DISQUS

Hi Paul,
Are you writing in general terms or about specifics? Sometimes that affects how people feel about responding. Another thought is to have them share their idea in a general sense as a guest post. Others would see that you're openly encouraging interaction.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss.
It sounds like he had a full life.
My grandparents have all been gone for awhile, but I think of them often. They instilled many values that make me who I am.

Hi Beth,
Dave is such a great resource. He's providing Memphis with awesome leadership!

It was a lot of fun 'visiting' your first event. I hope to get to Memphis in person soon!

Connie

This is a great piece on leadership. Amber has many good ideas. I just wrote a post tonite underlining that trust & respect are needed.

Working with an organization that doesn't have a vision is extremely frustrating. I think that it needs to be a concerted effort. Yes, someone is ultimately responsible, but I think it's their responsibility to encourage everyone to share their ideas for the common good of the organization. The company that I'm presently with has a leader that does the executing, but also provides the vision. The amazing thing is that he's created a transparent organization & encourages everyone to contribute to the vision. And I'm allowed to be creative in executing my work.

So it can be a mix. I don't think that they're all distinctly separate. I enjoy participating in all 3 aspects.

This is such a great idea! I'm glad that you have talented people like Jill & Joe to help you Steve!!

And I love the title! Rock on guys!!

Hi Derrick,
I'm glad that I could offer some questions. It was you who decided. I'm not sure how much advice I gave.

In looking at your recent visitors I see many friends - Dan Schawbel, Ryan Stephens, ... :)
We move in the same circle!

twellow.com allows you to search bio's on Twitter. It's very helpful!

There is no wrong or right. Welcome to the NetSol blogging family, btw. I wrote some posts on using Twitter for business purposes here.

The web client does make it easier to use. The one thing is - is Twitter adding value to you? You shouldn't be spending time on a social network without a purpose. Well, you can if you have the free time & want to relax. But if you have a business case, then there needs to be defined outcomes.

Give it time, Twitter is an odd bird. Soon you'll be addicted! and ignore the Twitter stat's sites. It's what value YOU get out of it.

I smiled at your comment about the hug at the end. I learned long ago that there is more to life than a handshake. Bloggers & my online friends get hugs because there are so few times when our paths cross in person.

ahh - the ability to comment on comments! Thanks for recommending my blog. I can't wait to hear about your projects for 2009! May life bring you joy, Sukhjit!

Hey Sukhjit,
What an awesome job you did of putting this together! (I'm sorry that I'm so late in commenting. :( )

It was totally awesome meeting you! Thomas has great friends. :)
I'm going to put up a really cute pic of you & Stuart. The Punjabi ride in your Mini Cooper was THE best!
We'll be back to San Fran next May for Community 2.0.

Thanks again for sharing your amazing talents! I'm totally impressed!!

I'm going to play devil's advocate here. (thanks Chris for the call out!)

I don't moderate comments on my blog. And my opinion is that if you have a corporate brand with a solid brand & a strong community manager then the comments shouldn't need to be moderated. If the community manager receives the comments in their email, then they should be able to respond quickly.

When I took over the ACDSee blog I turned the comment moderation off. (no one noticed) And it was a good thing. These are my reasons:
1. When we leave a comment we like immediate gratification

2. I don't like leaving a comment, see that it's being moderated & then come back later & see 5 others ahead of me (if you do moderate - then I totally agree with Chris - keep up to it!!)

So if have a community manager that's on the ball I think it's cool to not moderate. What do you think of that?

Thanks Warren for including my post. I've dragged many people into Twitter whether they liked it or not! :)

Have you met @jojeda? His book on Twitter is coming out soon. He's from Minnesota & let me read a portion of it. As a past librarian it was really exciting to write my first tweets for a flyleaf! :)

You may want to interview Julio & here's info on his book http://twitin.biz/

You asked: "Is it less “genuine” to have a team behind your brand? I don’t think so, but am curious to know what you think. Do you divulge it, or do you keep it quiet?"

It isn't less genuine at all - they are called evangelists, advocates, etc. You have us - your readership is your team. And if they're paid like your intern, then staff. If your intern is promoting the 'Chris Brogan' brand then why not make it public? You are a company of one that is growing :) (otherwise your intern will confuse people if it's a secret). And if the intern is for Crosstech = then that's easier.

Social media does scale. Chris, I've watched you grow your network so successfully. I've been transitioning to the new levels & learning to deal with it.

But your question is in terms of the enterprise. This is a question that I've been exploring with Dell & Techsmith. How to scale community management? Lucretia & others have the answer, you just grow the team. A strong leader is important along with communication & organization. As the number of advocates grows I think it's important to scale wisely to ensure their needs are met (not referring to financial either as these are mostly unpaid). Even at the small company of ACD I had built to having 26 under me. Sean McDonald of Dell has an interesting perspective that the future is that the culture should shift so that all employees are spokespersons (comm mgrs). This is a great idea but it can't happen until the company can trust everyone with their brand (Some depts hold that pretty tightly). It also requires transparency.

Next week I will have the opportunity to meet people from Intel, Yahoo & companies that have multiple comm mgrs so I look forward to continuing the discussion.

Thanks for listing SM2 by Techrigy Jake. In addition to monitoring social media, it offers many powerful analysis options.

I love Social Media Today & the sister site myventurepad.com (for small biz).

I syndicate my blog into both & when the editor deems my post worthy, it gets put in with the mix. The best thing is that it gets in front of a lot of new eyes. I end up with at least a couple of hundred views per post there alone.

And as you said, it's a great way to stay up to date on the best reading as well as meet new authors.

I did something new, I clicked the box to receive comments by email. I am liking having the conversation delivered to my inbox! I definitely recommend it! Great community buiding tool, Chris.

Juan, it's quite easy to create your own. In fact you'll find that the freedom on your own is liberating. You can write about whatever you like. You can focus as narrowly or broadly on your topic. And as someone pointed out, you can establish yourself as specialist/influencer on the topic. The nice thing is that if you change employment your archives are yours.

How to keep them separate? On your personal one put a disclaimer. And take examples for your industry & generalize them. That was a hard bridge for me to cross, but probably the most valuable. How well you can do that is what allows your readers to apply it to their own situations. Chris is a master of it. But in the process it removes the company's brand. If that doesn't make sense, let me know & I'll clarify.

Finally, in having your own blog you are investing in the company of you. You are paying yourself forward. Invest in yourself.

Chris you do make me blush...
For your readers benefit: My blog is separate & has been. I learned that the hard way when I was given a serious lesson about Intellectual Property in regard to tutorials. All of my contracts now specifically state who owns what IP & and that my blog is distinctly separate from my work.

And since coming online I've learned a new term called 'talent management'. I really like the concept. My interpretation is that HR and management need to recognize who they value & then make efforts to ensure that they are providing that employee with prof dev't & fulfilling more than just providing them with an income. The people that you listed above (including myself) are working because we love to. Deloitte has a great study that lists the additional items that we require/crave.

Communication & relationships are going to be even more important than ever for exactly the reasons you state. My prediction is that the Gen Y'ers are also going to hold job satisfaction high on their list. So this will put the pressure on employers to provide a workplace that's stimulating including internal social networks, flat rather than siloed, transparency, & customer-centric. So I think that a lot of the responsibility falls on the organization because it is a choice. If their employees are happy they won't get whisked away, right?

I also totally agree with you on uplifting potential talent. You've set such a great example for that. As people attain a proficiency in their niche they need to reach down & help the next upcoming set. (I guess I should've written a blog post, huh?)

Bring back lots of information & interviews for the blog, Shashi. We look forward to it!

Hey Phil,
I don't think it takes a genius to figure out social media. It's common sense & knowing how to use the tools. Ultimately it's about relationships & that's what's hard for companies to figure out. And the bigger the brand is, the harder is for them to ponder how or even why they should talk to their customers.

Ultimately the use of social media can start with word of mouth & build from there. Andy Sernovitz' book explains how simple it can be. But ultimately (and I don't think he says it) but you do - it has to come from passion & the heart.

Thanks Daniel for including me in your list. Rohit Bhargava's book points out how important our back stories are for marketing & branding but it's so much more than that! It explains who we are & how we came to be.

My education is in teaching. Most recent brick & mortar experience was almost a decade of building community, marketing & PR in a public library system. I supervised 7 libraries ranging over an 80 mile area. Shifting to online work was a natural. I started as an evangelist for ACDSee & then they hired me full time. My sister & I created a community at www.digiscrapinfo.com providing resources & customer service. Moving forward I shifted to contracting & now provide services to Network Solutions, Awareness Networks & am teaching community manager classes. Thanks for starting this conversation!

That's a great point Ryan. It needs to be a topic that appeals to others (otherwise it's a diary).

The focus needs to be on an area that you're passionate about. Then the time will just happen & you'll be happy about investing the time.

Hi Drew,
We didn't cross paths at BWE. I left a comment over on Louis' post.

I love your attitude though! I'm working on it too...
Connie

That's really interesting! I love Drew's attitude.

A couple moved into the Alzheimer's unit at our local nursing home in rural northern Minnesota. The wife doesn't suffer from the condition but chose to be with her husband. BUT she wanted internet access. So they put in wireless for the whole nursing home. I should go interview them & see how it's going.

And yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. I have connected with the President of the Small Biz dev't assoc in North Dakota & hope to do my first offline session on social networking. At Network Solutions we're also working to assist small businesses with getting online (especially in this economy).

Connie @ Network Solutions