The Pit - IMI Trust

Give yourself a pat on the back and bask in the glory of your achievement.  YOU are the ‘Person of the Year’.  Yes it is true. This is not a hoax.

Time Magazine has voted ‘YOU’ as the ‘Person of the year’. I have to say, you did have some pretty stiff competition in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and North Korean leader Kim Jong Ill.

Not sure how they figured out the other nominees as ‘YOU’ is a fairly broad label covering ‘Me’ and of course ‘You’. I am gladly accepting my award from Time Magazine.

‘You’ are the winner because you are part of the development of the next generation of business. The winner of Time Magazines Person of the Year are the Internet users behind the self-made content on sites such as YouTube and MySpace. They called it the digital democracy.

Time highlights user-generated content as the winner, but if you want to peel the orange and get to the real juice behind their staggering success then look at the Social Networks behind these companies. That is where the success really lies.

More and more Fortune 500 companies are adopting this model in the US but in Australia we have been very slow to act. Australia for some reason, still likes the idea of the faceless business which offers no real human dimension. 

The best example of Social Networks I have seen is actually from a TV Show. Yes… and if you watch it… you know what I am talking about.

The Sunrise Program on Channel 7 has done this brilliantly. And the Seven Network have done it so well that Channel 9 still can’t figure out why they are losing in the ratings. Sometimes marketers and Eddie McGuire miss the absolute obvious.

When you watch it you actually sense that the hosts actually are family.  There is a sincerity present that is missing from the Channel 9 alternative. This offer of family is extended out to their audience. They also know their audience very well, knowing their desires and fears.

This audience has attracted such a strength that they are now having an impact in federal politics. Their “Cool the Globe” campaign to highlight climate change is a great example of this.

Kevin Rudd used to feature every Friday where he and Joe Hockey would talk about Political issues impacting Australia. At the end, they would always have a joke and give each other a bit of stick.  Finally… real, humans on TV that have flaws. I respect Joe Hockey’s broken ankle from touch football on the Parliament House lawns.

What’s interesting is look who is the Labor leader now. In fact, I used to watch him every Friday, wondering why he wasn’t the Labor leader … and now he is.

Go to the Sunrise and see what the first question you are asked is… “Are you a part of the Sunrise family?” They even call themselves Australia’s Breakfast family. Grant Denyer expressed this strongly in his last show.

Social Networks has an important role to play in Australian business. In the past it was limited to networking groups where people went along to a function held at the local RSL. Now they go online, and they have access to whatever group they want, when they want.  Business, finance, sport, stamp collecting, anything…

Time Magazine has identified and highlighted this.  So ‘YOU’, sit down, have a drink and congratulations on your award!