The social buzz at the beginning of the 21st century was unmistakable. Blogs were popping up everywhere, and never before had collaboration, dialogue, sharing, and flat hierarchies been so widely discussed on a global scale. Suddenly, peer-to-peer was no longer just a formal-technical description of a communication practice, but a cultural challenge that questioned traditional loyalties, as people began to exchange and network beyond the boundaries of companies.
Don Tapscott, one of the pioneers of this new sharing economy, summed up this paradigm shift as follows: “Losers create websites. Winners build vibrant communities. Losers build walled gardens. Winners create public spaces. Losers hoard their data. Winners share it with everyone.” This precisely describes the co-creative environment in which advertising and branding operate today, because brands are the stories that other people tell about you.
We should not stop reminding ourselves of this – at a time when social media is in danger of becoming a great levelling machine. Against this backdrop, blogging means grounding. Nothing more, nothing less.
