Advertising and Open Systems

This conversation does and will include mobile communications - portability is the ultimate nirvana for networks and systems, as is relevance (personalization being part of it).

Of all the communications media, advertising is the one with the clearest set of guidelines, it seems. As well, it is the one designed specifically to inform potential consumers of the benefit, function, and/or the price of a product or service to create the action of purchase.

Yet advertising gets a bad reputation. If only we thought about modifiers - for example the term interruption - as that influencing perception. Interruption happens in systems that do not allow for context to be part of the experience. There is more. The combination of fixed creative, and close system, has created quite a challenge for ads - that of staying relevant in a dynamic age.

As I was writing this post, Krishnan asked on Twitter: Why is there no hype around the distributed social networking implemented by Google using OpenSocial and Google Friend Connect?

Why not? That's a great question.

What are OpenSocial and Google Friend Connect?

Briefly, OpenSocial is a set of APIs that will allow various web services with social media components to interact. The biggest thing it does is provide a common framework and vocabulary for things like friends and their relationships. The idea is to unlock social networks. Google and MySpace took point on this project, but it's open source.

Google Friend Connect (GFC) is an implementation of the OpenSocial standards. It still doesn't do a lot, but it's moving forward quickly now. For instance, there's now an early GFC WordPress plugin. GFC equipped sites with this plugin allow users to login and comment - and become members of the GFC site - using existing credentials (OpenID, Google Profile, etc.). That's pretty cool. GFC also introduces some social features, such as fan groups and site announcements.

Why are we still centralizing?

With all the talk of the liberated customer now in charge, free agent nation and enterprising social media gurus, we still seem to flock to centralized, large systems, with a single point of failure. Even the "big idea" is not such a good idea anymore. Because it's really hard to predict what will be successful.

The ad industry is not going to recover on large systems, large media buys, and one creative everywhere kind of thinking and execution.There is no average consumer anymore, we ran out of them.

There are, however, individuals we'd like to call customers, who like to be in charge of telling you who they look like in psychographic profiles if you pay attention to what they do and listen to what they say.

I'm also thinking that there is some advertising that works, that delivers the right message to the right person who is looking for it, at the right time. We don't hear about how appropriate that is, because it's a conversation that is happening, there is no need to solve a problem, as there is no problem in the first place. 

Distribution by emulation

Could centralization be worked in a more natural way? By going all the way to the edges? Finding interesting new things, accelerating their spreading through social behavior and the willingness of people to create instant communities. Witness the T-Mobile flash mob spots I wrote about in micro-interactions in public - the relation is built in the interaction.

We need to start trying more new things and measuring what happens. This is something I'm working on implementing, so stay tuned for more material on distributed conversations, open systems, weak ties, and modular content.

What are your thoughts?

[image by Areaware designs]

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To get us thinking about mobile, too:

Get out of my Phone! 5 Ways to Add Value

The Future of Advertising is Already Here

(it turns out it isn't, but a valiant effort)