Comments on: Control vs Enablement http://randomthings.wordpress.com/2007/06/20/control-vs-enablement/ Development, the internet, and technology with a bit of randomness thrown in Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:40:40 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Mark Sutton http://randomthings.wordpress.com/2007/06/20/control-vs-enablement/#comment-5454 Mark Sutton Thu, 21 Jun 2007 03:34:23 +0000 http://randomthings.wordpress.com/2007/06/20/control-vs-enablement/#comment-5454 Hi, this is Mark Sutton, CEO of Firstgiving. You have put your finger on a important dynamic that will increasingly challenge the conventional wisdom of ‘controllers’. As social networking, blogs and other interaction amongst individuals on the web continues to gain momentum, it will become increasingly difficult for organizations maintain control over things like how their messaging is presented and in cases like the one you describe who acts on behalf of a cause that they care passionately about. It’s understandable how diminishing ability to control causes discomfort to individuals and organizations who have previously maintained control. You bring up a few great examples on this as it relates to the Firstgiving site. We are finding that the anxiety which comes along with a loss of control is replaced by pure amazement and even joy when the fruits of enablement are realized. In the case of Firstgiving, this looks like many people acting to raise lots of money for an organization with no or minimal effort required by the organization. New people are made aware of the cause and become donors. Of course, this isn’t to belittle the concerns that you mention in your post and I invite you or anyone in your organization to contact me to discuss as they pertain to Firstgiving (mark@firstgiving.com). Thanks again for your post. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mark, thank you for your comments. It is true - the web is 'enabling' a loss of control for organizations. Those organizations that can successfully grasp that concept and provide opportunities for individuals to take control will have great success in developing relationships with their supporters. I certainly appreciate what FirstGiving does and hope to make use of it in the future. Hi, this is Mark Sutton, CEO of Firstgiving. You have put your finger on a important dynamic that will increasingly challenge the conventional wisdom of ‘controllers’. As social networking, blogs and other interaction amongst individuals on the web continues to gain momentum, it will become increasingly difficult for organizations maintain control over things like how their messaging is presented and in cases like the one you describe who acts on behalf of a cause that they care passionately about. It’s understandable how diminishing ability to control causes discomfort to individuals and organizations who have previously maintained control. You bring up a few great examples on this as it relates to the Firstgiving site. We are finding that the anxiety which comes along with a loss of control is replaced by pure amazement and even joy when the fruits of enablement are realized. In the case of Firstgiving, this looks like many people acting to raise lots of money for an organization with no or minimal effort required by the organization. New people are made aware of the cause and become donors.
Of course, this isn’t to belittle the concerns that you mention in your post and I invite you or anyone in your organization to contact me to discuss as they pertain to Firstgiving (mark@firstgiving.com). Thanks again for your post.

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Mark, thank you for your comments. It is true – the web is ‘enabling’ a loss of control for organizations. Those organizations that can successfully grasp that concept and provide opportunities for individuals to take control will have great success in developing relationships with their supporters. I certainly appreciate what FirstGiving does and hope to make use of it in the future.

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