The Personal Platform
Doc Searls 1

Thesis: A free customer is
more valuable than a
captive one.
Problem is, we still think the opposite
way.
2

We’re still in the era
of the captive customer.
On the sell side, we try to “manage,” “control”
and otherwise “own” them.
That’s why…
3

We’ve come to think a “free
market”
is “your choice of silo.”
Slaves, choose your captors!
4

Alvin Toffler called the all-silo
era
“The Industrial Age”
He said it would come to an
end with the beginning of
the “Information Age.”
That was in 1980.
5

28 years later, the Net is
here, but…
The Industrial Age is still with us.
We’re still trying to “manage” customers.
This is still the case, for example, with mobile
phones. 6

What’s new is still old.
Mobile telephony is fine.
Mobile anything is not.
Yet.
7

If you want mobile anything, you
need a generative platform.
Generativity happens
when the platform is the
opposite of a silo.
It runs on anything, and
supports anything.
PCs are generative.
The Net is generative.
The iPhone is not.
Yet.
Meanwhile, why not?
8

Toffler gave us the clues,
way back in 1980
From The Third Wave:
“(The Industrial Age)
violently split apart
two aspects of our
lives that had always
been one…
production and
consumption…
“In so doing, it drove a
giant invisible
wedge into our
economy, our
psyches …
That’s why…
9

Who we are at work still wants to
“manage” who we are at home.
So we still “target,”
“acquire,” “capture,”
“manage” and think we
“own” customers.
Even though the Net has
been around for awhile.
And we all have mobile
phones.
10

You see it in our CRM
systems.
But
here’s
the cool
thing…
11

Humans are generative.
They run on
whatever they
want.
And anything can
run on them.
Well, not yet.
It will when they’re
enabled.
How can we make customers platforms and not just eyeballs?
12

What we need is VRM:
Vendor Relationship
Management.
VRM CRM
With VRM, we get to manage our relationships
with vendors.
We get to set our terms.
We get to help vendors in ways CRM systems
still can’t… yet.
We get to help CRM actually relate.
For example…
13

I should be able to express global (and
logical) preferences outside of
anyone’s silo.
Such as…
IF I am calling for tech
support,
THEN I don’t want to hear a
commercial message.
AND I am willing to pay X to
reach a human in <60
seconds.
14

I should be able to manage
my own health care data.
Instead of risking my life when I fill out
manual forms with names of diseases I
don’t know how to spell.
15

I should be able to issue a “personal
RFP” to whole markets, on the fly.
For example, send a message saying I need a 200w 220->110 converter
in Amsterdam on a Sunday afternoon…
— without going into a silo, or giving any more than the required
information…
— which mainly consists of being trustworthy and having money to
spend. 16

Mobile is where
VRM is going to take off.
Because
it’s finally
getting
generative.
17

I should be able to manage my
relationships with vendors. By my own
devices.
That means “agreements” need to go both ways.
My TOS should eliminate TOSes from corporate
lawyers that nobody reads and everybody has to
“accept”.
It means real relationships between truly consenting
patries.
Just like we have in the physical world.
18

Our first project is a new
business model for free media.
(that isn’t advertising)
VRM CRM
Free media include…
Non-commercial broadcasting
Blogs, podcasts
Music…
Anything that’s either free on purpose or too easy to
“steal”
19

Our first tool is the
relbutton:
a symbol of VRM+CRM
It says,
“I want to pay…
what I want.” And/or,
“I want to relate…
VRM CRM
on my terms…
and not just yours.”
“This is my code’s way
of letting your code know that.
Even if you’re not listening. Yet.”
Its how VRM meets CRM.
20

The relbutton can represent
three different states.
1. Intention to buy (and to
relate).
2. Intention to sell, but also to
relate on your (the buyer’s)
terms, as well as your own.
3. Existing relationship —
which can be viewed and
unpacked on either side.
21

There’s no limit to data
types stored on both sides.
These can include intentions, transaction
records, preferences, memberships, “social
graphs”, shopping lists, existing agreements,
whatever.
22

Here’s where you’ll see it
first:
On a radio tuner for the iPhone and other
mobile Internet devices.
23

That provides a new
business model for media.
Starting with noncommercial sources.
And growing to include everything.
Starting with the music business, probably.
24

VRM makes customers into
platforms.
It gives customers an API, or a set of APIs.
You can program goods and services
— based on what customers actually want, and are in control of.
25

Contact jive:
Find us at http://projectvrm.org. It’s still a wiki.
I’m at doc@searls.com.
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