Just recently there has been a lot of talk within London on the topic of Social Media from the traditional press publications. To me, I feel that these publishers are starting to feel threatened and afraid. Threatened by the transparency and use of social media. Afraid of how it is already and will affect their revenue in the coming months. I believe that they should be worried and start embracing (social media) quickly.

Since the 1600s everyone has been in the business of pushing. Today we living a completely upside down world where individuals can start pulling. To repeat what Gary Vaynerchuck once said, “Shit has changed! The ship has sailed. This is here. The ability for us to communicate with each other is on like Donkey Kong.”

The traditional way for businesses, politicians, individuals, etc. to communicate their message to consumers has been via traditional advertising and publications like newspapers. The most successful has, in most cases, always been determined by who had the most money. We all have collectively been using these traditional forms to shove our message down the throats of the consumers and hope that they will bite. However, today we live in a world where this is no longer the case.

Today’s world is remarkably transparent and though some will argue it is not – it is. The current level of transparency today is screwing with everyone and it is not becoming more opaque any time soon, if at all. Word of mouth is on steroids and the “word” travels very fast on almost any subject of any size. There is absolutely no more hiding. “Giving a crap” and “actually caring” is going to scale very quickly and fast. Anyone today can get their message out to the public, rally for a new cause, an existing one and all with very small amount of money, if any at all. This is done by the use and leverage gained with social media and tools like Twitter and Facebook.

So what am I saying? I am saying that if we do not start embracing the new technologies (ex: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and the current level of transparency, it will change before you can blink your eyes and we will leave you behind being confused about how it happened.

My message to you with this article is that we are living in the change. The growth of transparency, immediate communication and the forms in which we communicate is happening right now. If we do not start embracing this, some will fall behind and be left outside of the loop wondering how it happened.

My question to you is, “What is your message and how are you getting it out there?”