Conversation Agent

Evolutionary Hierarchy of Communication Networks

I've come across a fascinating evolutionary hierarchy of things by the Bordalier Intitute. It shows communication networks developing from cosmic networks. The diagram did make me think about Matryoshkus Russian dolls.

[image of product by Art Lebedev Studio. Hat tip to Laughing Squid]

The image I am using makes sense also in another respect. It represents a hierarchy in order of bit, byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte & terabyte. All it's missing is petabytes. According to Wired magazine, these are stored in the cloud.

If we take the opposite approach, from the outside in, for communication networks we have:

1. Chemical bonds in protolife (Gaia)
2. Cellular energy in prokaryote (Biosphere)
3. Genetic in eucariote (Biotope)
4. Central nervous system (Ecosystem)
5. Semiotic (Social Community)
6. Food Web or trophic Web in vertebrates or quadriopodes (Biotop)
7. Ritual verbal symbolic in religion (Culture)
8. Mechanical Tools (Engineering)
9. Written verbal (History)
10. Formal symbolic (Science)
11. Binary (Computer Systems)
12. Hypertext in the World Wide Web (Internet)
13. Computer to computer (Web Services)

This sequence or evolution seems to follow the path outlined in the article, where science (causation) is superseded by correlation (data analysis without hypotheses of what it might show). Is the evolution of communication networks taking us towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents as conversation agents? 

Fascinating theory or potential reality?

How to Read the Groundswell and Increase your Business Success Threefold

Want to increase your business success threefold? Tap into Groundswell. According to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff a groundswell is:

A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.

Social technologies are enabling tools, so forget technology for a moment and ask yourself "Why do I want to be participating in the groundswell?" "What are my customers ready for?" and "What are my objectives?" In other words, do a POST and figure out the:

• People - before you start, find out your customers' Social Technographics Profile. Go ahead and build one for your customers here. For example, are they online at all, are they inactive? This is a question we asked at a recent panel discussion on social media. If they are online, what is their level of participation? Are they creators, joiners, critics, collectors, or spectators? 
     
• Objectives - what are you trying to do? As you answer this question, bear in mind that with social technologies and dialogue, talking and energizing or otherwise tapping into the groundswell can and may lead to generating sales while the actions and dynamics that get you there are very different from a direct marketing or integrated marketing campaign. The missing link - listening - is built-in here.
     
• Strategy - you're a good business person so you know that in order to know if you've gotten where you wanted to go, you need to figure out up front what changes and how you're going to measure the distance between destination and where you are. To map that course, define what change means to you - more engagement, better testimonials? Change in customer behavior will also mean change in how your organization or business serves your customer base. Address that, too.
     
• Technology - now that you've done the heavy lifting, it's time to pick the tools - wikis, blogs, forums, social networks, etc.

How do you read the groundswell? By participation. Like all good things in life, this book will be useful to you in direct proportion to the amount of interaction you plan to have with its content. Decide before you pick it up:

1. Three things you are going to do as a direct result of learning from the how to's and stories. In fact, you might want to write down the case in which you tried and failed at social media. You might find answers or better questions in the book and research presented. For thoughtful questions and answers, check out the book's forum.
      
2. What is your own ROI for reading. In other words, measure your progress against your goals. Your start up costs are $19.77 for buying on Amazon and $X (this is the value you place yourself) for your time in reading, folding corners, underlining and writing notes. The ongoing costs are paying attention to the material, remaining aware of the information and how it relates to the conversations with your customers, technology learning curve, content production, periodical readjustment of your thinking. The value of the benefits to you is directly proportional to the quality of investment you make to give it a try. 
      
3. How flexible and ready for change you're going to be. The hardest part of learning is forgetting what you already know. Put down your assumptions, get ready to engage both sides of your brain, and to be motivated. This decision will come in handy when you're going to share the material with your team.

My involvement in social media forever changed the way I think about and look at marketing - for the better. It has allowed me to be much closer to the market, where the action is. Imagine the three things you can do with your business to increase success.

Ten Ideas for Conversation

Social media is, well, social. Interaction is part of the experience and expectation. If this is your first blog or foray into the scene, you are probably going to be doing a lot more of the work than those individuals or companies that have an established presence. And by presence I mean "voice" - what they bring to the table as evaluated and valued by the people they interact with.

Is conversational marketing just the engagement of social media by a corporation to promote their product and brand? Many seem to think so. Even when your tone of voice is lower than a shout, there is a lot more to the conversation than just promotion. In fact, I can think of at least ten ideas. 

1. It's about how what we say and do connects with the person in the room with us. We are not nearly as clever and interesting as we'd like to think. Most behaviors and ideas spread through populations because of what the members of the populations do or think or say in response to each other. Mark Earls thinks this is what Cluetrain meant when they talked about markets being conversations.
2. It's an ongoing experience, you are never done. And you are probably judged just on the last interaction, although there is significant capital you can count on when you invest in having the interaction in the first place. We are all moving very fast these days. At times our paths cross just like ships in the night.
3. It's still wise to know what you're about and the value(s) you bring. In marketing we talk about value propositions all the time. These are the benefits you bring to the table, as seen by your customers. Rick Becker talks about a bell curve between company-speak and customer-speak. The truth, and value, is often somewhere in between, where the conversation takes place.
4. It's the expectation that something will happen instantly that changes dynamics. The truth is that nothing may happen for a long time, before something happens. On the other hand, there are many things happening behind the scenes. Thinking is shifting, even your posture is, as you experiment with formats and rhythm.
5. It's a way to stimulate your innovative juices. Think about it. How often do you get stuck in one way of looking at an issue, one use for a product, or service. When you put the idea out there, all of a sudden, new possibilities materialize. You may even gain enough momentum to refine your new use. Seth Godin writes: pushing an idea through the dip of acceptance is far more valuable than inventing something that's never existed... and then walking away from it.
6. It's more than talk, it's the action that follows. I would not want to give you the impression that conversation means just talk, although talk can change our lives. Jake McKee posts about an apology by Southwest Airlines. The tone is in their signature style, the action follows the words.
7. It's how allowing yourself to be out there enriches what you do in here (your business). In fact, by being immersed in the conversation, you may forget what you thought you knew, and get to see things from a new angle. Roger von Oech writes about how we should practice forgetting to have insights.
8. It's not a distraction, it's an investment. Many do not see it that way because it seems like an unnecessary drain of resources and time. You make an investment in learning from others while staying centered in what you're about.
9. It's a reason to move faster from creativity, to creation. Stephen Denny said it best - it's not about delivering interesting stuff against pre-established deadlines. It's about becoming the producer of original content that adds value to the conversation. If you have been using social media, you know what we are talking about. In the rare instances in which you are in an advanced marketing strategy role, you may know what this means, what it feels like. It's about packaging an idea in a truly compelling fashion and selling it so that people want to buy your service, or product.
   
10. It's the surest path to grow your business. Co-creation has been around for a little while. It is only now that we are beginning to see some headway on results. Mick Stravellin talks about how co-creation is the way forward. It is like opening the big ivory tower big companies seem to live in. Conversation may allow you to take your business to where growth is next.

There is so much more to conversation than just promotion. Conversation is how ongoing value(s) instantly stimulate action allowing investment to grow. It starts with you.

The Cluetrain Manifesto Conversation

You’re either participating or you’re not, writes Micheal Walsh at Lingolook. There's no in between. It would be like being half pregnant, or half baked - the first one improbable, the second indigestible.

Why should you care?

Your payoff is that, whether you like it or not, chances are your customers (and increasingly employees) are talking about you online.

If your customers are not talking about you... well, that's a worse scenario to contemplate, isn't it?

These are not necessarily negative conversations, mind you. They well could be constructive discussions filled with chances to learn about your customers and what you need to do to make them happy. Happy people buy more and tell their friends. It's your prerogative whether to join the conversation or not.

The best outcome is that those who are talking about you are spreading the word on your business - Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell called them Citizen Marketers. The worst case scenario is that those customers who talked about you even once stopped doing so, they did not think you cared about what they were saying, so they stopped caring about you and your business - you become invisible to them (and increasingly their friends).

This kind of conversation is a commitment, not a savings account for your marketing spend. When I speak about social media, the tools and dynamics, I often say that they are the container, the context in which you get to:

• engage
• educate
  
• entertain

The fourth "E" is emotion, the human quality that is memorable because it touches us. While blogs and other social media seem (and often are) extemporaneous, they do allow you to show the personality of your business. Your personality is still what differentiates you from your competitors - and, after years of industrial age treatment, what makes you likeable. Before you develop a relationship with your customers, you thus have the chance to:

• encourage participation (yours and theirs) with engagement
• show your passion with education
• ask for permission through entertainment

Those are as solid as the classic four P's of marketing - product, place, price, promotion. If The Cluetrain Manifesto is still news after 10 years from its publication, the conversation that ensued has evolved. My good friends RichardatDELL and Michael Walsh provided their take on a meme that celebrates its anniversary. Here is mine.

1. What does The Cluetrain Manifesto mean to you? How has the book and theses influenced or not influenced you?

I'd like to extend and build upon what Micheal says:

As the Cluetrain makes painfully clear, marketing departments were introduced to bridge the gap between mass products and mass markets and in doing so, wiped out conversations between producers and their customers and replaced them with alienation and mystery.

Recently I had the opportunity to discuss what social media means with Lori di Magno and her husband Tom. I started by talking about the bazaars and markets of old, where people who sold items on display talked with people who were there to find a treasure they could make theirs. Stop for a moment and think about it: is this how you buy? Chances are it is, even in a B2B scenario.

Companies, especially large ones, are still very much in the industrial age. Hierarchies and silos are preventing the people on the inside from being close to the customer. Mass production requiring mass marketing have in many cases killed the personality and voice of the business.

The manifesto is a wake up call to go back to listening, talking with, being human, and learning.

Like Richard, I want to be part of the business that gets it as judged by customers. Has the Cluetrain influenced me in that direction? My personal brand promise for Conversation Agent is to connect ideas and people. Do I get it? I am learning to listen every day.

2. Which companies have best implemented The Cluetrain Manifesto in your opinion and how were they effective?

Companies are just entities, empty vessels (and for some still bastions of power) without people inside them. Some individuals inside organizations get it - they treat others with the respect, and the equanimity that leaders and good managers have.

Here I celebrate RichardatDELL, and his colleagues Lionel Menchaca who just added this blog to Direct2Dell's blogroll (a company open to the outside does that) and JohnatDELL who are participating to the conversation and contributing their energy to moving it forward. Have they been effective? If you're reading this, you are online. What do you think? Have you come across them? Chances are you have, and your experience was good.

I do not know enough about what other companies are doing to implement the principles of the Cluetrain. But here's some homework from the manifesto. Businesses can begin:

"by searching out people with the organization who understand what's going on. In Almost every case, they're there. Make friends with them. Make friends with the marketplace again. Start listening. Find your voice. Then start talking as if your life depended on it. It does... There may not be 12 or five or 20 things that you can do, but there are 10,000 possibilities. The trick is you have to figure out what they are. They have to come from you. They have to be your words, your moves, your authentic voice.

The Web got built by people who chose to build it. The lesson is: don't wait for someone to show you how. Learn from your spontaneous mistakes, not from safe prescriptions and cautiously analyzed procedures. Don't try to keep people from going wrong by repeating the mantra of how to get it right. Getting it right isn't enough anymore. There's no invention in it. There is no voice."

This is where small businesses and entrepreneurs have a tremendous advantage: they can choose to get it and implement quickly. There are less layers, there's less history and attachment to what worked in small businesses.

3. In thesis 57, The Cluetrain Manifesto states, “smart companies will get out of the way and help the inevitable to happen sooner.” In light of that thesis, is encouraging employees to use social media and blogging a good idea? Is it really effective, when an employee is encouraged but not directed?

Recently I had a painful exchange with an employee who blogs on behalf of her company. This is a large, global company. The exchange was about a misunderstanding on a post, her version of a resolution was quite drastic - delete all comments and references. When I probed as to why, she responded: "I'm just an employee, I'm not at liberty to discuss this stuff here."

Is this the result of encouragement or direction? Can we please all use common sense? I work inside an organization, there is no need to change who you are for it, I can assure you.

4. How can a company encourage employees to use social media, and empower them to answer customer questions and learn from customers?

By walking the talk, just like with everything else an organization does.

Guess what? Your business has policies in place for about everything it does, and processes for many of those things. People watch what those high up in the organization do, where and how they spend their time. If they do what they say they do or what they say you should do, then you follow the example and feel confident someone is noticing (that's all empowerment is, really).

If they don't, there is no amount of programs you can throw at the employee base. They will know they are walking a very fine line, with no mistakes allowed at all, and that will be enough to hold back and to take their lessons and talents elsewhere at the first opportunity. Social media tools are so new, by and large they are uncharted territory. But they give us the chance to bridge back to being in touch with the reason why we are in business: to serve customers.

When we learn from customers, we have the chance to improve, make the business work better and as a result, sell more. Respect, trust, and loyalty are the greatest assets a company has.

5. Do all employees want to talk with customers? If not what percentage want to internetwork and converse?

It takes practice to want to talk with customers. Especially in those organizations that put the fear of the gods in you about making mistakes and needing to follow rules and regulations to the letter. Before you do the talking, before you roll out shiny new blogs, before you get all excited about pushing messages through a new, SEO-friendly tool, ask yourself one question: are you listening?

Are you listening to each other internally? Are you listening to the people on the front lines who are in contact with customers? Start there. Start listening to what they are saying - they represent your customers. The more eagerly you listen to them, the more they will be putting energy into listening to customers.
_____________

Who can enrich this conversation? I would like to listen to Jason Fall's take, what Tim Brunelle would tell MCAD students, Scott Monty's unique point of view, what would Tangerine Toad say, and Connie Bensen's advice on these five questions.

[image by Hugh MacLeod. I often talk about Stormhoek as a case of a business that gets it]

My Take on "Join The Conversation"

I'll say it up front for clarity-sake, I liked Jaffe's book, especially the case studies and the section on partnerships. I bought the book last year before my vacation so I could have the time to read and digest it. I also liked Jaffe's writing style -- easy and (dare I say?) conversational.

Rather than doing a chapter by chapter review, which many have already done or are in the process of doing, I will build on its premise and touch on a couple of highlights.

[In case you think of asking, no I am not one of the faces on the cover.]

A few notes on the premise

Ninety percent of advertising is crap (as quoted from Lee Clow) -- that's because ninety percent of advertising is created by committee without a reality check. Very few companies test creative and even fewer take a leap of faith on behalf of their audiences. And in this light the two distinctions:

Communication -- the very distinct process of marketer-generated or -initiated messaging, often without any concern or consideration for the intended recipient. It's one way, unidirectional, and carefully controlled in its implementation.

Conversation -- a two-way dialogue or a stream messaging between two or more parties with like-minded or shared beliefs, wants, needs, passions, or interests. It's organic, nonlinear, unpredictable and natural.

Communication got that way because there is no feedback loop in organizations and no testing or research to find out what people are concerned about. Not anymore and certainly not these days. Budget cuts, skeleton staffing issues, and the excuse of needing to move fast all have contributed to this state of affairs. Do you see a trend here?

Is it Either/Or or And/And?

So my question to you all is -- is conversation, and social media, supposed to fix the void left by lack of commitment to adequate promotions budgets, research, staffing, product support for the intended marketplace, development, distribution network, and on and on? Is it?

Conversation is great if you've covered your basics. If you're watering your garden, but have not planted enough bulbs because you've cut back, should you expect that watering extra hard will grow the same number of plants as last year? Of course not, but you may find some extra weeds.

Covering your basics is the wellspring of conversation because if you've not gotten your basics covered, you've got nothing to talk about. Traditional marketing isn't broken if it's done right. Skipping a well thought out, integrated marketing strategy in favor of applying any kind of mantra -- whether that be conversation or social media -- is a recipe for failure.

The Tot 3 Priorities of CEOs are Also Mine

Jaffe concludes the chapter that sets the tone to the rest of the book with the finding of a 2004 study by the Association of National Advertisers. I might be in a minority, but the top 3 for CEOs are also mine:

1. Creating sustainable competitive differentiation and advantage
2. Maintaining corporate growth
3. Staying close to the company's customers

Let's start by creating products and services the market wants and needs -- outside-in vs. inside-out conversations with the marketplace that lead to connections. Let's decide to fund and not starve our growth initiatives with laser focus and commitment. Customer service is everyone's business, especially that of marketing and public relations.

If you promise to do that, the rest of the book will give you some good ideas on how to build on your basics in this new age of empowered consumers.

Notable Thoughts

• Marketing is not a formula, and certainly not one that deals in the commoditized and oversimplified 4 Ps -- Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. Say hello to the six Cs -- Content. Commerce, Community, Context (I just dug a bit deeper on context in viral marketing), Customization, and Conversation. Let' not forget the customer, too.

• Challenges for companies -- talent, culture, metrics. Systems should serve the people they were created to serve, not the other way around. When was the last time conversation was productive in your organization? Can you hope to do outside what you cannot do with each other?

• Brands today are the community that keeps them -- reputation is vital and very visible.

• Partnership is about access -- I say give access to your full employee base with care-and-share vs. command-and-control. Your first community is right there, inside your organization. Why not listen? Why not pay attention?

• Unless you're Neil Armstrong, you're not going to achieve exponential results by taking incremental steps. When you're ready to experiment, use social media yourself and work with people who do it -- nothing teaches you what it feels like to participate like participation itself.

I said before that companies (and the people inside them) have been used to creating the conversation, not joining one already created about them. Be prepared to make mistakes and remember that if you're not making any, you're playing it too safe to change the game. The companies that will succeed tomorrow, are not afraid to put skin in the game, are you?

The Cluetrain Manifesto is Still News

"The cluetrain stopped there four times a day for ten years and no one ever took delivery." [Doc Searls about an acquaintance at a company that was free-falling out of the Fortune 500, The Cluetrain Manifesto, Apr. 1999]

Is this you? Is this your company?

Despite all this talk of Kindle I just bought the book's souvenir -- the paper, glue, and glossy cover version of this manifesto, which was typed what seems like ages ago. Yet, as Tom Peters has been known to say: it ain't old until it's done.

And while all of the market forces and the theses covered by Rick Levin, Doc Searls, David Weinberger and Christopher Locke have certainly unfolded and spread, while it is true that the attraction of the Internet is human fascination with storytelling, we are only now beginning to see the realization of their vision.

That's because it's our vision, too. I started this week with Web 3.0, it seemed only fair to conclude our brief journey spanning decades where it all begun, with conversation. Markets are conversations, they declared, this is the end of business as usual. As your kids would say from the back seat with anticipation: are we there yet?

As individuals I think we are. The subject matter of today's post at The Blog Herald is that you are your own brand navigator. That has ripple effects throughout the economy. Many of you have left large companies or agencies to start your own business and consultancy. With the tools available today and based on the fact that hyperlinks (by nature relational) subvert hierarchies, with a focused approach you can not only get smarter, you can make a good living from it, hard work included.

The big agencies are starting to feel the pain. I was reading earlier how in today's splintered advertising world Kevin Roberts is Scrambling to keep Saatchi & Saatchi relevant. [hat tip to John Moore] That's because markets are (inter)networked and people are (intra)networked, a reality and not a play on words. I would take the meaning one step further from the original intent to take into account commerce layered upon the original mix. Free agents, consultants, entrepreneurs all get brand ownership has everything to do with commerce -- a promise made is a promise kept, their reputation is on the line.

Individuals talk plain language, with human voices. We have discovered our personal brands, developed our careers, blossomed in our communities of practice and co-work locations. "Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations."

Are companies catching up? A few are beginning to talk directly to their markets, to individuals. Many are still deeply afraid of their markets, of hearing the truth. Markets want to talk to companies. I hope more companies decide they want to have this conversation by starting to listen. Because "we are waking up and linking to each other. We are watching. But we are not waiting."

The New TQM -- Time, Quest, Money

Today is the biggest day for retailers in the US. Yes, if it is even possible for a country that has made shopping a past time, a competitive sport, and an anti-depression strategy, this day tops them all. It marks open season for deals -- is it the day we go from targets to hunters?

I've seen somewhere that Kohl's was opening its doors at 4:00AM local time, 1:00AM for its online doors. I'm sure they spent millions to let you know about it. No sense in opening the doors early if nobody knows about it and shows up. I wasn't curious enough to get up that early and interview folks standing in line by our nearest Kohl's. Did anyone do it? Were there lines when the doors opened? That would be just... incredible. I mean, how badly do you want something from the new line by Vera Wang?

It's not the item per se that is at issue here. Don't get me wrong, people are looking for specific deals and sales. As Bloomberg.com documents, shopping on this specific day is about the quest. In fact, Michael Moriarty, partner at A.T. Kearney Inc., predicts correctly why retailers' Thanksgiving offers won't avert web sales slowdown -- people still like going into stores. And in doing that, they trade time for quest.

Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving when retailers' ledgers are said to turn profitable, or in the black -- is among the biggest shopping days of the year and has traditionally marked the start of the holiday shopping season.

The busiest day for online shopping won't come until more than two weeks later, on Dec. 10, according to MasterCard Inc.'s Holiday Shopping Insights Report.

That Monday, almost three-quarters of U.S. retailers have online promotions planned to lure shoppers returning to work. That's twice the online promotions as two years ago, according to the National Retail Federation in Washington.

Online is a lot cheaper for retailers -- there's no need to have people open the doors to the store. All transactions can be automated. Yet many retailers with brick and mortar operations are using the clicks to drive people to the stores -- providing information on items and deals so that when you walk in, you know what you want. They are trading time for money.

When do you satisfy the hunters and make money at the same time? Harry Joiner at Marketing Headhunter has a terrific post on how retail loss exceeds online channel. In it, he builds upon a Harvard Business Review article on loss prevention (paid download). What I liked most about the article is that it highlights how saving money is a function of culture and process, not technology. Harry's conclusion:

Shrink management ain't about better technology. It's about vigilance. Clearly, that starts with hiring and managing A-players at all levels.

Which means money and time in the quest for the best talent and fit. As we sort out the new TQM we will need to decide what trade offs we're willing to make. I've already done all my Christmas shopping -- my strategy is to purchase the right items whenever I see them year around. In some cases, that means that I do not look at price, because quest for the right item matters more. This is how I cut down on crowded malls and long lines. What about you? Do you have a shopping strategy? What is your TQM ratio?

[November consumer sentiment, WSJ]

Dead or Alive, Amazon (re)Kindle(s) Book Reading

Or does it? Already dubbed by its creator reading as a service, Amazon's Jeff Bezos announced the release of a new way to make books go where other content (video, music) has gone before -- the digital route. And in the journey it may well destroy yet another industry.

To the tune of $399, you will be able to buy a new wireless electronic device called Kindle that will hold up to 30 hours of reading on a charge. You'll be able to download your favorite books for $9.99 each for new releases and as little as $1.99 for older inventory, as well as magazine and newspaper subscriptions through the Amazon store.

This puts a whole new spin to the "think before you print" motto. If enough people adopt this new technology, we may be able to save paper -- are we going to read more? For sure we're forever changing the way we read. According to Newsweek cover story Bezos

...hopes [it] will leapfrog over previous attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0. That's shorthand for a revolution (already in progress) that will change the way readers read, writers write and publishers publish.

Apparently a mix of portable library and web browser you'll be able to also receive messages to yet another email account, a Kindle one. Whether this will be the death of print concerns me less than if it will be yet another slow down in reading complete books -- the physical or digital kind. I used to read about 120 books a year and since I started spending more time on screen I read a lot less. Some of the statistics cited in the article give an increase in reading for those who spend more time on screen. Reading an entire book takes time, I say that more and more we read bits and pieces of material.

Seth Godin wrote: "This is a disruptive approach, the sort of thing only a market leader could pull off. It changes the world in a serious way." Yet in his view, it introduces a new problem that millions of eligible customers currently don't have -- a reader. I agree with him on that.

As for the rest of the readers, like me you already have a computer, it could even be a laptop, you probably have a phone that sends and receives data, maybe a BlackBerry, why would you need yet another device to read something you can borrow from a library, a friend or even buy used? The Sony reader also used E Ink technology and failed to spread.

If reading where truly a service, and not a fashion object like the iPod, wouldn't we be able to download the software online onto our existing devices? What's the advantage of owning and carrying another one for this price? Help me out here, maybe I'm not seeing something you are. I agree that we're already reading a lot on screen, that being able to download books and link through them would be great (here's a review by Steven Levy). Book reading has had some form of serious decline probably because we already spend so much time reading a lot of other material. Will the Kindle rekindle book reading?

I Could be Richard @ Dell

Do you want to know who are the most visible and targeted people inside organizations? Communications professionals.

Whether you call us public affairs, public relations, communications or marketing communications in the title, we are usually listed on the corporate Web site. We are the ones who answer angry letters from customers, prospects, or anyone with a gripe against the company and its products and services. We are the ones with a mandate to get all employees on the same page. We answer the phone to every sales call from media to ad agencies to partners, write the CEO's speech, talk to the press, and massage that brochure so it has less fluff and more meat.

Superheroes we are not, although with the budgets that are left over these days, I might contend we are definitely in the running.

You have probably come across Direct2Dell by now. That is the virtual home of Lionel Menchaca, Dell's chief blogger (link to interview at The Buzz Bin).

There is another communicator who has become very important to Dell's social media outreach program and that is Richard Binhammer. Richard @ Dell -- how he signs in blogs' comments -- and I have been exchanging emails for a couple of months. He's been extremely patient and forthcoming with me during this time, even volunteered customers if I needed to talk to them directly for a story. No pushy pitches, no corporate speak, just conversation and straight answers to my questions.

Today's FC Expert blog post is about how Dell is using social media to regain its mojo. I won't give you the payoff, you'll need to take a peak at the story there. According to this recent article, due to competitive pressures from HP, the company has done a 180 on its direct built-to-order sales model and started selling its products retail at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores.

According to research firm IDC, HP had a worldwide PC market share of 19.3% for the quarter ending June 30 compared to Dell's 16.1%. In 2005, Dell dominated the playing field with 18.2% market share compared to HP's 15.7%.

On August 16, HP reported fiscal third quarter earnings of $2.1 billion on revenues of $25.4 billion, up 16% from the same quarter a year ago. HP also projected its annual revenues for the year ending October 31 at between $103 billion and $103.2 billion. Wall Street analysts expect Dell to report revenues of about $60 billion for its fiscal year ending January 30, according to Thomson Financial.

Quoting an interview with Wharton faculty:

Dell's biggest challenge is that the two pillars of its business model -- supply chain efficiency and direct build-to-order sales -- don't provide the advantage they once did.

The company's competitors have been busy closing the gap and Dell found itself without a specific plan to appeal to consumers; a weakness given the recent growth in the sector. Indeed, Dell was in the geek and not in the fashion business. Not taking risks is risky and now the company will need to wade into uncharted waters if it wishes to grow.

Among the challenges that lie ahead for Dell going directly to consumers are:

• Production -- painting a laptop is like painting a car, it discovered
• Online ordering errors
• Shipment delays
• Customer support

Dell thinks of its products in terms of microprocessors, disk drives and frames-per-second graphics; we don't care, all we want is for them to work, make us look cool and be easy to use. On the other hand, they do offer preinstalled Linux on consumer laptops and desktops.

What's Dell's advantage? They do have at least one. As for the company's social media outreach, I give them a ten. After all, I could be Richard @ Dell.

Six Front Page Stories and the Future

Every year, the Institute for the Future (IFF) explores the big news of the next decade. These are the stories that make the focal points of change and consolidation. They will give the future its broad outlines, set the context for strategy and policy, and ultimately create the artifacts of daily life. The Map of the Decade imagines these stories as artifacts of the future.

The six major categories are: people, places, ecologies, markets, practices and tools. Every time a big story breaks, there are several smaller stories that surround it. It is those smaller stories, according to the IFF, that add up to the big directional changes. How do the signals you find in the map and in your observations drive the big stories?

The map is dotted with issues that cannot be solved by "either/or" thinking but require new strategies that go beyond simple problem solving. Let me give you a tangible example of group economy. Alex Hillman, one of the voices and organizers of our recent blog|Philadelphia, just signed the lease for Independents Hall, a co-working arrangement that will allow him and a group of independent entrepreneurs to share a space, making it easier to energize and assist each other.

This may be the beginning of a series of new initiatives of this kind.

What you're looking at here is the map for 2006. The six big stories for 2007 are:

• A Planet at Risk
• Marginal Mainstreams
• Participatory Culture
• New Commons
• Molecular Vision
• Looking Long

For a closer look at the actual content, you will need to purchase the map. However, we could start a conversation here about the smaller stories that surround these and do some forecasting of our own. As I wrote elsewhere, the future is now. Shall we take a look at participatory culture and new commons? What do they look like in 2007 and what will that mean for the future?