Using Social Media to Transform Capitalism

In his book, We First: how brands and consumers use social media to build a better world, author Simon Mainwaring proposes the transition from Me First capitalism, the traditional free market and profit driven capitalism, to We First capitalism, where businesses and consumers use capitalism as a driver of prosperity for the greater good.

We First is about corporations creating value and building a better world, and consumers accepting a higher level of responsibility for creating the world they want. The transition to We First is realistic and possible today with the rise in social media, which gives consumers more leverage to persuade businesses to accept greater social responsibility for their behaviours, and offers businesses more opportunities to have real-time dialogues with their customers.

Simon argues that while some companies are embracing elements of corporate social responsibility and triple bottom line accounting, the overall progress of integrating sustainability into the fundamental principles of free market capitalism has been irresponsibly slow and not deep enough. To put business on the We First path, he proposes seven values: Sustainability; Fairness of Reward; Fiscal Responsibility; Accountability; Purposefulness; Engagement; and Global Citizenry. Read more