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Our society is experiencing the greatest evolution in human history
~3,000 BC. About 5,000 years ago for the first time mankind evolved into a society. Egypt was the birthplace of a society never seen before. Cities were built, trade was created and business developed like never before.
~ 1,800 AD. About 200 years ago mankind went through yet another dramatic change bigger and faster than any change before: Industrialization. Technology came into our everyday lives, transportation of goods and people around the world was all of a sudden possible. Financial wealth of an average worker was as great as a kings rich several hundred years ago. We doubled average live expectancy and cut work load in half. We created technology that wasn’t even part of the most remote fictions. In just 200 years we changed the face of earth more than in the 50,000 years before that.
~ 2010 AD. We already see early signs for yet another dramatic change. This time it is not trade development or technology but a major social shift. In just a year or two our economy will be affected by that change. The virtually limitless connected individual has access to more information and more people, faster than the top educated people or best connected business executives just 5 years ago. We already experience that business negotiation on all levels change faster than most people realize. While some argue whether that social media phenomenon will last or make sense, others have built connections around the world. Our society is on the verge to a change, bigger than any change we have seen in history.
While “connections” were a rare privilege for the top 10,000 people in the world, “connections” become a commodity. While trust was an attribute of a person to person relationship, trust will have a new dimension in just the very near future. The most fascinating aspect of this change can be seen in twitter and active social communities. Generation Y is not only much faster in SMS and IMing messages, that generation developed a sense for the relationships they develop, not existing in the older generations. People 30 and older mostly need personal face to face meetings to judge and understand the social relationships they are having. They need to reed the body language in a negotiation in order to navigate their behavior. That is limiting those people to only a small range of connections and a very limited number of negotiations. The next generation is sensing the mood by reading the typing speed, word selection and overall change in communication. I’m twittering since the early days of twitter and using forums since its inception. I’m actually negotiated 6 figure deals via email - and don’t need to see my negotiation counterpart - but still like even the post Y generation - the physical contact is great and there is no substitute - but a luxury in a globally interconnected society of soon 10 billion highly individual beings who no longer respond to mass marketing.
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