I’ll be posting throughout the Shel Holtz presentation. I’ll update it regularly.

Web 2.0, the read/write web, means everyone is a content producer.

Steve Rubel, said we should stop calling it social media- just call it media. Shel doesn’t agree- neither do I. Meta data is critical.

In the old days- companies lied- didn’t listen to the customer- and coasted on being part of the chasing pack- and were focused on “the median consumer” – this was oh, 10 years ago.

His example is car ads- where we couldn’t see the legal disclaimer- but we can now- thanks to TiVo. Since we now have social media0 we can discuss things- his example- the dove evolution spot.

He talks about the cost of running a superbowl spot for 2.4 million- compared to putting it on youtube- much more cost effective. Dove had created something to talk about- buzzmarketing. Much more valuable than a super bowl spot. He then mentions where it was discussed in other media.

Next up: eepybird.com – the mentos/diet coke show. He’s not showing the video-

Mentos- “We’re tickled pink with it”

Coke: “It’s an entertaining phenomenon. We would hope people would want to drink more than try experiments with it.”

(at least they didn’t send a cease and desist order)

mentions blog: church of the customer.

He doesn’t like it as “user generated content” he prefers “customer generated content”- the only trade that refers to it’s customes as “user” is the illegal drug sellers.

His Truths:

“New media do not kill old media” – he says someone important (Stow) says blog every press release- he doesn’t agree. New media forces old media to adapt or shrink.

He says newspapers won’t deliver news the same way- 5000 word essays- will be printed out. Paperless office example- yet we are now producing more paper-

Radio morphed with the advent of TV- the green hornet moved from radio- to tv- so radio went to all audio.

2nd truth:

The audience controls the message.

We no longer control the message- same as your brand.

3rd: Numbers don’t matter: he talks about “The Long Tail” from Kevin Kelly- I’ve done other posts on it- do a search.

example: Kryptonite lock being picked- was posted on a blog read by 10 people, 2 of them blogged about it- then it grew. Then engadget- then The New York Times wrote about it. Cost Kryptonite 80% of their market cap. Luckily they are owned by Igersol Rand.

4) Institutions must engage in the conversation.

Get in the muck with the audience- or what they used to call the audience. We don’t control the message- we didn’t before- but it didn’t spread as far – or fast. Social Media gives us a bigger megaphone.

5) The social structure in which technology puts power in the hands of individuals and communities instead of institutions (who used to own the printing presses).

new choices:

• engate and participate v transmit
• advocate v preach
• influence and persuade v comand and control
• informal and conversational v formal and instructive
• build community v tell your audience

CEO getting on youtube taking the message out clearly- jet blue apology.

His 8 rules

• Channels have fragmented
• Sources of trust have shifted
• Social media have arrived
• The consumer is in control
• Content creation and distribution have been democratized
• You must reach the new influencers
• Transparency is required
• Engage in the conversation or fail to communicate

Who we used to trust: business government and mainstream media. Now we trust experts in the field, each other- and “NGOs”

“A person like me” is the most credible spokesperson for companies” – Edelman trust barometer.

“all of us are smarter than some of us”- the power of crowds.

Horizontal communications- peer to peer

Vetical communications- ceo’s talk to elites/ employees and passionate customers, fodder for conversation.

Credentialed 3rd parties.

Empower employees- talk naturally, use social tools:

• social media news release
• executive and employee blogs
• podcasts/videocasts

Use the tools-

Social media has arrived.

Kyle Macdonald- traded from one red paperclip to a house. To get his way all the way up -making him a better marketer than you are.

Where was Staples? Office Depot?

Stats on posts- blogs – podcasts, myspace and linkedin profiles. Numebrs won’t be relevant more than 10 minutes from now- so I’m not posting it.

Sphere as a blog search engine. www.sphere.com

But technorati is the number one blog search engine- and is the 800 pound gorrilla.

btw- his audio sucks- keeps cutting out. You wouldn’t get that at a Websitetology seminar.

Customer support- example of Dell- with Jeff Jarvis blogging about his experience: he ended up number 2 in search. Jeff has a wordpress site that runs slow as hell- wpcache would help.

try this link: http://www.buzzmachine.com/?s=dell+hell&paged=4 4 pages of stuff on DELL HELL.

Comcast example- where technician was fired- for posting about his onhold experince online.

Auto save is screwing this up- and losing sections- I think it has to do with latency on the network connection.

I had mentioned that the last Dayton ad club speaker used the same content: see this post.

Going to start a new post- keeping it shorter.

We often learn more from our students than from our studies, and in the last seminar someone asked what the difference between blogs and forums.

I don’t feel that I offered the best answer, since blog posts offer a forum for discussion.

While this is simplistic: a forum is a place where a community can post and discuss things- many to many- mostly posed as short questions. A well moderated forum keeps new users from reposting the same questions and makes sure questions are framed in useful language. “Help, my blog is broken” isn’t a good forum question- “My categories in wordpress aren’t working” is a better question.

A blog is a place where a single user posts ideas- and builds a community- that may eventually add a forum to the site. WordPress allows for multiple authors, with different degrees of access, so this model can be adapted to a forum concept, but generally, blog posts are longer questions, and the tools of moderation are structured differently. The developers of WordPress have built a forum software that integrates closely with WordPress- bbPress, and over time, the functions may begin to overlap. Some blogs leave the base level of ownership as “author” allowing anyone to publish- this turns a blog into a forum.

The reality is, the difference is in the eye of the beholder. The true measurement really comes in the size and activity of the audience. A blog that is read by nobody, with few comments or trackbacks isn’t much of a forum just as a forum with no participants is really just a blog.

The thread that got this idea going is linked to below- where a bunch of academics discuss it at length- in a “forum”- I found the following bit interesting.

SCoPE: Seminars: Distinction between forums and blogs
From Formal courses: Blog protocol, Public/Private, Forums/Blogs (Long Post) by derekc on Fri Feb 16 22:24:00 2007:
1. the blog owner posts without an awareness of audience
2. the blog owner posts with an attempt to identify audience (at this stage, the poster finishes their entries with questions or invites “invisible” readers to comment)
3. the blog owner posts for a clear audience (e.g. the poster refers back to blog commentators or includes links to other blogs or sites by them)
4. a regular group of commentators is set, and dialogues take place via blog comments
5. some of these commentators start making entries (as “guest bloggers”), and each of them goes through stages #1 to #4.
6. a regular group of posters is thread, with a group voice gradually developed.

Either way, the idea of community and community generated content is key to the whole “web 2.0” experience. If your site is built for business- and you aren’t involving your customers- you won’t be in business for long. Either customers will discuss your products and services on your site- or they will do it on someone elses (including their own). Consider yourself informed and go out and let the community discussion begin.

You can come to Chicago in June for a two day conference and spend $800, or you can visit Dayton and get a day for $79 (Everything is cheaper in Dayton OH). We’re proud to have our chief Websitetologist, David Esrati be one of the featured speakers at this conference:

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