Digital Intelligence
While the term ‘digital intelligence’ synthesize what I’m doing, unless you’re one of my peers, you might find it either obscure, vague or blatantly obnoxious.
I’m not obnoxious -at least I think. I’d like to say that I help people online, but as a business card title -and I’ve learnt from business card protocol in Japan, trust me-, it doesn’t do much.
I’m not trying to impress either. I’m just trying to carry the essence of what I can offer to people I meet & work for.
I’m certainly trying to learn every day. This could also be a definition of my job. Then again, you’d stare at me with a look of disbelief if I introduced to you this way.
Note that if you find that I sound obnoxious after the following, please contact me, I’d be happy to talk and be challenged.
I. Intelligence
I.i. Intelligence Gathering
First part of my job, of any job really, is to gather information, knowledge. In other words, intelligence.
That’s what I’ve been doing for the part 10 years, mostly in marketing, communications, management and sociology.
That last one is important. Sociology as in human psychology. Understanding the dynamics of new media communications demands understanding how people communicate, relate and talk online.
I study how various populations -by age, gender or country- use the web. I then scrutinize how brands cope with the emergence of new media.
This is the foundation of my daily work. I separate noise from signal, I pick up knowledge.
I.ii. Technology Wake
Take a look at the image on the top of this page. It’s a Japanese radio from 40 years ago. You still know it’s a radio. It carries the meaning with its timeless design. However, the technology behind it, from copper wires to what you can do with the device, has progressed immensely since.
Like that radio, media is evolving. However, the idea behind the radio and new media, people reaching to each other, won’t.
Technology changes fast. People don’t.
Humans thus come first. Technology is the medium, sometimes the enabler. By learning about technology tools -formats, standards- and mediums -platforms like Facebook or Twitter to mention the famous ones-, I’m constantly on the look out for how interaction & information sharing is dealt with online.
I.iii. Communication Strategy
Understanding the medium is one thing. Implementation another.
This is where I mix my analysis with concrete planning. I’ve been making this strategic thinking evolve through media work that I did pro-bono, from taking the lead for social media at TEDx Tokyo, communications for Tokyo 2.0 or by being the editor-in-chief of popular technology blog MobileinJapan. It allows me to constantly learn about the evolution of communication and fine-tuning my strategies.
Communicating means sharing, which is why I also offer knowledge through my channels, like this blog or my tweets.
I.iv. Normative Analysis
Going further than strategy for clients, I try to expand into the future, trying to sense how both humans -slowly- and technology -rapidly- will evolve. I’m particularly interested on the impact of social norms on technology and hence vice-versa, with a cultural-sensitive lens.
II. Consulting
My consulting work is based on a thought-process that can be summarized in a metaphor. Working in the fast-paced environment that is the real-time web pleasurably forces me to reshape my thoughts constantly, but I think this shortcut will help you understanding my philosophy.
In Other Words
Id est (pronunciation \id-’est\) is a Latin term, which means ‘that is’, ‘that is to say’ or ‘in other words’. It’s usually shortened to i.e. and you surely have seen it used in countless reports and articles.
Idea. Desire. Empathy. Strategy. Technology.
That’s exactly how new media can be explained. The message is not what is changing. The emitter, the human, is not what is changing. It’s the medium, the way the message is carried that is evolving. Same foundation, just other words. In other words.
II.i. Idea. Desire.
The ability to create ideas and the desire to share them are human traits. This is what matters to you, either as a business trying to look for new customers, as a foundation trying to reach out to new donors or as a individual wanting to network.
II.ii. Empathy.
Touch other humans. Connect. Empathize.
Emotionality is a trait that brands have now to learn. Fast. This is what it’s meant by those words incessantly repeated in new media: engagement, trust, conversations.
II.iii. Strategy.
Yes. Strategy does not come first. Anyone who comes and offers you a ‘Twitter strategy’ is getting it wrong. This is not where you begin.
It’s only after defining yourself that any new media strategy becomes useful. Only after the human factor has been put into the equation that strategy may be designed.
II.iv. Technology.
Technology comes last. The platform won’t give you any answers. It won’t solve how to connect, how to strategize even. It’s only a platform. And like that red Japanese radio receiver, it will change, evolve. It’s bound to be replaced. Fast.
Don’t let your Idea be displaced by Technology. That’s how I see strategy in my field. It’s with these steps in mind that I speak to people and help them.
This process was built over time, as I learned -and am still learning- from my successes and failures, as in life as in business.
