DC [2.0] Rising
While the event was titled “The Rise of Citizen 2.0: Radically Rethinking Democracy in the Digital Age,” I think there was a sub-text to the event that was as interesting, if not more so, than the idea of a Citizen 2 dot oh (which is how the Yahoo!s were saying it. And yes, they call themselves Yahoo!s).
Briefly, the Citizen 2.0 as defined by Yahoo!’s research is a voter who is engaged in multiple ways online — from social networks, to meet-up groups, to simple emailing — and who is “sparked” to find more information online when a topic/person/place/thing comes across their radar that leaves them wanting to know more. Said another way, Citizen 2.0 = big fan of Googling, Wikipedia, et al.
Moving forward… given the setting (DC’s famed Willard Hotel), the speakers (Karl Rove, Max Cleland), the attendees (I would wager most were over the age of 40?!) and the cocktail/hors d’œuvre after party (top shelf, all the way around)… this was no Internet-is-for-the-young OR the Internet-is-for-people-in-their-pajamas-living-at-home kind of scene. I have been to quite a few events, conferences and workshops in the new media space and let me tell you, this was the fancy-schmanciest yet. It was also the first where there were secret-service looking types walking around and talking into their cuff-links (okay, the latter part of the sentence was a stretch, but you get the point).
(kind of looked like this)
And if we follow my (errr, Durkheim’s) “look at the shadow if you want to know about the form” logic from my post about Startup Weekend, then reading these cultural symbols (people, place, things) points to the emergence of a few other new “2 dot oh” species:
The “influential 2.0″ - I would roughly define this term as fitting people in positions of power/decision makers, or are people who have direct in-roads to these influentials — in sectors such as government, business, etc. — that are getting hip to the existence and importance of “the blogs.” Hearing that Karl Rove reads blogs would be an example of this — he is both influential in his own right and, well, you know, has influential friends.
… and by “the blogs”… I mean to say the conversations and ideas being shared online… I would also include the things that are actually broken online by websites, blogs and media sources alike (read: the 24/7/365 news cycle).
… and in agency speak… an “influential” is an actual thing/person as opposed to an adjective.
The “strategist 2.0″ - Strategists and consultants — such as those from the political, PR and advertising phyla — who make their money leveraging the influence, relationships, fundraising potential, Word-of-Mouth marketing, etc. from “the blogs” (and other online media, groups, networks, outlets, and so on). A few points here:
While Rove did not go much further than talking about micro-targeting and e-mail lists, it seems that he could be called a strategist 1.5 (falling short of the full 2.0 as he did not seem to embrace an integrated new media strategy of harnessing the power of social media, blogs, etc. — oh, and he is sort of not doing this anymore, so that also must be taken into account… he was mostly talking in terms of “in the 2000 and 2004 races”).
But, to Rove’s credit, he does have an iPhone and does use a Macbook. He was a self-proclaimed fan of Apple.
And finally,the “politician 2.0″ - Ok, now I am even starting to annoy myself with all the 2.0 add-ons (and yes, I know people have already killed the meaning of “2.0″ by adding it onto everything and probably have applied it to this arena already) but let me have just one more. A few additional points:
We have already seen the neotenistic form of this animal from the candidates in the 2008 presidential election with everything from Barack’s social network (yay Blue State Digital), to live-blogging on the FredFile (full disclosure, Fred is a New Media Strategies client), to the multiple announcements made via canned videos on websites, not live on TV.
One of the speakers at the Yahoo! event made the point that perhaps in 20 years, there will be a candidate who will leverage all of their online connections and their online persona to actually become president. That would be interesting and not out of the realm of possibilities (so take note, all of you hustling out there on Gaia, mebo, Facebook, myspace, iminlikewithyou, etc).
Looking at the photo below 2 years ago, save for the Yahoo! banner in the background, you would have been safer to guess that the caption would be about some traditional business or media event or some traditional outreach (e.g., $500 a plate dinner), and not some event with the phrases “new media” or “Internet strategy” or “Web 2.0.”
Stating the obvious at this point, but reinforcing an overall trend in the [influential] DC area, and frankly, in other influential regions across the country as well… when it comes to who is listening and caring about online discussions, outlets, tools, networks and technologies… the “influentials” appear to not only take this new medium seriously, but they are willing to put/putting it to work. The private sector certainly has a leg up in this arms race, but it looks like the public sector is finally catching on as well.
The National Journal Magazine (a beltway publication) also got in on reporting this trend about 2 months ago with a [great] cover story about the use of new media by tried and true DC institutions like associations, lobby shops and, oh, a little place called Capitol Hill. It would have been great to post some of the article here, but I have spent the last 20 minutes trying to track it down online with no luck. Subscription only. So ANTI the new media philosophy. Sorry, NJ, no links for you!
While the foundation and beginnings of relationships and business partnerships have certainly already begun, I think it is key for the DC/MD/NOVA tech communities to keep the political/public sectors and their respective “influentials” / “decision makers” in mind when it comes to everything from events, to clientèle, to resources.
Author’s notes:
Post above first appeared on DC Tech Beat, D.C. [2.0] Rising [November 10, 2007]
Personal version of this post on my WordPress blog, The rise of the “influential 2.0″ and the “strategist 2.0″ and the … ok, you get the point. [November 9, 2007]
