Everything in Moderation

“User generated content” is this era’s hammer because the problem confronting companies, candidates, government and institutions is a nail aimed at the heart of public credibility.

Advertisers are losing their effect on consumers, government is losing its status among citizens, newspaper circulation is in a downward spiral and institutions created to promote an agenda have helped accelerate skepticism for all.

The concern has reached every corner of an economy built on making and selling stuff. If we believe less of what we hear, we are likely to buy less of what we are told we need – whether a car, a candidate or a charitable contribution.

Can’t have that.

So, if consumers or voters won’t believe what they hear from us, let’s get ‘em to say what they believe to each other. We’ll even let them say some bad things, too, because it will make the good they say sound better. At least, that’s the thinking and the underlying logic to the accelerating corporate commitment to a smorgasbord of technologies and communities wrapped up in what is being called “social media.”

The blogs, pod casts, viral videos, advertising produced BY consumers FOR consumers, web casts, user reviews and more comprise an array of technologies that make it easy for people to speak up. And, in the hope of finding a way to connect with consumers now that the old ways have been devalued, this array is getting the investment, interest and involvement it needs to root and grow. The question is: will it work?

Why have the “old ways” been devalued? Simply, all the “crying wolf” that has been done so as to be heard over an increasingly crowded, noisy, boisterous, multi-lingual marketplace has inured people to the inducements. We are less willing to listen let alone believe the offers, sales and solutions we are offered daily. Too many of them have fallen short of the promise, they have no credibility.

It is not that we have lost faith in what others say – the mediated content of newspapers, ads, reports and speeches – but we have narrowed the list of others to whom we will listen. Rather than reporters, professors, Senators, singers or actors, we are turning to people for advice.

The way we look for a doctor, dentist or accountant – by talking to people like us, near us who could speak from experience – is now the way we look for a car, a washer/dryer combination, a shave cream and a President. We still rely on mediated content to make decisions, but we are now relying on different moderators.

Smart companies and candidates recognize the trend and are trying to figure out a way to participate. Rather than being “the” voice of their products and services or programs and proposals, they are trying to instigate and moderate the conversation. They are seeking to participate without suffocating the discussion. And they are trying to showcase without co-opting the best of what is said.

Only in this way can credibility be encouraged, first as a spark and then as a viral fire. Even then it might not work. There is still some magic to moving a market, but it cannot happen without a willingness to promote a thing by letting go of its control; to participate in the back-and-forth without seeking to dictate terms; and working to moderate a conversation, warts and all, without trying to dominate.

Everything can be found in moderation