A while back I read about the emergence of empowerment, one of the catalytic trends of our times, which has been growing a lot by the widespread use of social media, giving consumers power and decision over brands, products, ideas and policies. Empowerment is much more than transferring power to the consumer or customer, a term often used by large companies.
What the new times bring is a desire to have the tools and means to develop personally, professionally and, more than ever politically, as a way to be able to contribute more actively for themselves, their families, their communities and the World. A recent example is the videos that appear in sharing mode about the environmental catastrophe that occurred in the Doce River in Brazil, where one of them – Brazil Doce River is Full of Death Fish(http://on.fb.me/1Thx0y9)– has already had more than 8 million views in less than 24 hours. Which reflects well the power of social media, as well as, the globalisation of awareness, in this case environmental.
This movement translates into an active optimism not only to get the world out of the mess it is in but, more importantly, to change it in order to avoid or minimize the financial, environmental and human disasters and lack of ethics that have taken hold and grown in recent times.
Empowering consumers and employees means increasing the power of the brand by creating new and better consumers/customers, with a positive impact on the business and on society.
