Openness, participation and scale: Web 2.0 rules of thumb

A large part of my horizon scanning research last year was on emerging communications and media business models. I needed to explain the main underlying trends likely to shape emerging value-chains and business models, so I came up with these three over-arching trends for ease of ‘conveying the message’ and to help retain the message:

Openness – socially, commercially and technically (standards and code) driving a culture of collaboration

Participation- the people formally known as the audience creating and co-creating, forming new connections and augmenting existing connections via social media and social networks online; and service providers facilitating interaction with their customer and the public

Scale - where location and size are no longer barriers to offering services or content online, challenging the scale advantages of mass media and telecommunications

Those three forces are driving growth and innovation in communications and media. My conclusion was that any communications & media business model that lacked those three drivers had a limited shelf-life.

Why am I posting this now? It was Vodafone’s move to “embrace open source with open arms”. I think this is biggie. Vodafone is a global mobile operator and from a sector that has strived to maintain control over what goes over their networks – such as Skype.  The EU is now on to that.

All well and good – my analysis is standing the test of time. But of course “it’s the economy stupid” applies as well. The global economic meltdown occurred afer I completed by research above and that factor has obviously caused Vodafone to re-think its strategy. No longer in a position to grow by acquisition, the company now accepts that “the only way to create a fertile environment for innovation is to have open platforms and leverage them”.

There is another twist as well. While reflecting on the Vodafone development, it occurred to me that the three over-arching drivers are applicable to individual netizens (consumers) and to instititutions generally as well as business.  To make the most out of the web, embrace the 3 x Web2.0 rule: openness, participation and scale. Of course there are major challenges to people and organisations taking up that challenge: the modus operandi for the 20th century has been one of control and acting independently.  Now we are in a century of co-dependence and collaboration – at least that is where innovation and growth is coming from. Perhaps a more apt phrase is “it’s the culture, stupid”.