Why Top-to-down business is not working anymore?

Is it me or it feels like something is wrong when you buy a book in a physical bookstore? Why should I watch that horrible programs broadcasted on the TV for mediocre minds when I can  watch whatever I want on Youtube? If you have not asked that questions yet, maybe it´s time to do it. Because all these questions that deal with the Internet world as a substitute to some traditional products and services are changing behaviors, then societies and, after all, economies.

I am not the first saying that everything has changed. Don Tapscott said it in his brilliant book called “wikinomics” in 2006, where he anticipated the breakdown of the traditional companies if they don´t adapt their business strategies to the new economic scenario. Why should I watch TV news when all I need is to have a look in twitter to know what is happening?  Inmediate networked services are winning the battle of the audiences, and why is that? Is the same reason as always: when you can have it now, cheap an easy. Then you´ve got a winner.

And who is suffering all that change? The companies who still keep approaching their business in a Top to down approach (WE design a product, WE protect it from our competitors, WE send our message to the targeted people, WE sell it in a propietary way, WE dont have to ask the client if he is satisfied, WE are leaders, big and…dead). And, on the other hand, businesses, public institutions and organizations that change their mind and start working FOR their prosumers (producers & consumers) are experiencing higher growth rates than ever. It is as easy as finding the community you want to talk with, giving them the conversation they need to have, and finally, produce for them the products that nobody is giving them because they are not being heard.

The times when big companies enforced clients to buy their products ” in their way” finished long time ago. Now you have to adapt your business to the people. You have to listen to them, talk to them, study what are their needs, and build a product specifically designed to satisfy them at this moment. It has to be fast, it has to be smart (because if you don´t do it now, tomorrow you will have a competitor somewhere over the world), and it has to be sincere. Now doing business is the nearest thing to have a relationship: if you cheat your customer, there is not a second chance. The magic is gone.

If you want to think about that issues, please have a look to the following video:

A shared culture – Creative Commons

Today I am sharing with you this video about the creative commons licenses. It is not an easy question the intelectual property of the contents and the multiple ways it can be considered on the internet. Nowadays, we live in an interconected culture where sharing is not only important but necessary. Take a few minutes to think about it.

European Entrepreneurship Video Awards

As the video says, The world is what you make of it. Just wanted to share the video with all of you, just in case somebody wants to participate. Good luck!

Getting to know the Long Tail concept, by Chris Anderson

I have to say that I starting to become really interested in the new economic concepts that rule the network economy that we have reached in the 21st century. One of the most amazing concepts I have learnt during the last months is the “Long tail”. Introduced in 2006 by Chris Anderson, The “Long tail” give us the advice that in every industry, in all markets, there are always some “Hits” (The famous movies, the most played songs, the most glamorous top models…) BUT there are also always many more “Non hits” that become a big market when you put all of them together. The key is that for years, we have always focussed on the “Head” of that long tail, because we only had few TV channels, radios, magazines…but now everything is different. Now we dont see so much TV, we hear the music on Spotify, jumping from one artist to another, just following comments and ratings…and it really doesn´t matter what MTV says about it. We now see on the internet contents that maybe are not as popular as the greatest hits, contents that would not be available for us 15 years ago. And if we sum all that unusual contents they have a higher demmand than the few greatest hits. And that changes everything.

Think about some of the brighest business of the last 10 years: Amazon is the long tail of books, where obviously you can find the “best sellers”, but where you usually find the specific books that are not usually in your local bookstore. Itunes is the long tail of music, where you can download any track between Bob Marley to the starting group of Colorado that you love, because your friends are the performers. Google is the long tail of advertising, Ebay is the long tail of second hand objects, Social Networks are the long tail of media…Everything on the internet is scattering, and businesses that find the appropriate long tail, are the ones that are making money out of it.