  If I Controlled the InternetTagged as: iCitizen, new consumer journey, retailPosted by: Molly Metzger Last week at iCitizen, Doc Searls introduced project VRM to clients and associates. While more of mind-shift than actual code, Doc Searls believes in the next few years, consumers will disclose their intentions to marketers through something akin to a personal rfp. Marketers will respond to these intentions, instead of merely guessing at them via CRM systems and media. VRM is about giving more control to consumers so we can participate in the relationship. Huge. In 2006, slam poet Rives received a standing ovation at TED for a performance called “If I controlled the internet”. I gave the same standing ovation from my orange couch in Columbus, Ohio. I, too, believe that childhood.com should link to a picture of me on my banana seat bike pretending to be Sabrina from Charlie’s Angels. I want the internet to be about me. I want control over the experience because I know what I like and need. I am optimistic that I will, in the near future, have control of my relationships and data. The twitter backchannel and blogosphere were a bit more skeptical. Reality check: language counts. We need better words to convince both consumers and marketers that the intention economy is worth the effort. Terms like “VRM” or “personal rfps” evoke some of the biggest jokes of cubicle-laden America, the stuff of cartoons, not a revolution. The snarkosphere will have a field day. To change attitudes and behaviors, we need poets as well as coders. Over the next few weeks I’ll explore VRM, its contribution to The OPEN web and the steps marketers can take now to get ready for things to come. I welcome comments from poets, coders and everyone in between. Tagged as: iCitizen, new consumer journey, retail
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Comment by Doc Searls
Molly,
First, VRM is about customers, not consumers. The two words are not synonyms. The distinction might not be poetic, but it is meaningful.
Second, VRM is not about “disclosing” information to marketers, or to anybody. It’s about asserting a variety of things: intentions to buy specific goods and services, preferences, existing memberships and other relevant information — involving “minimal disclosure” and “constrained use”. That may sound too technical, but again distinctions are essential.
What matters is that VRM works to make customers both a) independent, and b) enabled by tools that permit engagement by both buyers and sellers on terms that work for both.
Third, even though I talked about VRM to a room full of marketing folks in Columbus, I obviously did a lousy job of making clear that it is not yet ready to be marketed. I believed then, and still do, that it helps marketers to get an advance briefing on a development that will, if it succeeds, change their lives.
Yes, we need poets as well as coders. For what it’s worth I’m the former, not the latter. But we need real stuff before we get poetic about it. We’re not there yet. Meanwhile, I beg your patience while we work on substantive tools that serve principles which, while not yet poetic, might change the world for the better.
And thanks for the ovation. Much appreciated.
Doc
Comment by Kimmy
Good words.
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