Digital Democracy and The Rise Of Accountability and Transparency
The Digital revolution, which fuels the new Democracy, provides a fundamental change to the brainscape and brandscape within which we all navigate. This revolution interlinks with sustainability challenges and culture shift in a fascinating and world-changing way.
We are no longer viewers of information but users and generators in an iterative and collaborative manner mediated by none – and by all. This is a fundamental democratisation of information and is leading to new voices of Citizen journalism.
This is a fundamental democratisation of information and is leading to new voices of Citizen journalism.
Online authenticity can be hard to determine but the infinite capabilities of searching and connecting with like-minded people means brands with any fault-lines in them will be in danger.
Numerous companies have found to their consternation that one person can start an online campaign and overnight connect to thousands, if not millions. Now everyone from Nike to McDonalds has their own online anti-brand campaign.
A new generation is emerging: digital-savvy “Info-entials”, young business leaders and influencers who will determine not only how we adapt Consumer behaviour, but how we work and live in relation to the corporations and governments of the future. While this is not yet a global trend, it is clearly emergent in certain geographies (not least the UK) and all the signals are there that “responsibility” will become much more important than “making money”.
The Digital revolution allows Citizens to re-calibrate how they view the world.
Charles Leadbeater, one of our top management thinkers, says in his new book We-Thinkxv:”Innovation flows from collaboration as much as from jealously guarded commercial secrets. The web’s significance is that it makes sharing central to the dynamism of economies that have hitherto been built on private ownership. In the 20th century we were defined by what we owned. In the 21st century we will also be defined by how we share and what we give away.”
New open-source IP models are emerging along the lines of Linex and Wikipedia, such as the Eco-patents Commons launched by IBM, Sony, Nokia and WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development), the OsCar open-source fuel-cell car innovation and Openeco.org. Edelman has its own dialogue on Good Purpose Community; Shell have the eco-matharon. The web is also seeing a host of sustainability applications which will have huge implications for where money will be made in the future: Liftshare.com, Localfoodshop.com, Evo.com, Freecycle and Greengirlsglobal.com. In short, the internet can be the arena in which a new societal dialogue about the nature of “good lives” can take place.
This table from Nielsen in 2007 illustrates how Consumers trust other Consumers far more than advertising.
The nexus of sustainable development and the social media revolution means people connect in a totally new way and small, nimble NGOs and social enterprises can deliver painful attacks and disruptive enterprise innovations that companies and politicians cannot hope to avoid. However, by embracing the new world order, the latter can open the door to previously unseen degrees of engagement with all their stakeholders and new levels of mutual understanding. The Digital revolution allows Citizens to re-calibrate how they view the world.
