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I could bore you with a hundred slides of statistics from Gartner and PSFK on the growing importance of digital communications. Or perhaps, I could drop a quote or two from some mighty hot shot of a famous marketing guru that back my view on Social Media on a slide right before that bit on our “big idea”.

(insert dynamic pause)

Do you honestly not already know?

Do you not already spend at least 4 hours online per day?

Do you not have a Facebook, Friendster, Linkedin or MySpace account?

I will assume at this point, that you’re not an idiot. So for once, let’s skip the bullshit.

We live in a liberated era today, where emotions, opinions, facts, news and bitter photographs of cheating ex-girlfriends taking money shots are shared generously, frivolously and immediately over the digital space. Sharing no longer becomes an act for us, it has become a social currency.

Social currency, best explained by intelligent intellect Douglas Rushkoff, is essentially a good joke.

Social currency is like a good joke. When a bunch of friends sit around and tell jokes, what are they really doing? Entertaining one another? Sure, for a start. But they are also using content — mostly unoriginal content that they’ve heard elsewhere — in order to lubricate a social occasion. And what are most of us doing when we listen to a joke? Trying to memorize it so that we can bring it somewhere else. The joke itself is social currency. “Invite Harry. He tells good jokes. He’s the life of the party.

There are 3 roles to which one may play on the Internet stage. They include:

1. The one telling the joke (i.e. the blogger)
2. The one listening to the joke (i.e. the reader of the blog)
3. The one sharing the joke he or she has just heard (i.e. the irritating asshole who won’t stop spamming your SuperWall with YouTube videos)

Of course, one may play all 3 roles simultaneously. Blogger reads a blog. Decided that the joke was funny. Shares it on his own blog. His readers find the joke funny. Share it with their friends via Digg, StumbleUpon and watchamacallit. It is a highly lucrative and yet vicious cycle that can work for, or against a brand who’s trying to establish a friendship with its audience in the digital space.

Yes, friendship.

(insert dynamic pause)

Marketers have figured by now that since they can no longer tell you what you feel, think, want or need, with dead-corpse-cold traditional media that come with hefty price tags that won’t sit well with their ROI-driven bosses anyway, they have to work harder.

They know you spend more time online than you do offline. They know you consume Social Media than you do with traditional media. They know you’re too sophisticated today than to buy their latest DSLR camera just because their silly 728×90 Leaderboard banner says so. They know you’d be visiting forums, checking out 3rd Party reviews (which sometimes get dodgy especially if you see a 5-star review next to the product’s banner), and most importantly, you’ll be asking your friends.

Image source: BusinessWeek

Hence, they want to be your friend too. A bit naïve I realise, but people actually get paid big bucks just to generate and build friendships for brands with their target audience. Given the nature of my job, I do welcome the friendship with open arms, but please, remember these few points about friendships:

1. Friendships are not formed in a day. You didn’t get me at hello.

2. Just because you shower me with free exotic holidays and designer clothes doesn’t mean I treat you as a friend. It just means I have a sugar mummy/daddy whom I can abuse.

3. If the only time you call me is when you need something from me, don’t expect me to even pick your call up in the first place.

4. If I treat you as a friend, I will criticize you. I expect you to listen. And change. A $10 breakfast voucher is nice, but a bit pretentious if you ask me.

5. Tell me a good joke.