Because People Are Stupid and Business is Social. And Vice Versa.

Based on the 1992 presidential debate that coined the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid!" We've all had our say about everything else that is stupid. Like people. Business. Taxes. Health care reform. Social media.

So on this dreary Monday morning, I present to you a slideshare presentation that does a great job outlining the facets of Facebook and the tremors behind Twitter. Not because it's anything new, really, but it's an intriguing way of illustrating the mix of old and new and oddly indifferent ways that people will use to connect to other people. It also takes a pragmatic approach in explaining social media on a global scale yet at the same time really illustrates how global means local and local means global.

Because while we say that things (or people or business or anything that may approach common sense) are stupid, what we really mean is that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

And if I'm going to point out a little powerpoint discussion on relationship management, I may as well also highlight some recent research that looks into the matter. In this posting, a contributor at the Altimeter group writes up his thoughts as the following:

The author suggests that in order for people, organizations and strategies to not appear "stupid," all they have to do is follow this simple plan:

1. Discover where the conversations are happening in this new social world.
2. Identify who’s influential and if they are customers or not.
3. Assess friend or foe status and their willingness to engage
4. Determine a tiered approach to engagement or re-engagement.
5. Tie social channels to business value and objectives
6. Bring the social channel back to existing CRM systems.
7. Reallocate resources to support Social CRM efforts

Who can argue with that? And who can argue with the statement that most of the conversations about your business will, in fact, come from outside your business. It's like life. How many rumors have you spread about yourself lately? When was the last time you stood hunched over at the watercooler, whispering with a red face as you retold every detail about how you made an ass out of yourself in the boardroom or how great you are for some new fantastic innovation?