Are you old enough to remember the 60's and 70's? It was a time of social change where "cultures clashed" over ideology, freedom and policy. The younger generation was against the Vietnam War, Corporations, Politics, "The Man" and everything "The Man" stood for.
It was an era where drugs, sex and rock & roll reflected the
"Hippie" philosophy. The word "hippie" was initially used to describe
early adopter ideologies included the counter cultural values of the
Beat Generation.
Some created their own social groups and communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs to explore alternative states of consciousness. Since the widespread movement in the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture and philosophy have been assimilated by mainstream society.
The hippie legacy can be observed in contemporary culture in myriad
forms — from health food, to music festivals, to contemporary sexual
mores, and even to the cyberspace revolution. Hippies stood firm
on freedom of expression even if the expression was opposite of cultural
norms and the law of the day. The Hippie generation has grown up and
today they are industry leaders, politicians, Presidents, musicians and
employees with grand children, pets and jobs.
The "Hippies" are Back in 2.0 Form!
Notice that the "Hippie" movement of the 60's & 70's represented a "counter-culture" formed into "social groups and communities". Sound familiar? It should because today there is a "counter-culture" forming into social groups and communities online
that reject established corporate cultures, media and age-old
philosophies that accept things as they've been done instead of changing
things that can be done better.
Today hippies 2.0 are using a different kind of psychedelic drug
called social technology. Instead of THC and LSD the drug of choice is
PHP, Linux, SQL and others which enables the freedom of expression in
the "clouds". The new drugs are as addictive as the old drugs and
those that become enlightened from using it understand that it does
change one's state of consciousness. The new state of consciousness is
the enlightenment of power created by "social groups and communities" igniting changes in philosophy about business as usual and demanding business as unusual.
The freedom of speech empowered by massive collaboration and
real-time reactions to business as usual is and will continue to create a
wave of change for business as unusual. Many from the old business
philosophy think they understand the power of social technology and try
to apply it to old corporate practices in marketing, PR, advertising,
customer and employee relations etc. only to learn that their strategies
fail because they are driven by the wrong philosophy.
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems
about matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and
language. The word "philosophy" means "love of wisdom". It is the
critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
Hippies 2.0 challenge the assumptions and beliefs of
organizational and personal thinking stuck in 1.0 philosophies. You can
spot thinkers of Hippie 2.0 by their media which reflects profound
changes in knowledge, values and reason about the human interaction with
markets of conversations. Hippies 2.0 are early adopter ideologies
which show the counter cultural values created by the intersection of
technology with the human network.
People like Seth Godin and Doc Searls
and others create massive attention and followers because their media
reflects profound changes in knowledge, values and reason as it relates
to the shift in market philosophy, the market of people. In other words
to get the attention of markets you have to understand the philosophy of
the market, Hippies 2.0.
To pursue a strategy that isn't grounded in the right philosophy is a waste of time, energy and attention. Hippies
2.0 reject useless media that steals their time, energy and attention.
The reason is that it is philosophically out of touch with the soul of
the human network.
Join the Hippie 2.0 community here and email your philosophy to post@hippie20.posterous.com or Write a new post here!