Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

A Smarter Way to Network

While there is a battle still being waged in social networks about defining and engaging influence online, in the executive suite, influence is often defined as informal power to support and help coordinate resources. Successful executives network with a select group of people. According to research conducted by Rob Cross and Robert Thomas, the executives who consistently rank in the top 20% of their companies in both performance and well-being have diverse but select networks—made up of high-quality relationships with people who come from several different spheres and from up and down the corporate hierarchy. These high performers tap into... Read more →

Attention

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. Albert Einstein I love this quote. It's so true. How much can you be involved in experiencing a situation fully when you're trying to do something else at the same time? As Able Parris says, our time and attention are the most valuable things we have. Eliminating distractions, liberating our mind from having to pay partial attention to several things are the most productive app we have. This is one of the reasons why I so enjoy running very... Read more →

Someone is Wrong...

The other day I was talking with a friend who participates in professional forums for her work. Often she will take the time to provide correct information to people. On many occasions, when she does so, discussions ensue with some upset. It reminded me of this cartoon. We used to have more constructive exchanges in the early days of blogging. Was it because we were more willing to take the time to engage? +++ Valeria is an experienced listener. She is also frequent speaker at conferences and companies on a variety of topics. To book her for a speaking engagement... Read more →

Communication Effectiveness Based on Permission

You don't need to be linked to someone in all social networks for your messages to be considered important and categorized as "not to miss" by them. Communication effectiveness corresponds to the existing level of permission with that individual. We're getting so used to counting reactions -- like or dislike, retweet or share, forward or delete (or unsubscribe) -- that the concept of building relationships over time based upon permission is harder to spot. Ease of use does not correlate with permission. Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. It works both ways. If you just scan a... Read more →

Creating Outside Silos for the Easy Movement of Ideas

[Tim Berners-Lee: the Year open data went worldwide] Once you have the ability to connect with anyone and anything in the world, you can hardly go back to not wanting to have that option. As I wrote a little over a year ago, the introduction of Google+ has brought renewed interest in two kinds of conversations: grouping people filtering content Relationship focus The first one helps you classify relationships for the purposes of scaling context-based communications. The new social network was a breath a fresh air for many who, like me, had spent several years in other networks, meeting the... Read more →

Buying that Feels like Making

There's been an evolution of (major) peer-driven buying exchanges. We have gone from auction-style marketing of existing inventory or goods on eBay, to an increasingly do-it-yourself (DYI) or crafts crowd with Etsy, a marketplace where you can buy and sell goods you make, to a mix of owned, made, and liked items found on other sites and pinned onto boards, composition-style with Pinterest. eBay was founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar to create a perfect market in 1995. It's an online auction and shopping Website where people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide.... Read more →

Social Technologies are the Modern Version of the Telephone

+++ Social media is not a way to spread your people thinner. Your people are already spread so thin I bet they're not getting all they need done. It's not a low-budget sales force, or a way one person can do the job of three. In other words, it's not the answer to all your prayers. If you're at the point of praying, then the business model is the one needing help. Social media is a tool, just like the telephone is. It's not even marketing -- in the traditional sense, marketing is dead. What social media does is simply... Read more →

How do Search and Share Stack up?

One of the main questions businesses need to answer when allocating resources and budgets is what does that split look like? Which percentage goes to search, and what goes to social networks, if any at all. Silicon Alley Insider took a look at a wide range of sites, from fashion to dating, to answer the traffic generation question. By and large, with the notable exception of Comedy Central, where video and the nature of the content make it more spreadable via social networks, the numbers run fairly close. Note that their new site is formatted to cater to social sharing.... Read more →

Understanding the Stream and People's Preferences Within it

Beyond the early adopters and technology fanatics, the greatest majority of people are still after passive entertainment. Thanks to search engines like Google and social networks like Facebook, the people formerly known as the audience are more active online. However, even those of us who are most active content creators desire to be entertained and the greatest majority still turns on a device (often the TV) without any intent. Maybe you've done it yourself -- turn on the TV and just channel surf. In fact, 86% of the time, people navigate to the guide and flip to something of interest.... Read more →

21 Great Quotes

@ConversationAge Quotes from Valeria Maltoni Throughout the summer, I shared some quotes about many of the topics we discuss at Conversation Agent. I thought youd' enjoy having them all in one place as midweek inspiration. We're all under the influence of story: those we tell ourselves about the world and those we create with the world We resonate with those stories that most closely match our view of the world. Depending on our mindset -- fixed or growth-oriented -- that view changes more or less rapidly as shaped by situations and experiences over time. If you were to write a... Read more →