When it comes to Social Media, here at RE, we don’t just refer to the physical (well, virtual) space in which these conversations take place. We analyze the overall spectrum of the Internet as an independent world with a culture of its own.

If you’re managing a brand, I’m sure you are aware of the importance of understanding the ever-changing cultural landscape in which we (and your brand) live in. Just to give you an example (and to keep it simple), throughout the last year or so, many people have noticed changes in their reading habits, mainly influenced by their “addiction” to the internet, and started wondering if Google is making us stupid.

Now, I’m not here to tell you what to think about that, but I will tell you however, that no matter what our opinion is on the subject matter, there is no way of pulling the breaks on this express train.
Although I can personally relate to Paul Davis on the importance of finding time to “slow-read” a book away from the distractions of the numerous browsers we’re constantly dealing with, I agree with blogger Lethe Basher with the idea that we’re experiencing a shift from a Readerly Culture (paid journalists) to a Writerly one (online community), in which more and more people are writing about what they are reading and watching.

I believe an active, writerly culture is far more intelligent than a passive, readerly one, Basher says, and I agree. We like to write, and I’m not talking about essays, blogs, etc. I’m talking about writing as a way of “instant” communicating with each other. As a culture, we’ve learned to choose writing (SMS, Facebook Facebookmessages, TwitterTwitter, e-mails, etc); over lets say, face-to-face conversation, telephone, even SkypeSkype; because it gives us the freedom to think our response. It gives us the opportunity to sound smarter, funnier, cooler. It gives us time to react appropriately to certain arguments. Even if the time it takes for you to respond to a text message is three minutes, you have those 180 seconds to think what you’re going to say. I mean, you can’t leave someone on the other side of a phone conversation waiting for three minutes while you think about what you’re going to say, can you?

Are we getting dumber? I doubt it. As a society we’ve done it over and over again: adapting to new forms of communication and using it to our advantage, from Gutenberg’s introduction of the printing press to Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and beyond. Nicolas Carr writes in his Is Google making us stupid article:

“Sometime in 1882 Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter…One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic…’You are right,’ Nietzsche replied, ‘our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

We’re evolving, changing; so is it dumb to prefer text message to talk to a girl, over let’s say, a phone call? After last night, I’d say it’s smarter (one more evidence that we’re using these advances to our favor). Why? Last night, my friend was constantly on the phone, texting back and forth with this girl, so I asked him why he didn’t just call her. He looked at me as if I was crazy and asked me: “why would I?… Do you know how many of the last six messages I’ve replied have been with your help?” Indeed. He’d asked my opinion and would choose words carefully, crafting his ideas, type and re-type, receiving smiley faces from the girl, lolLOL reviewss and “u r so cute” type of answers -crafting his plot- that would eventually lead him to his final goal: to go out with her.

Seriously, how can one blow out a date over text message, if you’re given the time to react, to think? In the Internet world a lot of time means minutes, seconds; but time nonetheless. So for you brands out there, you have the time to respond to what this “writerly culture” is saying about you, and only a well-crafted message can get you a date with your target audience.

Aroldo Nery

Social Media Brand Director @ The Re Agency

Social Media is no longer a term, it’s a reality. One that’s happening now, and that’s driving people all around the globe into sharing their lives on the digital World.

Avoiding the faltering communication methods used by Traditional Advertising Agencies, which have and continue to ignore a changing demographic, and persist on the use of traditional media as a way of connecting their clients to their target consumers. We believe its time for companies to have a two-way communication with people, establishing a human connection, and delivering brand messages in a softer, more emotional approach.

Modern consumers are smart. On a daily basis they are exposed to around 3000 messages from which they tend to ignore all. Companies desperately try to sell them products while what they should be doing is engaging them. They know and appreciate quality, they respect great customer service and they value brands truly caring for them.

As the world advances, when it comes to technological improvements, social media has been in the past years a way through which people shared their lives with others. From pictures and videos to events in their personal lives, they’ve found ways to express themselves and connect with friends and people all around the World. From mobile devices to micro-blogging sites and networking rooms; they all attract them to experience a new universe in communicative capabilities.

Our main goal is to connect brands with people, humanizing the relationship between them and taking these relationships into a more emotional level of interactivity. Through the diverse tools that new media is offering, we intend to act as brand ambassadors to our client by linking them to their consumers intimately around the World.

One on one and word of mouth have always been the best mediums to connect with a demanding crowd of consumers. Making use of all the social media tools and resources available, we’ll redesign the world of marketing and advertising through a forward looking vision that will always allow us to stay ahead of trends and anticipate the places of communication between brands and consumers.

We’re here to innovate, to update the old traditional ways of communication and to change the rules of the games. We’re here to give and shape a personality to brands, to align their advertising messages into the one on one communicational world and give them a human identity to the faces of their consumers.

Sincerely,

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The RE Agency

Re - Social Media Agency Presentation