“Ignorance”, said Lady Bracknell “is like a delicate exotic fruit, touch it… and the bloom is gone.”
(See: The Importance of Being Earnest- Oscar Wide)
Oscar Wilde knew how important it was to control the flow of information in a rigid society.
Lady Bracknell did not approve of anything that tampered with natural ignorance.
Education, she claimed, earnestly, could prove a serious danger to the upper classes.
And so it turned out. Perhaps a little later than Oscar anticipated, but these things take time.
So how well educated is Pharma?
How much of a threat is ignorance proving to be for Pharma?
Or are they choosing to remain delicately, exotically ignorant about the Law of Social Media?
It certainly seems that way to Thinking Pharma.
What is the Law of Social Media?
Well, I guess that we are still all making it up really, but a few things are already clear.
- Most of the Law is not at all clear.
- All participants are qualified Judges, and Executioners.
- There are 2.2 billion active Judges and Executioners
- One billion Judges and Executioners connect to the internet every day
- Their justice is swift.
- There is only one penalty for transgression of the law – disconnection.
- Everyone is initially allowed the benefit of the doubt.
- Once you have been personally disconnected from someone’s site, it is almost
impossible to re-establish contact. One click… and you’re as good as dead. Being disconnected from one site may not seem too bad a penalty. But consider what disconnection from a million of your customer’s sites might mean for your business. Viral disconnection, prognosis-extinction.
Unfortunately, ignorance of the Law is no excuse.
The Relevance of Law
Back out there in Snail World, there are reportedly four major systems of Law.
Common Law, Civil Law, Socialist Law and Islamic Law.
Social Media Law is closest to Common Law. They have both grown out of custom and rely on people agreeing that ‘It’s the way we do things round here.’
Jordan McCollum explains that Social Media Marketers are apt to break both laws when they start to pose as consumers while trying to generate buzz, leads and sales for their clients.
Do Cheats Prosper?
One aspect of Social Media Law is that cheats get found out really quickly.
Knowledge of their cheating spreads even faster.
Robert Trivers observed that natural selection must favor a complex psychology in each individual, regulating the tendency to give, the tendency to cheat, and the response to others' acts of giving and cheating.
The response in Social Media to acts of giving is to reciprocate by giving back. Some people seem to think that the response to cheating could be to make loads of money.
And Thinking Pharma means that Earnestly. Very Very, Very Earnestly!
Leaving the last words to Oscar Wilde (Well Thinking Pharma’s adaptation)……
“A little Earnestness is a dangerous thing; a lot of it is absolutely fatal.”
(Tomorrow’s Blog: Why your Agency needs a 'Customer Advocate')
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