Cymfony Launches "Influence 2.0" eBook to Define Today's Complex Media Landscape

eBook Outlining the Rising Influence of Social Media to Reside on "Influence 2.0 Wiki;" Industry Encouraged to Edit & Enhance Content

News Facts

• Cymfony, a market influence analytics company, has launched the "Influence 2.0" eBook.
  • The draft of Chapter 1, "The Dawn of the Age of Influence 2.0," is available for download on the Cymfony web site. Additional chapters will be available for download as they are rolled out.
• The eBook is posted on a wiki at http://influence2.editme.com for public editing, and is meant to be a starting point for ongoing industry discussion on:
  • the implications of Web 2.0 for business professionals in market-facing functions;
  • how traditional and social media worlds are evolving and converging; and,
  • the rising influence of social media and how it can change and amplify messages delivered via traditional media.
• Cymfony's blog, "Marketing Insight," has been renamed "Influence 2.0."

What is Influence 2.0?

• Influence 1.0 was the old mass media world in which people received the information that was fed to them. Corporate marketers relied on traditional media outlets (TV & radio networks, newspapers, etc.), which dominated consumers' information/entertainment sources.
  • As people embraced the Internet, they learned they didn't have to wait for content - they could find whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it.
  • At the same time, people began to create their own content via personal Web pages, discussion boards, blogs, photos, and increasingly in podcasts and video.
  • As consumers became more adept at expressing themselves via the Web, the Web itself evolved to become an even more open, flexible, and interconnected platform - Web 2.0.
    • The term "Web 2.0" was coined in 2004 by Tim O'Reilly and John Batelle.
• The increased participation empowered by Web 2.0 technologies allowed consumers to turn every news item or announcement into what Wikipedia refers to as "market conversations."
• "Influence 2.0" identifies a shift in influence - the intersection of social and mainstream media - where consumers have increased control of content, breaking current models and forcing marketers to listen and respond to vast consumer audiences, not just talk to a limited set of mainstream media influencers.
• The implications of this for Marketers, PR professionals, and other customer-facing functions are beginning to be felt in the waning effectiveness of decades-old practices. To respond successfully, companies must embrace the principles of Influence 2.0, not just adopt each individual new technology on an ad hoc basis.

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Quotes, attributable to Jim Nail, chief strategy & marketing officer at Cymfony (click here for Jim Nail's LinkedIn profile)

• "People's embrace of social media is creating a dramatic shift in the fundamental relationship among companies, media outlets, and their audiences. In the past, marketing and public relations professionals have reacted to each individual, new technology like digital video recorders, blogs, consumer-created ads, etc. I hope Influence 2.0 gives them a more holistic framework to adapt their strategy from mass marketing to market conversation."
• "We are excited to kick off the discussion in defining and examining 'Influence 2.0,' but this change is far too big for one person or one company to own. That's why we built the Influence 2.0 wiki: to harness the collective intelligence of the industry to further the understanding of how traditional and social media worlds are evolving and converging."

Quote, attributable to Andrew Bernstein, chief executive officer at Cymfony

• "The Influence 2.0 eBook puts forward Cymfony's long-held vision that the traditional and social media worlds are converging. We hope that other thought leaders will join us on the corresponding wiki and share their knowledge in order to promote and share best strategies and practices in this rapidly growing space. As the industry’s level of knowledge rises and more people contribute their experiences, we know that additional breakthroughs and innovations will come."

Please contact Brian Gendron to arrange an interview and/or for additional quotes.

About Cymfony

Cymfony, a market influence analytics company, scans and interprets the millions of voices at the intersection of social and mainstream media. Its award winning platform, Orchestra, integrates innovative technology with expert analysis to uncover new business opportunities and identify threats to corporate reputation-at the speed of the market.

Cymfony pioneered the innovative technology to extract meaning from high volumes and diverse sources of text. U.S. Intelligence Agencies have been relying on our technology for more than 8 years. Cymfony is an innovator in the integration of social and traditional media, offering access to the greatest breadth of content sources and analytical expertise.

Contact Cymfony at 617-673-6000 (x2) or visit the web at www.cymfony.com and Cymfony's Influence 2.0 blog at http://www.influence2.com.

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Photo: Jim Nail, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer
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