Not surprisingly, there have been a fair few comments, posts and articles over the last few days about social media and the recession.
First of all, CNET's list of ventures that might not make it through the other end, including two I use all the time - Twitter and Netvibes.
Secondly, something that I found both depressing and unimaginative (spotted via Silkcharm), Sequoia Venture Capital's advice to clients about what to do next - cut, cut, cut and cut.
Right. That's exactly how we're going to come out the other end. All of us are going to stop spending money.
Thirdly, Gary Vaynerchuk's 'rant' on companies that waste money on traditional advertising as opposed to establishing dialogue online. It's delivered in his unique hyper style, but the message is ultimately a good one.
Stop the panic
Finally, the first signs online of a back-lash against the 'mind recession' that's contributed to the real one we may soon find ourselves in.
'Stop the Panic' has been created on Facebook and social advocacy platform Amazee:
A brave goal but perhaps a sense of disaster story type fatigue will soon set in (not to be flippant - I do appreciate that for some people homes and jobs are on the line).
Famines, disasters and wars show that (sadly) we've got a limited appetite for bad news before we begin to zone out. See this link - the more people hear about disasters, the *less* likely they are to actually give to charity.
As a result, right now editorial agendas are focused on crashing markets and credit crunches, but sooner or later they will have to shift again. After all, unless we really are about to exchange cash for a barter type economy, there are only so many times screaming 'Black Friday' on the front page will have its desired effect.
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8 comments:
Great advice Dirk. Please just let GMTV know ;)
Ha ha, I was wondering if we couldn't just chemically alter the water supply of the City and Wall St instead for it to have its desired effect!
Seriously, the point about disaster fatigue and our ability to digest bad news is an interesting one.
You do wonder at what point the drum beat of bad news will fade into the background for consumers or just start to seem 'normal.'
I think you may well get into a spot of bother if you tried that!
Agree on the 'serious' point behind the piece. We see it every time a war starts, as the news stories get pushed back beyond page 5 and the minimum death tally requirement gets higher.
We'll all talk ourselves into this one. As the Christmas (yes, Christmas!) ads hit the TV and the media starts to look to repeats of all the same stories from last year, this will keep coming up again and again.
I hope I'm wrong but I can see this one outstaying its welcome and us all being absolutely sick to death of it by the time a slightly deflated, cost-conscious, new year's eve comes about.
That said, we're all human beings that like nice things and actively seek to distance ourselves from bad things, so time will tell. Fingers crossed.
I seem to remember a media analysis I did for our then mutual client Yahoo! at the outbreak of the Iraq war.
I looked at the Kosovo conflict and in particular at what point it was no longer lead story on the front pages on a regular basis (15 days in I think).
Of course this time I appreciate it's different as it is our jobs, pensions etc that are directly involved.
But yes, we'll see soon enough if / when consumers raise their hands with "enough!"
On a positive note, the markets have at least rallied today.
I remember that distinctly and was in my mind as I typed!
Fingers crossed - keep that analysis going.
I am looking forward to the recession. It will lay the groundwork for future structures. I just hope it does to industry what it did to Media 14 years ago. Imagine if we moved in the next decade to peer to peer economies and feeconomics :)
Sequoia are scaring off other VCs so they can pick up the lowhanging fruit, :)
Appreciate the comment Laurel, and not to sound Darwinian, I agree, this will certainly sort out the sheep from the goats.
Very interesting post and thanks for mentioning Amazee and our "Stop the panic" project and FB group :)
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