The Genius of Einstein Applies to the Social Web
In his recent post, Max Kalehoff of Online Spin revisits some of Nobel-prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein’s famous quotes and explains them for the marketing world of today.
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” In an increasingly quant-driven marketplace, it’s easy to obsess on what you can count and disregard the rest. This paradox contributes to the confusion of aims mentioned above. To be successful, it’s critical to find alternative means of codifying and leveraging the important things you can’t count.
Social Networking Strategist Jay Deragonprovides us with daily proof of Einstein’s statement. The social web - or the use of which - enables the relationships between members of the global community. Most of the online “social” networks (Linkedin, Facebook, and our personal favorite, Link to Nashville) provide us with quantitative results for the number of connections we have.
However, what really matters most is not the number of “friends” one has, but rather the qualityof the relationships established. The quality of relationships cannot be measured or counted. Each one of us “KNOWS” with whom we have the best relationships, but at the same time, it’s difficult to put a number on some of our top “friends” - even online.
It can be argued that the relationships can be improved through the use of such applications as Booze Mail or Virtual Cards for example on Facebook. However, some of the best relationships we have are the ones which don’t involve APIs but rather simple emails indicating support.
As The Relationship Economy emerges, those who are most engaged with others online via the conversational rivers are the ones who are going to gain the most - both personally and professionally.
How ’bout it?
Tags: jay deragon, blog, facebook, Link to Nashville, LinkedIn, social networks, einstein, Max Kalhoff, Conversational Rivers, quantitative, qualitative, quality, quantity
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