by Michael Brito Getty Images Wikipedia tells us that active listening is an intent to “listen for meaning”. Others suggest that active listening should “focus on who you are listening to, whether in a group or one-on-one, in order to understand what he or she is saying.” These are excellent definitions. But as it relates to customer interactions on the social web, active listening is only one half of the equation. Take for example, this brief illustration. A man gets…
I’m Not Talking to You
Credit: Natalie Dee Social Media continues to fascinate me. If you stop and think about it for a moment, we’re presented with something special…something almost too simple to appreciate. Essentially, we have been given a gift – a looking glass into the thoughts, opinions, feedback, and dialogue that represents a snapshot of market sentiment and behavior. So, what do we do with this gift? A few, but growing faction of businesses realize the value in listening and learning. Others focus…
Unveiling the New Influencers
Traditional influence has followed a systematic top-down process of developing and pushing “controlled” messages to audiences for decades, rooted in one-to-many, faceless broadcast campaigns. Personality wasn’t absent in certain mediums, it was missing from day-to-day communications. For the most part, this pattern seemingly served its purposes, fueling the belief that brands were in control of their messages, from delivery to dissemination, among the demographics to which they were targeted. It scaled very well over the years, until it didn’t… Unbeknown…
Barack Obama, The Social Web, and the Future of User-Generated Government
What follows is the unedited version of my latest post for TechCrunch, “Is Obama Ready To Be a Two-Way President. Barack Obama’s flickr stream Where there’s victory, there’s also opportunity… America voted while the entire world watched and listened. Whether you supported Obama or McCain, we equally shared the hope for positive change and a new beginning towards a brighter future. This Presidential election was the first in 50 years, in which there was no incumbent President or Vice President…
Reinventing Crisis Communications for the Social Web
Source Businesses, individuals, and organizations will, from time to time, make honest mistakes or in some unfortunate cases, intentionally support unethical decisions to dissuade or conceal something significant from its public. Whether it’s an oversight or a matter of deception, savvy companies usually employ and deploy a crises response team to prepare for, manage and attempt to positively spin the potential backlash from customers, partners, and employees related to almost anything. Crisis communications is a branch of PR that is…
The Art of Conversation – It’s About Listening Not Marketing
Discussions and debates on the viability, necessity, and effectiveness of conversational aka social media marketing continue to roar across the Social Web. There are three sides to this equation: – New media pioneers and practitioners who defend and evangelize the art of conversations because they’re investing in people and their feedback and have the experience to showcase value and ROI. – Social Media marketers who embrace social tools and promote their use in corporate/brand marketing and Public Relations, learning in…
The Essential Guide to Social Media – A Free eBook
I’ve been involved with Social Media since the beginning and the more I work, write, and speak, the more I learn. Over the years I’ve observed a series of questions and reactions that I’ve documented along the way and have actively included them in my posts, ebooks, contributions, as well as at my speaking appearances. Over the last year, I’ve assembled the most commonly asked questions and the answers into a free, downloadable ebook as a way of contributing to…
Summize Listens to Conversations and Sentiment on Twitter
Just a bit ago, I wrote a post covering my favorite tools for monitoring conversations on Twitter. I’d like to add one more to the bunch. Recently launched Summize is similar to TweetScan, but also unique in its capabilities and in turn, changes how we may view Twitter search. At the very minimum, it’s a basic search tool that operates similar to how you would naturally search in Yahoo or Google. Both tools bring Twitter alive and expose the layers…
PR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Have you ever met someone so energetic, positive and incredibly smart – someone who exudes passion and someone who “gets it” in an inspirational way? I’m lucky to know one such person, Deirdre Breakenridge, and she has just published a new, must-read book, PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences. I’m honored to have my ideas, philosophies, experiences, and vision shared throughout the book. I’m even more humbled to have been asked to contribute the foreword. PR 2.0, as…
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Conversation Has Left The Building
Earlier this year, I wrote “The Value of Online Conversations,” to share and talk through my thoughts related to improving the quality of online discussions in the face of potential degradation and decentralization of important online discussions. We live in the era of Social Media, which represents the socialization of content and conversations as well as the creation of communities around thoughts and ideas. People are the hubs of information and we’re witnessing the creation of mini-societies that expand, contract,…
