While digging around the web for some ideas on social media that are more subversive, in other words ones that challenge the current model, [given that the current corporate model is "we should start a blog or a Facebook page,"] I came across an article on Marktd.com of a presentation given by Ed Cotton of Influx Insights at the PSFK Conference where he discusses Trends and Inspiration.

Based on the idea that trends are themes and attitudes that can be tracked over time, not fads, Cotton provides a list of 9 inspiration themes: Envy, Improvisation, Combinations, Looking Backwards, Frustration, Timing, White Space, Out of Context, Insight Driven. He then gives some interesting examples.

Envy: Creatives are envious of other creative people. ([For example the Beatles were envious of - and thus inspired by - the Beach Boys.]
Improvisation: You have limited resources and you take what’s around you and do something with it. Let’s play games with trends. [e.g Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies.]
Looking Backwards – We shouldn’t be slaves to the new. Frank Gehry was inspired by the 1920s movie Metropolis.
Frustration: Steve Jobs was frustrated with our cell phones, thus the iPhone.
Timing: The secret of success lies between “feels right” and outside confirmation. If you wait for the research to tell you you’re right, you’ll miss the boat.
White Space: Method saw white space in cleaning, resulting in the creation of non-toxic, well designed cleaning products.
Out of context: taking the subversive mainstream. Pixar has a college in their building. Take your creatives to places where the trends are, places where they’ll be inspired.
Insight Driven: IDEO noticed that kids hold toothbrushes differently. So instead of towing the line and making kids brushes smaller, they made them fun and easy to hold

The takeaway here is simple – immerse your people into a creative and inspiring environment from which they can learn ways to look at ideas and trends from a different point of view. It fits into Nemo’s methods as we consider our shop a “college” where our employees come to learn not just to work.