Origins
In 1931 Alan Turing proposed a theoretical mathematical model that would later become the ‘Universal Turing Machine’. In his ground-breaking work, Turing proposed the use of a computation (mathematical computation) device that could, given a simple binary code language as its input, perform complex tasks based on the concept of algorithms. It was here, in this point in time, that man’s journey towards computers began.
This journey has taken us from storing data on tapes to moving to a digital format. When this conversion took place, data could be replicated and re-produced again and again with no errors as long as the 1s and 0s could be read. It was a monumental shift in technology. The digital world began an exponential growth in the mediums, devices and techniques used for marketing.
Technologists went digital from analog for a very good reason, a reason that resonates across the application of communication technology by marketers. The basis of the language of transmission, the ‘binary code’ (known as such because it has but two digits, 1 and 0) is a clear, crisp and elegant solution to communication. It is numerical ingenuity of the highest order for man (or woman) the inventor. Through numbers, the storage, access and usage of data are at their optimal. Time will tell if binary code remains the defining language of modern times, none the less we thank Turing and his ‘progeny’ for this marvel.
The digitalization of marketing (in the context of binary adoption), by which I how marketing communication changed at the design level, began in good stead soon after the appearance of digitally enhanced content devices (TVs, phones, laptops). The method of marketing shifted its use of ‘branding spaces’. Since the talkies, marketing had ceased to be static, but it was with the advent of computer backed marketing that it was able to achieve true dynamism. It was a potent development spurned on by exponentially advanced internet and content driven channels. Marketing professionals could now tap into the various complexities provided within the net and smart-phone application, and increasingly developed an intimate relationship with consumers via social media. As a ‘microcosm’ of multiple ‘spaces’ all accessed simultaneously, social media had provided an opportunity for products to enter the human consciousness in as intuitive a manner as possible.
During the rest of this article, I will attempt to explore the challenge marketing faces in coming to grips with the ’14 day weather’ forecast for social media; the immediately possible to project, but difficult to predict completely. This is the evolution of the digital age into human ‘neural’ networks. It will be the mapping, on to a digital machine, of human consciousness. It does not pre-suppose any solutions or answers, but it presents the quasi-philosophical questions social marketing theory will need to answer.
Identity
When man went digital, which is to say when men began to use 1s and 0s to encode their information (as opposed to relying on wave mediums, wave imprints aka analog), we also went all out with the idea that machines can reflect the nature of man. These would be the beginnings of what will be the most potent ‘relationship’ people have with technology, and the first clue as to where marketing channels are headed.
The pioneers of digitalization not only went ape over a new technology, they espoused the development of a new idea: If the thoughts of man (his verses, his mathematics, his prose and his brands) could be captured via a continuum of digital networks, than surely one day man himself may be expressed as purely digital. This idea, let us for simplicity call it the quest for artificial ‘neural’ networks (as opposed to biological, such as the brain), took cue from the essence of the computing machine; infinite computational capacity. Theoretically, machines that can read the digital language can multiply their ability (or rate) of data processing infinitely. The only apparent limitation would be size and scale. While physically this is not feasible, it remains theoretically and mathematically possible.
This migration will be a gradual one, initially reliant on the consumer to begin ‘placing’ and ‘reading’ marketing communication in a complex social network; much more complex than today’s 2 dimensional interface (the GUI), this social network will be intuitively and ‘symbiotically’ connected to the universal device. Marketing, already adept at social media communication, will need to provide for a ‘de-humanized’ user in the mid-term. It will than progress along with technology to come face to face with the consumer as true social space branding. We can only imagine how much possibility this migration holds for marketing.
The profession will need to understand that imposing itself on this personal projection will raise deeper questions of human identity: fast forward a couple of decades and what does consciousness mean? What does it mean to be human, most importantly, can a digital map of the branding landscape be blended onto social media and optimize it? Is it, as some argue, the logical conclusion of the ‘social network’ (meaning the entirety of social media existence of all users) to also be the next ‘neural’ network? Excitingly, this may mean that a theory on ‘neural’ branding will need to be devised.
New social space
There are two reasons why this, the cross-road of the digital age, is going to alter our future; For one thing, the core sources of choice, freedom and intrusion may be re-defined as best captured on social media, and nowhere else. Second, by mapping the human condition digitally, there are certain essential qualities of social behavior that are bound to change.
On the Internet, people are physically separated and socially distant from their audience. Controls are limited to the medium, the web allows for relative freedom of personal expression (and this impacts the user’s reaction to communication). Once we begin conceptualizing a ‘neural’ network, we must provide it the same traits.
The ‘social wall’ is a powerful tool. It allows for people to express their identity in an evolved manner; where once they were limited to physically sharing memories, objects of affection or trinkets of material joy, they can now do so at potentially infinite speed (run-time). If we are to ‘live’ the wall, what will be its parameters? How will marketing social value be created? Will users not begin to prefer their virtual spaces as their most intimate? What, therefore, will define what being a ‘consumer’ is? Since word of mouth, now shared via social media, remains the most potent tool branding success has, this core driver of social branding and social capital will undergo paradigm shift.
Which brings us to our next query; is our humanity (or our ‘humaneness’) locked within our bodies? Can the mind, once freed of its physical shell, be subject to a digital version capable of the same level of consciousness? We know that we may map the brain. What we do not yet know is if once mapped; it can retain the ‘emergence’ of consciousness. All are relevant queries for those looking to understand the psychological extensions that marketing feeds on.
If our social contact is a digital one, expressed only as a stream of data, than our social existence, the basic humanity of our lives will need to undergo a severe evolutionary step.
Today we are using the digital age’s finest creation: the social network. It has provided us the first true glimmer of what a digital existence may mean, and where ultimate sources of ‘human’ marketing may lie. It has not, however, yet provided us with a clear sense of true socialization at a global scale. Not yet. Though we may feel the hint, the slight brush of some sort of destiny, there are many questions to be answered.
Going truly digital
Social marketing has become a dominating function; it will continue to be so, due to our innate need for society. It will thrive alongside the digital ‘re-organization’ of social theory. It has already sparked within the current, intrusive yet intuitive, social network. Budgets are burgeoning, and the technology being devised is phenomenally adaptive.
The neural network will first become the kind of information stream of connectivity currently being envisaged by Google’s ‘search your brain’ plans (its ‘synaptic’ network).
Within this, the concept of what it means to have a social ‘network’ will be up for grabs. Early movers to the neural network will find a complex structure, one that will not be easily understood by simply re-mapping existing theory onto it. Marketers will need to understand we are potentially looking at a viable ‘dawn’ of virtual existence and branding space will be positioned inside this space. If the technology continues to evolve, than the multitudes potentially become one, and the many merge into singular complexity.
Social marketing professionals, if they are to remain cutting edge, will need to be involved in the discourses raised by some of my proposed questions. These discourses will matter. For all those of us involved.