The Value Game is becoming increasingly generalized as more entrepreneurs seek to learn how to apply it to new economic realities. The first company to launch is Social Flights. Quickly funded, in full operation, booking jets and signing contracts, the Social Flights success trajectory has been truly remarkable.
The Ingenesist Project is deploying several more applications of The Value Game. Our next venture is to develop Reputation Management for High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI). Here’s how it goes.
The Social Influence Game:
Player 1: At some point, the government is going to stop supporting many very important social programs such as schools, health care, child care, retirement benefits, and possibly even close the charitable tax deduction. In order to survive, social causes will need to come up with new forms of support or fund themselves with a new form of currency.
Player 2: Many politically and financially influential people in communities are finding that their “Google Results” often tell a story that is less than flattering. Some have old lawsuits, unpopular business associates, or just too much personal information that presents a skewed picture of how they actually feel toward their community. It is risky, difficult, and expensive to change Search engine results and it is nearly impossible to “control” what other people say.
Player 3: Legions of Social Media Gurus have long learned to aggregate and influence markets using social media platforms. They have learned to match knowledge surpluses to knowledge deficits as a means of building their own online reputation and influence. Many Social Media Gurus have achieved a strong Social Media Presence, which supports book tours, lecture series, personal brand image, or corporate clients and sponsorships. They constantly seek new content.
Converting Political Currency to Social Currency
The Social Influence Game will match HNWI with Social Causes where the HNWI can exert their political and Corporate currency in exchange for Social Currency. Many HNWI have a powerful lifelong network of other influential people from whom they can find advice, mentorship, assistance, or discover goods, services, or physical inventory that may become useful and available to a struggling social enterprise.
Social Media Gurus who make these connections will blog, comment, and promote their ability to match power surplus to power deficit. Internet Search results will redraw the Social Graph.
Holiday Shopping For the New Millennium
In practice, HNWI can “Go Shopping” for social causes. When they find one that suits their talents and passions, they will be able to see what that organization needs; beds, food, heating oil, legal advice, CEO mentor, someone to lean on the land lord or even exert a position with the local government, etc. The HNWI then will pull out their lifelong Rolodex of powerful persons and exert their influence in favor of the social cause through the interpretation of the Social Media Guru.
Winning The Game:
After a short while, Google will start pushing the old search results of the HNWI farther and farther down the page as the tweets, comments, and blog posts accumulate. The Social Media Guru will find gold in their own backyards instead of Corporate Astroturf. Social Causes will achieve their mission while managing new resources and earning important new friends.
Perhaps most importantly, the HNWI community will collaborate in order to sustain their Social Currency in the community. They will begin to bias their personal and professional actions in favor of social priorities over Wall Street priorities.
In Short, everyone acting in their own best interests benefits the interests of everyone. This is Social Capitalism. If it works well enough, maybe we can finally put those pesky social causes out of business.
