Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Back Flip

Chambers has the nerve to make the final cut for Flip as the company and product came right in the middle of a social media marketing initiative. With 350,000 followers and fans, Flip has been a beloved product and brand and apparently the team working on the crowdsourcing initiative had not been in the known. You usually aren't prepared, unless you learn to read the signs -- you can find them right in the 10ks and annual reports, depending on whether your company is private or public. And you also learn to ask the right questions when talking with the... Read more →

Social Journalism on Facebook

A couple of weeks ago, Facebook launched a page for journalists. The goal is to attract journalists from the global community -- at the time of this writing, there are 47,592 likes on the page. As Josh Constine wrote last week, Facebook is looking to encourage the news community to use the site’s Page feature as a distribution and research tool. His argument: Twitter is easier, faster, and requires less time commitment. Twitter as broadcasting medium is more compelling than a deeper conversation thread, something journalists are not really used to and don't have the time to pick through. Plus,... Read more →

It's the Connections that Make the Business

"Here I was inside of a sinking ship trying to launch a rocketship out of it. It was a very tumultuous, scary, and nervous time." [Noah Glass, co-founder, Twitter] I was reading this interview with Norah Glass, the forgotten co-founder of Twitter, and agreeing with him -- there is some truth to every story. Plus, this is the kind of story that shows you where the connections got lost, how different interests by the groups involved -- investors, the Board, the management team -- kept the original organization from truly coming together and succeeding in collaboration. Not to mention that... Read more →

What Influences Behavior

Yesterday, I was sitting next to three people who were conducting a group interview with a job candidate in a Starbucks. Hey, if you want privacy, use an office, don't sit next to everyone else in a public space! Seriously, I was trying not to listen in, and the tone and content of the questions being asked kept pulling me in. But it wasn't the questions that I'm interested in discussing here. I'd like to share with you a few insights about the answers, because they will tell you a lot about you and about the people you may be... Read more →

The Big Thirst in a Water World

The book was released yesterday, although I think I have seen it in a store before the release date. I knew Charles Fishman would write this book. His excellent Fast Company message in a bottle was well received a couple of years back. As he writes in response to a comment to his ChangeThis manifesto: We pay too little for water. What we pay doesn't cover the cost of the water — of finding it and acquiring it in the first place, of treating it and delivering it, of disposing of it. And we don't pay the cost of protecting... Read more →

How to Design an Organization that Delivers Content as Product, Part 1

We're fast approaching our appointment at Confab2011, the content stategy conference, May 9-11. As I did with my session on influence at SxSWi, I will be building upon the topic to leading up to the day when we (some of us, I know there is a long waiting list) meet. You should think of content as a business asset, a product. This was always important. However, it has become even more so with the increased popularity of Web sites and the understanding of the value of search. Google created a tight loop between organic and paid search, thus giving us... Read more →

A Source Code for Customer Conversations?

In programming lingo, source code is text written in a computer. It is primarily used as input to the process that produces an executable program (i.e., it is compiled or interpreted). It is also used as a method of communicating algorithms between people (e.g., code snippets in books). As movie concept, it became a complicated story with a few holes in it, yet still enjoyable because of its fast pace. What got me thinking was the idea that by going over recent past situations and focusing only on key elements of the experience one could solve an issue and possibly... Read more →

Desperately Seeking Social

I'm catching up on some of the recent product launches and news and came across a couple of posts by Mathew Ingram discussing Google's social woes -- both trying to be more social and attempting to influence us to add social validation to our online behavior. I'm thinking that it will actually be easier for them to figure out how to help us add social behavior across our online activities, than it will be for an organization made up of engineers to become more fuzzy and social in its behavior. Although not mutually exclusive, social demands a different mindset than... Read more →

Ten Ways to Sustain Connections Over Time

Is there any way you can turn your one message, promotional initiative, one meeting, one time creative into a canvas over which to paint more enduring -- and rewarding -- engagement? Does your value come with an expiration date? Would anyone find your proposition interesting over time? Starting something gets you well on your way, of course. Staying top of mind is where it pays off. From buyers to customers, acquaintances to friends, single contributors to teams, and so on. There are many reasons why connections happen in real life. Meeting in person makes it easier to keep up with... Read more →

This is Not a Test

The other day I received a very short message through my contact form. Just checking if the conversation is real, it said. Why waste a message with such a question? Doubt is a missed opportunity. You end up creating the reality you seek. Connection is a choice you make every moment. Better stay home in that case. You can tell when people who are not interested in initiating something significant. They usually hide behind excuses. Or ask pointed questions instead of looking to develop a relationship. Prove yourself, they say. Why should you? Why should anyone need to take note?... Read more →