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It has been a while since I’ve discussed social media specifically on this blog, but I recently saw a very interesting Forrester report on the future of social computing…so I thought I would write a few words on the topic this evening as I am always a sucker for future reports on practically everything.

The basic problem with social computing today, according to Forrester, is that the social experience is disjointed. Consumers have separate identities in each social network they visit. In the very near future, however, portable IDs (like OpenID and Facebook Connect) will soon empower consumers to bring their identities with them everywhere they go on the web. In addition, consumers surfing the Web will no longer have a lonely experience. New browsers and identity technologies will let consumers see what sites their friends have visited – and what they thought of the information there. Because they trust their friends more than they trust companies, consumers will lean on their network to make decisions about what they’re reading, considering, and buying.

In the report, Forrester describes how the online social experience has evolved through 5 eras: i) the era of social relationships ii) the era of social functionality iii) the era of social colonization iv) the era of social context and v) the era of social commerce…the last era of social commerce will eventually emerge around 2011 and start maturing by 2013.

I certainly agree that the current social landscape is very disjointed.  Consolidation across the social landscape would certainly simplify my life. Personally, I struggle to keep up with my social networks across Facebook, XING, LinkedIn, Twitter, Ning, etc. etc. Having a portable ID could be very useful…but, will it be a panacea? And, will I actually want my community to virtually travel with me as I surf the internet? I am fully on board with the first 4 eras, but I struggle a bit with the last one.  Just how much people are going to want to involve their communities in their purchasing decisions?  Having said that, I do see shifts happening in this area and I will keep my mind open as this develops.

Below are a few recommendations from Forrester on how to deal with changes coming in the future (in the interest of time, I’ve only listed a couple of these–here is the report if you want to get more).  Here is a blog post with more details on Jeremiah Owyang’s blog

Focus on advocates and prepare for communities

  • Focus on your most vocal advocates. New forms of advocacy will emerge as social applications systems enable rating friends’ reputations for reliability.
  • Prepare internal culture for seismic shifts – Senior marketers should start by participating in the Social Web themselves and lean on staff marketers who understand the Social Web and encourage them to educate others.

What it all means: As power shifts to communities, marketing will transform itself

  • Advertisers will buy based on social capital
  • Communities will influence media content more & more.
  • Brands with community appeal will assert power over brands without it. This one is very interesting…I’ll consider writing more on this later.

Kudos to the Forrester team for the report. This space is extremely fast moving and impossibly hard to predict (2 years ago, who thought Twitter would emerge like it has)? There is a lot more meat in the report, but it is late for me…so I’ll wrap up.

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