When ever I get the feeling that someone is not getting on board to this new world of social media and social networking I have great empathy for how they are feeling . I empathise with their concerns of finding the time and their fear of the unknown, but deep down I have serious concern that they are not going to be able to survive in the business world beyond the next five years.

The generation below us and already many great business people are embracing social media and social networks and they are future-proofing themselves against a whole new way of being found, doing business and making business friends. To demonstrate this I want to share with you four comments that our daughter Hannah, aged 16 said to us recently.

What does this tell you about her behaviour? Hannah is living in a world where she is connected to her friends in real-time all the time. Information is coming to her in small nuggets throughout her day and evening that tell her what is happening in their lives. ‘Nat has past her driving test’, ‘Matt has lost his wallet’, ‘NJ is on the bus to college for an exam’. This information does not phase her, she is not treating them as a task to know this, but when she can, she will text them or contact them on FaceBook and congratulate them or ask them how they did in their exam. This enables Hannah to be caring, interested and in touch.

The significant aspect of this is that this is easy and quick, the technology is there to help her be a better friend, a helping hand. This happens transparently in her life, it is easy and it is simple and it is fast.

We all have to achieve this level of communication now to embrace our friends and our business friends, know when they need us, when they are happy, sad or busy or when we can just be there at the right time for them with what they need.

Hannah is always embracing and looking for new people to know. Expanding her network, looking for ways to add value to her friendships, creating new friendships whilst nurturing her old ones.

We need to understand that random, trusted contacts are good, embracing and sharing people is the way this generation see life. They do not judge, they do not filter, they can work in a world of random, open and supportive values, this is their philosophy and the technology enables it. I make sure I invite everyone I meet to my personal network on Ecademy to ensure I stay in touch with strangers and in time they become friends, I am not afraid of building a wide network because I know how easy it is to stay in touch and help when I am needed.

Hannah was able to sell her iPod within 20 minutes of getting a new one for Christmas, she sold it to a friend of a friend because she was in a trusted environment where people knew Hannah’s values and knew they were safe to recommend her. It cost her nothing to sell it and ‘Luke’ the buyer was delighted.

We will do business increasingly like this, social networks enable business to happen in a random way that occurs because of the reputation you have not because of what you are or what you do. Relying on job titles, control and targeted selling will be an old method of marketing and selling for this generation. Hannah has stopped using ebay, she is now committed to her networking and knows that the future of commerce will be conducted where ever there is a community of trust embedded within. This is the principle of Ecademy as you know, this is why so many of you achieve success; you know that success is a bi-product of what you contribute, it cannot be the only reason to connect.

Hannah is part for a small group of people that stay close and intimate long after the ‘event’ that they shared brought them together. These eight girls were at school together, now they have gone their separate ways to college, but they are able to stay in touch and keep sharing and caring for one another. When Hannah leaves college she might have 1000 contacts, when she leaves University she may have 2,000, two thousand people who will join 2,000 companies. Consider that network and consider how much lower the cost of doing business will be for the next generation.

For each of us the way that the generation below are embracing ‘social’ networks provides us with an inspiring level of hope for the future as their future is now based on their reputations, the good will feed themselves, those that contribute to others and maintain a reputation of thinking of the other person will be their marketing method, not broadcasting their products in the hope that one person in a thousand will be interested.

We have to ask ourselves, what are we doing to grow our reputation online. Are we open with our thoughts and attitudes, do we embrace strangers, do we support people or are we still in the old world of ‘selling’ and ‘broadcasting’ and worse still do we filter on the usefulness of the person wanting to know us and control our networks to ensure that ‘I’ gain rather than ‘all of us’ gaining?

Food for thought, this is the message coming from those that feel a different drum beat and know that the survival of each of us is down to the survival of all of us.

NOTE: Please use the following link to share any comments or opinions you may have regarding the above post.

PI Window on Business June 4th broadcast to discuss “The Psychology of Social Networking”

Where will social networking take us in the future, and will it ultimately become one of the key differentiators for companies in terms of bottom line success?

To answer this as well as other questions I will be joined by an esteemed panel of social networking experts which includes Ecademy founder Penny Power, Best Selling author of 27 books including “The Truth About Profiting from Social Networking” Patrice-Anne Rutledge and social marketing guru Andrew Ballenthin.

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