And this is strictly a personal, anecdotal example.
I sat at my desk today and I wanted to hear a tune. I typed “funk” into YouTube. I got a link to Jeffrey Osborne’s old band, LTD, and “Back in Love Again.” I listen to that song (one I love) and then click another LTD song. Great stuff.
Other linked songs on the side of the YouTube page included tunes by a band called The Fatback Band (later, known as simply Fatback). Now, I’ve never heard one single Fatback song in my life (but should have). I clicked the first song I saw, “Do the Bus Stop.” I’m hooked. I clicked another, “Backstroke.” I’m now ready to own Fatback’s “Best Of …” But, does Fatback have a “Best Of …”?
A few hours later, I clicked open the iTunes store and, sure enough, there’s “21 Karat Fatback – The Best of the Fatback Band” for $9.99. I clicked ‘purchase.’ I’m listening to “Bus Stop” as I write this post.
This one example of how social media can move one from bystander to behavioral change (and ultimately make the transaction at the checkout counter) and in a fairly quick amount of time. In my work with the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, it’s clear to me how this same impetus can be carried once we get the correct instruments and people into place. What we’re “selling” isn’t necessarily a ‘one-click purchase.’ It’s difficult, complex, delicate stuff. So the strategy is slightly different, but the methodology is the same if the technology, philosophy and execution are done right. And though much of what the US Defense Department is doing with social media right now doesn’t necessarily have a viable metric (other than followers, views, fans and friends), perhaps the best metric in the amount of can be prevented through education and diplomacy.
On behalf of a grateful nation in service to your country and its allies, thanks Fatback.
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