Six Verbs You Need to Understand for the New Web

Kind of?

Your interacting bullet is already here through the use of touch screens and remote controls most evident by TV broadcasters.

Hi, Gini. At last, I have landed on your site after months of seeing you over at Danny Brown's and even at Mitch Mitchell's. And, I am glad, because for the first read, I get six verbs that I am into, although in my slow but steady pace. As, Jeff before me said, I also do much listening as well because I won't be able to get the designs for my clients right if I don't. Great stuff, Gini. Will surely come back for more.

I would add listening to this list as it has evolved in the 2.0 arena as well.

Great post Gini but I have a different view on sharing using your foursquare example for Starbucks. I think we are moving toward Consumer - Brand interaction vs Consumer sharing with Consumers. I will check in on FourSquare and Gowala but unlike when I first signed up I almost never post to twitter anymore. But if the places I check in know I checked in and were able to use that network to give me custom offers then that would be great. But I see this migrating off networks and going direct via the cell networks. If you forget to check in and go inside..ooops often too late no satellite service.

As for the Music Industry. I come from a B2B distribution background. The price of a $14 CD included $1 for the artist $4.50 for packaging! Blam. No more packaging. No more shipping! No more printing CDs! So revenues for that industry were actually bloated with dead weight. Look for dead weight. Paper is dead weight. Transporting paper. Logging. Paper mills. All dead weight that have zero inalienable rights to exist. So when a book publisher gets rid of the dead weight just like music revenues drop. Because you get down to the real value with is digital IP. Remember every input gets profit added on top when it comes to manufacturing.

You are lucky being digital to start with. Arment Dietrich is Videodrome!

Really thought provoking piece, Gini. I like Johnny's addition of "reporting" and I think that goes farther than just business. We can also now report on ourselves and our own patterns of using the internet. For instance, anyone use TweetStats? I'm not even sure if it's still functional, but it was a great way to report on how individual users behaved on Twitter. Just one example that came to my mind.

What's interesting is that the phrase "augmented reality" never appeared in this post, yet that's essentially one of the stories it tells. Seems like that buzz word faded with the close of 2009. Yet, the interwebz is already a part of our relaity. Hell, SXSWi (or any other internet or electronics conference for that matter) is a whole experience where the lines between the matrix and the real world get super fuzzy.

Has augmented reality as a buzz word disappeared because we are getting back a new definition of reality?

[P.S. I want a flying car that fits into a briefcase. Better yet? I want an iPad that turns into a flying car and then doubles as a briefcase...and makes my coffee. :) ]

A very good list. But I think the web would be a better experience if we would added "organizing" and "focusing" to the list. For me, sometimes these first 6 lead to information overload and loss of purpose.

Gini, I think this is a great post that hits the target on actions that businesses can take to focus their efforts on the web.

As a nonprofit organization that just jumped into the social media pool a few months ago, we're heavily focused on interacting and sharing, because we believe that will help us find and build our online community, which is the first step in our strategy.

I also agree with thewhalehunters' comment about filtering. As a communicator/marketer at a small organization, I wear many hats, so I only have an hour or two a day to focus on our corporate social media efforts. Without filtering, there's no way I could be effective, so I highly value and follow people who help me separate the wheat from the chaff.

And I wonder if "helping" belongs on this list of verbs as well. I believe answering questions, directing others to great resources and even offering words of encouragement are very important ways to establish your presence and reputation online. Those who focus primarily on their own messages and their own brand and use social media as a megaphone easily get tuned out. But listening and helping others first (and often) gives your messages a better shot at being heard and responded to.

Thanks again for a really helpful post! @kamkansas@kansashealthorg

and remember the Jetsons? They predicted almost everything. when will our cars turn into mini airplanes?

I think sharing is a big one. From a consumer standpoint, I think about what I'm sharing every day and I am very careful - think twice before I do so. This could mean a lot of things - from providing information about myself, giving a credit card number, or even as simple as commenting on someone's blog, facebook post, or what I tweet. Therefore, as businesses, we need to be prepared for this, earn trust, keep trust, and be ready to deal with breaches in that trust.

Great list. I would add a 7th....reporting. To know if somehting is working or failing, we test and report.

. What you do so well in this post is interpret what the verbs mean in a business development sense. "Sharing" for example. It didn't start out as a business word; it's a mealy-mouthed kumbaya word. Until Starbucks and others figured out how to monetize it. It's the "how does this relate to earning money" that the retailers are learning but a lot of B2Bs haven't figured out yet. Like you Gini, I'm really interested in "generating." "Protecting" [another verb :-)] is becoming obsolete regarding intellectual property, especially in a global business society. Your idea to allow users to customize and personalize is one solution. Another solution is to collaborate with your customers and others to create a continual stream of new content--anything pirated is simply out-of-date.

A verb that Kelly missed (unless you misinterpreted what he meant by "screening") is "filtering." Because so much info is out there, I am attracted to the people who clear it out and zero in on the good & relevant, saving me time and energy.

Great post.

I'd disagree with #1. Unless I'm reading his theory wrong (or your overview - ha!), "they" are not wrong - the web *is* a gazillion channels; we just have more places to watch these channels, but that doesn't deflect the ever-growing number.

And I really doubt there'll ever be a Lord of the Rings-type screen to watch them all on; Apple and Google won't allow it. ;-)

I would tend to agree with these verbs, especially in what is to come in the activity taking place online. We see products shaping towards reality of what was once fantasy, aka Minority Report! Recently, I sat with a few venture capitalist and they said a similar thing just in other words than these 6 verbs. They simply put it that if your company/product does not include mobility, social, and gaming (aka interactive competition) then they will not even consider you as potential platform to invest their money.

I see many places that I am mixed with that are in a place of just getting themselves off the ground so our biggest efforts right now are in generating and sharing. For many it is just a matter of catching up, while others are moving down the field further and faster, but with the right steps they can get caught back up into where they need to be before they are left in the dust dying.

Great post Gini.. but I guess I say that about most of them! haha

I like this. It certainly makes me think about what I do a bit differently, but where the real power lies is not in those 6 verbs individually, but collectively. There is a lot of overlap and the power of each one is somewhat contingent on all of the others. The three that I seem to focus most on are interacting, sharing, and generating, which I guess seems natural because like many others in my field I talk a lot about "engaging".

The real challenge will be keep these verbs active and alive, and not just give them lip-service. Our industry is filled with buzz words: engage, transparency, authenticity, conversation...and many of them lose their meaning because we use them so much. And sadly, many who use them, don't really practice them in their truest form. They are great for selling books, but do we live them?