Um. Sorry world. How about “Share the Podium”?

A collection of the most influential diagrams explaining Social Media

After we needed to explain to a client (again) the difference between “Social Media” and Twitter or Facebook, site Beg to Differ went out looking for diagrams to show the range. And boy did we ever. The SlideShare deck below includes the 6 examples we found including entries from consulting heavyweights like Brian Solis and Robert Scoble…

Social Media: apparently it's pretty complicated...
Social Media: apparently it's pretty complicated...

But be warned: these diagrams are pretty geeky

So if you have a low tolerance for dense, for sale logo-heavy graphics with more than a smattering of techno-speak here are the take-aways:

  1. “Social Media” includes a huge and growing range of Web-driven conversation tools;
  2. As Social Media gets more diverse, see sub-genres are defining – and re-defining – themselves;
  3. There are many ways of viewing this universe; but
  4. There’s still a lot of noise… clarity is hard to find.
  5. But it is possible. See example #6 below.

Now that the Vancouver 2010 Olympics are over, generic
we take it all back

In which Beg to Differ eats crow on behalf of the whole nation of Canada, buy more about
and proposes 10 truly Canadian Vision Statements to replace Own the Podium.

Canadian Skeleton Gold medalist Jon Montgomery - by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
How Canadian is this? Skeleton Gold medalist Jon Montgomery – by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Hey world, ailment

How’s it going? This is Canada here. And look, you know that whole “own the podium” thing? That thing where we 1) claimed we were going to kick butt in Vancouver 2010, and then 2) actually kicked butt by winning more gold medals than any country has ever won at an Olympic Winter Games – like, ever?

Well, that was totally rude of us.

I know, your athletes came to Canada hoping to win, but then you had to watch Canadians win, and win, and win. You wanted to hear your national anthems, but then you had to listen to ours over and over: you must have thought, “Oh Canada, here we go again”.

We know how that feels; we’ve been there (i.e. at every other Olympics).

And then, beating the Americans at ice hockey for gold not once, but twice… okay, we don’t take that back, but you get the picture.

And then the actual words: “Own the Podium”. Ah, that little three-word Vision statement. Did you know that was actually written by a government agency? Weird eh?

It set a simple, audacious goal that everyone clearly understood, and that we could hold the Canadian Olympic Committee accountable for. It was oddly bold, clear, even unapologetic.

Whoa, did we mention we’re sorry?

Seriously, that kind of cocky self-assurance was totally un-Canadian of us. We are SOOO sorry, and we’ll just go back to being Canadian again, eh?

So, in the spirit of re-capturing the old Canada you all knew, loved, and mostly ignored, here are:

10 possible replacements for “Own the Podium” that we think you’ll like better:

1 ) “Earn the podium.”

2 ) “Share the podium please.”

3 ) “Own the snow (except in Vancouver, where we’ll own the drizzle).”

4 ) “Owned the podium; but dude, you can have it back now.”

5 ) “Own any podium that involves pucks.”

6 ) “No matter how well we do, we will always suck at ski jumping.”

7 ) “Own the floor beside the podium where the 4th place finisher stands.”

8 ) “Own the bouquet, but donate the medals to poor American families who can’t get health care (sorry).”

9 ) “Own the right to collectively agonize, apologize, and fail to recognize those areas where we actually are awesome.”

10 ) “Un-the Podium” (in which we basically write a Vision statement that is more typical of a government program):

Our Un-the-Podium Truly Canadian Vision: Continuously improve world-comparative indicators of success in a wide variety of fields of athletic endeavour, and demonstrate greater-than-incremental improvements across events using Target Excellence Peak Indicator Data (TEPID), as determined by Canadian Olympic Performance Optimization Utility Thresholds (COPOUTs).”

Whew, that feels much better.

Postscript: SARCASM INTENDED. Thanks world for an excellent two week party. Let’s try this again in a couple years okay?

5 thoughts on “Um. Sorry world. How about “Share the Podium”?”

  1. Being a friend of the man whose vision “Own The Podium” was, the late and very great Mark Lowry, I am if course sensitive and biased.

    I feel none of the collective guilt for having been part of our country’s bold adventure to rise above the ignominy of being the only country ever to host the Olympics (twice) but never win a gold medal. It took what it took. Clarity of vision and an understanding of the mechanisms which would make it happen.

    I remember standing up to a bully on my street when I was five years old and putting an end to his reign of terror, only to be criticized by the other victims I had freed from his tyranny for being harsh. What find Canadians they were. But seriously, something had to be done and it was.

    So bronze your gold medals if you wish, and keep the “brocoli” ..but remember …without Mark’s vision and sincere concern about our country … we would not be in this wonderfully awkward situation.

    Support the COC and Alex Baumann, as they continue in his memory to strive to Own The Podium.

  2. For the record, I get the sarcasm. I love it in fact.
    “Sorry, I’ll get it bronzed” was the funniest moment of the closing ceremonies for me.

    We are on the same page.

    Now our Prime Minister sitting next to the Wayner every chance he could get … that is a different kind of shame.

  3. Tom, thanks so much for the thoughts. And isn’t it Canadian of us to see both the inherent humour in this as well as appreciating the passion behind this powerful little statement. I get it too – the whole thing.

    As a matter of fact, I’m currently helping a very large government agency through a Vision process, and “Own the Podium” was a godsend as an example of a clear, bold statement that is obviously risky, but takes a STAND (podium?). Of course, the risk side is also something I’m highlighting as often as I can. We’ll be the best in the world” is easy to say, but can you actually DO it? More to the point, can you do it AND PROVE IT?

    Thanks too for making the connection to Mark Lowry – I found a very moving tribute to the man here. And it seems we’ve lost a good one – a man of vision. http://www.olympic.ca/en/news/teeing-remember-mark-lowrys-lasting-influence-canadian-sport/

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