[timandren]

Mark Earls' most recent blog post Digital Britain Afterthoughts gives some clear insight about where the disconnect is occurring for businesses in the power shift from traditional to social web media.

Earls' field of study is marketing and the crowd. He understands marketing trends and how mass behavior effects business. This quote (as I interpret it) describes how big business is desperately trying to stay connected and has the blinders on so to speak.

"...many of the people and companies represented yesterday are paid to keep the current model going and just don't want to see the digital technology as anything but a means to turbo-charge the current model."
The giants of business and media have high-output, intricate systems in place today that would be impossible to stop and restructure. Many of their business models were designed to snap into the architecture of traditional media and marketing and are struggling due to a lack of dexterity that's needed for new media.

These companies would need to completely overhaul their framework in order to make business run efficiently and effectively. It would be like stopping a 747's jet engines mid-flight to upgrade or install new ones. Their only choice is to keep the machine going for as long as it can. 'Run it into the ground', they're saying.

Small businesses, however, don't have the same problems. They are nimble because of their size, much more adaptable and often have more of an open architecture to begin with. Small business owners are willing and able to do just about anything to make it work.

Not being established can be a good thing. In many cases, businesses that aren't forced to do go the 'round plug-square hole' route are the younger businesses that developed their model with the influences of new media in mind. Others are just small enough to turn on a dime.

What ways does your business size or flexibility help you in today's business climate?

[JackofTrades]

Great short article - I've read a few of yours now on this forum. Visited your site - the simple and clean layout is definitely a huge plus! Keep up the good work!