If 2007 was the year of the “Social Media Gold Rush”, 2008 is the year of the “Social Media Good Rush”.

(Photo: “To the Good Rush“, signed by Frank Warren)

At SXSW Interactive 2007 the hot topic was how to ‘monetize’ social networks - it was all about how to make sustainable business models around systems and content that were easy to produce and acces.

This year, at SXSW Interactive 2008 I think we’re onto something a little more meaningful.

So instead of the ‘Gold Rush’, I’m calling it the ‘Good Rush’. 

I had the idea after a wonderful keynote talk by Frank Warren, creator of the fantastic PostSecrets.com website. An art project where he invited strangers to send him postcards on which were written personal secrets has taken on a life of its own to become a widely-viewed blog and a series of three books.

He talked about how through the medium of these anonymous postcard secrets he’s seen significant change happen in the real world. People coming to terms with aspects of their histories or personalities, people making decisions about their futures and people using the process as a way of getting closure on aspects of their lives that have been left open.

He also talked eloquently about how there is a growing trend for people using the freely available to enable real-world change in a bigger way. The site now helps support a suicide phoneline charity through donations. So any income derived through the secrets goes to funding it.

Increasing Intimacy

I’m one of the early adopters when it comes to putting everything about myself online, but when I come to SXSW I feel almost behind the curve. But perhaps we’re getting to the point where our online identities and the content that results from our lives will become increasingly easy to access over the coming years. Certainly Profilactic is hot property at the moment - I can see this trend of ‘increasing intimacy’ being one of the topics to look out for this coming year. What price intimacy? What benefits? Does increased intimacy mean we can start looking at really interesting ways that we can help and connect with other people?

Free can mean good in more than one way

Social media software and tools are so freely available that the barrier is now set so low to allow people to start publishing that we can almost start ignoring the ‘how’ of publishing online and move onto the ‘why’?

What value does social media have?

Certainly at a conference like SXSWi it can feel like technology for technology’s sake. People twittering about blogging about twittering…

I can see that this next year we will start seeing interesting dialogue happening about what happens when you start looking at the bigger picture:

What social good can come from social media?

I’ll be interested in seeing what happens when ideas people who know how the technology works start increasing their connections with people who want to make physical real world change. And I have a few ideas up my sleeve…

Perhaps we can learn something from  Neil Young - are we starting to look at what all of these free social media tools and systems are actually for after the gold rush?

Here is a podcast response with a couple of other people from the West Midlands who were sitting next to me at the keynote, and a brief chat with Frank Warren whilst signing my copy of his book “A Lifetime of Secrets”.

My quote of the conference from the latter:

“One of the most noble things you can do in this life is find people who aren’t being heard and give them a voice.”
Frank Warren

Now there’s something to take to heart for the coming year.

 

 Our reactions to PostSecrets keynote: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Frank Warren - signing his book and beinge eloquent: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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