The latest evolution of the web is pushing even the most innovative organizations in new and exciting directions. Web 2.0 helps you build deeper relationships and move your communications from "publishing" to "engagement" models.
Web 2.0, first defined by Tim O'Reily but explained eve
n better in this short YouTube video, is part of a much bigger cultural shift towards greater transparency, openness, and more distributed (and perhaps democratic) citizen engagement. It's also a cultural reaction away from traditional, top down marketing designed to manipulate and control audiences to do what the institutions tell them. As our slide above states, this is a movement towards more authenticity, meaning, and involvement.
While these trends are shifting business models all sectors, we believe that
Values-based businesses and non-profits - those with truly authentic brands that stand for something meaningful and who have passionate, underutilized constituencies - are especially well suited to take advantage of the opportunities.
What's the difference between the "old web" and Web 2.0? Where the old web had static pages published (and rarely updated) by your PR department, the new web unlocks organizational expertise via blogs, distributes publishing across the organization, and helps share your real stories and impacts with the world, in real time. The old web had pat, one dimensional actions, driven only by you. The new web empowers your constituencies to self organize and take your messages and actions out into their communities. In the old web no one remembered to come back to your site. The new web tells them when you publish something new, and it even meets them where they hang out.
At its core this is about building deeper relationships. We've seen how Web 2 can help organizations:
- reach new donors or customers
- better engage the ones you have
- disseminate new ideas (the world really needs them now)
- connect with younger audiences
- collaborate and share knowledge
- understand a changing world
All that and higher Google rankings too. Oh, did we mention it's a lot of fun?
The early exhuberance around Web 2.0 is subsiding into real, often transformative business cases for many organizations working in sustainability and social change. But like all technology, letting tools drive strategy is still the kiss of death. Communicopia provides the strategic direction to connect your business and mission goals, audience needs, and unique value proposition to the opportunities new models of engagement offer. We also help you build capacity and change your culture to adapt and respond to this new, rapidly changing, and exciting world.