Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, Revised and Updated

INTRODUCTION

It's a People-Driven Economy, Stupid!

In 1992, James Carville coined the phrase "It's the economy, stupid."^[2] This simple phrase was a major driver behind why Bill Clinton became our forty-second president. Much has happened since 1992, with the most powerful change being the ubiquitous adoption and assimilation of the Internet. The Internet has revolutionized almost every facet of our business and personal lives. This last statement about the Internet is hopefully not news to anyone reading this book.

What is news, however, is today, we are in the early stages of yet another far-reaching revolution. This revolution is being driven by people and enabled by social media. That is why nearly two decades later we are taking liberty with Carville's famous quote by adjusting it to: "It's a people-driven economy, stupid." Although only a slight modification of words, it's a drastic adjustment in philosophy and in how people and businesses are changing and will continue to evolve in the coming years.

Socialnomics is the value created and shared via social media and its efficient influence on outcomes (economic, political, relational, etc.). Or, more simply put, it's Word of Mouth on digital steroids. A subset of this is in the future we will no longer search for products and services, rather they will find us via social media.

Barack Obama understood it was now a people-driven economy, and he rode this philosophy and strategy all the way to the White House. He was able to leverage ...