A panel of regional business leaders discusses its prospects.

You're probably familiar with the concept of Dunbar's number. The Wikipedia entry defines it as a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person.

This number is set at 150 connections. Dunbar theorizes that "this limit is a direct function of relative neocortex size, and that this in turn limits group size ... the limit imposed by neocortical processing capacity is simply on the number of individuals with whom a stable inter-personal relationship can be maintained."

Not every company caps the number of customers at 150, however. Which means that if they indeed intend to have relationships with their customers (beyond the sales person closing the deal) they need to scale up the number of people who support customers. Each of those people counts personal relationships - family, friends, past colleagues, peers, etc. - in their Dunbar number.

Theoretically, there is a correlation between the customer relationships a company hopes to have, and the number of people dedicated to cultivating those relationships. However, as Doc Searls said so well a few years back, companies are not doing that. Because "Customer Relationship Management" is about management more than customers.

This is one data point.

Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, says: “People who are members of online social networks are not so much ‘networking’ as they are ‘broadcasting their lives to an outer tier of acquaintances who aren’t necessarily inside the Dunbar circle.’”

Which means that since many more people are online these days, there are many more chances they will broadcast their experiences to others. People who are online can also be your customers. When people are introduced to a system where everyone has amplifiers, there may be less relationships, not more.

However, the weak ties in our network have a role and function.

As author Albert-Laszlo Barabasi explains in Linked: “Weak ties play a crucial role in our ability to communicate with the outside world ... [our friends] move in the same circles we do and are inevitably exposed to the same information. To get new information we have to activate our weak ties. The weak ties ... obtain their information from different sources than our immediate friends.”

This is a second data point.

Where is all this leading you? Perhaps you should organize your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system around social. Today at Fast Company Expert blog we explore the question can you just add a "stay in touch" function to your customer relationships management (CRM) to make it social? Will that make it more about customers, thus social, than management?

While we consider and explore the possibility that technology could give us the ability to keep up with it all, I think there is a good alternative for companies that wish to be in service of their customers. It's called community. It takes care of Dunbar's number, and it comes with its own challenges.

First of which is the community size. You need to have critical mass in order to have enough member diversity - some will engage actively, some will watch on the sidelines, some will be somewhere in between.

From my on work with groups in school, I can tell you that between 5-7 per group is a good number. Conversations that help bridge across groups, or even help groups rotate should help with expanding relationships and broadening the trust base within the community.

For a community to sustain itself you want also to have good participation among members. That's why it's often smart to have a community facilitator. Because customers are the lifeblood of your business, this is potentially a c-role, as Connie Bensen explains.

Community shouldn't be just for the brand. It should be in service of its customers.

I used to create the content for the speaking tracks at a yearly Rendez-vous we organized at a boutique consulting firm where I worked. I just came back from a customer conference - 300 were in attendance. I had the good fortune of meeting many for the first time in person, which still makes a tremendous difference in relationships.

The event was aptly named, the future is now. There has never been a better time to make the case for customer community. And yes, your company or business should have a Chief Customer Advocate. I'd go so far as saying that this position should be in the marketing group. Which may be interesting for companies that have sales and marketing reporting into the same person.

There's plenty to think about when it comes to community. Have you built or facilitated a community or a social network? Do you consider them the same thing? Why/why not?

 

[a graphical representation of the Dunbar's number. A group photo from The Future is Now] 

Source: Conversation Agent

Expect the Groundswell to continue, in which people connect to each other –rather than institutions. Consumer adoption of social networks is increasing a rapid pace,brands are adopting even during a recession,so expect the space to rapidly innovate to match this trend. Clients can access this report, but to summarize what we found, in the executive summary we state:

Today’s social experience is disjointed because consumers have separate identities in each social network they visit. A simple set of technologies that enable a portable identity will soon empower consumers to bring their identities with them — transforming marketing, eCommerce, CRM, and advertising. IDs are just the beginning of this transformation, in which the Web will evolve step by step from separate social sites into a shared social experience. Consumers will rely on their peers as they make online decisions, whether or not brands choose to participate. Socially connected consumers will strengthen communities and shift power away from brands and CRM systems; eventually this will result in empowered communities defining the next generation of products.

We found that technologies trigger changes in consumer adoption, and brands will follow, resulting in five distinct waves, they consist of:

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The Five Eras of the Social Web:

1) Era of Social Relationships: People connect to others and share
2) Era of Social Functionality: Social networks become like operating system
3) Era of Social Colonization: Every experience can now be social
4) Era of Social Context: Personalized and accurate content
5) Era of Social Commerce: Communities define future products and services

Update: CRM Magazine has more about the five eras, focus in on the graphic.

 

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Timing of the Five Overlapping Eras:
It’s important to note that these eras aren’t sequential, but instead are overlapping. We’ve already entered and have seen maturity for the era of social relationships, have entered social functionality but haven’t seen true utility, and are starting to see threads of social colonization with early technologies like Facebook connect. Soon these federated identities will empower people to enter the era of social context with personalized and social content. The following diagram demonstrates how we should expect to see the eras play out in the future –with social commerce the furthest out.

 

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Interviews with 24 of the top Social Companies:
Research isn’t done in a vacuum, that’s why we conducted qualitative research to find out what we should come to expect. We came to these conclusions based on interviews with executives, product managers, and strategists at the following 24 companies: Appirio, Cisco Eos, Dell, Facebook, Federated Media Publishing, Flock, Gigya, Google (Open Social/stack team), Graphing Social Patterns (Dave McClure), IBM (SOA Team), Intel (social media marketing team), KickApps, LinkedIn, Meebo, Microsoft (Live team), MySpace, OpenID Foundation (Chris Messina), Plaxo, Pluck, Razorfish, ReadWriteWeb, salesforce.com, Six Apart, and Twitter.

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How Brands Should Prepare
What’s interesting isn’t this vision for the future, but what it holds in store for brands, as a result, companies should prepare by:

• Don’t Hesitate: These changes are coming at a rapid pace, and we’re in three of these eras by end of year. Brands should prepare by factoring in these eras into their near term plans. Don’t be left behind and let competitors connect with your community before you do.
• Prepare For Transparency: People will be able to surf the web with their friends, as a result you must have a plan. Prepare for every webpage and product to be reviewed by your customers and seen by prospects –even if you choose not to participate.
• Connect with Advocates: Focus on customer advocates, they will sway over prospects, and could defend against detractors. Their opinion is trusted more than yours, and when the power shifts to community, and they start to define what products should be, they become more important than ever.
• Evolve your Enterprise Systems: Your enterprise systems will need to connect to the social web. Social networks and their partners are quickly becoming a source of customer information and lead generation beyond your CRM system. CMS systems will need to inherit social features –pressure your vendors to offer this, or find a community platform.
• Shatter your Corporate Website: In the most radical future, content will come to consumers –rather than them chasing it– prepare to fragment your corporate website and let it distribute to the social web. Let the most important information go and spread to communities where they exist; fish where the fish are.

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This project took a team effort, and I’d like to thank Josh Bernoff a guiding force in my career, Emily Bowen who kept the project going, Cynthia Pflaum for the quantitative data, Megan Chromik in our editing team for the polish, and Jon Symons in our PR team for the media outreach.

This is also cross posted on the Forrester blog for Interactive Marketing Professionals. Thanks to Matt Savarino for catching a small typo.

Tom Smith is the founder of Trendstream, a research consultancy that specialises in providing research and consultancy on social media, web and mobile. He formerly worked as Head of Consumer Futures at Universal McCann.

Social media continues to grow globally in terms of adoption, usage, interest and impact in a massive way. It’s undeniably changing the way that content and information work particularly in terms of the publishing of consumer opinion. This has transformed the way that consumers relate to brands and the way that brands should operate, driving direct interaction, transparency and a more consultative approach.

However, we still operate in a system defined by the old media world and consequently big brand involvement is still in the main tentative and sporadic. From my experience of trying to get big brands to embrace the social revolution, there are a number of reasons why they have yet to embrace the real opportunities that involvement can deliver:

1. Social Media is often viewed as just another marketing channel: It is of course so much more; it is a completely different approach to interacting with consumers and customers. Of course, you can advertise in a social media environment, but the true return on investment comes from developing communities, creating content to be shared, and talking and listening directly with consumers.

2. It does not fit into current structures: True social media falls somewhere between marketing, PR, communications, content production and web development. No one is quite sure whose responsibility it is and who should ultimately deliver their organisation’s social media strategy.

3. Communities and content are global: Users of social media connect, consume, and share content globally with little care for international borders. Marketing and PR departments and objectives are set up nationally or regionally. Very few organisations have a truly international structure and perspective.

4. Social media needs a long term approach: To build community, distribute content, or get people actively involved in an application takes time. Marketing and PR work on short time frames and are wedded to sets of individual campaigns or short term objectives. Social media is not a campaign, it’s a permanent approach.

5. No guaranteed results: You book advertising and it’s guaranteed to work. For, example you book a web campaign on page views and you keep going until you reach your goal. This is what advertisers call a push medium, i.e. you choose when people see it. Social media is a pull medium; usage and interaction is totally dependent on the user choosing to do so. If it’s not relevant or lacks creative brilliance it will not work. This makes it hard.

6. The metrics are new: Companies are used to the big numbers of advertising, but these numbers are different. Advertising is measured in booked exposures, i.e. page views, while social media is measured in direct interactions, i.e. number of friends, number of views or number of users. These numbers will always be smaller, but not necessarily any less measure of success.

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How do big brands take the proper approach to social media?

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Fundamentally, it is about putting in place the right organisational structure with a social media department, which is responsible for a company’s long term approach to open their companies up to consumers and have a permanent social media presence. They should also work with marketing and PR to make sure that advertising, product development, research and communications all fit into the social media picture and all aspects of the company and the product are socially optimised. Certain forward thinking organisations, such as Intel and Ford, have already done this and this is the approach that should be followed.

 

 

There is also need for more and deeper research, to understand and quantify the value of engaging with consumers in social media versus traditional advertising. This is an emerging area that will see a lot more investment over the next year or so as is needed to show the financial case.

Lastly, companies need to look long term and understand the value that social media can bring to cultivate lifetime advocates of their brand. This is not about campaigns, but a permanent positioning. Hopefully, the current economy can help companies take this long-term perspective that has been lacking in the boom years.

The power of thousands of individuals acting en masse has become a weapon of war. While politicians, revolutionaries, and totalitarian governments have long known how to send crowds of protesters to the streets to parade in front of the television cameras, the new trend is to mobilize forces over the Internet to engage in the equivalent of mass online protests. In some case the results can be humorous. In others, not. Remember Mr. Splashy Pants? In an attempt to garner sympathy for its cause Green Peace posted a poll to choose a name for a whale. A call to the members of Reddit , the hugely popular social bookmarking site, was put out. It read:

Greenpeace are having a vote to name a whale they have ‘adopted’. All the options are the names of ancient gods of the sea. And then there’s ‘Mister Splashy Pants’. Please vote ‘Mister Splashy Pants’.

Green Peace demonstrated extremely good humor in accepting the results of over 100,000 votes for “Mr. Splashy Pants” for the humpback whale they were tracking via satellite.

During the US Presidential elections of 2008 any online poll was quickly inundated with votes derived from a call to arms by the followers of one candidate or the other with Ron Paul, the small government libertarian, usually winning out because of his appeal to the tech-savvy.

Alexader Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, has learned to use crowdsourcing to orchestrate massive Denial of Service attacks capable of shutting off an entire country’s ability to access the Internet. Included in his growing list of successful attacks are Estonia 2007, Lithuania 2007, Ukraine 2007, Georgia 2008, and Kyrgystan 2009. Putin commands a youth group called the Nashi, which meet every summer for fresh air, exercise and indoctrination. When it comes time to spread a little trouble Putin has an operative post instructions for downloading tools for spewing web requests along with a list of targets. Nashi, and Putin followers then download the tools and kick off the targeted attacks. DDoS by crowdsourcing. The beauty is that this technique provides a shield of plausible deniability. This was not Russia it was a bunch of patriots that were angry at [insert justification here].

During the recent military action in Gaza attacks against Israeli and American web sites became the most recent example of a crowd sourced cyber attack. Dozens of attackers systematically defaced over 800 web sites with pro-Hamas messages, many of them depicting gruesome images of dead babies and wounded civilians. Among the sites attacked were Israeli news sites, government servers, and even hospitals that were treating Palestinian casualties of the Gaza war. (Hamas supporters hack into Hadera hospital Web site)

Every age brings its new methods of warfare. The Romans perfected field combat with foot soldiers. Napoleon developed modern staffing for command and control combined with the science of logistics for re-supply, and the use of canon batteries. World War I saw the introduction of poison gas and mechanized armies. World War II introduced aviation, missiles, and rockets to the mix. Vietnam was the most tragic example of the use of guerrilla warfare to vanquish the techniques and technology of World War II era armies. The so-called war on terror is seeing the rise of cells, suicide bombers, and IED’s as effective weapons.

While defacing websites and disabling government communication vehicles such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs site of the Georgian government have not yet been recognized as warfare, it is apparent that networks, which have had an immeasurable positive impact on communication, commerce, and social interaction, are also vulnerable to attacks. Attacks on and across networks will become the defining innovation of future wars.

The motivation for using a disbursed and large group of non-professionals in a cyber attack are both political and technical. Political advantage arises from the plausible deniability. China still maintains the fiction that attacks against the Pentagon, France, Germany, India, Australia, and New Zealand that emanated from within its borders are the acts of unaffiliated young hackers. Even now Russia does not accept responsibilities for attacks against Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine or Georgia. Russia, perhaps the most accomplished country at manipulating world opinion, continues to deny all responsibility for its well orchestrated attacks that have not only brought down the immediate targets, such as web sites of government agencies, but have effectively brought Internet traffic to a halt in the targeted regions.

The technical advantage of crowd sourcing cyber attacks comes from the difficulty in defending against a massively distributed flood of requests sent against a web site or web resource such as DNS. Hackers have been exploring and refining the techniques of Distributed Denial of Service for two decades. The earliest denial of service attack was a simple ping flood. Anyone with a fast computer running Unix could execute a simple command that would generate ping packets, small one way communications used by network monitoring products to check to see if a host is still responding, to completely tie up the resources of the target computer or even completely clog its network connection. Ping floods are simple to defend against. A single rule in a router or firewall between the attacker and the target can block all pings.

There are, however, some packets that cannot be simply blocked at the firewall. Packets associated with the normal operation of the attacked web site or other type of server have to be let through. In the case of a website there is the TCP packet that initiates a connection between a browser and a web server, the SYN packet. When a web server receives a SYN packet it begins a three way handshake and waits for a response. An attacker simply sends millions of SYN packets which ties up the web server to the point where it cannot accept any more connections. While effective defenses have been developed for blocking SYN floods it still means deploying special equipment in the network path. Another type of attack, the GET flood, mimics thousands of web browsers requesting pages. This type of attack makes the web server work at maximum capacity serving up its pages and effectively prevents legitimate traffic from getting through.

Flood attacks using SYN and GET can be blocked if the source is known. Once again, just block all traffic from a specific IP address. It did not take long for hackers to develop techniques for distributing their attacks among hundreds, thousands and potentially millions of attacking hosts. These are the most effective attack techniques known, and can be very expensive to counter. The winner is usually the one with the most available bandwidth. So, when Russian sources attack small, recently networked countries, like Estonia and Georgia, they will inevitably win.

There are two ways to create an army of attacking hosts. Hackers have been “recruiting” hosts by spreading malware that surreptitiously infects a computer and enlists it in a network that can be controlled from a central point and commanded to launch an attack against a target at the whim of the owner of the army of what are called “bots”. These “bot armies” are available for hire and have been used to threaten and launch attacks, most famously against online gambling sites. In those instances the motivation was extortion. The other way is crowd sourcing whereby a large group of constituents, such as Putin’s Nashi, or Hamas members, or Israelis, are provided with software downloads and instructed how to attack the targeted web sites or infrastructure.

Just prior to its invasion of South Ossitia, the Georgian province, attack software was made available at stopgeorgia.com a web site traceable to the nefarious Russian Business Network, which in turn has been linked to ex-KGB operatives. The site also included a list of targets at which to direct the attacks in Georgia. It appears that traffic normally routed through Turkey to Georgia was also blocked.

While Russia continues to scoff at allegations that it engaged in cyber attacks the fact remains that a weapon was used to great advantage for Russia during a military operation. The almost plausible deniability afforded Russia by crowd sourcing is one of its advantages.

 

Source: Crowdsourcing Log

A CEO using Twitter to connect with customers? Why?

Tony Hsieh (pronounced “Shay”), CEO of Zappos.com, uses Twitter to connect with customers.

Why would a busy, important, successful CEO want to connect with customers? Make no mistake;

Hsieh isn’t using Twitter for a marketing gimmick, but to make meaningful connections.

The Dallas Mavericks went from being one of the worst basketball franchises in the National

Basketball Association (NBA), to being one of the best and most valuable. The reason is usually

sitting somewhere in the crowds at Maverick games. His name is Mark Cuban.

Mark is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. His leadership lifted them to heights never before thought

possible. How? Mark knows how to connect. Guess where he sits during games? With the fans.

Guess who reads all the emails sent to the Dallas Mavericks? Mark does. He usually wears a jersey,

not a suit and tie. He dresses like a fan and acts like a fan. Mark understands that connecting

with fans is the key to the success of the Mavericks.

Herb Kelleher, a legend of Southwest Airlines.

Herb Kelleher was frequently spotted on Southwest flights, chatting with ordinary passengers. Why?

Surely he had more important things to do? Kelleher was connecting with his customers.

A maverick bought the Mavericks?

What’s the big secret? “It’s the economy connections, stupid.”

To truly appreciate the significance and power of connections, one must understand them in the

context of modern tribal behavior - particularly in the context of the Net. So, what is a tribe?

“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another,

connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.”

Seth Godin

Known for his brevity, Seth uses the word “connected” three times in this definition. Think that’s

a coincidence? Remember, the connections we’re talking about aren’t the kind you use when

you need a new job or a promotion. In this context, connections are the glue enabling people to

identify with an idea, each other and a leader.

As a business it’s tempting to think of a “tribe” as a “customer

base.” That’s wrong. People aren’t part of a tribe simply

because they buy a product or service. What qualifies them

as a tribe are their connections. Tribes of customers are

connected to an idea, each other, products, services,

employees, etc.—creating a network of connections to the

business as a whole.

Let’s use the Toyota Prius as an example. When someone

purchases a Prius, they’re not just buying a car, they’re

becoming part of the Prius Tribe and all it stands for. Perhaps you’ve noticed the manner in which

Prius owners seem to identify themselves as something “special”? That’s tribal recognition.

Now, think of another business (any business). Are its customers a tribe or simply names in

a database?

People need to feel connected as much as businesses need customers. This is nothing new,

but it leads us to the great “tribal catalyst”—the Net. Without the social tools of the Net, powerful,

online tribes would never have formed.

The Net has provided tools for an exponential explosion of long-desired tribal connectivity.

Social networking tools such as email, forums and blogs began the facilitation of tribal connectivity.

Later, social networking sites like Twitter, FaceBook,

MySpace, LinkedIn and many others rose up to accommodate

increased demand for more elaborate

tribal connectivity. Long suppressed tribal desires

have blossomed as people now belong

to more tribes than ever before, most of them on

the Net.

Caution: don’t read any of this and assume tribal

connections are a quick fix for a broken business.

To implement the concept of tribes, everyone from

the CEO to the janitor should be working to build

meaningful connections with customers.

I found value in a buggy tribe.

 

 

A while back, I decided my family needed a small dune buggy. After an exhausting search of

conflicting marketing messages (imagine that), I came across an online forum created by dune

buggy enthusiasts. These people are connected. They’re connected to each other, the forum

leaders, and the idea of having fun in a dune buggy.

This buggy tribe was quite helpful. Its members showed me which buggies to avoid, the best

buggy prices, and which buggies were the best for my budget. Often, they would direct me

away from poor buggies they had purchased, as they didn’t want me to make the same mistake

they had made.

Let’s be crystal clear, my $2000 purchase decision was almost entirely influenced by this buggy

tribe. Why isn’t your business leading a tribe like this, or at least actively participating in the tribe?

Not to market, but to make connections.

Not unlike this buggy tribe, you’ll find tribes of people passionate about products ranging

from condoms to cars and various products and businesses in between. Don’t underestimate

their power.

The entire business should be the ‘customer service

department.’

 

 

Many businesses fall into the trap of traditional customer service

thinking. NO! It’s not the responsibility of the customer service

department to make sure customers are satisfied. Wow, that’s

worth repeating!

Obviously, a customer service department is needed, but the

traditional customer service mentality needs to be replaced by

a tribal mentality.

Employees from all levels of the business should actively be

making connections with customers. Not just when a customer is

having trouble, but through every phase of business.

Here’s a great idea: Each day, allow one randomly selected customer service phone call or email

to make its way to the CEO. Let the CEO connect with the customer. Imagine that, a CEO listening

to a customer’s problems and helping to solve it! Where I come from we call it ”tribe building.”

We also call it “common sense.”

The entire business should be the ‘marketing department.’

 

 

Building and strengthening meaningful connections = a healthy tribe of customers = effective,

efficient word-of-mouth marketing and so much more.

Too often, we see businesses turn to marketing executives as they look for sales growth. News flash!

Marketing no longer works the same as in years past. Let go of the past and embrace today.

“Everyone is a marketer.”

Seth Godin

If everyone is a marketer, what do employees market? What’s the customer service department

marketing? Incompetence? Lack of caring? No power? Just a kind voice? Fairness?

What are janitors marketing? Sloppiness? Carelessness? Kindness? Pride in their work? Grouchiness?

What’s the CEO marketing? Waste? Extravagance? Arrogance? Out of touch? In touch?

Caring only for the bottom line? Ivory tower syndrome?

What are customers marketing? Fulfillment? Belonging? Joy? Anger? Frustration? Your product?

Your service? Your business?

What are you marketing? Fear? Courage? Competence? Self-interests? Insecurity? Pride?

Butt-kissing syndrome?

Business leaders, let go of your fear, grasp the changing realities of today and fly with Eagles.

Ignoring the power of connections and tribes.

 

 

Want to hear a secret? You promise not to tell anyone? Alright, Toyota manufactures higher quality

automobiles than GM, and sells them for about the same price. What? You already knew that?

Darn that Internet! No secrets are safe anymore.

General Motors (GM) is now on government life support. It’s been sad

to observe the slow death of this corporate dinosaur, unwilling to

adapt to the new ways of the world. Arrogant to the end, GM has been

unwilling to truly connect with its customers, choosing instead to

mass-market automobiles that are unable to compete against its competition.

GM has been good at talking AT us, but not WITH us.

Ironically, all that remains for most business leaders is the illusion

of control. Each day, customers are gaining more of the control

(via tribal connections) that businesses are losing. Many executives

are refusing to acknowledge these shifts in control.

Dell learned about tribes the hard way. Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Jeff Jarvis—maybe

more than once? Dell learned about tribes as they watched their customers form a tribe around

the leadership of Jarvis. What started as a frustrated blog post turned into a large movement

powerful enough to influence Dell.

Abusing social media.

 

 

I have way too much fun watching businesses fall all over themselves, looking for a way to “take

advantage” of the connecting power of the Net to market themselves using social media.

Let’s be very clear. The moment a person or business attempts to use social media connections

for the purpose of interruption marketing, they lose. They may not lose in the short-term,

but they’ll certainly lose in the long-term. Ever have a friend who regularly tried to sell you stuff

(network marketing, etc.)? Puts you in an awkward position, doesn’t it? Don’t like it, do you?

Changes the relationship a little if they persist, doesn’t it?

Please don’t make the mistake of using social media connections for interruption marketing.

You can’t build and strengthen connections and frustrate people at the same time. It doesn’t work.

Interruption marketing is a “connection destroyer.”

Another great way to abuse social media is using it for self-promotion. News flash, people don’t

care about you, they care about them. Nobody wants to hear about your stuff, UNLESS it comes

from someone other than you. It’s not complicated. No tricks here, please! Don’t be the embarrassed

company caught paying people to talk nice about them.

Be careful with your connections. Love your connections. Be gentle with them. Just like any other

business asset, true connections take time and money to nurture and build. Don’t destroy them

with shortsighted, half-baked ideas (unsolicited email, etc.).

You still don’t get it?

 

 

Just to clarify, we’re not talking about some silly promotion where a customer wins a contest

with his/her idea accepted for a commercial. No, we’re talking about everyone, from the CEO to

the janitor, building real, lasting, deep connections with customers—a powerful tribe.

We’ve seen the Net facilitate an explosion of connections—people connecting with like-minded

people, ideas, products, services, etc. Anywhere people connect, leaders emerge and tribes

form. Astonishingly, where are businesses? Why aren’t businesses attempting to lead a tribe like

the aforementioned buggy tribe, or the “Dazzle Condom Tribe,” or some other tribe (you can’t

count them all).

For years, a customer’s story didn’t really matter. After all, who could we tell our stories to?

We certainly couldn’t connect with each other on the scale the Net allows. Today, the customer’s

story and the business’s story must be similar—otherwise it won’t be credible.

Wait a minute. Do businesses actually believe we

listen to their marketing more than we listen to

our friends (online and off), who have actually used

the products or services we might be interested

in? Astonishingly, I believe they still do! Go figure!

Business leaders, it’s time to wake up and stop

embarrassing yourselves.

Imagine a tribal business.

 

 

Imagine a business that works to connect with customers and potential customers. Most businesses

say they want to know customers better—but do they really? They don’t act like it. They send

out goofy, informal surveys and hold focus groups, but how often have you been contacted by a

business truly desiring to make a connection with you for a mutual benefit? Me neither!

When customers feel connected and valued, they’ll evangelize a business. These people will market

products and services for free!

Believe it or not, we customers are smarter than most businesses think we are. Are you an executive?

Get out of the office, lose the goofy clothing and connect with your customers. Why waste money

on consultants? Customers are an untapped gold mine!

Information is power. Customers have it, but they won’t share it unless a true connection exists.

Today? Tomorrow? When?

 

 

It’s time for connections, time for tribes, time for Business 10.1. What are you waiting for?

People are connecting like never before. Business connecting with customers is the ultimate recipe

for customer satisfaction and business prosperity. Isn’t that the essence of good business?

Why did we allow the tail of Wall Street to wag the business? It’s time to put things back in order,

connect with customers first, and then great profits will follow.

Do you have the courage to embrace these realities? Do you have the courage to turn your back

on established corporate culture and connect a business to a hungry tribe of customers? I’ve written

nothing new. These are ancient secrets, long forgotten. Deep down, you know this stuff is true.

Your business needs you and, more importantly, your customers need you. Learn more about

connections in the context of tribes. Develop a strategy to implement them into your organization.

At the time of this writing, we’re entering a recession and highly uncertain economic times.

What’s there to lose? Businesses are laying off employees every day, they need a competitive

advantage. Do you have the courage to lead a tribe?

About the Autho r

 

 

Ed Welch is an entrepreneur, author of 101 Ways to Destroy Your Tribe, contributor to the Tribes Q&A book,

contributor to the Tribes Casebook and founder of Welch, Inc. One of Ed’s passions is to help businesses adapt

to the evolving tribal nature of people using the Net. He’s a member of Triiibes.com and also writes for the

Tribe Building Blog. He received his formal education from Oklahoma State University in Business Finance and

he’s an enthusiastic student of Seth Godin’s business principles.

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Twitter is an incredible medium for listening, learning, and sharing. And, for those in the media and communications industries, it's also a rapid and immersive education in meaningful, two-way micro messaging that helps both parties walk away with a new form of value.

While there are no shortage of posts that offer tips and tricks to help you boost your Twitter followers, it is by no means a popularity contest. The surmounting ploys, friending races, theatrics, and contests to tempt those into following individuals can be fun, but short-sighted, when in fact the true technique for building relationships, regardless of volume, is the genuine act of earning and investing in them. It's rooted in selflessness and rewarded with a rich stream of relevance and a network of valuable contacts that can also help you in the real world.

Twitter is a unique and vibrant community that thrives because of your participation and interaction. The Twitter culture evolves and matures though the greater collective of those who invest in the caliber and meaningful dynamic of the micro exchanges and relationships that we earn and forge everyday.

Our experience is defined by what we share, learn, and discover, what and who we follow and spotlight, and how we give back to those who help us and others.

Brevity speaks volumes.

So, to give back to the Twitter community and start building more mutually beneficial relationships on Twitter, here are the top tips to pay back and pay it forward on Twitter:

- Twitter asks what your are doing. Instead answer the question, What do you think we are better off knowing right now? Other questions to consider...What/who inspires you? What just happened? What am I missing? What did you learn today? What's out on the Web worth sharing on Twitter?

- Curate and share helpful and applicable content on the stream and apply relevance and/or context. Offer perspective. You are unique and your ideas, opinions, and experience can help or offer value to those who are learning.

- The public should feel included in almost everything you share.

- Build a brand or a theme that complements who you are and what you do. Earn a reputation and authority based on the niche you establish for yourself, reinforced by the tweets your post and share. Dan Schawbel has tips to help you do this more effectively.

- Engage with individuals in the public timeline around a given topic. But, draw a line between a public @message and a DM. Not everyone needs to follow your 1:1 dialog in the public timeline, especially as the volume increases everyday. Some things are just better left for the backchannel. If it's an A and B conversation, your followers may "C" there way out of it.

- Try to thank or acknowledge, in some way, those who RT your updates or promote your outside activity. Personally, this is an area where I'm working on devoting more time. Everyone who takes the time out of their busy day to share something you posted deserves recognition.

- Ask questions and share the results. Twitter is a magnificent forum for sparking conversations that pull responses from your friends as well as from friends of friends. Most vanish without closure or results. Share highlights and observations.

- Pay it forward. This is important. About two months ago, I Tweeted, "Remember, Always Pay it Forward and Never Forget to Pay it Back...it's how you got here and it defines where you're going."

- Don't just follow the Twitterati. Find and follow everyone who can help you learn and improve your skills as well as the value of your overall network. I recommend using TweepSearch, which is the first search engine that allows anyone to search and discover relevant Twitter bios and location information using keywords. It's ideal for learning more about those following any given username as well. Mr. Tweet is your personal networking assistant on Twitter. It helps you easily build meaningful relationships by looking through your network and tweets. Mr. Tweet will then suggest new and relevant tweeps and existing followers you should also follow.

- 120 is the new 140. Retweeting is one of the most valuable currencies in the Twitter economy. Leave room in your tweets to make it easier for someone to RT and also add a short reaction or endorsement. The magic number seems to hover around 120 characters.

- Listen AND respond to those who offer insight tied to keywords that are important to you, not just those who send messages in public with your @username. Follow conversations related to the keywords that are important to your ecosystem. Make new friends. Offer value and insight to those conversations related to your industry. Give back to those seeking guidance.

- Don't share anything you wouldn't want a co-worker, your boss, friends, or family to see.

- Learn from your tweets by analyzing the statistics associated with your activity. The criteria associated with defining Influence and authority on Twitter are still debatable. However, your numbers of associated followers, RTs, and unfollowers, are undeniable. Tools such as TwitterCounter provides an interactive chart that chronicles the quantity of Twitter followers for any given username. TwitterFriends is one of the most compelling analytical tools for identifying relevant conversationalists, revealing conversation patterns, and visualizing material conversation networks, by Twitter ID. On the other side of the equation, Qwitter is a humbling and instantaneous solution for honing your updates to better match what your friends and followers hope to see or not see. Qwitter will send an email to you when someone unfollows you and will link the action to the most recent tweet that you posted.

- Host or attend tweetups, conferences, events, etc., where your Twitter friends and contacts are participating. It's important to remember, as it's easy to forget, that relationships count online and in the real world. Investing in meaningful relationships requires in-person engagement over time.

- Respond to negative criticism as well as the accolades. There may be points worth considering to embrace and visualize a broader perspective. Those who respectfully push back, contribute to what we learn, while also push things forward. But, sometimes there's also a point of diminishing return. Certain individuals are steadfast in their views and it's their right to maintain an opposing viewpoint. Beware: Don't feed the trolls.

- Be helpful.

- Make this about conversations, sharing, and learning. Tweetcasters and self-promoters are eventually tuned out.

- This one is a bit of a controversial subject. Do you follow everyone who follows you back? Some say yes, some say no. It's a personal choice and a topic that usually ignites a passionate discussion. I treasure the tweets of those I follow and everyday, I follow new people whom I believe to add value to my Twitter stream. It's important to listen to those you follow and regard and by amplifying the quantity of people simply to return the favor of a follow, makes it incredibly difficult to actually hear anyone. There are those who follow everyone and that may work for them. There are also those who create an alternative account to simply listen to those individuals whom they appreciate and respect. PeopleBrowsr is an incredible Twitter service that allows you to follow everyone back, but also create a column for "VIPs" to see only their tweets on your visual dashboard. In the end, do what's right for you and your network of friends, followers, and mentors. This is something that I'm thinking about quite a bit these days.

- Relationships, whether they're on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social network, are held to the same guiding and ethical principles of those we cherish in the real world. Think of them as investments where the ROI is intelligence, social capital, respect, trust, and friendship. Individuals on both sides must realize mutual benefits and advantages for cultivating short-term or long-term relationships. You are equally responsible for contributing ongoing value.

But don't just take my word for it. Leave your tip in the comments section below...

Also, I took the conversation to Twitter and here are some of the highlights(I tried to include everyone, apologies in advance if I missed something):

Question: If you could share 1 tip to build new & more meaningful relationships on Twitter, what would it be?

Be Engaged @VirtueIMC

be yourself. it's the only sustainable voice you've got. @alexknowshtml

business comes second. @spotcher

always (or at least most of the time) reply back to people when they @ reply you @pepstein

Adopt the Tit-for-Tat version of the Golden Rule. And always say "please" and "thank you." @cheeky_geeky

don't get hung up on the numbers, instead...focus on genuine connections. More isn't always better. @promodiva

just think it goes back to what Doc Searls once said: "screw popularity, just make yourself useful" @triciabuck

Give support. @SavvyAuntie

Be honest. @justinmwhitaker

Make the effort to help followers and followees out (not just to the twelebs!) @seanfee80

Personally send a DM thanking every new person who follows you. @DixonTam

help people solve their problems. don't just twisten (twitter listen) but also respond @healthworldweb

Take ur time; treat it like the adventure it is. Other people are so fascinating! Enjoy it! @ROICoaching

Make it a habit to respond to people not just to what they post @Taiwriter

Don't try to be anything but yourself. @jtnt

Simple, just TALK to people. Isn't that how you create relationships in person? @GlazrKenndyCopy

Follow people within your industry and also follow people with similar interests. @pliadesigns

I'd change the prompt question of Twitter to: "What has just captured your attention?" @barbaranixon

express all the different sides of your personality, don't just twitter about one topic @woodlandalyssa

would say reach out specific requests & support via DMs, just do not auto DM as it feels careless, meaningless @PinkOliveFamily

It matters much more who you're following than who is following you. (Don't get me wrong - I love my followers!) @jfraga

Eagerly follow industry peers. No matter where you are in your career you can learn from others. Share ideas and opinions. @rachelakay

It is about engagement - from all sides... I call it the world's largest cocktail party conversation for clients @VirtueIMC

Find a way to meet in person. Conference, events in your local area, while traveling. And make the effort to follow through. @sloane

Respond to direct questions/feedback. This might not build bigger followings but would build better links across the 'brands'. @jenajean

engage, don't just be a listener or a monologuist, engage, engage, engage. And don't mass follow. Ugh! @tyamdm

Be genuine. You are what you are - be that same person on Twitter not someone you are trying to be. @keithdon

share relevant, new content. Engage in dialogue. @gogocomm

find interesting people and engage them. Ask them questions about themselves, their projects, be genuinely interested in them. @gingerw

Be real, be transparent, don't sell, don't fall into the follower ego thing. @davidfeldt

find out more about your followers and try to engage them in converstaions. like this one. @kmvictory

Be open minded. You never know who is going to be a valuable relationship until you start interacting, listening and learning. @aarond22

To never be afraid to put a bit of yourself and your real thoughts out there when Twittering,no matter how drastic or dynamic(: @themissingsock

Notice. Really notice. Whether you're an A-lister with a huge blog/ gig. Or new-ish. Notice who's supporting you & return love. @Ed

be yourself in all the glory 140 letters let you be... @dgourlay

Like any relationship building activity, I'd say "Listen, engage and converse" is extremely important - especially "Listen". @zubintavaria

it might help if u actually "talked" 2 them instead of adding people like they're poker chips.. Have at least 1 meaningful convo @MarcMeyer

answer the questions others are asking. @gbender26

Hottwiitertips says, "GET REAL." to make twitter more meaningful. What does that mean anyway, "meaningful?" @jmacofearth

Stop calling your followers..."followers." :) @jaculynn

Attend Tweet-Ups, without a doubt. Physical interaction is still the key to connecting. @andrewlockhart

share your connections @1day4me

Meeting people IRL is the best way to have meaningful twitter relationships. I'm excited to meet tweeps upcoming events. @khartline

Listen, react, converse, and be informative. Reply to others' questions, and ask questions yourselves. @emd5005

Don't feel obligated to follow everyone who knocks on your virtual door. Sometimes less is more. Take time to read profiles. @TobyDiva

focus on real-life relationships @Jesse

Be curious and talk to people. @JohnCannon

have real convo-tweets with people. Respond to replies always, and keep the convo going. It's tough to do in 140 characters. @adenasf

Create an "inner circle" or a subset of your subscriptions that you interact with on a regular basis. Feed that stream! @BostonDave

Add as much value as possible in every reply and RT @JodiEchakowitz

always try to give more than you take. @getshust

join the conversation. Meaning don't always be a watcher: share, discuss, react, repeat. @jacquelynmogol

2 Build meaningful relationships on Twitter, connect & engage. Don't just push your info; interaction = trust; It's addictive 2. @CathyWebSavvyPR

Tip #1-Read the tweets, bio, and any links to see who person is and begin convo on what you find. @3keyscoach

Be authentic: Do not self-censor and do not Be Safe. Numbers are meaningless. @AdRanchJason

Follow people who are unlike you, too. Different industries, different beliefs, different geos, etc @jaculynn

Actually read some of the Tweets from those you follow. I have 1200 followers, but I'd guess 20-30 read my Tweets. @chucklasker

Arrange for a tweetup or phone meeting with interesting tweeps. I'm meeting fab people this way. @3keyscoach

Be seen elsewhere. @MaryannM

do stuff for people: quid pro quo @scriber

introduce my network to people who can benefit from knowing them @ducttape

Add value to other peoples tweets, not only the ones that serve your agenda. Be a giver always. @MikeAbrams

Being honest, direct, and "real". @MikeMathia

It will ALWAYS be: be yourself...in 140 characters or less, or more, or whatever -- just always!!! @SteveRepetti

2-way comm, provide info to help others succeed @relth

i like connecting around specific subjects. as u tweet consistently about one thing you converse with people who do the same @rgujral

Go beyond just using Twitter :) @rloughery

Give helpful, honest and friendly replies. Many just post their own updates, toot their own horn, and don't form relationships. @PluginPR

Be authentic: Do not self-censor and do not Be Safe. Numbers are meaningless. @Twensored

Answer questions and offer help because you TRULY want to serve -- with no expectation of reciprocation. @baylan

reply to tweets that responate with you - take the next step beyond reading and act, respond, connect @dahawe

only follow the people who mean something to you, mix it up, RTs, Replies, Daily Garbage, Promotion of stuff you care about @ChrisSaad

Direct message about a shared personal interest or helpful info specific to that person's twitter activity/profile. @katiewinchell

Source

I've been sharing articles I've read in Google Reader for the better part of two years. I don't know exactly when I started, but I'm fairly sure I'm nowhere near finished. And while I admittedly started sharing to a link blog without having a clear goal in mind, I'm finding that this massive shared items repository is becoming an incredibly versatile information hub that benefits me, the authors of articles I've shared, and the consumers, be they friends in Google Reader, or in many other locations.

I believe that while Google Reader has grown in visibility, arguably becoming the most popular RSS reader on the Web, the utility of shared link blogs is less known. Here are ten ways you can maximize your Google Reader link blog - most of which I'm doing, and probably didn't anticipate when I first started sharing items into the ether.

1. Act as a trusted information filter.

Regardless of how fast a reader you are, there is no possible way you can read every single news source and blog on the Web. Neither can anybody you know. And regardless of how closely your feed match percentage is on Toluu, there are feeds you read that your friends don't. By sharing the best items of what you read every day from Google Reader, you are hand-selecting the best of the Web and "endorsing" those items to your link blog subscribers.

Do so with some regularity, and you might be surprised as to how people come to rely on your manual intervention and news discovery. I first became cognizant of this in February when "SeekGround" reported "I discovered that I had shared more of louisgray's shared items than anyone else's in the last 30 days". In May, Duff's Device similarly wrote: "I saw another article that I received from Louis Gray'sGoogle Reader Shared Items again. Thanks for keeping on top of the world for me Louis. :-)"

As of tonight, ReadBurner reports I have nearly 8,500 articles shared on my Google Reader link blog. While there are others who have shared more total items, I know that I have shared those items I believe are most interesting to me, and others I believe are following along.

2. Share your items with Google Friends.

Though Google hasn't nailed the "what is a friend" issue, you can add friends through GMail and Google Talk. If they are also Google Reader users, and share items, you can opt in to seeing their Google Reader shares, and they can see yours. If they subscribe to your shared items, your shares are mixed in with all the other feeds on their list. Of course, if you don't want to see their lists, click "Hide" next to their name, or "Show" to bring them back.

3. Embed your Google Reader link blog to your own blog or Web site.

When I first started sharing to my link blog, I had this odd feeling I was sharing posts and nobody knew about it. After all, the link blog URL isn't the most intuitive on the planet. But you can embed a widget on your blog to display a subset of your recently shared items, and visitors to your blog can click out to items you've shared.

4. Add your Google Reader link blog to your Google profile

Your Google profile is a fairly blank slate, for you to add or delete as you please. While it's very common for people to add links to their Twitter page, their blog or their LinkedIn profile, I'd suggest it's just as important to add your link blog to the page. Mine is here.

5. Share items to Facebook, FriendFeed or Socialmedian.

2008 was the year of personal news aggregators, which took updates on your services from around the Web and put them all in one place. While this trends was best exemplified by FriendFeed, Facebook also offers the option to feature your Google Reader shared items, and Socialmedian will pull them in as news, going so far as to check the shares by topic to place them in the right categories.

You can see my Google Reader shares on FriendFeed here. And to avoid duplication of items, if I share items from louisgray.com, I manually delete them from FriendFeed. Takes seconds, and reduces the noise. (My Socialmedian page is here...)

6. Add your share count to ReadBurner, RSSmeme or Feedheads.

Feedheads, the pioneer in tabulating popular Google Reader share counts, was joined by ReadBurner and later RSSmeme, in early 2008. As some people are turning to ReadBurner and RSSmeme as a democratically sorted Digg or Techmeme, sharing items you like will add your vote to the list.

Be sure to add your feed to ReadBurner here.

7. Replace your bookmarks with Google Reader shared items.

At the end of the year, I said that RSS Has Practically Eliminated My Need for Browser Bookmarks. As I thought about it more, it's my Google Reader Link blog that is essentially my rolling bookmark list, highlighting those items which are the best, and which I will want to return to. While Delicious is also a good Web-based bookmarking system, the link blog is a good way to find recent items of interest.

8. Expand the visibility of lesser-known sources.

Sometimes, I get in a routine of reading my RSS feeds and then sharing, without thinking about how the shares are effecting the downstream author. But I've gotten e-mails saying the shares have generated attention beyond what I expected. Last month, one blogger wrote, "When you pop an article on (the linkblog), I'll get 60-70 hits and get pumped to the first page, that is pretty averge for the support you give me." Earlier this week I got a similar e-mail from a second author, who wrote an e-mail titled "Thanks yet again", adding "Your Google Reader share really lit up that discussion."

In a tech blogging world where there are so many different sources of news, and so many people writing about the exact same thing, you can make a difference by choosing lesser-known sources of news, and highlighting the best content, not just the loudest. I've tried to share items from those who have done original reporting or are thinking differently than the echo chamber, and it in turn can deliver greater visibility.

9. Use your linkblog as your "to comment" list.

As part of my online new year's resolution, I said I would be making more time to comment on other blogs through the year. But as you know, my full-time job doesn't work all too well with browsing the Web and making comments throughout the day. Instead, I've found I'll go back to my own Google Reader linkblog, and open the items in a new tab, and go through to add comments one by one, left to right, so I've given the authors feedback and participated.

10. Create your own leaderboard of news sources.

Google Reader tracks statistics on what your most-shared news sources are over the last 30 days, which can report on who you've found most interesting in the last month. Given each person's individual tastes, the results can be very different than more public leaderboards which tend to feature those who are most popular and have a deeper subscription base. While my own link blog does tend to feature popular sites like TechCrunch, Scobleizer and ReadWriteWeb, I can see that I've also shared a high number from lesser-known sites, including TechWag, Regular Geek, The Future Buzz, Andy DeSoto and Chuqui 3.0. And if you're stat-oriented like I am, you can check in and see how this changes over time. (See my blog leaderboard from last July)

So... are you sharing your Google Reader items? I am. You can find mine here. For the betterment of the community, it'd be great to see your shared item links in the comments

 

via louisgray.com by louisgray@gmail.com (Louis Gray) on 9/01/09

Merlin Mann on 19/08/08

As I think about the blogs I’ve returned to over the years — and the
increasingly few new ones that really grab my attention — I want to
start with, ironically enough, a list. Here’s what I think helps make
for a good blog.

1. Good blogs have a voice. Who wrote this? What is their name?
What can I figure out about who they are that they have never overtly
told me? What’s their personality like and what do they have to
contribute — even when it’s “just” curation. What tics and foibles
fascinate make me about this blog and the person who makes it? Most
importantly: what obsesses this person?
2. Good blogs reflect focused obsessions. People start real blogs
because they think about something a lot. Maybe even five things. But,
their brain so overflows with curiosity about a family of topics that
they can’t stop reading and writing about it. They make and consume
smart forebrain porn. So: where do this person’s obsessions take them?
3. Good blogs are the product of “Attention times Interest.” A blog
shows me where someone’s attention tends to go. Then, on some level,
they encourage me to follow the evolution of their interest through a
day or a year. There’s a story here. Ethical “via” links make it easy
for me to follow their specific trail of attention, then join them for
a walk made out of words.
4. Good blog posts are made of paragraphs. Blog posts are written,
not defecated. They show some level of craft, thinking, and continuity
beyond the word count mandated by the Owner of Your Plantation. If a
blog has fixed limits on post minimums and maximums? It’s not a blog:
it’s a website that hires writers. Which is fine. But, it’s not really
a blog.
5. Good “non-post” blogs have style and curation. Some of the best
blogs use unusual formats, employ only photos and video, or utilize
the list format to artistic effect. I regret there are not more blogs
that see format as the container for creativity — rather than an
excuse to write less or link without context more.
6. Good blogs are weird. Blogs make fart noises and occasionally
vex readers with the degree to which the blogger’s obsession will
inevitably diverge from the reader’s. If this isn’t happening every
few weeks, the blogger is either bored, half-assing, or taking new
medication.
7. Good blogs make you want to start your own blog. At some point,
everyone wants to kill the Buddha and make their own obsessions the
focus. This is good. It means you care.
8. Good blogs try. I’ve come to believe that creative life in the
first-world comes down to those who try just a little bit harder.
Then, there’s the other 98%. They’re still eating the free continental
breakfast over at FriendFeed. A good blog is written by a blogger who
thinks longer, works harder, and obsesses more. Ultimately, a good
blogger tries. That’s why “good” is getting rare.
9. Good blogs know when to break their own rules. Duh. I made a
list, didn’t I? Yes. I did. Big fan.

The purpose of social media is to be social of course, right?

It helps social butterflies among us stretch across continents with
the strokes of a few keys and allows the geeky introvert to have a
voice. Starting a conversation has never been easier, has it? A friend
of mine, Ken Allan, and I were having a conversation across blogs over
the last few weeks. Both of us started our blogs for varying reasons,
but primarily it is to reach others and extend the conversation.

But how do you extend the conversation if no one on the other end
reciprocates? Blogging, Twitter, FriendFeed, and Facebook all share
one thing: You have to have followers to talk to in order to even have
a chance of starting a conversation. This is often hard work, but to
some it comes naturally – some few names have risen to the top as
conversation starters. Whether by wit or will, these individuals stand
out in my mind – exemplifying how you start a conversation, and even
keep it going:

Mona Nomura (Pixel Bits / FriendFeed / Twitter)
- A picture is worth a thousand words!

Mona consistently posts interesting material on Friendfeed and
Twitter. What sets Mona apart, though, is her avid use of images in
her FriendFeed posts. This quickly draws your attention, and the
images she chooses really make you want to laugh, cry, and most of all
- comment.

Leo Babauta (ZenHabits / Twitter)
- The guy that you can relate to.

Leo comes in with almost 80,000 subscribers to his blog ZenHabits.net,
and coins himself as just a regular guy. With over 250,000 estimated
uniques, Leo offers advice and observations on things from
productivity and frugality to parenting and happiness. People love to
read his blog because it makes sense in a hectic world.

Louis Gray (LouisGray.com / FriendFeed / Twitter)
- Let me show you this new ... !

Interested in new discoveries, including new technology, services, and
content, Louis Gray is an animal – devouring content at more than a
healthy rate. The name sake of this very post you are reading has been
blogging for over 3 years. He has recently hit a dramatic upswing in
popularity, and his blog has become the host for many up and coming
bloggers. Chances are if you are a new technology or service, Louis
will be using you, and chances are if you are new blogger, he will
hunt you down.

Darren Rowse (ProBlogger / FriendFeed / Twitter)
- Do what I say, and what I do. I even wrote a book about it!

We all know and love Darren as the founder and chief blogger at
ProBlogger.net, Digital Photography School, and the new TwiTip.
Nearing 70,000 RSS subscribers and an estimated 450,000 uniques on
ProBlogger, Darren has carved out a niche as a blogger who makes money
blogging, and even wrote a book on how you can too. Darren uses social
media to actively engage his readership, and is a genuinely nice guy.

Jason Calacanis (Mahalo / FriendFeed / Twitter)
– I is what I is, and that’s what I is.

Founder of Mahalo, Calacanis officially gave up blogging back in July
of this year, citing that e-mail was a more personal way to interact
with 5 or 10 - thousand - of his friends. (He never replied back to
me, I wonder why?). Many saw this as a media stunt, since Jason has
quietly resumed his blogging after this announcement. Calling him a
blogger or not seems irrelevant at this point. Maybe that’s a sign of
arriving in itself? Whether you are upset with Jason for pulling a
fast one on his loyal readers or think of him as being a true trail
blazer, none can deny he understands how to start a conversation.

Chris Brogan (ChrisBrogan.com / FriendFeed / Twitter)
- Community and Social Media.

His tagline says it all. Chris is famous for being able to stir people
into movement, and often showcases others as the hero. For instance,
his Rockstars page showcases blogs of all shapes and sizes. Chris
understands that by scratching others' backs, they will return the
favor - or at least pay it forward.

Mike Arrington (TechCrunch / FriendFeed / Twitter)
- Evil Genius or Shrewd Entrepreneur.

Mike has been called an evil genius by some, but his website,
techcrunch.com, has seen an estimated 1.4 million uniques. Obviously,
Mike knows how to get eyeballs on the page regardless of where you
stand.

Robert Scoble (Scobleizer / FriendFeed / Twitter)
- Is there a difference between conversation and controversy?

Robert has been doing this for a long time. Now part of the talent at
FastCompany.tv, the Scobleizer has a knack for starting both
conversations and controversies. Robert is the kind of guy that loves
to be in a noisy room of 30,000 geeks, and even tries to listen to all
of them at once. Robert took time off from his blog this past year to
jump feet first into Twitter and FriendFeed. He now has over 23,000
followers on FriendFeed and over 44,000 on Twitter, logging an
estimated 2000 hours on these services alone in the last year. Between
interviewing up and coming tech-execs, blogging, and participating
heavily in social media, Robert’s name always comes to mind when
thinking about social media conversations – and is perhaps THE name
when thinking TECH in general.

Final Thoughts

So it has been a banner year for social media, and this list comprises
some of the heavy hitters that you might look to when thinking about
how you want to start – and continue –your conversations on the web.
With conversations happening in more places than just your comment
queue, seriously consider not only your message, but how you are going
to broadcast it. By the way, this list is not exhaustive, and is
solely my opinion.