This Week's Herman Trend Alert Purpose Emerging as Important Driver of Engagement

The Herman Trend Alert March 2, 2011 Social Media and Social Change While we realize that the Internet is merely a tool, it has played an unmistakable and important role in recent political events. Technology’s impact on political unrest is not new. In 1979 the revolution in Iran used smuggled cassette tapes of inspirational speeches from opposition leaders to provoke turmoil. In 1989 during the fall of the former-Soviet bloc countries, the FAX machine played a critical role in distributing information among dissidents. Twitter and Facebook are simply the newest tools, though significantly more powerful than others before. They supported the Egyptian opposition, after the recent regime change in Tunisia. According to Guarav Mishra Professor of Social Media at Georgetown University, there are other factors at play here as well. “The societal context and the sequence of how events unfold, the personality of the protagonists and the relationships between them, the stickiness of the message and the timing of its delivery” are all factors that have an effect on the situation. In fact, the Internet has affected many aspects of our lives: how we shop, how we relate with each other, how we promote goods and services, how we recruit, and especially the need for corporate transparency (addressed in a recent Herman Trend Alert--- "A New Game for Public Affairs"). In the recent “Social Media Comes of Age” The Vocus 2011 Planning Survey, organizations overwhelmingly gave themselves high marks for social media maturity, with 67 percent saying they are “participating, sharing and contributing to social conversations”. According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point”, “the point is whether the social web helped create the social context over the long-term that seeded the meme (a cultural item, transmitted by repetition) of the revolution or tipped it into a movement”. We believe that the Social Web did and that the Internet and particularly social media will continue to affect life as we have known it. Not only may any despot expect regime change revolutions, but social media will continue to affect an increasing number of aspects of our lives. What we have seen in recent events in the Middle East is only the beginning. Get ready; it’s going to be a wild ride! © Copyright 1998- by The Herman Group, Inc. -- reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "The Herman Trend Alert," by Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or http://www.hermangroup.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group, Inc." WHO SENDS OUT YOUR NEWSLETTERS? We are convinced there is no better choice than ours! We have happily used DataBack Systems to deliver The Herman Trend Alert for over 10 years and. Visit their website (http://www.databack.com) or call Byron directly at 503.941.0427. You'll be glad you did. IS YOUR EMPLOYER AN EMPLOYER OF CHOICE®? Our effective, onsite seminars, workshops, and consulting can help you get there. We offer 1-, 2-, 3-hour, and full-day programs to help you communicate what it takes to become an Employer of Choice® and inspire your folks to get it done. In the future, being an Employer of Choice® will not be optional. Call Carol at 336-210-3547 to arrange a no-obligation conference call. Or order the electronic version of the Employer of Choice book on your desktop for only $17.80 @ http://hermangroup.com/store/books_all.html#2. STRUGGLING TO FIND THE PEOPLE YOU NEED? VETJOBS CAN HELP! Recently, hundreds of thousands of jobs remain unfilled due to a lack of capable people. If you are looking for qualified candidates, you need to hire a veteran using VFW-sponsored VetJobs, the largest military employment site on the Internet. Thousands of returning veterans are looking for good jobs now. Mention this ad in The Herman Trend Alert and receive a 10% discount on job postings. Call Ted Daywalt at 877-838-5627 or inquire at info@VetJobs.com. Herman Trend Alerts are produced by the Herman Group, strategic business futurists, Certified Management Consultants, authors, and professional speakers. New subscribers are welcome. There is no charge for this public service. The Herman Trend Alert is received by over 30,000 subscribers in 78 countries, in addition to other websites and printed magazines. Do you enjoy receiving this weekly e-mail update? Contact us about our co-branded Trend Alert service. Click here to sign up for the Herman Trend Alert. Subscribe or Unsubscribe to weekly Herman Trend Alert View this week's Herman Trend Alert Archived Weekly Herman Trend Alerts

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