Launching The New Conversation Economy: #starttheconversation
I started writing this book over a year and a half ago. As with most good things, this project has taken time. As I look back at the way that this book has unfolded, I am not sure that the story would have been ready until now.
The New Conversation Economy is not a book about social media.
Instead, this is a story about how we have moved through so much change in such a short time, that we have all lost our way in some way or another. We have gone from watching the news on our television screens to following Twitter's trending topics on a small phone that fits in our pockets - in less than 20 years!
We have all been affected by the fast evolution of social and digital media - unless of course you just landed here...and even then, I dare you to try to figure out Google's latest algorithm. This book is a reflection on how I experienced the digital age - from the front row, and a look back at how we have navigated through the waves of change that came in the early .com days in order to better understand where we are today, and where we are going in the future.
Today, we are spending more time connected and online than we are sleeping. This is a BIG change! I have been learning every day since the late 1990's about how to stay ahead of the digital curve. That in fact has been my only job.
What I have come to understand is this;
We have the roadmap, we may just need to press the pause button and look at the lesson's we have learned from the early Adaptor's, Resistor's, Sinker's and Swimmers, who navigated the rough waters of the early 90's through to today. Many of us here on LinkedIn have played all of those roles!
It is time for us to take a PAUSE. Instead of jumping into Digital Transformation, or moving full steam ahead with AI -- I am inviting you to stop and reflect on our journey so far, so that we can be better prepared for what is next to come.
We need to really look at how our economy has adapted -- or not adapted -- to a digitized and connected world. We need to look at how we as individuals have adapted, or perhaps are resisting, our own evolution.
After over a year and a half of writing, collecting more stories and watching as we continue to move at break neck speed into new technologies, it is time for me to jump back into the waters.
Just as I have done for many clients in the past, it is time for me to step up and launch this book into the world. I am going to practice what I preach and leverage the "Conversation Economy" here on LinkedIn to get my message out into the world. But before I embark on the journey to put these pages into book form, I feel compelled to release some early Chapters into the new "feedback loop" that is Social Media.
No matter what age you are, you have experienced the unprecedented change that has come with the Internet, Mobile technology, Search Engines and Social media.
?? I want to hear about your experiences "growing up" in the Digital Age - no matter what age you are. We have ALL been impacted!
?? I want to #starttheconversation about how we have all struggled to adapt and keep up.
?? I want to discuss what "Digital Transformation" really is and what it means to brands, corporations and institutions.
?? I want to discuss the impact that technology and social media has had on our economy, and what we need to do in order to manage the organizational change that is needed to thrive now, and into the future.
?? I want to invite you to press the pause button to look at the lessons we have already learned (and are still learning), so that we can avoid the chaos and fear that comes with the next waves of change to come.
You have lived the "before" the internet and the "after" the internet. And even if you have not, you have still been impacted more than you realize.
"Although this has been a time rooted in HUMAN EVOLUTION through technology, what the digital age has impacted most is the evolution of the HUMAN CONVERSATION."
I look forward to your comments, posts and feedback as I post some of the first Chapters here on my Conversation Economy Blog.
I may self publish in true digital entrepreneur style. I may partner with a traditional publisher to take this book into printed pages. But what I will do first, is let the "Conversation" around these first few chapters dictate how this book will show up in the world.
I invite your participation here on this Blog, and in Social Media. Please comment, share and post your "stories from the front lines" of the digital age here, and on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. The story is still unfolding!
I am jumping into the next waves head first! Thank you for coming along this journey with me! ??
ABOUT:
Alicia Whalen is a multi-disciplined digital marketing professional, entrepreneur, and international speaker who has been at the cusp of digital marketing since the early days of the digital age. She has developed three successful digital media companies, worked with hundreds of clients, and continues to innovate with the publication of her first book, "The New Conversation Economy,"
Director of Global Sales | Events, New Business Development
5 年I have stopped, started, continued, resisted, adopted and am an active contributor .We feel the effects on those we (collectively)affect - the world., our #socialeconomy. The social tool #starttheconversation is powerful, influencing , positive and dangerous -each user must use proper judgement in an undefined no boundary, no manual, unfiltered,complicated world. It defines us! It is us! Conspiracy theorist tell us it controls us, opinions impact us, we as narrators define its purpose....what is its role? the next innovation is in sight? Ready? Thank you Alicia for your thought provoking documentation of our time warp. Thank you for articulating our growth and culture gap. Can’t wait for more.....
Community & Systems adaptation & resilience | Future generations | Just transition | Social Entrepreneurship + Impact | Tech for good | Narrative Design | Strategic Story + MarComms | Creative Project Management
5 年Smart enough - Deep enough - Appropriate -- Tech augmented adaptation of connection --- with ourselves - other - the whole. Facilitating regenerative relationships. - I'm exploring the intergenerational dialogue around resilient holding environments.. How there are cultivated and the role of technology. These containers are ultimately organically occurring and natural - but three passage from convenience to wild and the rites that release the skills to move from passive consumer to active steward.. There I believe technology has its place.. even if those positions must eventually be relinquished as we return to more localised sovereignty. But scaled systems with global interdependent infrastructure, even federated, seems to require an initial mesh for knowledge transfer when peers and community are too geographically diverse, temporally dislocated or the pace of translation frustrates connection and causes disengagement. In short - We've transformed. Probably to non-essential requirements. There is however a digital essence to immediate needs. We would benefit from defining those needs so we first pause.. But also don't dial back too far before human capacity has risen to fulfil the affordance upon which we have come to re ly.
Find more disproportionately profitable customers. CEO @ SegmentNinja.io for Klaviyo
5 年Congrats Alicia! I remember those nascent days of the internet well. Ironic that one your underlying messages is that we need to get "unplugged". Happy to have supported you and Patricia then and now. Go get'em! ??
Independent strategist, change-maker, speaker, committed to help the travel, tourism and hospitality sector become a force for regeneration and healing.
5 年Congratulations Alicia on taking a deep dive and I like the direction you are going. As you know I've been enamoured with technology for a long time but it's a love affair that's ending. To me hosting and travelling provide some of the best opportunities to experience the fullness of our humanity. Digital channels can connect people otherwise separated by distance but then should retreat into the background so that encounters that engage all of our being can occur.?