The rise of the “Third Estate”…

Excerpt for govloop… To get the blog rolling, I think it would be best to level set what “The Rise of the Third Estate” really means. I will assume most interested readers will have a background in Social Media and what can be termed as Web 2.0 / Web 3.0, etc. It is my hope that this blog will serve as a forum on where Social Media and community participation is going, the best way(s) to move forward, and offer practical real solutions on how to get there and beyond. I feel it is better to engage in a dialogue that to just preach to the masses as so many individuals and companies in this space tend to do.

To begin, Wikipedia defines the “Third Estate” as: The Third Estate comprised all those who were not members of the aristocracy or the clergy, including peasants, working people and the bourgeoisie. The Third Estate can be divided into parts: group one being bourgeoisie, workers who earned money (waged earners), group two being the rural poor who were not paid much money, seeing as many did not have jobs. What united the third estate is most had few rights and had to pay high taxes to the first estate. It was considered, in modern terms, the middle class. In 1789, the Third Estate made up 97%[2] of the population in France (about 20,000,000 plus) and about 40% of the land in France. Due in part to limited rights, the representatives of the Third Estate actually came from the wealthy upper bourgeoisie; sometimes the term’s meaning has been restricted to the middle class, as opposed to the working class. Wikipedia Reference.

With the ‘rise’ of Social Media in popularity among not just the young and tech savvy, but every day working people from all generations, the Third Estate is now just beginning to find its voice. Social Media is impacting the way we interact with each other; mainstream media [The Fourth Estate]; corporations, businesses, organizations, [the First Estate]; and, government [the Second Estate]. The impact of this has already been felt in dramatic fashion and it has only just begun. There are not many people today who have not felt Social Media’s power to produce change, incubate innovations, and transform the world in which we live and interact. Social Media will be the tool that will fundamentally change the way we live our lives. The true power of the Third Estate will fuel the change in ways that we can’t yet comprehend.

As I said above, I am hoping this blog will become a two-way conversation with those thought leaders who understand the true power of Social Media and the Third Estate. Those leaders that want to innovate and transform – not follow the norm… Stay tuned…