David Browne published an interesting piece in the NY Times this weekend entitled On the Internet, It’s All About ‘My’. His focus is on how the ‘My’ prefix is attaching itself to so many things online – see MySpace, MyCoke, MyAOL, MyIBM, etc. – in an “increasingly customized world of technology.” Quoting Pete Blackshaw from the article:

“Companies are trying to connect with consumers in more meaningful ways. They’re trying to emulate consumer behavior. Everyone’s trying to be more authentic and connect with consumers on their terms. They can look more real, sincere and authentic.”

However, looking more real, sincere and authentic is different than being more real, sincere and authentic – and various people are quoted towards the end of the article explaining why the “my” phase is going away. There speculation over what will replace it centres around “we” – because as Nick Bartle notes:

“In our research, values like participation now vastly outrank self-interest. People want to be connected and part of a community.”

Indeed they do – and I would surmise that people don’t particularly care about whether “we”, “our”, or “exo” is the prefix of the day in some marketing talk. What they care about is companies being real, sincere and authentic – so the question is how would (say) an “OurCoke” strategy operate differently than a “myCoke” one?