As backdrop, Christopher Locke saw this trend coming back in 2001 in Gonzo Marketing when he noted that Ford was being very progressive in 2000 by trying to get all employees to push forward their passions into online forums. As an example, if people who work for Ford also like to garden, then foster online communities amongst employees offer the possibility to open up to the outside world to interact about all sorts of things that could even include new ideas for Ford’s trucks, but also a lot of other good ideas and meaningful involvement.

This week, Gary V. nails it on his “120″ video covering how all these new social web tools are forcing folks to align all elements of their lives onto the same page. No more secret lives, fake or ambiguous ID’s since Facebook is playing the hand of people to fess up to the networks they belong to for access. Along with that forcing hand comes transparency.

Next up, Loic Le Meur offers solid thoughts on his frustrations of the decentralizations of the social map. Partly, web communications are just becoming more advanced to meet users’ needs, but also he’s noting a problem with the early stages of web’s social tools.

Facebook is a walled garden which offers people a safe and user-controlled environment. While Flickr and MySpace broke a lot of social norms about a person’s online persona, Facebook’s attraction as a safer version of digital media sharing allows for a transitional platform for those still afraid to fully go online. For these ‘early majority’, the idea that digital media may get online with little to no control personal control is still scary. An explosion in video and digital camera technology combined to most cell phones (plus much easier uploading functions) should all but end that fear in the coming years (for many in the early and late majority of tech adoption, not for laggards).

How does this thread together for branding? The two emerging concepts of transparency (=people being who they are at work and at home) plus disintermediation (=tools that foster connectivity without being a platform) create a person as marketer/representative/communicator. [note: yes, I'm pulling a term, disintermediation, that isn't really used for the web, but I think it fits]

Marketing strategy and communication is becoming more like silly putty. While these branding concepts are not novel in for web developers and marketers, it is very challenging for firms outside of the interconnected web that are used to highly structured interactions. Silly putty can even make a copy of the news/comics that can be stretched.

“Maybe we see the formation of funds that step in to do lending the old-fashioned way. They actually look at the quality of the credit. They put some skin in the game (their risk capital) in order to securitize the debt. And the rules of lending become very transparent. It is not clear what the actual form will take, but something like that is going to be what we see in a few years. More transparency and actual risk on the part of the agency/fund/group that makes the loan will be the order of the new day.

Agreed. (emphasis mine)

The BuzzBin talks about how more of a marketing department is becoming a 2 way street. My guess is that all the areas will get there eventually if we’re all doing our jobs.

If you don’t believe me, read how kids are freaking out that they can’t be alone on the internet because their parents are joining their ranks on Facebook and via IM. This is early adoption turning slowly main stream.

Facebook, Linkedin and cell phone based IM are forcing personal connections as opposed to blogging, twittering and related responses which still see a good share of faux-profiles. Being the same person all the time merges a person’s many facets onto the same canvas. For the older of us, that’s not what we grew up with and while some will hang on to the idea of having a Second Life, gadget convergence is bringing the digital world closer to the real one.

Many of us seek openness from companies and public facing people relying traditionally on some intermediary press/media function. Times are changing as transparency takes hold, and people have increasingly gotten ahead of media scrutiny… and people around them are ready to consume these options. Soon, we’ll all be intrigued in having direct access to anyone (we may not always take advantage of the option, but like a 3rd row of seats in a SUV, we’ll take it). Company CEO’s and high profile employees are pushing their messages externally via video and blogging. They don’t have to, increasingly they want to.

Backlash can be anticipated for those that want to be black holes within these new information transmission platforms. Identity anonymizer services can allow the opposite option: not being transparent.

What will this lead to? We’ve talked between us BSM guys that we’re our own brands, and maybe having our own domains, our own servers and our own media developer tools that allows us to deliver our own messages for our companies, for our families and with our colleagues.

Transparency has yet to go from early adopter to mass consumption in many of our lives, mostly because the steps to be open takes writing blogs in code and working to get movies and pictures onto platforms to deliver them seamlessly. As those tools move into our work and home lives, more and more people will be asking why you’re not easy to find, approach and see what you’re up to.