It’s tempting to think about user-generated content, peer influence and viral communications as new concepts.  But the reality is that these social concepts have been around for a long time.  When we were sharing the Architecture of Influence concept with Chris Shipley, she pointed out that housewives in the 50’s were coming up with jingles and entering contests — a form of user-generated content.  The product company — whether cereal or dish soap — got creative ideas and very engaged customers, for little cost.  Tupperware and Amway are two other classic examples of the power of word of mouth and peer influence at work.

And don’t forget the classic chain letter.  I remember painstakingly copying letters and sending them on to my friends, for fear of breaking the chain and incurring the wrath of the broken chain letter gods.  “Do not break the chain!”, the letters admonished, always citing examples of the poor sap who got hit by a truck or some other calamity.  Turns out the concept of the chain letter goes back to the Middle Ages, when a letter, purported to be from an Emperor of Rome, made the rounds in various forms.

As anyone with email knows, the chain letter is alive and well.  There are entire web sites devoted to chain letters.  http://chainletters.net/chainletters/ The web has breathed new life into many classic forms of communication.  It’s easier than ever to come up with your own content and share it with friends and colleagues.  Some might argue it’s too easy.  But either way, the sharing culture is firmly entrenched and here to stay.

For business to business marketers, the question is more about how to be a part of that culture in a way that’s authentic and adds value to customers and prospects — and doesn’t irritate them.  There are great examples of B2B social media that are delivering real business results. http://socialmediab2b.com/

One Eastwick client example that we think was particularly creative, not to mention effective was the Dear John campaign form Vyatta.  Vyatta used its open source community to ask customers to write Dear John letters to John Chambers, CEO of Cisco breaking up with him because his products were too expensive and complicated and letting him know he found someone new in Vyatta.  Very clever and attracted some great attention and sharing among Vyatta’s community–even a submission from Zimbabwe.

Despite the occasional annoying chain letter (which I have no problem deleting now) the web is providing lots of new opportunity for creativity and engaging in new ways with people who really matter, and getting them to talk to each other.