories about the China earthquake last year and MyBarackObama.com. The details are familiar to all of us, but one thing REALLY stuck out to me, and that was the difference between CONVENING your audience versus CONTROLLING your audience.

Social tools have enabled conversations between media consumers in such a way that the ability to control media has been greatly compromised. In China, for example, news of the earthquake STARTED with local citizens, as opposed to the standard government news outlets. Something that in the past would have been suppressed and dealt with quietly (and in a sub-standard way, most likely) was public knowledge across multiple media in no time, leaving the authorities no choice but to handle it with kid gloves, very transparently. Obama's team embraced that reality, setting up issue groups where dissent was not only encouraged, but taken into account where votes on issues were concerned. This engendered goodwill and understanding, even if Obama voted counter to the wishes of the majority of his constituents on the issues presented.

As everyone scrambles to figure social media out, one thing is clear: those who are confident in their voice and values, like Obama, can convene without control. Those less confident, like China, control access to the internet or even shut down Twitter altogether.

What kind of company is yours? At Rowdy, we try to be confident, and I think it works better.