As Social Media Week kicks off once again in Singapore I’m reminded of last year’s keynote address and introduction. Specifically I’m reminded of Alan Soon of Yahoo talking about our propensity as consumers of data – consumers of opinions, and articles and fans of Facebook pages – to align ourselves with individuals, groups and communities who, rather than challenge our own status quo, merely echo our own thoughts and further fluff up the blankets and pillows of our comfort zone.

I think of my Facebook news feed that I have tuned and honed over the months to create a barrage of re-affirming and self-congratulatory views and opinions from people and sites who’s own openness to opposing views is probably as narrow as mine.

I don’t consider myself to be particularly narrow minded or closed to other views and angles but I’ve thought about things and there are some subjects where I reckon I’m pretty much on the right side of things.  And I suppose what I’m doing with my newsfeed is looking for safety in numbers and, as mentioned, fluffing up those pillows.

This contrasts of course with our reading of newspapers when, twenty years ago, we’d be exposed to everything in the publication of our choice.  Yes, there was still choice of course when we picked one publication over another but even some of the most biased publications contained a variety of views compared to our carefully curated newsfeeds from which almost every dissenting view has been unceremonially unliked.

When it comes to music taste or to getting off on our favourite brands of phones or laptops, the fallout from huge numbers of former individuals (now part of herds) wallowing and basking with hordes of like-minded individuals is something relatively innocuous.

But when people find the same comfort in groups where the central tenets and corresponding dogma is attached to political and religious affiliation the impact is less innocuous.

When it comes to aligning ourselves with agendas that have huge impacts on ourselves, those around us and possibly the future of societies as a whole, it’s a worrying thought to think that those purveyors of said doctrines can see us now as victims of our own highly curated and ultimately unchallenging news feeds and attention streams.

Their understanding this and exploiting it, I think, has wide ranging implications.  I don’t know what the result of this might be and even if it’s something to be concerned about.  But I’m very conscious of what I have done with the content to which I’m exposed whilst hoping that I’m reasonably balanced and objective.  It’s not news to anyone that there are huge groups of people all over the world susceptible to being herded.  And a lot of these people may not have had the chance yet to create their own self-fulfilling online feeds.  What might happen when they do?

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The ‘new’ has never been hotter, as the entire world, from emerging to mature economies, is now creating new products, services and experiences on a daily, if not hourly basis, in every B2C industry. Which moves ‘new’ from being a tired marketing ploy by ‘old’ brands (‘new and improved!’), to a genuine, exciting proposition for consumers.

They talk too about Creative > Destruction with the ‘creation’ (is) outweighing the ‘destruction. The key for me, however, is the line:

Which moves ‘new’ from being a tired marketing ploy by ‘old’ brands (‘new and improved!’), to a genuine, exciting proposition for consumers.

There is a lot of stuff now isn’t there? In the online world there’s a lot of content, a huge choice of where to get it and, for every service, there’s several providers. Creating exciting propositions around these deliveries – creating the best possible experiences – is truer now than it ever has been.

Over the last few days I signed up for a cloud-based backup system. It didn’t work and since my initial email to cancel that company has done its damndest to hold on to me. But because there’s such an accessible choice for this and almost everything else we need now then stuff that doesn’t work is going to cut it.

Stuff that doesn’t create genuine and exciting propositions isn’t going to do too well either.

For ‘genuine’ we can read ‘new’, ‘different’ or ‘innovative’. The report mentions the phenomenal successes of folks like Instagram and Omgpop’s Drawsomething. These are examples of both creation and of destruction – they were something new and fresh whilst destroying the existing boundaries and limits of the ‘norms’ that existed in those online genres. If imitation is the sincerest from of flattery then ‘being bought by the incumbent behemoths must be the ‘sincerest form of disruption acknowledgement’.

But being innovative or new or different is quite a challenge. I spent a morning with some folks a few weeks ago and introduced the session with them by explaining why we are programmed to generally not seek out the new whilst rather looking for the familiar and the well known.

Creating a culture of innovation is something that can be achieved but rather (counter intuitively) it’s often best achieved by following some quite pragmatic steps. There are processes and tactics towards innovation. Thinking that it’s magically bestowed on an isolated few is a mistake.

In industries (like the travel industry) full of incumbents, fuddy duddies and ‘ways of doing things’ that stretch back years, the opportunities for Creativity and a bit of Destruction are rife.

And because of a seemingly unstoppable craving for exciting ‘actual’ propositions and the moving away from believing the brands’ strap line and hollow promises, it looks like being an exciting time when it could be said that only the most destructive may prosper.

I asked a colleague who reads a lot if she’d heard of Skoob.  She hadn’t, but suggested we did a cost comparison of the electronic version on Skoob with the ‘real’ version of the book and pointed me in the direction of an Asia-based online book retailer, Noqstore.  This is when things started going wrong.

When the homepage loaded I typed the title – ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ – into the search box and hit enter.

The site then asked me after I’d entered ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ ‘Do you mean ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’’.  Yeah, I thought, that’s exactly what I did mean.  You will also notice from the screen shot that the results ‘showing’ are ‘1 – 1 of 1’ with the option to select several further pages of results whatever all that means.

I am swamped, as is everyone, with content and choice when it comes to online providers of products and services.  The web means I am not limited by geographical limitations or time when it comes to the opportunities open to me to be a consumer online.  And because of that and because I have become an ultra-empowered uber-informed consumer, I now form part of the increasingly demanding retail economy.  I have very high expectations.

My expectations (despite what some online retailers and service providers might think) are not centered just around price or wanting the biggest product range.  They are about wanting what I would want if I went in to a regular store.

What I want when about to buy something from real people is some understanding from the staff, some empathy with my needs and someone who can then address all that and provide me with a solution.

My experience with Noqstore feels like going into a shop and asking for item A then being asked if I want item A, my saying yes, and then being presented with a load of things that aren’t item A.  Or something like that but you know what I mean, right?

That kind of thing would be ridiculous wouldn’t it?  And whilst Noqstore had the opportunity to delight me with my first visit to their site they just gave me the online version of an idiot shop assistant who doesn’t know anything.  Why would anyone go back to that kind of store?

These things aren’t just technical glitches and coding errors.  Actually they might be but they are fundamental in contributing to my online experience and, in a high expectation and high demand economy, get you instantly removed from any further consideration when I choose online retailers and providers.

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Pioneering a network of social media practitioners from People Sector Organizations interested to use social media for good.

Following a great video of the journey so far (a selection of videos here), Mr. Philip Wu gave the welcome address.  Philip is the CEO of Grid MMS and the drive behind the community.  I first med Philip earlier this year and had the pleasure of speaking at the second workshop in March.  Philip is one of those people we bump into now again – visionary and passionate with a healthy dose of business acumen and, I might say, a great sense of humor.

The day was a good mix of presentations grouped into 3s or 4s followed by the speakers being invited to a panel discussion where we, the attendees, had the opportunity to ask our own questions as well as hear the panelists quizzed by Philip.

I won’t go through each of the presentations but the day was a great mix both of personalities and of backgrounds and ‘angles’ on Social Media.  Whilst the core of the community is, of course, using social media for good, we heard from some agency folks and people who work with huge budgets from large MNCs.

I have no doubt that the reasons things work in the big corporate world will be the same reasons that things will work in the not for profit world.  Good engagement, emotional connection and humor don’t care about the budgets behind them.

After Kelly Choo of Brandtology introduced us to the trends in Social Media, Mr. Leo Tan of the Singapore Police Force Facebook page talked to us about what makes the Police’s page top of several rankings of Facebook engagement in Singapore.

The afternoon was kicked of with some lawyers taking us through the implications of Social Media activity and how some of us may be breaking existing laws without realizing it.  One of the lawyers speaking was the ebullient and humorous Lionel Tan.  I had the pleasure of meeting Lionel before during Singapore’s Social Media week and wrote about his insightful presentation.

We heard from several other speakers in the second half of the afternoon but the highlight of the day for me were the two chaps from Youth Without Borders.  Their project, One More Thing, officially launched on the day, is an energetic example of what Social Media can do for good and epitomizes the potential that exists when youthful energy is enabled by the opportunities technology affords us nowadays when it comes to reaching out to and connecting with people.  I’m looking forward to being involved with this project and being re-energized and re-vitalized by the spirit this initiative shows.

All in all it was a great day and was an eclectic mix of people, backgrounds and experience all brought together under some common themes and aims.

I wish everyone the greatest of success and look forward to be part of this growing initiative.

I mention it because I’m increasingly seeing evidence (in my own sphere of interaction) that there is something creeping into a world that I, like so many, have been championing so strongly for several years now.

My ‘evidence’ is largely comprised of friends and professional contacts that tell me that they have stopped using Facebook or ‘can’t be bothered anymore’ with Foursquare.  (Those of you who have had this misfortune to be subject to my incessant Foursquare check-ins in the past will know that I too have become bored with Foursquare).

Talking of Foursquare, I remember writing something maybe 18 months ago where I posed the question, “what’s next for Foursquare?” I was referring to the fact that the product hadn’t evolved – that it hadn’t grown from something technically literate and making the biggest nods towards the trends of the day into something that was a compelling user experience.

For me this feels part of the problem at least.  I, like so many others, have talked about creating dialogue, the prosumer, humility from brands etc etc for years now – indeed, some people are still waking up to that ‘brave new world’.  But for those of us who have now been on Facebook for 6 years and Twitter for the same, our increasing cynicism and boredom at these, in may ways, ‘static’ products is showing.

Whilst Facebook has changed in so many ways over the years it has also not really changed at all.  Whilst the pages have changed in their design and we now have brand fan pages, games, and bigger photos I defy anyone to convince me that the experience has changed much over the years.  I’m not talking about the technical experience – the interfaces or the devices that offer us – I mean the experience as it could be verbally articulated.  ‘What’s really changed for you?’

So, I broaden my original Foursquare question and ask you and us all:

Apart from huge uptake in some platforms, the integration of apps with every sharing site possible, the hashtags shown at the beginning of UK TV programs and the fancy new ways to share the same boring pictures, what’s next? – What is going to catch the imagination of myself and the increasing number of early adopters and tired old cynics who need something new- something really new?

In thinking about this question, I think it would be quite easy to say that, at one level, design is important to me because I enjoy looking at beautiful things. That’s true of course and I, like many people, like to surround myself with beautiful things. And one sees the wonderful design in nature and I have often marveled at the the beauty of a palm fringed island, the more majestic beauty of the French Alps or the lushness of the English countryside. And who could argue that making things look good isn’t a reason to think that design is important. But whilst true, I think it goes deeper than that.

Interestingly, having now worked in design for several years I have come to appreciate that design – good design – ultimately comes down to a state of mind. For me it’s about how I feel. And, more importantly, it’s about how I want to feel. That’s not to say, of course, that at some level good design is not about aesthetics. It is. But when I look deeper at and think more about my iPhone for example – whilst I can appreciate the form, it is the feelings I get from it that really matter to me. It is its innate beauty and form for sure but it is also about the simple way I can interact with it and the opportunities it offers me to feel better and the way it satisfies my need and desires. These are not only about ways in which I want to communicate but in the opportunities that Apple and the iPhone give me to be part of broader eco-systems with the App store and with iTunes. It starts with the look, moves through the way I interact with the interface and ultimately pulls me in to the total Apple brand experience.

I am increasingly realizing that these good feelings I get are from the experience that a product or service gives to me. At a relatively simple level, using a kitchen appliance or mobile phone can turn out to be, for a number of reasons, a good or bad experience. At the other end of the scale there are brand experiences that are a combination of product design, the experience of buying that product, using it and getting it fixed if it goes wrong. At all points through the brand experience there exist opportunities for good design – opportunities to make one’s customer feel good, liked and understood.

Good design is such a powerful tool and is all too often viewed only from the position of aesthetics. Good design has the ability to turn any product, service and the total brand experience from the bad or the mundane into a surprising and special moment.

The opportunities for good design are everywhere and it’s important for me to be part of an organization or company that understands these opportunities and promotes its research, development and uptake. The more good design we have, the better our lives become.

I conducted the workshop with Filip Fransen of POTMstudios (my design partner company) and Florine Beukers.  Florine has recently arrived in Singapore from Holland and has great experience working on Innovation programs with brands such as KLM and Heineken.

The sessions was entitled:

Using Innovation to transform your Business by creating new services, better products and great customer experiences

We had an audience of 15 or so who came from a variety of industries and all the attendees held relatively senior positions.

Our objectives for the session were to introduce the attendees to the idea of, what we called, ‘real innovation’ – coming up with ideas and concepts that are potentially game changing and transformational.  Whilst we understand the value and the place for incremental design and iteration we wanted to really focus the content and the attendees on big ideas.

We began by talking about some general ideas around innovation and how, as human beings, we are pre-programmed to some extent to go with ‘what we know’.  i.e. we tend to do things today the same way that we did them yesterday and last week as long as that particular way ‘worked’.

When people say ‘think out of the box’ or go tell you to go and do some brainstorming, thinking that this process and some good results will come naturally can often be a vain hope.  It’s not necessarily in our nature to easily come up with ideas about how things can be done differently but the good news is that there are some tools that can be very effective in helping us.

We introduced the attendees to the idea of ‘Elimination’ that involves listing the constituent parts of a product or a service and then asking what that thing would be like without one of those parts.

Consider a television

• Screen
• Speakers
• Power Cord
• Remote control
• Signal / Source
• Internet Access
• Housing / Body
• Packaging
• Manual

Elimination is about asking yourself…

What would a [TV] be like without [screen, speakers] etc.

Exercises and tools like Elimination force us to think ‘to the sides’ of where we normally think – they force us to think laterally rather than linearly which is our normal comfortable way of thinking.

We asked the attendees to do an ‘Elimination’ exercise for a shopping centre / mall and then asked them to consider what the mall would like without ‘shops’, ‘food outlets’, ‘parking’ and so forth.

Despite it being a rather damp Friday morning the facilitators and I were delighted by the enthusiasm and the flowing ideas.  Although I couldn’t of course know it for sure, I would imagine that, for most of the attendees, ideation and innovation sessions are infrequent at best in their day jobs.  And yet, here they were, armed with the right environment, a simple concept an easy tool and the creative juices were genuinely gushing.

The second half of the workshop focused on introducing the attendees to two more ideas:

• Using personas, and
• Considering the broader experience journey

We had created 4 different personas – one for each group – and they were asked to consider the “Lunar Mall”. The Lunar Mall was a Mall concept based on an elimination question – ‘What would a Mall be like without parking?’  The Lunar Mall floats.  Not only does it float but it also travels around the Island of Singapore once a week.  An ‘out there’ concept you might say, but I remind you – this session was not meant to be about incremental changes.  It was all about big ideas.

The nature of the idea was not off putting though to the attendees and, armed with personas, we asked them to consider the experience for users of the Mall in a broader journey context. ‘How would they hear about it?’ ‘How would they get there?’ and ‘What would their takeaway memory be?’

Again the ideas were flowing and there was some real enthusiasm in developing the ideas around the personas and broadening the visit into an experience.

I don’t need convincing anymore.  All it takes is the right environment, some simple tools and a bit of facilitation and innovation can and will happen

There are a number of challenges to ‘doing innovation’.  The tools and the facilitated environment go a long way but embedding this into a company culture requires even bigger steps.

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