The social web has turned our environment into a meritocracy, a place where effective marketing is extremely hard to perform. Both concepts are, in fact, intrinsically incompatible. The latter is basically about telling people “My products and my services are really (really!) great and you will be truly sorry if you don’t get them for yourself”. Yet a meritocracy grants only power to those who deserve it, on the basis of what they create or share.
Today’s consumers are wary of advertisements or websites dictating what they should do or think. They have their friends and peers for t