Children are the masters of Internet

It’s their environment, their world, their natural environment. For them a mailing address or a fixed phone does not mean too much, a mobile phone number is somewhat more useful for the simple reason that can send and receive messages, but when they want to be in contact when they know other children and make new friends Do not ask any of these data, you say: give me your messenger. Do not ask if you have a computer, whether they are connected to the Internet or if you have a hotmail account, assume that all these requirements are met and that, furthermore, the connection is ADSL. Children are being broadband.

So do not be fooled, the Internet is not ours. We just are preparing for what they do on the Internet so that we can hardly imagine. We can talk about technological innovation, business development, communication and interaction, social networking and Web 2.0, the Web 3.0 and any neologism that we were going to occur. Prehistory. The wonderfully modern Internet that lets you do so many things and through crowded highways whose byte has come to this blog is little more than a Beta carried out with a lot of work and best intentions.

Being a child is no longer what it was. Being a child is the closest thing to be a pilot in Formula 1, because childhood is a time that runs at speeds of vertigo. That’s why the children are better prepared to assume, understand, develop and improve anything they find around them.

The estdaísticas say (and are estadísiticas 2007 U.S., so the figures should be revised upwards) that young people who now have less than 22 years have passed:

     – More than 20,000 hours in front of the TV

     – More than 5000 hours playing video game

     – More than 5000 hours on the phone

     – Have sent and received over 250,000 SMS messages and emails

 

     – And more than half have created some content for the Internet

They also say the data from various sources and studies that a child of 13 to 15 years have, on average, more than 350 contacts added in his messenger, that in an open session is from 5 to 15 simultaneous conversations, and that makes it more Ergonomic a command that kind PlayStation a flyer for “driving” a car in their video games. I really loved broadband are drawing a future that is in advance of ours.

The key to understanding what is the role and importance of children in the development of technology is to assume that pobablemente for the first time in history, children ahead of their parents’ access to and use of technologies. The computer was cheaper enough for a computer is not a subject that we must maintain expensive section of the reach of minors. On the other hand, applications, content and utilities designed for children, or that children can use “to his measure” are very numerous and easily accessible via the Web. It’s over technology and devices “reserved for elders.” Mobile phones, PDAs, computers, the video game consoles, MP3 and MP4 are part of the natural environment of most of our children and that is why they, in many cases, the early adopters, the energizing and introducing technology in homes, families and schools. We can not ignore that.

Driven by curiosity and excitement.

Two powerful engines to which must be added the lack of “technological panic” so typical of our generation (those who are among the many thirty-and forty-odd …), which has made us see the technology as many times a threat rather than an ally.

But when we talk about children and the Internet, there is an immediate concern: security. A Google search on the Internet and our children will result in thousands of pages where pornography, harassment, cyberbullying and the hazardous contents are the subject of great debate. True, the Internet is full of content that are dangerous or at least undesirable for children. Exactly the same thing happens in the real world.

Parents, educators, associations and authorities are concerned and propose measures, filters, security protocols to protect girls and boys of that which can harm them. It’s a justified concern, and certainly a serious problem. But let us not lose sight of something essential …

 

The problem of children on the Internet is not the security is the responsibility. And the responsibility is ours forever. The best preventive measure and the best security filter to protect children from the “danger of the Internet” are some parents at her side.

We also learn that we proactively share with our children as the digital life. We must ensure them, but, above all, we must sail with them. Ban is the worst of the alternatives, but has the perverse attraction of which is the simplest. Do not forget it.

And from here, we raised the challenge of incorporating children, the young, adolescent development of the Internet. Not only as observers or as users of the tools and content. They are essential in the design, in the developments in the test and in innovation. Any project-oriented endure and bring value should have at its core the illusion of development, creativity, ability and expectations of the smallest How can we do? Not looking at children only as an attractive market segment, but as an indispensable partner. The education system, economic system, the technological environment … the youngest are in the key point of intersection.

Let us be creative, think of new ways to harness the talents child because their value is incalculable. In this way, your Internet will also be ours and the technological gap that opens will be a bridge between generations and not a border.

Finally, it is helpful to remember that we keep a child inside, or should, thanks to which we remain ayendo the sonar casacabel Santa Claus … Do not you remember? In this case, perhaps it should go back to view with their children or their nephews, Polar Express.

How are businesses that are successful?

The search for the perfect business is like finding the lost ark, the Holy Grail and the Philosopher’s Stone. There may be, it may not, but they do not stop searching. Let’s start from the premise that there is no perfect business, and we wonder which of the businesses that seem to be aware if there were.

As we live in a Global Society, which identifies with Business and Enterprise business with Brand, is the ideal business could be something like Coca Cola, Microsoft, Sony?  Or it might be more in line with Google, Amazon or IKEA? An ideal business is a business that moves a lot of money, right?, Which provides benefits and generate more value and business. So, perhaps the ideal business is intrinsically linked with money, could be the HSBC, Santander, the Chasse Manhattan Bank?, Perhaps an Investment Fund, an insurer? Well, in light of recent events with its own name as Lehmann Brothers or Merryl lynch, that the road may be another A company of online auctions? You may something about the spectacle and entertainment, as this is the entertainment company, Pixar, Time Warner, Paramount? Something more cool, admired and liked, Apple, MTV, Nike? A business with the glamor of Armani or sofiticación Bentley?

Big business all of them. Companies that operate large-scale, led by the giant among giants: Wall Mart. Not all profitable, of course. No simple, but global no doubt. The majority of them suffering from what we might call the Babel syndrome, characterized by trying to cover everything and touch the sky. Most of Marks mentioned here are contained in the Ranking 2008 “Best Global Brands” that produces an annual Interbrand. Ah!, But the ideal business could not have anything to do with any of them. Mies van der Rohe, the great German architect, said at once, when asked about the secret of perfection that reflected the great works:

“Perfection is not a question of dimensions, but of proportions.”

If there is a perfect business, will surely be a business balanced proportions. Balance means harmony. If there is a perfect business, to be sure, it will mark a banner recognized, valued, well positioned, associated with strong values and an emotional connection with the public. When the big consulting firms develop their rankings of most valuable companies, always take into account the importance of the brand, the reasons for consumer purchases and likelihood of revenue from the brand in question. These parameters determine the value of the Business of Enterprises, of Brands. Serve as an example the ranking of the 50 most valuable brands in Latin America produced by Interbrand and AméricaEconomía.

The 2.0Internet has changed quite a few of the parameters with which we were accustomed to measuring and valuing the business. Among other things, has transformed into businesses (sonadamente lucrative cases) projects and initiatives that would not be crazy adventures and fanciful short time ago (delusional and ridiculous remain so, despite everything, but we have to take off his hat before the skill that some people have had to make these crazy ideas their way of life).

The most representative of this phenomenon are the Blogs. A very recent phenomenon, considering that hatching can put the world in 2006. Blogs are now a world in themselves, a new territory that puts us face a different reality, influential and constantly growing, every day 120,000 new blogs are created and 17 new post is published every second. U.S., Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany are the leaders of the blogosphere.  Statistical data of the blogosphere is the most interesting, and analyzing a bit better we can understand the magnitude of change we are experiencing and that goes beyond the technological impact. It is a social change, and certainly a transformation of the business-economic parameters.

Though not all blogs on the Internet as much as 2.0 now it seems. In any case, since they are the major “stars” of the moment, as they were in their day websites, e-commerce, flash applications, virtual communities, video streaming or the messenger, let’s say 4 things on the blogs:

• Anyone can write a blog, but it is always nice to have something interesting to explain.

• Your blog can be read worldwide, but, keep in mind, it’s possible anybody like it.

• With your blog you might get rich, but does not create everything you read about the easy money on the Net.

• Yo publish and to maintain a blog is completely free, as long as you consider that the time devoted to your task of blogger has absolutely no value.

There is life and business beyond the blog. However, it seems that whatever the business or the business idea or the perfect business plan, you must go through having a presence in the list of His Majesty Google. Much has changed since Google appeared in our lives, but Instead, the new era that the most famous and used to symbolize the search engines, began to make a long, long time, back in 1945, when Bush Vannaver published in The Monthly Atalantic an article that prompted a new way of understanding and sharing knowledge.

What a curious, right? That new things are, in fact, the updated version of things that already existed or who come from far behind.

The search for the perfect business is as old as the very concept of “business”. What suecede is that some time ago that the Internet came into our lives and our society as well as in our estrucutura mentally, to make us look with new eyes ideas that are not.

We agree that the Internet is essential in any business, from the most traditional to the more avant-garde. This does not mean that a truly prosperous business can exist only within, to, for and on the Internet. Certainly, the Internet is a channel of communication, a sales channel, a research tool, a wonderful shop window and a tool of great value if branding is to use well-known. But if we take e-commerce as an example, we see the actual data are, say, discreet. It is true that the trend is upward, but not yet live in a 100% digital environment.

There is something, however, that has not changed since the start of business. Something whose importance has not changed decisively industrial revolutions, social or technological. That “something” is the customer. A good business, a real good business is measured by customers. Hence stems everything else, from the Corporate Reputation to the Income Statement, via the Brand Image and Positioning in the Marketplace . Customers, actual or potential consumers, satisfied or dissatisfied, they are the ones who make good or bad business, which close or move away from perfection. Clients. Consumers. Neither more nor less. Because a business fails, does not live on ideas, but from customers.

And then come the times of crisis. And it gives the impression that the fog of the crisis it permeates all and nobody knows what to do, and the basic principles of business are invested, the bonds are upset, it is difficult to distinguish a good from bad news and, most serious However, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. To understand a little better in this crisis, we recommend a visit to encarecidament blog Leopoldo Abadia, its analysis of the crisis NINJA is bright. But tell me, just in case we ever know what will happen tomorrow? No.

The crisis may increase the uncertainty, but uncertainty remains intact. If before we did not know what was going to happen tomorrow, now the situation is the same. And a few certainties also keeps intact is more, confirms and reinforces. And these are the certainties, if not a perfect business, yes to a viable business:

• It is better to engage in something we do well and find differentiation in how to do that trying to make a fortune on something that no master and whose only advantage is that it is “new”.

• The gap between the fortune and the debacle is the measure of risk. A high-risk business is ephemeral and, unfortunately, we do not know when the streak ends good. Excessive risk, failure insured.
  

• A business with certain guarantees of prosperity should keep a balance analog / digital reasonable. You should also keep a balance innovator / known reasonable. It is important that the market understands what is offered and can compare it to something already known.
  

• A great business must be, above all else, great for you. You should feel right at him and with him.Can hardly convincing if not convinced. It is very obvious, it is true, so this is a stone on which so many face.

• If there are customers there are business.

 

In a previous article said customers no longer exist. Does not exist in its conventional meaning, because in the environment of Internet 2.0, define customer is complex. A customer is not necessarily the one who buys a product or a service uses. A customer can be someone who consults a content, which read a blog, which shares a file, someone who weaves links in social 

networks, updating your profile, leaving comments at a forum. Customer is someone who bids on an item in an auction, which leaves their data in a form … Client, ultimately, is the person who, with his action and his relationship with respect to our business gives us a value (because it has no be money, although that value must be measurable and be transferred to economic value) that allows us to maintain our business, to grow and generate increased value of assets. That is, what the customer provides (information, links, comments, references, content, time, money …), this should enable us to generate wealth.

If there are no customers, no wealth is generated (we let everyone give meaning to the term wealth to create more convenient). The search for the perfect business goes through the search for the type of client suitable for generating wealth. Do you have a business?, It is neither good nor bad. You have’got customers?, That’s good. Preserve and be sure to strive to achieve more.

Clients no longer exist…

 
The reality is this: customers no longer exist. The concept of customer has changed, what has changed so much that we prescribed.  And this is not a relativist assertion that makes sense only when we talk about Web 2.0. In any case, we can say that in this society 2.0 client no longer exists.

Instead of talking about customers, talk about guests. Why? Because it is evident that the balance between supply and demand, between buyers and sellers, bidders and among plaintiffs, is a balance that has changed sign. Whatever the economic or industrial sector, which dominates the balance is demand, not supply.

Some time ago we started seeing the first signs of this reality.What happens is that the first signs are not easy to recognize. And also true that economic and social actors are reluctant to let snatch their dominant positions.

We have moved from the age of domination of the Corporations to the authority of Consumers. That gives rise to a new paradigm in which the dominance exercised by these corporations in the market, gives way to a very different situation. A situation in which neither more nor almighty Holding has secured its leadership, nor their benefits or their future. Perhaps one of the first signs, scandalous and monumental was the collapse of Enron (it may not be agreed and many of Enron…) and the debacle that dragged Arthur Andersen. But those signs were very dramatic and the consequences suffered were the result of the worst possible business practices, the total lack of ethics and the perverse effects of unbridled ambition combined with the feeling of absolute power and impunity.

That customers will no longer exist has nothing to do with bad business practices or business. Not at all. That customers will no longer exist has to do with social evolution, with the saturation of supply, with rising consumer awareness that it is he who has the final word, and technological development which has enabled access ” almost universal ” Internet. The Web 2.0, social web, is a phenomenon still very young, but it is proving that when we all have the same (or nearly the same) possibilities to express ourselves, act and share knowledge, views and decisions, then the balance is clearly leans toward the consumer, to the customer.

Once again, is not a new phenomenon. It’s just a phenomenon known and recognized, but now it is a large scale, now is global, many are now interconnected phenomena.

If we have something to sell, something to offer, the better that we take the trouble (and let us show humility) to understand that the consumer who will take the decision or not, coming to us to buy it or go elsewhere. We must therefore do our best our work as best they can manage our house, and offer better and clearer information to decide whether our guests come, have at their disposal regarding need.

Customers no longer exist. Now we are all guests. And if guests want to come and when they want, no one can compel them to come, nobody can retain them if they do not want to stay and, most importantly, nobody can force them to return if they have not liked our hospitality.

Guests rather than customers. Therefore, instead of hosting providers. So things are in today’s society, in the current market situation. We can call Web 2.0, Society 2.0, Consumer 2.0, or we can put the name and number you want, that will not change reality.

And if the customer as a concept has ceased to exist, what about many models and a lot of strategies developed on the basis of the search, capture and customer loyalty and what happens to segmentation, targets, habits consumption, profiles of consumers, loyalty plans…? In future articles we will talk about that.For now, let’s say it is good time to start thinking that things can and should be otherwise.

The dialogue between consumers and Brands

 

The Brands have become close, have moved closer to the consumer, and consumer has come closer to them. It is a mutual rapprochement but asymmetrical.In the current market environment, with new models for providing Internet connection at any level, any relationship is, almost by nature, asymmetrical.

 If we had to make a synthetic retrospective of the developments, as users, have had our relationship with Brands and content on the Internet, we could establish very clear 3 periods:

•  The Age of connectivity. It was the beginning, those early years when we discovered that a computer, a strange thing called a cable modem and plugged into the phone jack connects us with a new world. The era of connectivity was time to discover, time to see. Time on which Brands and consumers experienced in the new medium.

• The Age of content. And here we are to understand “content” in the broad sense.Content is any information posted on the Web. The age of content brought the web, portals, search engines, chat rooms, personal pages… brought variety, biodiversity, a huge amount of valuable information, another huge amount of information completely useless. It brought a bit of interactivity, a return path, in response, gave a small but valuable voice to the consumer before the Great messages Major Brands. The age of the contents was time to learn, time to select. A time in which Brands spoke and the consumer listened to. A time of control of the message by the Brands. An environment in which they could model and modulate its image, its presence and reputation in the digital world. Or at least that’s what many Brands believed.

• The Age of Relations. It’s time that we live now, where everything revolves around a verb: to share. To generate and to share. To  observe and to share, to analyze and to share. Thinking and sharing. Experimenting and sharing. Nothing makes sense if it is unshared. They are born and develop social networks as a major phenomenon of the moment. Blogs take command of generating content on the Internet. The internet user, the consumer, the user, ultimately, the customer is in control and decides. La era de las relaciones es tiempo de compartir, de opinar y escuchar a otros consumidores. The age of relations is time-sharing, and listening to opinions of other consumers. It’s a time to approach Brands without fear, with demand constructive and above all with contrasting approaches and commented with others. Brands no longer have control, are consumers who do. Brands have gone from implementing strategies to have as much control as possible over its image and reputation, to aspire to generate a certain influence on opinion and consumer habits.

We have moved from the connectivity and content to this relationship. We went to see and to hear, to understand and to share.  We have moved from control to influence. We are, therefore, a new status quo. Brands must work hard and should do differently as they did traditionally, so that its image and reputation have a positive hollow in the minds of consumers. Confidence is the key.

A trust that is worth its weight in gold, and is not a metaphor. The confidence that consumers express and show towards Brands translates into Dollars their value, and if we accept that trust is an intangible, also accept that the dollar is something far more tangible. Take concrete examples, this is the value assigned by Interbrand at 3 Brands world enjoying the highest confidence among consumers:

• Coca Cola: 73 Billion Dollars
• Microsoft: 70 Billion Dollars
• IBM: 53 Billion Dollars

We have not wrong, the values are expressed in billions of dollars. Les dejamos unos segundos para que se repongan…. We leave a few seconds to reflect about…. We insist that these numbers refer only to the value of brands depending on the confidence that consumers will show, there are no asset valuations of the companies or securities, stocks or securities or goodwill; are the expression of confidence in money given by consumers.

 The article by Anna Brown, from the company Locum Destination Consulting, is a very informative reading about the power relationship / trust / influence between the client and Brands. Consumers give confidence, consumers have the power. Brands who earn their confidence are notorious Brands, valuable and powerful, we could say, but the reputation as both the value and power are not eternal. The consumer, consumers, customers and not customers, the market understood as a set of people who are related to Brands and tell their experiences, they are the ones who have the power. In other words, we have the power.

We are all Trademarks, with our image and our reputation, and in the world of Web 2.0 and social networks, the more participatory you are, the more you express and more ideas and contents you share, bigger and better will be your reputation and, usually, greatest your credibility also. This common denominator environment applies equally to people for Brands, whether local or global, large or small.

Until recently, in the Age of connectivity and in the Age of content, Trademarks had enough “show”, “displayed”, “advertised”. But now we are in the Age of relationships and everything no longer serves, now Brands must learn to “talk” to establish relationships to “human scale” with people… What do difficult and interesting challenge, not you think? ?

Confidence as a business model

Confidence is probably one of the top ten terms of corporate communications. Appears confidence in the values, objectives, in campaigns in the portfolio of products and services, manuals and customer service in the plans of loyalty.

But confidence, like respect or moral authority, is something that we must win, and we can not win in other ways other than offering it and demonstration first. As simple and as complicated as well.
In traditional business models (which remain in force today, except very few exceptions), who hoped the trust and loyalty of its customers requires first a series of conditions. In return we ask that before we buy, or who subscribe, or give us your information. The customer pays first and then trusts. And so things have worked for so long that it does not seem logical to consider that another possible scenario.
Another scenario is possible. Another business model is possible. Another value chain, or chain of trust, is possible.

In customer confidence and content on the Web 2.0 we talked about blogs, social networks, communities circulars and consumer behaviour. Things are changing. We can be proactive or reactive, but things will change alike, the difference will be the consequences.

In late September 2007 someone dared to take a decisive step in this chain of Confidence. Someone who had something to sell what made the sale without a predetermined price. There was a promo, was not a claim was not misleading advertising. There was no trap in the proposal. And that someone was not an either someone in their sector. It was not a newcomer with nothing to lose, or a little with that risk. This is a sector turnover multimillionaire: music. This is one of the greats of the current music: Radiohead. With the launch of his album In Rainbows, Radiohead said: Pay what you want. Since the Web Radiohead could download the disc leaving the free will of the buyer to pay the price, and that price could well be “0″. The downloads were multitudinarian and this is the best of all, the average price of what the sailors decided to pay for downloading on the disc were about 10 dollars. There were people who did not pay anything (very little), and others decided to pay what they felt that the product worth, or what they could afford. The initiative is a pioneer of Radiohead, daring, and is not alone.

In the restaurant sector there are some similar cases. The restaurant Deewan der Wien in Vienna, offers several daily menus in which the price of the drink is fixed, but by lunch customers can pay what they deem worth the menu. In Melbourne, the restaurant Lentil As Anything also offers this possibility, as well as the One World Cafe in Salt Lake City or Denver Coffee Same; latter also lets you choose the size of the portions you want to consume. Some of these restaurants is the case of Lentil As Anything Australian, has a clear vocation altruistic and explained that with this initiative, customers who choose to pay more may make it possible for those who can not afford to eat. In any case, none of them has closed its doors because the business has been crashed because the customers eat and do not pay, or pay so little that they can not cover costs and survive. That has not happened.

Following in the footsteps of Radiohead, Last fm, which was bought last year by CBS, announced in the U.S. and allowing UK, since late January, listen up to three times a song for free to users. So you can really assess whether he likes and wants to buy it. This is good news. Large companies already take into account that many problems are solved industry relying on users, not chasing.

Showing this cases, we just intend to reflect critically on the axioms of Business Models, on how these models are changing. We talk about supply markets, markets demand, pricing policies aimed at market, pricing policies aimed at costs, we talk, ultimately, how they built this abstract concept we call price. A price that become real in the consideration, measurable in legal tender, that someone must pay for access to the consumption of a product or use a service. Prices have a crucial impact on business plans and profit and loss account, resulting in box end, profits or losses. Prices are the thermometer that helps us to know how the consumer perceives the relationship between what we have to give and what they will get in return.

Thinking about price, service, trust, ultimately, on providing value, leads us to raise the role that companies, each according to their models and dynamic sector, playing in the value chain that will from production to delivery to basic consumer product or service produced. So far the consumer, the end customer, pays for everything. At each link in the chain the final price increases, but the value it does not necessarily.

Retailers, brokers, agglutination, facilitators… how are those roles when someone decides to break the rule, applying transparency, giving a voice to final customers by putting their hands in assessing what they will receive.

We could summarize it by saying: if you come to contribute something, tell me what they gave me and I value it, if I can stay interested in the chain, if not, there is no place for you.
The confidence is gained by opening doors and windows, do not earn hiding cryptic methodologies in black boxes that can not be opened. The trust is not won with speeches that prevent see what lies behind and, often, what they really contain is pure intermediation margins by adding artificial about the work of others. The customer appreciates the job, the customer knows appreciate the quality and profit. After all, we are all customers and none of us wants to pay more without knowing why and without knowing to whom.