Jujitsu and the Technologies of the Groundswell: Understanding Social Technologies and Turning Them to Your Advantage

By: Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li

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Synopsis: You probably know that the groundswell-the global phenomenon in which people use social media technologies to get the things they need from one another rather than from businesses and institutions-threatens to undermine the control on which many organizations are built. In this chapter, social media strategy leaders Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff show how you can turn the groundswell to your advantage, much the way a jujitsu master turns the force of his opponent's attack into a force for his own defense. They introduce the component technologies of the groundswell and give you the tools you'll need to engage with those technologies-and, ultimately, draw benefit from them. The chapter concludes with the Groundswell Technology Test, a tool that will help you evaluate new social media technologies and decide which ones you should pay attention to and which ones you can safely ignore. This chapter was originally published as Chapter 2 of "Groundswell, Expanded and Revised Edition: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies."