My talk at IndiaSocial 2012 —In a world where audiences, media and messages are increasingly fragmented, what is the future of reputation? I look at three possible futures: one where there are microreputations dependent on audiences, another where audiences ignore each other entirely and lead to a reputational multiverse, and the third where reputation exists as a continuously evolving narrative. I also ask whether reputation is dead and if brands should focus on significance and relevance,

1. #indiasocial 2012
the future
of reputation
@narendranag

2. reputation
noun
a widespread belief that someone or
something has a particular habit of
characteristic: his knowledge of his subject
earned him a reputation as an expert.
ORIGIN Middle English: from Latin

3. reputation
noun
a widespread belief that someone or
something has a particular habit of
characteristic: his knowledge of his subject
earned him a reputation as an expert.
ORIGIN Middle English: from Latin

4. fragmentation
time,
audiences,
channels,
conversations,
culture,
belief...

5. fragmentation
time,
audiences,
channels,
conversations,
culture,
belief...
so, three possible futures:

6. 1 micro-reputations
• reputation being impacted continuously by
influencers
• a different reputation with different
audiences
• is the aggregate of all reputations an
indicator of overall reputation?

7. II the reputational multiverse
• audiences exist in parallel universes, rarely
interacting or influencing each other
• each reputation is as true as the other, but
independent of each other
• messaging designed for each universe?

8. III reputation as narrative
• the brand and its audiences are both
protagonists in a story they are co-creating
• think of a scale, with a soap opera on one
end (RIM/Facebook) and a mythical epic on
the the other (Apple?)
• ergo, is it time to forget reputation and start
measuring the power of the story you are
co-creating? how?

9. one last
thought

10. one last
thought: is
reputation
dead?
should we just forge
ahead, despite what
people say?

11. #kitteh
thank you
narendra nag | naren |
co-lead MSLGROUP |general manager 2020
SOCIAL
narendra@2020social.com
@narendranag