The second four Properties of Information

The second four Properties of Information, continued from previous post.

5 Circulation

Send a letter. One for each person, physically copied and sent. Send electronic mail. Send once and received by as many people as desired. Easier circulation, circulates more information.

6 Concentration

Information can be concentrated. Store an entire set of encyclopaedia on one CD. More information can be condensed into greater concentrations. Concentration promotes portability. Portability changes the user’s relationship to it. New tasks in new places.

7 Dispersion

Information circulated and retrieved very quickly, updates quickly. The new quickly displaces the old. The time is now… The time is now… Feedback loops maintain usefulness through the continual updating of the ever changing display of current information.

8 Feedback

Send information. Each receiver can re-send it in a new form and context. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Digg. Scatter and multiply the original message. Easy circulation spreads the original information further.

Can you get a glimmer of insight into how all this fits together?

Let’s explore some examples…
The old mode of one-way advertising relies on control. I don’t see that any where on this list of information properties! It attempts to control, coerce and contain the information. On the web in particular, this doesn’t work.
Instead, the opposite seems to flourish. Word of Mouth marketing is the active circulation, dispersion and feedback of information. It’s an idea that’s reused, recycled and passed on. And it works because information cannot be consumed, doesn’t need to be transferred and is easily accumulated.
That sounds a lot like the internet, blogging and social media to me! A million and one people all feeding off each other, sharing content, recommending stuff, adding comments and making the total pie a whole lot bigger.
And the key piece to remember here is that social media is media created socially – by you and by me.
With access to the tools of production, we can now create and distribute our wares instantly and globally.
And, via our own online networks of friends, followers and connections we can create our own viral loops. And, with the help of Ning we can start our own viral networks.
Marketing just changed because Information Rules!

Previously published : Geoff McDonald, Beyond the Electronic Drawing Board, Archiquar, Melbourne, 1996.
Direct Source : Jones, Barry; Sleepers Wake! Technology and the future of work; Oxford University Press; Melbourne; 1982.
Original source : Dr. Yoneji Masuda.