I’m consulting in the winelands. The estate has ambitious plans to create a virtual online community with all sorts of measures of engagement. I’m not sure this is a good idea…
Losing what is real
All around us we are seeing a move to virtual worlds, from online dating to virtual wine appreciation.
As though this could ever replace the real thing! But there is a Pied Piper call for us to move from the real world into “the cloud”…
But is this healthy? Let’s look at a story from another part of my life…
A tale of two girls
I have been working with troubled teenagers for over a decade through my church (I even run courses on parenting teenagers). So parents often seek me out for advice.
So… two different parents consult me about their daughters. Both girls come from similar backgrounds. Both spend over an hour a day texting friends. The parents both want to know, “Is this healthy?”.
I know both girls well through our church. I will tell the parents of the first girl “she’s fine, there’s nothing to worry about”. But I’ll tell the parents of the second girl “I’m very worried about her”.
What is the difference between the two girls? Well, I know that the first girl has a wide range of friends with whom she spends lots of time. But the second girl has a poor self-image and battles with personal relationships - so she escapes online, spending hours texting people she has never met in the real world. The first girl is using social media to augment a healthy life in the real world - but the second girl is using social media solely to escape the real world.
Close the loop!
Social media and other virtual offerings should be a way of “closing the loop”, of helping us to live richer lives in the real world:
So perhaps our wine estate should be using social media to bring people back to the farm, to real soil, real wine, real friendship...
Thirty years ago the book Megatrends coined the phrase “high-tech, high touch” - as the world becomes more and more technological and virtual, people will increasingly long for the touch of the real - so be sure that you give them this as you work...
Neil Hinrichsen is the founder of Koi. An entrepreneur all his life, Neil has cofounded two startups both of which were acquired, and is now working to develop the next generation of entrepreneurs in SA through his Koi platform, comprising a methodology for startups, classes, coffee sessions, mentoring, the KoiTips newsletters and a thriving online group. He loves working with young entrepreneurs who want to change the world. Neil also helps Microsoft with their BizSpark programme for top startups, provides mentoring at the Innovation Hub and other incubators, consults with corporates, advises the CSIR in South Africa on commercialising research, is an accredited specialist with the University of Pretoria and serves on the advisory board for Stellenbosch University's LaunchLab incubator. On the personal side he's involved in youth ministry and mentoring township teenagers. Learn more about Koi: KOI GUIDE | EMAIL neil@koistrategy.com
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