Modus Cooperandi’s 10 Principles of Social Media

At the beginning of November, I posted 64 principles of Social Media I had collected from around the web.  64 seemed somewhat unwieldy.  So I spent a month pondering what my 10 principles of social media would be.

So I present the 10 to you, each in its own post.  I will deploy these one per workday over the next 10 days. (really)

My social media principles are attempting to boil down the core lessons that social media has taught us.  These can then be applied in a technology neutral way to the rest of our lives and in business.

These principles help us communicate and relate better. With these principles we can establish networks and understand our place in them.  These principles give coherence to the creation and exchange of value.  All of these help us build better communities and working relationships.

However, these are principles. As human beings, managers, and friends we need to interpret and apply them.

The 10 Core Principles of Social Media:

1. Associations are inherently good – Knowing more people expands opportunity and conversation
2. Information wants to be free – Free society runs on free information. Information hoarding is the enemy of discourse and growth.
3. Economies have currencies – All economies trade on specialized currencies.
4. Decentralization is freedom – Decentralized power structures spur creativity, growth, and innovation.
5. Rules beget rules – The more rules you have, the more rules you make.
6. Karma is real – You give more, you get more.
7. Context is Fluid – How you view an object today will be different tomorrow.  Don’t destroy tomorrow’s value.
8. Immediacy in all things – Strike while the iron is hot.  Eat when the food is fresh.
9. Communication is blood  - Communication is the river upon which information flows.
10. Findability is power – Unfindable information or people are irrelevant.

Note: principles are not rules, not laws, not edicts.  A principle is a philosophical underpinning.  You use them to guide how you build or shape a culture.

UPDATE: Read An Bui's Remix of these ten.

Technorati Tags: social media,modus cooperandi,jim benson,an bui,management

Written at Groundwork Coffee, Los Angeles, CA.

Comments

[Jay Fienberg]

Whenever people describe these kinds of things, I always try to spot any items that seem to be heavily influenced by the technology du jour. Often, people are over-influenced by something that is in fashion right now.

So, that said, you did a great job coming up a with list that should prove durable beyond this year's social media fashion trends. The one item I'd question though is #8: "Immediacy in all things."

Because these technologies expand how we connect in space and time, as much as they enable greater immediacy, it's also true that they enable significantly "delayed" connections.

So, I don't know how best to rephrase what you suggested, because it's somewhat paradoxical--it's: strike while the iron is hot, but note that there's no telling when or how many times the iron might be hot after it seems not to be hot any longer.

***

Also, I feel like "Associations are inherently good" is too idealistic--there are bad associations and associations that are burdensome (that get in the way of opportunities).

But, part of the issue may be one of "style"--I think you aren't including a style of association that's different than your own. To use the terminology of Gladwell's "Tipping Point": connectors and salespeople do their thing by capitalizing on more association with more people. But, experts may capitalize on having higher quality associations with fewer people.

[Jim Benson]

Jay,

Awesome comments, thank you.

I still think the management of your network is key and the tool you are using to network drives that management. So the tool itself may require you to make specific value judgments as to who you let into your network (thereby creating the need to keep the network limited to high value people). With better management, a big pot of people could be created with little topical pots as subsets. This gives you the broad reach of the big network, but the focus of a small one.

As for immediacy - getting info when you need it is important. But permanence is also import and why you need findability and to understand that context can shift.

It was pretty hard to mash these down to 10, as you might guess. :-)

[meryl333]

Good stuff. Find myself bookmarking you more than most. Thanks for the thoughtful & graphically interesting content.

[An Bui]

Jim, As always, thank you for being an inspiration to me. I've remixed your thoughts on my blog, and look forward to continuing this discourse.

[n]

Hi,
First of all I do think that yoy present very powerfull ideas, so thank you for that.
Because I do like to respect all the netetiquet rules, I was wondering if I could use some of the ideas that you present here in a specific work.
I could give more information about that "work", if you are interested in it.
You have my email, I couldn´t find yours.
I work in Faculty of Sciences-University of Lisbon.
All the best
N

[Jim Benson]

Meryl and An, Thank you both for the kind words.

"n" I'll send you an email soon.