While the interview contained the usual Colbert grilling (I like how he threatened to turn the interview into 400 requests to play Mafia Wars), it did raise some interesting points about Social Networks and their abilities to influence our family and friends.

James Fowler on Colbert Nation

With your standard friends on Facebook, you actually assert little or no influence on them for things like music tastes, movies or brand interactions (and vice versa). This all changes if the person has uploaded and tagged a photo with you - these friends now exert the same amount of influence as close friends and family in the real world.

So if you are a brand trying to influence Facebook users, remember that your targets may be much smaller than you think - while a person my have hundreds of friends, unless they appear in photos with the person, you may be wasting your time.

There is no doubt the music industry was hyper-profitable. As pointed out by Seth Godin in his book Tribes, the music business built huge systems, with top-heavy organisations, dedicated superstores, a loss-leading touring industry, all of which experienced incredibly high profit margins. But the world has changed, and it seems from the outside that record executives are stuck clinging to their now defunct corporate lifestyles.

So lets look at the history. The music industry was traditionally built around specific pillars:

• Free radio promotion
• A limited number of competing music labels
• A high cost of production, requiring musicians to get finance from labels
• A Top 40 hits-based focus
• A high margin delivery medium in the form of CD LP’s

At its heart, the music label was the only means to be heard. The only way you could get music out was by physical distribution - having the network to print CD’s in bulk, ship them to stores, place them in stores, and then run the marketing juggernaut behind them by getting radio play.

Then something crazy happened. In 1999, Napster emerged and made it incredibly easy for people to share music online. Instead of embracing or having the foresight to invest in this new form of distribution, the record companies decided to form a mistake that continues, suing Napster for copyright infringement - a monumental technology blunder.

Cue today, and the music industry is still trying to push their old method, and are still trying to sue the massive amount of fragmenting “pirate” networks. At the heart of this is what Umair Haque calls the zombieconomy - when we don’t reward people for creating, growing, nurturing, or even remixing assets. We don’t foster innovation, but instead try and reward people for allocating the same old assets, which leads to failure.

Not content with trying to sue the pirate networks themselves, the Record Industry has now attempted to sue individuals involved in file sharing. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has spent the last 5 years doing just this, for the grand result of getting 30,000 individuals to settle for a few thousand dollars outside of court.

Now the strategy is to target ISP’s, getting them to remove individuals caught sharing music, or even filter out copyrighted material sailing through peer-to-peer protocols - regardless of fair use. A monumental task that could amount to censorship of the Internet and an attempt to control a supposed free ecosystem of information.

Again this is simply fighting a battle that cannot be won, and raising the ire of artists and fans alike, and doing little to improve their cause.

So what are the current Digital Music Trends, and what are smart innovators doing to actually use new technologies to their advantage? Social Media has now become a fantastic tool to help emerging or established artists make money while creating deeper connections with their fans.

At the highest end of the scale, Nine Inch Nails have continually utilised the Internet and new technologies in a way that has created a loyal ecosystem of rabid fans by providing the tools, technologies and means to interact with the band and each other. Their distribution model has sidestepped record labels altogether, and created practices that would make the current record establishment pull out their hair - by giving up control and placing it openly in the hands of their fans, a perfect lesson in good Social Media practice.

Check out the interview with Trent Reznor on Digg Dialogg, it is a fantastic insight into how artists can flourish in this new music environment, although the strategies can be applied to businesses outside of music - so brands, take note.

The other trend is harnessing fan involvement, which has mostly emerged in the form of remixing. Bands like NIN, Radiohead or Jay-Z have are early embracers of this, letting fans remix their songs to their delight, and providing the means to share these versions with the world. Tommy Lee has even opened this up one step further, allowing fans to collaborate on material for his new album, submitting their own stems to be part of the production process.

Now to the Social Media tools. With Twitter or Facebook, smart artists can harness the power of their fans by creating deeper relationships through personalised communication. Why would you want a faceless record label sending PR releases to music magazines and press when you can communicate directly with the members of a band through the Internet. And if you are an emerging or smaller artist, you can even utilise tools like Twitter to make money.

The other side to this are new Applications that make managing your band and connecting with your fans even easier. Mashable outline a few in point five of this Digital Music Trends article, but the list now is endless. From building a fan powered Social Media website for communicating, selling your music online so you keep the profits, or managing your bands day-to-day schedule, the Internet provides a range of free or paid apps to do so.

Is it any wonder why record labels are starting to get scared?

The world is facing a great crisis, one that has been growing behind the scenes, and currently being manifested in a global economic meltdown. This has been built on the very worst parts of human nature, and our unfortunate ability to be very greedy, selfish people.

This crisis is now so ingrained in our institutions, they can be seen as nothing but failures. For years now the majority of businesses have been run without thinking about creating anything positive for the greater collective, creating a “Zombieconomy”. They have used aggressive, counter-productive practices that have benefited a handful of people in the short term, but slowly eroded away our society at large.

This is very much 20th Century thinking, and utterly flawed and outdated.

There is however a light at the end of the tunnel, being brought about by what Umair terms “Generation M” (although even he points out it may be an imperfect label).

Essentially the ‘M’ stands for four things - primarily ‘Movement’, but also ‘doing Meaningful stuff that Matters the Most‘ (again, check his blog post to see some great examples of new businesses and models that are the forerunners of this change). A call to arms for a new generation to re-educate the old guard on what we think really matters.

At the heart of this movement are the current new leaps in technology driven by the Internet. Social Media and communication tools are the driving force behind this new 21st Century thinking, and a collective desire to create an authentic and sustainably shared prosperity.

From bloggers in China and Tehran 2.0 spreading the seeds for democracy through the underground, to new online business models that offer an alternative to tired and stagnant forced consumerism, Social Media is providing a driving force of change. It is not just about giving a voice to the masses, it is providing a way for innovation and creativity to come back to the forefront of society, and help to institute good in the world again - a”rising tide that lifts all boats”.

That last term (and the word Manifesto) may actually cause a few eyebrows to raise, and a few voices to cry out “Communism!”. But in actual fact, the Generation M Manifesto is at its heart a true form of Capitalism, and not the corrupted and out of control beast we see today.

Generation M seek to re-institute value creation in the market. They seek to encourage healthy competition so that we can prevent stagnation and foster innovation. They want to be sustainable so that we don’t exploit people and the environment to make money. And they want to move from being sold a perceived value of a product or service to the creation of actual value in the goods and services we consume.

So what does this mean for us all now? Firstly, take a look at how you and your workplace emphasise creative ideas. The organisations that will flourish and survive will need to be prepared to allow this to be be the central driver in their business model - again, stagnation benefits no one and leads you down the path of failure. By fighting the future you will take two steps back.

Secondly, if you think new Social Media tools are just a current fad, I would recommend you re-think your analysis - not only are they here to stay, you will need to have a good grasp of them if you want to flourish in business in the future. Gone are the days of a one way conversation with your customers. Without proper engagement your business will sink.

If you have the time, take a break and check out Umair Haque’s presentation at the Daytona Sessions. In it he provides some interesting ideas for the future and 21st Century thinking.

Essentially, if you go to the Skittles homepage, you now access a Skittles “Channel”. After confirming your birthdate and the Terms of Service, you are directed to a default page (their YouTube channel), while a small widget in the corner lets you navigate to areas of Social Media for the brand, such as their Twitter feed, Facebook page, or Flickr page.

What this means is they have completely removed a Corporate Website, and have now leveraged their entire web presence into Social Media tools, letting consumers drive the content and provide comments and feedback. From Twittering about the your love for the product, to posting photos, or commenting on their amazingly random videos, consumers are now driving the dialogue and creating a community of like minded individuals.

This may be the most impressive thing about this new strategy - essentially Skittles are only a candy, but have found a way to create a massive amount of free PR and engagement online that has generated a massive amount of awareness (and a huge amount of talk of the Internet). 

Will this be the death of a traditional Corporate Website? Probably not, as any brand to follow this model probably won’t capitalise on the huge amount of free press that followed Skittles move. But they should be applauded for trying a bold, aggressive experiment in the Social Media landscape.

These books are a must read for anyone - be you a Creative, Suit or on the Client side in Advertising (although there are beneficial insights for anyone in business).

If you haven’t had a chance to read them, grab them and do so. The ideas may seem simple and obvious, but it is amazing how quickly you can forget when you get snowed under in busy periods at work.

A recent example of this is in the set of videos created by production company ChadMatt&Rob entitled The Time Machine. Remember those choose your own adventure books? This essentially takes that format, and places it in the video, allowing you to make decisions for the characters and have the story unfold the way you want it.

New interactive video looks like a big bonus for content delivery sites. It should offer a reason for people to hang around on a website longer as they navigate through the experience, and offer better engagement with what you are consuming. After all, television can only offer a linear experience, so this gives a new reason to open up your computer.

Watch A Special Valentines Gift From CISCO…

At the negative extreme, both campaigns have been labelled deceitful, misleading, and a new form of Spam attacking us virally on video sites like YouTube (although how 14 year old girls complaining about their lives or cute hamster videos aren’t considered Spam before these I will never understand).

What they fail to realise is the new opportunity for consumers to not only be involved with the brand on a personal level, but to be actively be involved in the story - even if the end result was not what they expected.

What this begins to do is enter the world of Alternate Reality Games (ARG’s). Essentially these are games or narratives played in the real world, with active participants across the globe working together to move the story forward (often solving puzzles to do so).

ARG’s have recently been used to promote brands or products. My favorite example was the ARG created by 42 Entertainment for the band Nine Inch Nails, for the release of their album Year Zero. I won’t go into detail of what was created to promote the album (check out the NINWiki to get the full details), just that it involved everything from coded messages, leaked songs with hidden information, live stunts, and a massive amount of websites ‘discovered’ online. This allowed the fans to actively participate in the album in the real world or online, outside of simply listening to the songs.

So with Witchery and Tourism Queensland, they turned out to be fakes. But consumers got to interact with a narrative, and feel like they were part of a community (either helping a girl in distress, or competing for a great prize against other like minded people). Added on to regular advertising (like print or outdoor ads) and this opens up a whole new and exciting world of audience engagement.

The easiest and fastest way is to use a search engine. Simply go to Google, and type the following into the Search Box:

site: mysite.com

(With “mysite” being the target URL you are searching. Make sure to keep a space after the colon).

This allows you to see what links are coming in, or the kind of links other sites are getting such as your competitors. Try searching for an established website in your industry - if they are receiving links from a free directory or listing, you should aim to get on them straight away.

This poses the challenge of convincing the Marketing Department and Upper Management of adopting new “Inbound Marketing” technologies that can essentially fly in the face of traditional practices, and push them outside their comfort zone. This may also be compounded by the very nature of the word they are being asked to adopt - Social Media.

Lets look at the first word:

Social = Fun, relaxed, with friends (time wasting) 
Social = Activities outside of work (not business) 

How many times have you said you don’t have time for social activities because you are too busy working? 

In addition, many organisations block a range of Social Media sites for this very reason - they view them as time wasting or not business activities. I have at least three friends who are not able to access Facebook in their offices. 

What I would suggest is adopting a new term to explain Social Media to CXO roles in order to present the benefits and eliminate the negatives associated with “social”. My own suggestion would be Business Networking Media. 

The analogy is this, think of a Business Networking Event you have attended recently. Now think of this same event not constrained by time, space or location - and with the benefits enhanced. That is the power delivered by Business Networking Media solutions, an effective tool to add to your marketing mix.