I'm one of 237 authors contributing a chapter to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘ available as ebook, paperback or hardback, with all proceeds to Variety, the childrens’ charity.
For the first 237 days of 2009, I’ll be highlighting a phrase from an author's chapter, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking to them.
“If the then-stockholders of CBS knew how much wealth I destroyed on magnificently-creative and utterly unproductive advertising, I would probably be in the jail cell next to Jeff Skilling.”
In a chapter entitled ‘Listen, Do You Want To Know a Secret?‘ John Rosen reminds us that you need to listen to customers, because, very simply, the cost of having that conversation with them will save you far more than what you stand to lose by not having that conversation. And in the Age of Conversation, there’s no excuse.
>> Read the full story from John Rosen and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
2.0, Business, authors, conversation 2.0, share, social media
“To get to the “secrets,” we have to do more than ask, we have to listen. Listening is much more complex than asking. It means adjusting our mindset and ensuring that we’re truly giving permission for secrets to be revealed.”
In a chapter entitled ‘Listen, Do You Want To Know a Secret?‘ Steve reminds us that the most important, and significant element in a conversation is listening. That’s how we learn about things that we know nothing about. (Secret, undiscovered, unknown things). By listening.
>> Read the full story from Steve Portigal and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
I first got involved in online business around 1995, when I first bought a copy of .net magazine, after I got curious about a startup company in the next room of our business centre, who said they were hosting websites.
Back in 1995, most business people I spoke to didn’t know what a website was, let alone what a good one would look like, so I started to learn how to code HTML using a highly sophisticated tool called ‘Notepad‘, and registered some domain names where a committee of actual people decided on whether or not I could own a particular domain name… movin gon to 1998, I was designing and managing sites for companies like The Alba Centre (a Silicon Glen incubator) Scottish Financial Enterprise, The British Blood Transfusion Society, and for dozens of conferences a year. Of course, the dot com bubble burst around 2000-2001, with so much money following ridiculously optimistic business plans, but many survivors from that period are still around, and still very active today.
But around about 2003, a new type of web site started to appear, as what I considered to be a natural evolution coinciding with the high penetration of broadband internet connections into homes and businesses: sites with features that broadly are known as Web 2.0…
These sites allowed the addition of comment, collaboration, and content from those that use the sites. Blogs began to break news ahead of mainstream media, comments about a book by readers offered more credibility than publishers’ puff, and people began to use video sharing, file sharing, mobile access… and social networks.
Where we stand today, site concepts and names that did not exist a few short years ago are massively successful, and the numbers in monetary terms, and this time around, also in end user terms, are huge. YouTube. Facebook. MySpace. PayPal. Skype. Last.fm. Bebo. And the older companies (hardly business veterans, any of them) still have some smart moves and serious revenue - Amazon, EBay, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft.
New entities like Twitter, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Empressr, Notchup and Ning are growing rapidly in online areas that simply could not be conceived a few years ago. The barriers to entry for sites that can grow virally are lower than they ever have been before, and a new breed of VC is eager to find and fund the next big success - and these VCs are not just in the Valley. They are in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Milan, Tel Aviv, Stockholm, Dublin, and beyond…
This combination of factors forms the business and intellectual hot spot where The Next Web has grown since its inaugural conference in Amsterdam in 2006. Now on Iteration #4, this is the showcase for the best of the new web, debating the next moves, providing a forum for the key thinkers, best commentators and important players to meet, and creating a momentum in its own right that has led to thenextweb blog becoming a highly regarded source of news and critical commentary for entrepreneurial startups, VCs and industry commentators in Europe and beyond.
At last year’s Next Web Conference, I was able to meet with and interview speakers such Robert Scoble, Tech Geek Blogger & Author of ‘Naked Conversations‘ [interview], Werner Vogels, CTO at Amazon [interview], and you can still access some amazing material related to the event at http://2008.thenextweb.com and in the Archives at the Next Web Blog.
This year, more than 800 delegates are anticipated from over 20 countries, and confirmed speakers include Michael J. Brown, Tino Schaedler, Chris Sacca, Nova Spivack, Andrew Keen, Eric A. Meyer, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, and Matt Mullenweg.
Amsterdam’s ease of access from all over the world, its cosmopolitan charm and essential cool also add to the list of very good reasons to attend this compelling conference.
I’m going to be there. It’s a hugely challenging, interesting and exciting time for developments in the online sphere. Everything is in flux, money is tight, but it’s still a key area of growth.
The Next Web is about the vision for the future of the web, with great speakers who’ll share their vision with you. This conference has become one of the best networking events in Europe.
Make a note in your Diary: The Next Web, Amsterdam, 15-17 April, 2009. [Upcoming.org Listing]
Visit The next Web 2009 Site and book early to Save €250 with an Early Bird Registration - numbers for this are limited.
“Process isn’t product. Web 2.0 is a toolkit, not an end unto its own. When telephones first came out, steel mills didn’t change their business models overnight and become answering services”
In a chapter entitled ‘How do You Say “Just Do It” in Marketing 2.0?‘ Valeria details three simple steps to ensure that talk turns into action: —
>> Read the full story from Valeria Maltoni and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
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2.0, Business, authors, conversation 2.0, share, social media
“I also believe that we spend so much time putting together the perfect strategy, we lose sight of the most important element — the present moment. I believe that we have to stay present to stay relevant.”
In a chapter entitled ‘To Act or Not to Act?‘ Sheryl reminds us that “paralysis by analysis” is the last thing businesses, particularly small to medium enterprises, need to do.
They need to act. To just get back to basics - keep things simple - and focus on staying relevant to the target market and current customers. Too much talk and not enough action.
>> Read the full story from Sheryl Steadman and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
2.0, Business, authors, conversation 2.0, share, social media
“The company continues to grow, despite spending no money on advertising. Word of mouth alone has made Glassybaby a favorite among Seattle shoppers, and has helped capture the attention of both Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey. How?”
In a chapter entitled ‘Good Karma Marketing‘ Terrell shows us how ‘good karma’ replaces an advertising budget for one Seattle company, for three simple reasons: —
>> Read the full story from Terrell Meek and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
An observation that took me all of 140 characters to pass on (using Twitter of course) was turned into a fairly substantial blog by another writer a few days ago. One of my Twitter followers noticed that blog, and immediately linked it to my earlier tweet. They asked me if I wasn’t annoyed that this guy had ‘stolen‘ my idea.
No. I was not annoyed. 
Actually, it’s nice to inspire other people, I replied. And thinking further about this, I was only highlighting something that was tucked away in a long interview, but which, to me, seemed the most important fact from the interview - for a particular geographical audience. So my thought was not original in any way - I just focused on something already stated, which was very far from the headline - and just made it a headline item.
Rather than feeling annoyed, I was happy that I’d helped to highlight something important that might otherwise have been ignored. Another writer, who followed my tweet nothings, chose to write about something I mentioned in more detail. Cool. I treat that as a compliment - he recognised that my insight was valuable - but I certainly did not expect any acknowledgment. Next time we talk, I’ll ask - and I would not be at all surprised to learn that he didn’t see my tweet in the first place.
Just yesterday, writing my daily summary of a chapter from Age of Conversation 2, I browsed through to Ed Cottons Blog, as I’d chosen to write about his chapter - and came across a blog about the concept of originality, plagiarism, and theft, that cited a film-maker.
Rule #5: Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows.
Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it.
In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
— Jim Jarmusch
Quote from an interview with Moviemaker Magazine in 2004, brought to my attention by fellow AOC2 author Ed Cotton.
Read more…
authority, authors, blonging, conversation 2.0, digital biographer, share, social media
“The “Flickr Is Having a Massage” that appears when the site is undergoing maintenance isn’t a media buy or an ad — it’s part of the user experience. It sucks not to have access to the site, but the tone of the writing and the sense of humor make it suck less. Flickr probably doesn’t think of this as marketing. For them, it’s just the way they do things.”
In a chapter entitled ‘The Accidental Marketer‘ Ed puts forward the idea that marketing in the new ‘2.0′ world is more about passion for service and product excellence, and less about the ‘process’ or pseudo-science of marketing.
Brands that are succeeding don’t actually think too much about branding - they simply follow their core philosophy, and their people represent the brands in their attitude and point of view. Marketing becomes a by-product of doing great things.
>> Read the full story from Ed Cotton and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
2.0, Live, share, social media
I was very excited to hear about the forthcoming @Twestival, taking place across the world and bringing together users of the Twitter microblogging service to raise money for charity:water on February 12th 2009. A great idea, a great cause, and no doubt some great social events where people will get to meet new friends…
UPDATE: Click here to book tickets for Edinburgh Twestival - and be quick, they are going fast.
There’s a @twestival event being organised in my local city of Edinburgh, but I may not be able to attend that, so I wanted to help them raise money, irrespective of my geography, by offering something. And what better than something related to Twitter?
I’ve been creating twitter backgrounds and enhancing online profiles for my customers for some time, and I normally charge a minimum of $120 for a Twitter Profile Makeover, with a custom background and avatar. I’ve decided to offer this service at half price - just $60, and I will donate half of that - $30 - to charity: water for each Twitter Makeover.
2.0, brand, commerce, digital biographer, online identity, share, social media
“Those who once had exclusive control of the broadcast now look out at an audience that need not listen passively, but which has its own microphones, its own channels. Audience members can tune in, toss out, turn elsewhere, and say whatever is on their minds.”
In a chapter entitled ‘We Have the Microphone Back!‘ Steve reminds us that we are all natural storytellers and story listeners, and the odd interruption that modern society provided for a time, with a select few newscasters, journalists, authors, experts and marketers hogging the microphone - is over. Now that everyone has had the ability to hear their own voice amplified, they’re never going to give the microphone back.
>> Read the full story from Steve Woodruff and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
“Content lives in the digital ether between the “Share This” button and the recipient’s inbox. News articles don’t live on NYTimes.com, they live in postings to social news aggregators like Digg.com. Blog entries don’t live on Typepad.com, they live in conversations on Twitter.”
In a chapter entitled ‘Domain-Free‘ Mike points out that the interesting place is now the channel between individuals using social media to share content. the journey rather than the destination is what has become most interesting and compelling - and those who produce content should, rather than simply focusing on putting things into their ordered places, focus on making it easy to let people put things where they want.
>> Read the full story from Mike Arauz and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
“The Age of Conversation engages those interested in participating, transforming customers once antagonistic toward your sales efforts into advocates willing and eager to promote you and offer new input, serendipitous examples and unexpected suggestions.”
In a chapter entitled ‘Don’t Be Myopic About Social Media!‘ C.B. makes the important point that those who can’t engage in a conversation with their customers, and don’t realise that if they are entrenched in traditional communication approaches, tend to keep their heads in the sand, or bury them even further.
The result is that they are missing an evolutionary (and revolutionary) change in how businesses communicate with their customers which is just as fundamental and important as when email started to be used, or cellphones.
>> Read the full story from C.B. Whittemore and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
“The blogosphere is no different from a chessboard. Content is praised as the prize piece, but the blogs that carry the most influence are teeming with comments. Because, though content is King, comments are Queen.”
In a chapter entitled ‘Comments Are Queen‘ Ryan reminds us that it’s the Queen in a game of Chess that dominates the game, and in blogs, it’s comments that bring a blog to life - and when you talk about real issues, true-life stories and ask questions, you start to see conversations beginning.
What have you go to say about this?
>> Read the full story from Ryan Barrett and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
“Many companies view marketing as a magic elixir; that their boring company/product/service will suddenly become interesting to the masses with the perfect ad campaign. However, being interesting and acting interesting are two different things.”
In a chapter entitled ‘Marketing Tragedies — and How to Prevent Them‘ Justin bravely confesses to having had a number of marketing tragedies he has learned from, and broadly divides these into three areas, and explains each in detail: —
Justin also lets us know of a simple way to prevent such tragedies - but of course, you’ll only find out about that if you buy the book.
>>Read the full story from Justin Foster and 236 other contributors: Buy Age of Conversation 2 today…
David Petherick is one of 237 authors who contributed to the book ‘Age of Conversation 2‘. For the first 237 days of 2009, he is highlighting a chapter from one of his co-authors, briefly discussing their contribution, and linking you to their blog or online presence.
All proceeds from sales of Age of Conversation 2 go to charity.
