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Rise of the Great White Forty-Somethings

It turns out I'm dating one of the most influential people in the social world right now.

A 40-something on Facebook.

He looks kind of unassuming, doesn't he? Not like a force behind the next big shift in social media. But, he and other 40-somethings with young kids and disposable income are taking over the social web.

I don't know when it happened. It used to be the 30-somethings with their big ideas and the 20-somethings with their play-by-play who ruled the social web. Glibly trading observations on modern life; swapping favorite Daily Show quips; and spotting all the best new music, destinations and eats.

No more, friends. We've been sidelined.

The piracy sites that used to be home to the newest Radiohead album are now packed with episodes of iCarly and Thomas the Train. The fastest rising video on the viral charts is about a mini van - nay, a swagger wagon:

3 million people think that's hysterical.

And, if that's not confusing enough, there's the whole Betty White phemonomon. That's right, the 40-somethings are organized. They used Facebook and other social media to propel a Golden Girl onto SNL. I don't even want to tell you what they're doing for politics - passing petitions and POVs and counter-media ideas en masse.

Think through your own Facebook friends. Who are the most frequent posters (once you "hide" the farm and mobwars people, of course). Chances are they're 40-something moms with workout updates, social goings on, and lots of pictures. 

How will we connect with this newly socially-empowered group? Products are already hitting the market that are designed to be part of the next wave of social adaption - not the full-scale asks for digital natives, but easy moves for the complex age bracket that's both pirating iCarly and promoting Betty White. Check out Zoove for one example.

The India problem (or: why we all have accountant blood on our hands)

The good people at Sterling Commerce were nice enough to invite me to the Innovation Summit they sponsored last week to hear Dan Pink's keynote on motivation. Around 150 business leaders gathered there, but it's the planners who would have loved it.

Pink said this: If you want to drive a writer crazy, tell him a picture is worth a thousand words.

He jumped: Sometimes a metaphor is worth a thousand pictures. Metaphors can clarify, illuminate and explain complicated circumstances (the way no words or pictures ever could).

(Planners cheer!)

So, here's the game changing metaphor, story, example, whatever -

There are a billion people in India.

If just a small percent of them - say 15% - are talented, ambitious, college-educated, ready to compete in the global economy...

That's 150 million people.

More than the entire population of Japan.

More than the entire employed workforce of the United States.

If 85% of India is left behind, they will still have more talented, ambitious, upper class citizens than the entire population of the world's second largest economy and the entire working population of the world's largest economy.

Even better - they're about to become the largest English-speaking country in the world and - through the Internet - they're connected to North America essentially for free.

That's going to have an effect. Now, abilities that are routine can be outsourced or automated. The key phrase here is “abilities that are routine” — abilities that you can reduce to a script or formula. Those kinds of things can now be done cheaper overseas. This includes certain types of accounting, financial analysis, programming, and even certain kinds of law.

If you can write down the steps and get an answer, that's routine.

That work is gushing out of our economy.

And, India isn't even the biggest threat to these routine jobs.

Pink asked: How many of you did your taxes on TurboTax?

At least half the room raised a hand. (Kind of surprising, really, considering how many business owners with complicated financial lives were in the room)

Pink said: All you people have accountant blood on your hands!

It's true - Doing your taxes with an accountant in India (who has a dramatically lower cost of living and who you can communicate with as freely as you would with the accountant in your family tree), saves you, what, maybe half? Using a software program? At least a 95% discount.

Routine is losing its value.

Read more about what is replacing the routine in my continued coverage of Pink's talk:

On WYDiQ: Where innovation comes from

On Brand Liberators: Advice Dan Pink gave me