In an epic battle fought last week, Silicon-Valley triumphed over Hollywood in a case of grassroots uprising overcoming backroom lobbying. How is this applicable to Australia? Why should we care?

Well, this case isn’t only about online piracy. It is also about transparency, politics and power. It’s about social media and how it changes democracy.

Let’s take the “gambling law” for example. At the moment this law is being fought in secret meetings, fuelled by big money and rife with political manoeuvres. It is a battle fought away from the public eye, by some players blinded to the public good. Is this real democracy?

What would happen if the bill was to be voted for (or against) on Facebook? Would the outcome still be the same? Highly unlikely.

Moving the debate to the public/social domain means changing the rules.

When the fight is transparent, social and a fair go for all there is little room for the lobbyists to do their jobs.

I like this quote by an entertainment industry lawyer about the anti-piracy law battle:

“We do some of that (online) stuff, but it has to go through a committee of 14 people,” he said. “The other side doesn’t have conference calls. They just put stuff out there.”

In the near future more Australians will demand their representatives understand and engage using social media.

At some point someone or something will catalyst the first Australian public opinion outcry. (Perhaps this even started with the ban on live cattle export by WSPCA –  a petition that got more than 112,000 signatures).

Social Democracy is a space to watch.

We use sliding scales a lot at Wholesome Media.

It helps us with positioning for our clients. We place their current online engagement on the sliding scale between being highly social at one end and not social at all on the other; likewise with engaging vs boring or empowering vs informative. We then mark where they want to be in the future.

It helps us with figuring out pricing. Will our proposal be considered expensive? Compared to who? We draw a line and place ourselves and our competitors so we can see.  Similarly we gauge our value. How does a social media strategy compare to spending on other marketing efforts? What value does a Facebook application provide compared to an iphone application?

You can be explicit about the nature of your product, service or price, but until you use sliding scale to compare it, there might not be as much meaning.

When Keren and I started to work on Wholesome in May 2011 we focused on getting the foundations right. This is what we did:

1. Agree on our Higher Calling - this is probably the most important thing we’ve done. Agree on our mantra: “Inspiring Positive Change”.

It is the end goal and the starting point in everything we do. It helps us define our brand, from business cards to sales documents. It also makes us never forget why we get out of bed every morning.

2. Finding our niche, in a niche, in a niche - when you’re a small business being niche will save you time and money. We found that “nichefying” our offering three times gives us a narrow bulls-eye to aim for.

Our first niche is to do social business strategy – We don’t do websites, social media campaigns or SEO. We keep to what we’re good at.

The second niche is our focus on good organisations like government, non-profits, charities or environmental organisations. It means we won’t work with a car manufacturer unless it’s an electric car.

Third niche is focusing on the Melbourne market. We don’t fly if we don’t have to.

3. Developing the Wholesome Method - Developing our own methodology made sure we’re doing things differently than others in our industry. It gave us a unique process that is now our trademark. We are considered leaders because we do things our way.

Image by Dave Maki for opensource.com

A staggering 70% of people will urbanized by 2050 with 95% of worlds population living within one days travel from a city.

Growing our cities sustainably requires WIMBY (welcome in my backyard) rather than NIMBY (not in my backyard) thinking. The 10% who don’t want change must not drive the agenda by speaking louder than the passive majority.

Alex laments the decline of the civic realm. He says it’s a ghost town and must change. The agendas are hidden in a dense cloud of boredom, repelling people from involvement. With his characteristic humour, Alex jokes how ”Bureaucracies use boredom the way a skunk uses smell”.

He says we have the tools to change, but lack the culture of using the tools to make change happen.

At Wholesome Media, we are excited to be part of making this change happen. Our work with the Parliament of Victoria is focussing on encouraging participation in the political process.

We also encourage anyone interested in the Gov 2.0 space to check out the great work by Delib, from the UK.

I also recommend watching the TED Talk by Alex, as well as the recording from his presentation in Melbourne last Tuesday.

David Suzuki

In his latest presentation he is sharing his life story, knowledge and hope for the future. This emotional, dramatic and fascinating lecture is something I was watching in awe.

It is a gripping tale of things we need to know but easy to forget. It is a realisation that we think the least of the things that matter most. It is a reminder that we are all air.

Suzuki’s playful approach to science makes his ideas so easy to grasp. He poses important questions such as why exponential growth is so dangerous, why the economy is our latest god and how you can feel rich even if you’re poor.

Watch it now, watch it tonight, watch it with your partner and/or kids. You’ll be happy you did. David Suzuki last lecture on The Age TV.

Doing gets about 85% of the time
Most organisations spend the bulk of the time doing work. This pays the bills; this is what you pay people for.

Thinking & Talking get about 15% of the time
Most organisations don’t spend much time thinking about what they do or how they can do better. Thinking & Talking are considered as something that stops Doing.

There seems to be a specific time limit on Thinking & Talking for example: “Let’s have a meeting on Thursday to talk/think about this”.

Why is this a problem?
When you’re Doing you maintain your position. You are simply earning your keep. People will be task oriented, challenge shy and easily bored. Ignoring Thinking & Talking will block new ideas, prevent innovation and limit culture growth.

The solution
Make Thinking & Talking a daily routine. Don’t box these two crucial activities into meetings. Encourage everyone to talk about the goals, strategy and organisational culture.

If you’re interested to read more about culture, innovation and the future of social business you can order “Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh from the Wholesome Library.

Not sure if it’s guilt, sympathy or frustration but my face hardens up and I don’t feel good.

So I decided to start using what I call a happy bag. I tie it to the outside of my bag (usually at the straps) so it’s easily accessible. It always has a collection of gold coins ready to hand out and brighten someone’s day.

A small thing, but an innovation that makes me happy. Who knows, maybe they will catch on.

It’s that time of year when we open our wallets and spend our money with gay abandon.  For a large number of Australians the only challenge is figuring out what to buy friends and family something they want, need and appreciate.

We’ve all asked, “What do you buy someone who has everything?”.
According to John Roberts, Professor of marketing at the Australian National University and London School of Economics, at Christmas ”People feel a need to express goodwill and share things with other people.”

Charities are catching on to this and offering many innovative ways for people to make a donation to charity as a gift to loved ones.

Here’s a short list of ones you might want to check out:-

Oxfam unwrapped: One of the first services to launch in this space

Unicef “Say No to Naff”: A range of charity gifts to match the right cause to the right person

Care “Life Changing Gifts”: Variety of gifts at different prices, from goats to fruit trees.

Karma Currency Foundation Christmas Gifts: A large collection gifts for a variety of local and international charities

Hopefully this list makes your Christmas shopping easier this year. That way you can concentrate of making delicious food and spending time with your loved ones in a relaxed way, knowing you have made a positive difference to others.

When it was time to replace our business cards we thought about the experience of giving and receiving cards. How could it be more interesting?

We also wanted our cards to support our higher calling to “Inspire Positive Change”.

We are proud to introduce our new inspiration (business) cards.

Every card is different so you get to choose the one you want from the pack.

This not only changes the main reason of a business card – from “details” to “meaning” – but it creates a totally new and playful experience. Instead of just being something you slide across the table, it’s become a social, inspiring and positive.

You can be a business that embraces the use of social media, a business with a strong culture that increases its employee’s collaboration or a business that acts as part of the community by giving back.

The last kind, the social minded business seems to be having a comeback. Social giving isn’t only a CSR issue but a branding issue. Every brand needs a story and if your story has a social side to it, the chances of it sticking are much higher.

Take Grilled for example.

The company started with the story of the healthy burger are now stretching that story into the general feel good by promoting the  “Good deed of the day‘ campaign. Every month a Grilled branch will donate $500 to three local charities.

The customers can vote for the charities they choose by dropping a bottle top into one of three jars in the store. The charity that gets most votes wins $300 while the second and third get $100 each.

With this brilliant idea Grilled are providing healthy food not only for your body but for your soul. They are proving that local, social and good deeds matter. I’m sure this attitude affects their bottom line, audience engagement and staff retention.