What happens when the audience or users starts co-constructing your marketing-messages? How can you control it ““ or is it even desirable to be able to control it? These key-questions were posed at this year”™s New Media Days in Copenhagen.

“œThe users have become the producers of our time”. This was stated by Peter Hirshberg in the opening act at this year”™s New Media Days. In a web 2.0 environment this has grand consequences for the way we think brands and advertising which Hirshberg illustrated through various examples. When users/consumers think of themselves, as public figures with an audience who contribute to current debates and stories, participation and engagement will be one of the main concerns for marketers trying to convey a certain message to an audience.

This focus on participation and co-construction is not new and has been part of Communication Theory for many years. The traditional “˜needle-theory”™ perception of communication was abandoned long time ago. What has really changed during the last 3 years is the media environment. The web 2.0 has changed the conditions for participation and co-constuction”“ and hence the consequences for the brands which are trying to communicate.

In a web 2.0 environment the rules for brands and marketing are.. that there aren”™t´ that many rules. The perception that marketers can, in some way or another, try to control communication is out-dated. Off course this makes the targeting of any communication message complex. Now more than ever it is open to scrutiny and debate across the world.

If the premise is lack of control the only thing you can do is try to navigate strategically in this complex environment. First of all you need to be aware of the social and cultural mechanisms that underlies this form of network. As pointed out by Shawn Gold, Head of Content and Marketing at MySpace, there are three basic interconnected mechanisms one has to be aware of:

1. Self-expression
2. Connection
3. Discovery

These three mechanisms form what he calls the DNA of the MySpace Generation. Self-expression is related to the fact that media plays a great part in identity production where privacy is not an issue and opportunity is connected to revealing information about one self. Connection is everything ““ being connected to friends and peers is a major part of navigating through the information stream, and making choices. It is also related to the fact that everyone is a distributor of content, meanings and lifestyle. Discovery is part of a basic drive to seek out and reveal new things and then distribute it to others.

The consequences are that you need to address these mechanisms in order to try to succeed in communicating in this environment. You need to seek out the basic premises for engaging the targeted audience in your project (and thereby your communication). What sense of belonging does this create? What kind of appreciation and recognition will participants receive? How can this enhance self-expression? Does this provide access to the right places? How can one act? Etc.

With this in mind you can set out to create the right tools, as vehicles for the targeted audience own content ““ making them a part of the communication and message construction as well as distributors. There is off course no guarantee for a huge viral marketing campaign success, but if you look at it in a kind of beta-cultural way, you must see how people react and then refine your project accordingly ““often several times.

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