The Many Not The Few

With more consumers talking directly to brand owners, Graeme Trayner discusses the implications of open source thinking.

All around us we see signs of a new environment where the boundaries of who creates and who consumes are becoming blurred. Where once the ability to broadcast and publish was the preserve of the rich and powerful, now anyone with a PC, modem or even a mobile phone can become a reporter or commentator.

This shift is radically disrupting how the powerful see 'consumers'. Witness how one of the world's most successful businessmen, Rupert Murdoch, believes the future of his media empire lies in MySpace – a group of interlinked websites created by ordinary people – or how a former US Vice President, Al Gore, is devoting much of his energy to creating a TV station – Current TV – that solely broadcasts consumer-created content.

We can locate this blurring of roles within the wider context of how new technology such as the internet allows people to have direct conversations with businesses and organisations. For the market research industry, this has stark implications. If you can set up a website or blog to commentate on a brand, why do you need a market research firm to act as a mediator between you (the consumer) and the business? Indeed, why does business need to hire a research firm if it can tap into a wealth of consumer conversations online?

The answers to how we cope with this challenge lie in looking at the realm of open source thinking which, though spawned by new technology, is now a mindset with a much wider application. My aim here is to provide an overview of what open source thinking is, how it is changing various sectors and spheres of activity, and how it can impact upon what we do.