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This will effect you…
We are watching a new economic system develop right in front of us. The future of your business, career path, and political leadership may, amongst other things, be effected. It may help to get a quick primer on the Social Economy.
Social Economy 101
I have been thinking quite a lot lately about the rise of the social, well who hasn’t! And more recently tweeting about the Social Economy [#SocialEconomy]. What follows is a general framework surrounding the Social Economy to help locate and explain some of its features and functions. I suppose this really is a general introduction to the Social Economy, later posts will dive deeper into some of the prominent nodes, networks, and behavior which are helping to build and drive this quickly rising system.
Sociological Perspective
I think I should start with the big picture then drop into the detail. First, please bear with me while I digress into a quick sociological synopsis. My sociological training has taught me to be vigilant for newly developing patterns and connections between macro and micro social processes. This simply means that broader social movements can be seen in smaller related day-to-day experiences, events, and social phenomenon.
Capitalism, Communism – What’s Next?
So we have had capitalism with us for since our grandfathers, grandfathers, grandfather, or something like that, and communism with us a little more recently. Now we are facing a new economic system, which we could easily term the Social Economy.
Welcome To Your Social Economy
The Social Economy is, at heart, a reorientation of value within both social and economic processes. The Social Economy is primarily driven by new principles of value:
- Value in sharing and participation
- Value in information and knowledge
- Value in networks and connections
Real economic value is created out of these new principles simply due to the masses of individuals who are living, experiencing, and expressing more and more within digitally enabled social and peer networks. Value within the Social Economy gains real tangible economic expression as it interacts with existing economic systems [capitalism and communism].
The Social Economy Does Not Replace Capitalism or Communism
Relax, the Social Economy plugs into existing economic systems, it doesn’t replace capitalism or communism or any other long established system of economic trading. Don’t worry, your hard earned cash is not going to be replaced by #smileys.
The Social Economy operates within these larger established systems and could not function without them, so it really is just an extension of, and functions within, these traditional economies.
A Shift In Value
A value shift is central to understanding the Social Economy. The value shift doesn’t necessary mean supporting agendas like world peace or fighting environmental decline. It does however reflect a certain reshaping in what is thought of as value, how value is expressed, and the mechanisms [social, technical, economic etc] used to build and communicate value.
Social Economy Examples
The Social Economy can be seen in:
- Grassroots political expression [Obama’s 08 Campaign]
- User Generated Content [UGC]
- Open Source/Creative Commons
- Micropayments
- Social Ad Networks [about to be launched]
- Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR]
- Crowd Sourcing
- Peer Networks [SNS & P2P] & Peer Reviews
- Social Web/Social Media
- Instant Messaging [IM]
The above and below examples should not be seen in isolation, are not exhaustive lists, and simply illustrate some common touchpoints where we all engage with the Social Economy.
The Social Economy is expressed through:
- Information, knowledge, and resource sharing
- Individual and collective content creation
- Conversation as economy
- Connections as expression
- Communication as engagement and activism
Impact of the Social Economy
The Social Economy is already having a significant impact upon certain sectors. The Social Economy has helped a US president enter the Whitehouse, caused the decline in profits for many information and entertainment related businesses, shapes political policy, and is reshaping both business and marketing models, amongst many other changes.
The Social Economy has changed the Marketing Model:
From AIDMA TO AISAS.
The new AISAS marketing model becomes a social process.
Economics of the Social Economy
Economic activity moves beyond individuals and circulates within friends, groups and networks. Economic activity is highly portable and transferrable, with the ability to share either symbolic or real money. Micropayments help transact the symbolic currency into real currency. Value is attached to acts which are beneficial or of value for your friends, groups and networks. This converts previously informal value [good deed, knowledge, sharing etc] into a formal social value and creates currency which can then be transferred into real currency. The Social Economy reflects a shift in how value is perceived, attributed, and distributed.
The newly developing Social Ad Networks will grow and flourish on the basis of this economic principle, along with opt-in membership supported by Behavioral Targeting and micropayment for distribution of real currency.
Early Economic Examples:
I think this is probably enough to introduce The Social Economy. I’ll come back soon to put some more flesh around these quickly developing Social Economy bones.
