Justin Jackson

The changing pace of learning

The sum total of all human knowledge was doubling every 10 years, according to the US Government in the mid twentieth century.  Along came the Internet and that span was shortened to every 2 years by the turn of the century.  

Projections are now being made that within two yeas the doubling of all knowledge will occur every 12 hours.  That’s a tremendous increase but not one that was unexpected.  The “doubling of human knowledge curve” has long been accepted with a very slow horizontal increase that led to a meteoric vertical climb.   Nobody will argue that the advent of the Internet was the point at which everything changed on the curve.

So how does this relate to marketing, specifically cross channel marketing and the improvements of a company’s bottom line?  New rules are now in place for communication and they are evolving very quickly.   The most impactful rule may be the one that states, you can be human.  The web and its communication methods are opening doors, pulling down barriers, and removing curtains of infallibility.  Companies can receive feedback that is negative or positive and make the appropriate response. 

Through on-line communities and chat sessions, blogs and social media groups, consumers are making their voices heard.  Smart companies take that information and implement changes.   Making a mistake and correcting it is more powerful today than not making a mistake at all.  There is no reason to fear feedback, commentary is going to exist, it’s going to be seen, it must be embraced.   Customers can be powerful advocates for companies on-line because new influencers are pushing their way onto the scene. 

Technology has made it possible for people to speak and for companies to measure the impact of what they say.  Listening on the web with Google Alerts, or Del.icio.us or Technorati enable companies to understand their on-line persona.  Measuring keyword performance and striving to make the Top 10 on Google certainly weren’t corporate initiatives in the past but they should be today.  Communities spread brand awareness, they provide opportunities to advise and educate, all from the comfort of your laptop or mobile device.

One final benefit of the explosive growth of the tools and solutions available via web 2.0 is the fact that nobody expects them all to work out.  Expectations are realistic; one organization cannot be everywhere leading the charge for social media  and cross channel successes.  However, a proper blend of these tools can empower an organization like never before.  As knowledge continues to expand that blend of tools will change more rapidly and provide smaller windows for real home run efforts.  But the windows will exist and the home runs will be massive.

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