Ever been to a cocktail party and seen a name tag that said "Hello, my Name is #97".
Of course not, but that's what Conversation Agent's ranking is in The Power 150 today. My name is Valeria Maltoni, you know yours. In fact, chances are *I* know yours if you've made at least one comment here. We're not rankings, we're people.
The difficulty of objectively quantifying conversation is that it is hosted and facilitated by people.
People are subjective and their thinking is evolved in the flow of learning and interacting. Many of us blog to share what we know so we can learn from what others learn; to stabilize information so we can have a starting point for discussion, etc.
Todd And(rlik) started The Power 150 many months ago and maintained it out of sheer passion. He did it to share with others a list, in part his list (one of the four ranking criteria), of marketing blogs. We all took it as we take every other list announced by a peer -- with delight.
The opinion of a peer is respected in the same spirit it is given. We blog because we want to publish independently of outside affiliation. Subjective in social media is good, in fact it is best.
The breaking news by Todd And is that Advertising Age, a well respected and widely read publication, is going to take the list to the next level. What that means is left to the imagination (more comments here).
I value your opinion and insights, you are my customers and I am yours in conversation. Where do you see this "partnership" going? The freewheeling thought that is the currency of the blogosphere cannot be easily taken on in the same way and spirit by commercial entities.
The spirit of social media (subjectivity), may not be translated as more of the same in main stream media. Their criteria are different and more commercial. That consideration is the topic of my weekly post at FC Expert blogs.
Join the conversation.
UPDATE: It looks like the comment function at Fast Company is still going through an approval process and I do not have a firm commitment from anyone at the online magazine on when the comments will be activated. I do want to capture your reactions and realize that you'd rather have them on record there. All I can offer is an alternative home here.