‘WannaMe’ – the better digital version of my real self.

WannaME culture/Facebragging- uploading the best version of yourself to Facebook

We all know that social media has turbo charged our connections to each other and the conversations we have, this is particularly prevalent when you think of Gen C. The last few weeks I’ve been talking to quite a few 16-21yr olds here in Sydney about their ‘digital life’ and what’s become more and more obvious, is this concept of ‘WannaME’.

WannaMe (a rip off of an Aussie slang word, Wannabe), is when young people build digital personas on Facebook and other social networking sites which show the absolute best parts of their lives. Call it Facebragging, showing off, call it what you will. It’s all about how they meticulously craft their online personas to share with the world, i order to ensure they pass judgement from other members of their tribe.It’s about creating the best version of yourself – as we all know perception equals reality.

Belonging to a tribe is and always will be a primal need for youth, but now we’re seeing youth needing to constantly upload pics, show that they’ve been invited to the right parties/concerts, be seen wearing the right clothes, hanging with the right crowd. It’s all a part of their desperate need to fit in and this competitive pressure to be in the know is overwhelming alot of young people I spoke to. It’s like the 1980’s ‘cool kids’ phenomena all over again, where you were either in or out based on how you dressed. Now it’s just dimensionalised in real time.

When you talk to these teens, you realise that the pics they’re uploading from music festivals, parties, make up about 10% of their life, but on facebook, it looks like they are uber social, connected and little party animals. One guy I spoke to even said he pulls out old pics from last summer and posts them if he doesnt have anything good to contribute to the conversations happening. So they are re-using old versions of their social life to ‘keep up with the Jones’ if you will.

The WannaME culture that has been charged by social technology has definitely also made youth more extroverted. What was unacceptable to share with friends is now completely acceptable, and Aussie kids are trying to one up each other on facebook. Boys are uploading pics of them doing risque sporting tricks eg: jumping off a bridge illegally, whereas girls are being more and more provocative with how much flesh they show. Psychologists talk about the need to highlight the  ’social risk’ in communications when you’re trying to change a certain ingrained behaviour eg: drinking driving, smoking, drug taking etc. Now it seems that this social risk is being celebrated online.

WannaME culture is permeating through pretty much all youth subcultures, it’s not just the rich urban indie kids, it’s across the board. More than ever young people are carefully crafting their digital personas and brands need to understand this mindset in order to engage with them. Thoughts?

MC Hammer and his 4 rules of social media

I didn’t go to the Sydney Social Media Club function last night where MC Hammer was talking about social media. I can’t say whether it was insightful enough so I recruited Di Chua, an amazing up and coming Social Media Strategist at DDB Radar to write a guest post for me. Helps she’s also a huuuuge Hammertime Fan. Take it away Di….

Di Chua and Clare Anderson with MC Hammer at Sydney Social Media Club

It was a packed house at UTS for the Social Media Club lecture where MC Hammer spoke about his social media experiences. He’s the 14^th most influential Twitterer (according to WeFollow) with more than 1.5 million followers. I love MC Hammer and know all his dance steps… So while there were “intellectuals” in the room, I was just dying to scream “I LOVE YOUUuuu!”

Amazingly, he’s more than just a rap star, he actually knows his sh*t.  I have much respect for this guy because he’s in the fireline. I’m in the trenches myself (listening, planning conversational campaigns and managing communities) and it’s really not as easy as it seems. So BOO to all you Hammer haters out there… Do it first, and then judge!

 MC Hammer’s 4 rules for Brands in Social Media:

1)      “Never let someone else tell your story”

- Ties in with authenticity and transparency

- connecting with people humanises your brand

2)      “Be at the center of the flow of information”

- be a “super geek”- you have to touch it, feel it, experience it. He has loads of  smart phones and screens

 - listen and monitor conversations (he even has a screen in his bathroom!)

3) “Perception is more valuable than reality”

- So make sure you manage it

- stay ahead of the story through Rule #2

 4) “If you’re not connected, what are you hiding from as a brand? “

- Don’t run, Engage!

- again transparency is key, people will be suspicious if you’re not open

And finally, he said one must establish a culture in your community. So if someone is being negative and not adding value to your experience then block them. “If you negative, I block you!

The question of the night-

Warlach: Dear MC Hammer, can you give me any advice as to what I can and can’t touch?

Mc Hammer:  “What you can’t you touch? The concept of Hammertime!”

Some interesting learnings here from MC Hammer, although they have to be couched by the fact that often with celebrities they have ‘follow factor’ built in to their handles by virtue of who they are. So applying the same principals to a brand trying to leverage social media needs to be taken with a grain of salt somewhat in my view.

The Social Media Revolution

This is a well put together video by the guys at Socialnomics basically showing the explosion of social media usage. One stat that blew me away was that if Facebook was a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest in terms of population…scary. I’m still in Gareth kay’s (from Goodby’s) corner, as i believe the way brands can leverage this new form of particpative consumer behaviour is by creating ’social ideas’ youth want to be part.  This video ends with some good tips around companies needing to act like ‘party planners’ ‘aggregators’ and ‘content providers’ in order to engage people in this space. It all comes down to the era of PARTICIPATION.

Iranian youth uprising via social media… GREEN REVOLUTION

Brands can learn alot from about sparking movements from political uprisings. One is going on right now in Iran post the dodgy elections over there as hundreds of thousands of Iranian youth hit the streets in protest, powered by the interconnectivity of Facebook and Twitter. Irans draconian internet filtering is no match for the 33% of Iranians between the ages of 15 and 29 who are interconnected and politicised by virtual social networks. It’s been nicknamed the ‘Green Revolution’ as Hussein Mousavi’s ( opposition leader) supporters have adopted the colour green for their movement ( a strong Islamic colour).

The mobilising power of Facebook and Twitter, combined with the face to face solidarity of the gatherings and protests is creating a frenzy of conversations and actions in Iran seeking a recount of the votes. In the wake of the contested election the Iranian state has harnessed every last iota of its coercive power to disrupt communications and prevent organised protests. Iran has more blogs per capita than any other country so it will be interesting to see what happens when the Iranian government ‘turns off’ the internet and shuts down the mobile phone towers. Apparently Moussavi is now encouraging youth to ‘connect’ via landlines, one public utility the government won’t shut down. It is yet to be seen if this youth uprising will  work in achieving their goal.

The key things brands can learn

Iranian youth using twitter and Facebook to mobilise...the 'Green Revolution'

 for this type of uprising led by digital media, is that youth mobilise around the promise of CHANGE, just like American youth mobilised in huge numbers around Obama in 2008. Show how you can  change the status quo and people will follow you.

Are you a ‘Snooper?

Facebook has turned Gen C into ‘Snoopers’. It’s not as intense as ’stalking’, but the competitive pressure of always needing to be in the know means digital natives literally spend hours snooping around on their friends Facebook pages finding out ‘who is with who’, ‘who dumped who’, ‘who invited who’, ‘who went to what’ etc. This competitive pressure to be in the know and have the latest cultural capital within their community is a further example of their need to belong and the risk of social exclusion Gen C face if they don’t keep up with the Facebook crowd.