Evolution Of Social Consultant

Things bouncing around in my head today.

I'll try and evolve this post over time as I get my head around what I'm trying to say. It was originally inspired by a discussion I had with Scott Stratten (@unmarketing) over drinks the other night. My comment was how people who speak/write/consult in the social space can seem to be saying some of the very same things at each end of the evolutionary spectrum I've displayed above. Engagement, relationships, time, etc. exist as priorities at each end. Yet the context in which they *mean* them can be very different, and that concerns me when we utilize these great, tidy, tweetable hooks that make it out into the wilds of twitterdom but without any context.

To try and put it more simply, if you are at the beginning of the curve looking up these items are perceived in a very different manner than if you are at the top of the curve looking down. The experiences it required to achieve the top of the curve and reach these conclusions dramatically shape the intent behind the words. It's the difference between knowing *why* something should be done vs. simply being told to do it.

While I'm couching the concept with that of a consultant it's really a generalized idea of how we've gotten to where we are, and where we're going.

Posted on Thursday, Nov 18, 2010 by Matt Ridings

4 Comments

Nov 19, 2010

RickCaffeinated said...

I know you're still fleshing it out, but would this be a wave/frequency model? Up & down around the line? 'Cause I can see it working like that over longer periods of time, back and forth.

Matt Ridings said...

I don't know Rick. It definitely could if done a certain way. Initially it was an attempt at displaying how you arrive full circle on certain concepts...yet those concepts while named similarly have different meanings. Thus the notion of an arc. The problem with the arc is that it can also mean to some people that the top of the curve is the most evolved state which is not the case here. I'm trying to wrestle this all to the ground, we'll see where it lands.

Thanks for the comment!

Just thinking that I feel like I vacillate more around the "social" and the "measurable" depending on what I'm doing and what I've been reading, and there's got to be a place where I can settle on a both/and kind of emphasis... maybe a cycle, circling above and below your line til there's a nirvana reached or something? Good stuff, thanks for posting the thought doodles.

Dec 29, 2010

michael_taggart said...

Que? *scratches head*

techguerilla talk

Matt Ridings

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Evolution Of Social Consultant

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