Then on January 4th, 2011, my learning curve freaked out. I started working at Mekanism.

After twelve months of work sessions, client meetings and new business pitches, it’s obvious why this new media thing isn’t at all like traditional media. In fact, it’s taught me something almost counterintuitive, which is that sometimes, what we really need to do is unlearn things.

Things like, brands aren’t in control of the conversation anymore. Consumers are.

The purpose of branded content isn’t to talk about yourself. It’s to get the audience to talk about themselves.

And paying a television network to show your content isn’t the same as paying an influencer, because unlike a network, influencers have audiences who trust them. And in social, trust is everything.

Even how we work feels thankfully upside down and backwards. The internal structure is flat. The process is collaborative. And it all happens impossibly fast — like, pace-of-social-media fast — yet no one complains. It actually feels, um, well, professionally responsible.

For those of you who are beginning your career in social, all I can say is, my learning curve envies you.