by Geoff Livingston
You may be strong, you may be smart, but if you cannot adapt to rapid change you won’t survive. A rather Darwinistic statement, but a truth that companies and communicators increasing must accept. Communications technology has turned our world upside down (this post owes a special hat tip to Kyle Reis, and the great conversation he had with me that inspired it).
I imagine social media wonks grinning like cheshire cats and traditional communicators groaning. But the observation applies to all. Five years ago Twitter didn’t exist and Facebook was a blip on the map. Where will we be in another five years?
Today’s communications reality: Every decade brings sweeping challenges to the industry, driven by more telecommunications bandwidth and computing power. Consider the following:
- 70s: Broadcast TV dominates, while metro newspapers consolidate to fight off the evening news. Cable TV is born.
- 80s: Personal computing takes off, cable becomes widespread, commercial adoption of the Internet begins
- 90s: The decade of email and Web 1.0 (.com), satellite rivals cable, wireless takes off
- 00s: Web 2.0 rises to the fore, 1.0 community properties like Prodigy, AOL suffer; wireless Internet services blow up. Print pubs start failing en masse, while electronic books become available.
The rate of change accelerates with each new decade. As we conclude this one, we have seen the birth of next generation email (Google Wave), the virtual reality network Second Life (rise and fall, in this case), the beginning of a pitched battle for the mobile Internet between Apple and Google, and Verizon’s recent declaration that it’s done investing in it’s landline business.
We focus on how organizations use these tools to communicate with their stakeholders, but bit and bytes have become so disruptive communicators can no longer afford to turn their backs on media advancements. The only certainty is flux and change.
A core competency for successful communicators and their companies — agencies, for profits and nonprofits alike — must be adaptability. Our media world will continue to move like a river, relentlessly flowing over any barrier until it reaches the see. Now more than ever we must think liquid.
Perfectly presented. It goes back to when I served as a member of a Think Tank for IABC.
They wanted to conduct a study on Blackberry phones. By the time it would have been completed, the iPhone would have already capture 20 percent of the smart phone market. I told them the better study was to look into how communication could keep up with the accelerating changes taking place. It makes for better research.
The tactics are temporary. The strategies are fluid.
All my best,
Rich
Great example, Rich. Thanks for sharing the blackberry story!
Hi, Geoff.
I noticed that the rapid developments in technology can be overwhelming. Last Christmas I purchased an iPhone 3G thinking that it would be the latest in mobile Internet; however, just this year Apple introduced the iPhone 3GS, an advanced version. Seeing the ad made me realize that in the years to come Apple will develop a newer version of the phone and encourage consumers to purchase the product. So it made me think, do these companies expect people to purchase new products each year because of the technological advancement even though their similar product is just as proficient?
-John
“I am Right. You are Wrong” a great de Bono book that would be an interesting read if you haven’t delved into his thinking on “rock” logic versus “water” logic and the two methods’ influence on effectiveness.