David Armano: Conversation Ecosystem

Posted on October 31, 2007 by Christian Drehkopf

Conversation Ecosystem

Twitter allows users to send and receive abbreviated communications or “digital shorthand” from a computer or mobile device. These are called “Tweets.” The open-source nature of the application has spawned countless “mash-ups” where Twitter technology merges seamlessly with other open-source technologies such as Google (GOOG) Maps. Widgets and desktop applications such as Twitteroo and Twitterific take you outside of the browser and act as a sort of social instant messenger, sending and receiving rapid bursts of text and links.

Twitter can send and receive feeds. I now receive my news headlines from the service, getting up to speed from media sources such as CNN and The New York Times. That’s why I call Twitter a conversation ecosystem—it supports multiple touch points of content and dialogue.

Think about the implications here. Just as YouTube changed how we watch and share videos, some emerging media applications are changing how we interact with each other and with brands. Does this sound like marketing? Well, it is. It’s how we market to each other. Yes, that’s right—we market to each other. We always have, in fact, but now we’re doing it in a more digitally connected way. When we find our friends on any social network (pick one) we swap stories about products and services we like or dislike. We share knowledge and expertise. We define a new kind of currency fueled by conversation and founded in meaningful relationships.

Don’t Communicate—Facilitate

Conversation architects move marketing beyond the idea of one-way messaging. Traditional marketing efforts were founded on this tried-and-true format and are still prevalent within the industry. Consider the example of a typical creative brief template, which usually says something like, “What are we trying to communicate?” Can you see the old-world residue in the word “communicate”? It lacks the dimensions of experiencing something and having an ongoing two-way dialogue. “What are we trying to communicate?” implies a one-way conversation. Maybe we should ask ourselves: “How can we facilitate?”

Even media outlets such as USA Today have recently revamped their sites to support reader feedback in the form of comments. Users can also upload photos to the site (though I’m not sure why this is useful). As I write this, journalist and influential blogger Jeff Jarvis, who once flamed Dell in the famed “Dell Hell,” now blogs about his positive interactions with Dell (DELL) representatives as they engage him and invite him to their digs in Texas. (…)

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