Guest post: How to be sure that you are a part of the 4th revolution…

Guest post by Olivier Lareynie, the winner of our contest on “why is hourly analysis of social network effectiveness fundamentally flawed?”

If you talk about the 4th revolution in your company of the Industrial Age (or at least try to explain it), I think most people would say “Yes, we’re a part of it! The company has its Twitter and Facebook accounts, we even post videos on Youtube!”.

I think that what we got then are two categories of companies and organizations.

what to do with social networks?
what to do with social networks?

Companies of the first category only use the tools of the 4th revolution as if they were from the Industrial Age, like radio, television or newspapers: one-way communication (nowadays faster), no interaction and no collaboration (even at short-distance).

Companies of the second category are aware that the entire society is currently being redefined, and are slowly opening to this new world. 4th revolution tools are not considered as one-way communication tools, and the first fruits of the collaboration and interaction are visible. However, these tools are often controlled by very few management people, and their use doesn’t means that the company is as open-minded as it seems to be when you watch it from outside.

Have you tried to explain the 4th revolution concepts to colleagues in your company of the Industrial Age?

I’ve tried. And I’ve realized that 4th revolution concepts are not so easy to explain, and can be misunderstood or misinterpreted very easily. I’m sure there are many companies and people who really want to thrive through the 4th revolution, but maybe they are thinking in the wrong way.

How to avoid the illusion of being part of the 4th revolution? How to help people and companies to be a part of it?

…Wishing Olivier a lot of upcoming blog posts!

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