Por uma sociedade digital: Evapore-se (Portuguese / English Version)

For a digital Society: evaporate

By Vanessa Oliveira

Sometimes I feel like I'm on a loop talking about the trends in the Internet influencer market, don't you? As if we haven't learned the basics yet, saying the same things repeatedly, only changing the allegory of innovation to catch the reader's attention. Because in terms of technological tools we keep on advancing and bringing into the hands of everyone, notice - everyone - the possibility to influence on a high scale. However, without maturing the concepts of what it is to influence mass communication, from my perspective, it is as if both content producers and consolidated brands were riding in a Ferrari, only with their eyes blindfolded - thinking it is a VW Beetle. Nothing against those little beetles, I admired the charm of this machine when I was younger, but the power of a VW Beetle, as a structure, is different from that of a Ferrari. The question is: can you drive a Ferrari? What if I told you that this Ferrari is not solid, as you have always learned? It is a hologram, parked in technological clouds, and therefore needs a lighter driver, with a new state of being. What would you need to change about yourself and your company in order not to fall off this virtual platform?

Every construction of a new market goes through cycles of development. From the moment the idea is tested in consumer bubbles, in which companies face the challenge of sustaining themselves, until the bubbles start to connect, and more people start to realize the value of that product - whatever it may be. For the companies that have managed to sustain themselves in this first wave, this second moment then becomes the time to swim, but swim fast, because others will come, and many blue whales (some Moby Dick?) will try to swallow your expertise. Little by little, several big fishes will enter this sea, and it is your resilience, combined with time and sailing skills, that could, finally, bring you recognition of your place in this ocean. At this point, you will be swimming with the sharks, where each company will try to take a bite in a Red Ocean. At least until the search for an unchartered ocean begins again.

Well, I myself have used this metaphor of liquidity a lot to talk about business and society. Despite that, nowadays, if you ask me what the trend in the digital market is, I will tell you: it is realizing our state of being much more connected to an aerial, invisible, and even space-oriented, behavior.

Ok, I could be talking about the consolidation of monetization models through digital, whether with virtual currencies and wallets, self-commerce, fast and increasingly secure payment processes - all these happening from an app or a social media. Or I could tell you about the digital content market as a source of financial transaction and pure investment. But in my view, this is just embellishment, and the natural evolution of any business. If you Google around, you will find detailed information about all these things I mentioned before, it is a given fact. Through this article, I posit the reflection on how prepared we are to act consciously in our business and in life with the connected society.

Technology is just a reflection of the inner changes we have been making in ourselves as human beings. And that's what I love about looking at the Internet as an environment for people to interact. We use platforms, we communicate through avatars, logins, different names that we created. We have multiplied our identities and have become, in fact, connected to the whole world in just one click. We are, definitely, under the same sky. This brings us an even greater amplitude than the sea. We can't even see where we are. And this can be disturbing for those who are still learning to swim. But, after all, sea and sky make up the same landscape.

This brings us back to the sea with the liquid society that Bauman talked about so much. A position in which men and women are still learning that their roles are liquid, and that social, economic, and production relationships are fragile, fleeting, malleable, and melting. A place in which we still have many people, entrepreneurs, consumers, and companies suffering and sometimes "getting beaten" for not yet accepting how vulnerable they are. And that clearly, something that was very solid, in the past, can fall apart as society evolves. Those who are here still resist a lot to realize the possibilities that the digital market brings, no matter how much they are acting in it. Those who are still at that old spot, resist a lot to realize all the possibilities that the digital market brings, no matter how long they have been working in it. They tend to have timid experimentation or try to be basic - being out there just because everyone else is. They may come to the point of regretting some project, product, or post when thinking they lost control, quickly swimming back to shore. Because when thinking of the ocean, vast and deep blue, you can still drop an anchor and settle on a point, despite the turbulent waters. It is usual for these "sailors" to hold on to the difficulties that this state of sea changes causes. They want the feeling of comfort and control over virtual security and fake news, but insist on keeping the same old self that brought them here

When we look up at the sky, we can already see the nuances of a gaseous society that realizes that it needs to be light in its social, economic, and production relations. But in order to be light, you need to let go of many things that you thought were essential until now. Even change your own structure. We are not born with wings, we create them. And this transmutation process may even seem chaotic at first sight, if we let our insecurities dominate the process. Here we find women and men, for example, who are already adapting their bodies physically to the invisible that lives in each one of them. We notice companies that have, in fact, a global mind set, and that have in their strategy the hiring of foreigners to build products with an international core - regardless of where they physically reside. They are "navigators" who seek to improve their inner balance with experience and knowledge. And not by the possession of many artifacts, as these make them heavy at this first moment of mutation. They are developing the ability to rest in full flight, with their wings spread, gliding as the wind directs them to the best station. They do not perceive the Internet as an external tool or a platform in which life is not real. By accepting it as part of their day, the experience becomes organic and not frightening. And, as it should be in any process of adaptation, they are able to go on seeking wisdom in their actions and learning from the difficulties.

Gaining skies does not mean renouncing the liquid past but unlearning certain moves to develop new creative solutions for your business and your life. By melting yourself down, you realized that it is possible to act in other roles to be an influence: man assuming his feminine side, woman assuming her masculine point of view, agency acting as producer, producer acting as channel on social media, TV channel acting as multiplatform brand etc. What can we learn from it? Now it is part of the mindset of a gaseous and virtual society to assume a posture of transparency and share it. It has never been so easy to learn about anything in this connected world. A scientist in Brazil, for instance, learns from the medical advances happening in Russia. Content all the way from China inspires influencers in the United States. A German company relies on research developed in Australia. It’s just one sky, global and without limits. By realizing that the more open we are to sharing and conversation, the more we will be able to bring new forms into our framework.

Naturally, during this process we will deal with the lack of awareness and responsibility in having access to all this information. We will commit excesses, while we are still learning to deal with this freedom. We’ll learn how to fly a plane while they are already up in the air. So, it is up to each of us, to seek detachment in all instances to consolidate this lighter mindset and to sustain this invisible connection. Some examples:

- Cooperation is not about bringing everyone together agreeing the way we do the journey. Let go of the idea that collaboration is done with everyone arm in arm, agreeing on everything. This belief is fright of making decisions and your business may sink under the weight of not having a direction to go. In a gaseous society, you need to let go of people's hands. It is necessary to trust in others responsibility for flight, too. You can even tell them the direction, which might change with the wind, but just as with the birds in the sky, each person is free to make their way they want. To collaborate is to delegate and to be surprised with the new designs that the flock collective form while flying in the sky. It is to encourage the independence and growth of the individual, as well as to recognize the strength and richness that exists in the symbiosis of differences coexisting in your business models.

- Partnership: it is not seeking people and companies that complement you, trying to keep control of that in which you might consider yourself an expert. Let go of the idea that you will grow faster if you are alone in your specialty. This is fear of letting go of the identity you have built up so far. Partners who work in adjoining areas from yours help you gain space, bring new audiences, and knowledge about your own business, from a different perspective, as if it was worked on strategically. The famous "frenemies" will accelerate your growth if the objectives are clear between you. This deal is not expensive and can even generate more profit. The challenge of being "Glocal" can only be achieved if you let go of dominating the world alone.

- Glocal: being global and local at the same time is not a particular characteristic of large companies. You may physically interact, for example, with audiences in your city or country, but it doesn't mean you should close yourself, or your business, to connecting, hiring, and participating in global interactions. Ditch the idea that there is comfort only on your familiar ground. That's just being afraid of falling for trying to fly. Frequent cultural exchange amplifies your creative process, as well as bring more toughness to your structure and unity to your communication. We live in a global world, in which there is, more and more, people of all nationalities spreading and mingling in foreign lands. We keep on moving, despite still territoriality resistance and wars, towards a planet-conscious society. We already know streaming services, for instance, presenting productions from everywhere. The international news impacts our daily routine. Even a single virus changing our global lives. Our perception about our identity is already mutating, even though we are not talking about it openly. The transformation happens in the invisible, bypassing whatever boundaries, set by laws and conventions, on Earth.

In any case, I could write, here, several other examples of how we can evaporate to be able to drive that Ferrari I mentioned at the beginning, with such dexterity that we will have the sensation of flying, as we gain speed. Anyway, the most important thing at this point is to realize: where are you? And where are your partners, your audience, your company, your friends, your team, your family? Are they in the sky, sometimes taking a few dives, or in the sea? We are in a transition phase, and we need to bring the knowledge of this context to our communication. A moment of adapting ourselves all the time according to the maturity of our society, but always with our eyes open to the stars we can see from the sky. A time in which we are getting used to the invisible state of being human, learning to trust what we don't see in the physical, developing a digital mindset that is able to detach without suffering, to the point where, one day, the sky will no longer be the limit.