DISQUS

Mathew,

I'll take a slightly contrarian view here - but before I do - i'll agree with you - WOM doesn't get manufactured although it may get hosted, paying people is wrong, product is always the name of the game and goosing is wrong in nearly every arena of life - as a word of mouth marketer - you can wear a white hat, play by the ethical rulebook and still make your clients come out better.

The bad examples tend to get the media attention, where the good ones can get short shrift by traditional media (nobody likes to hear about saving cats out of trees either).

Here's the counter argument - great products can be ignored, average products don't appear different - why?

They lack a compelling idea/story, the experience they provide at all touchpoints not just the product is hamstrung, they fail to reach the right influential audience, they don't incubate an experience with the brand, they don't create dialogue or interaction that builds value to the brand, and they don't learn from what's being said in the grapevine about their product/brand.

Would it be better to support brash advertising that speaks over top their audience and brags "look at me, look at me", or pushy PR that peddles manufactured stories at vulnerable journalists or overpriced, lazy sponsorship that brandishes a corporate swath on huge chunks of culture without really believing or living it - no, good friends don't allow friends to spend in a one-way world when people/customers are craving connection, collaboration, communication and community. That's the bigger sin.

There are good guys plying their trade out here in WOM land that are uncomfortable being lumped in with the MLMers, Roach baiters, shill marketers and fake bloggers...it does the entire industry a disservice when you don't make the distinction.

Jake,
Heh, this was a good post...sorry I got to it so late.

Two things here:

1) I don't think what Communispace does is particularly evil or addiction making - they are giving consumers a voice at the corporate table - that is a big motivator for people - to feel listened to. Sure it may be only marketing research, but there are other communities that form for funding or crowdsourced solutions or customer support or brand ambassadorship. Sometimes simple focus makes for better community. No issues with them on that front.

2) I see your point that you would like customers to have true co-ownership, an expanded role. It is the nirvana of community-building. You know and I know that many companies are just not ready for it and a well-supported community launch tumbles down like a deck of cards - bad objectives, bad timeframe, bad staffing, bad dialogue, bad benevolvent leadership, bad tech 2.0....

3) Ok I had a third point - there may have been some subtext there on the value of private vs. opened source communities..I'm increasingly of the mind that private communities for certain brands are the way to go. It goes against what I have been promoting for the last 4 years but the idea that you can't participate in social media by having some type of walled garden is false. Many of the best communities revolve around a hive of super committed people that are treated differently than the rest - mozilla calls it the Meriocratic hierarchy...you likely implemented a lot of this at lego where secure access is given to some and not others.

I just think that if you grab a 1,000 super zealous fans - they will shout down any critique from a crazed blogger more than a camp of 25,000 loosely committed individuals.

Not too sure, whichg of the above three points stands as a different lense to your Communispace issue but the net effect is that you might not like Communispace and their practices but it's a hell of a lot better than what's going on in most companies.

Talked to Jon mamela today...Jens - coming out to Vancouver - want to join a group of us for dinner on Thursday night August 8th

sean

here's my attempt:

GI generation (get it done)
- Mr.Smith Goes to Washington (stand for the right thing)
- Gone with the Wind (historical values)

Silent Generation (conformists, prosperity, civil rights)
- Ben Hur (individual hero)
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- My Fair lady
- Sound of Music

Boomers (self absorbed, liberal, do what you want, distrust of authority)
- Big Chill (sentimentalism)
- Grease/Rocky (optimism, rags to riches)
- Rocky Horror Picture Show/Saturday night fever (glam)
- Easy Rider

Gen X (apathy, social prblems of the day, MTV, falwed hero, interactive tech begins)
- Mallrats/Clerks/Office Space/Chasing Amy (anti-corporate, McJobs, Coupland)
- Do the Right Thing (race)
- Breakfast Club/
- Ferris Bueller's day off (maverick)
- Say Anything

Net Generation (freedom, collaboration, the net, integrity, speed)
- Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings (unexpected hero)
- Snakes of a Plane (net)
- Inconvenient Trust (environmentalism, something larger than yourself)
- The Notebook
- There Will Be Blood/Borat/Bourne identity (entertainment)

Naumi,

Loving the posts Naumi. Couldn't agree more with your thesis here and nice link to Granovetter.

Inspiration for my recent post:
http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/agentwildfire/200...

We should have chatted yesterday...next time.

Nice post, Mr. Scoble --- a very street savvy perspective and one that likely benefits you - my simple math on 10 friends I just tweeted - 4 have the excat same followers/followed (reciprocity at play?), 4 have more followers and 2 follow more ---not too sure if everybody is on your page, but it would appear like about half subscribe to your spray gun policy. cheers

Matt,

Love the simplicity, love the succinctness, love the marquee value of your respondents, love the inght - who is this Travis, Young Go Getter, love his one-liner- I'm going to connect with him now.

Cheers. Sean

Ok alternate viral strategies on Chuck:

I agree with your cryptic strategy initially but other options:

- get NBC stars to chime in on the the secret

- provide hints/video easter eggs on different NBC shows a la scavenger hunt to get the answer

- get people to provide what they think chuck's secret is - build a plot or show around the best submissions

- make chuck a total mock show promoting another show in a twist of surpise

- launch a guerrilla Chuck press junket with celeb bloggers that are in on the deal

- have Chuck date Lonely Girl and show up on underpasses of Boston freeways

- interview the most screwed up people in Hollywood on this - Hopper, Nicholson, Kathy Griffin, David Lynch or obscure people Ted Lange from the Love Boat, Jan Smithers from WKRP

Nice forensics on this one, hopefully you don't mind me posting in entirety

Ray,

Kudos on governing the fate of the Z-List (if they get really popular from this effort, isn't it the Y-list?).

I would say "what Luc said" but that wouldn't add a lot to the conversation.

Unfortunately with this many blogs - it does become more of a popularity contest as opposed to an objective evaluation of every blog. It's a real paradox because Mack Collier who started the list wanted it to be an anti-popularity contest with underappreciated, under trafficked blogs...hmmm.

Maybe if there was an ability for an uber Squidoo council to read every blog on the list and submit their evaluation, they might be able to get a mutiple of points for their effort - 5 pts. People may say this is undemocratic but I say if your willing to truly particpate and get involved (vs. strictly voting for yourself) then your vote should get more value.

Also, send a tout to each member on the list asking to have a one liner explaing the motivation behind their blog that could function as their "vote for me bumper sticker" on the lense.

Thanks for taking this on...Sean Moffitt aka The Buzz Canuck

benjamin,

Great idea on this contest...good win for everybody heading into the new year.

Thanks for providing the forum.

Sean

ben,

thanks for your inspiration for my end of the year post...I enjoyed your concept enough to write down my 11 learnings

http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/agentwildfire/200...

have a great 2007

Here's a question at what number of Web X.0 does it become unfashionable to call it even Web anymore and the prefix actually changes to something like Maz 1.0.. You can become the next Tim Berners-Lee (or Al Gore) if you're the first to produce that T-shirt.

Ryan, my fave is MARKETING MONGER http://www.marketingmonger.com/ also Viral Garden has done a great job compiling a list of their top 25 marketing blogs from Alexa rankings, at least you'll know what others are reading

http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2006/04/v...

Great Blog Potential here at your 30 post mark...like the layout, like the content..

Cheers,

Sean