Seth Godin: “No one cares about you”

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Jos Schuurmans

http://www.youtube.com/v/N52OIcwynws&hl=en&fs=1&

(From Seth’s Blog: ‘Four videos about noise, social and decency‘)

When I watched the four videos on Seth’s Blog yesterday, I didn’t immediately grok how important this particular one is. I mean, I re-posted the two clips about blogging and social media because I recognized what he was saying from my own experience.

But “No one cares about you” is actually an eye opener to me. I do get the message now. It explains why press releases and corporate interviews often don’t work. A brand talking about itself and how well it performs doesn’t excite. It’s a much better idea to let others draw those conclusions.

What does excite customers is talking about them and stuff that interests them.

The example Seth gives is very clarifying:

00:58: “(…) If someone’s gonna watch a video, they’re not gonna watch it because they care about you. They’re gonna watch it because they care about me. Me, me, me, me, me, my favorite person me. (…)”

01:15: “(…) If you make a video like the Blendtec guys, the ‘Will It Blend?‘ videos, people will watch it because watching Chuck Norris getting blent in a blender is sort of a hoot. But if you make a video of how your factory is, you know, twelve percent more efficient than it was last year, (yawn), I’m not coming. (…)”

Forcing yourself to become part of the conversation

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Jos Schuurmans

(From Seth's Blog: 'Four videos about noise, social and decency')

Best quote from Seth Godin in this short video on (micro?)blogging, starting at 00:44:

"(…) basically you are doing it for yourself to force yourself to become part of the conversation even if it's just that big (i.e. small – JS). (…)"

http://www.youtube.com/v/livzJTIWlmY&hl=en&fs=1&

Have blogs become an essential business tool?

Posted on April 9, 2009 by Jos Schuurmans

[UPDATE, April 24, 2009: Here is part of the answer: Fortune 500 blog more than expected.]

The abstract of Jeffrey Hill's MBA dissertation from November 2005 reads:

"(…) Although weblogs are being promoted as a potentially valuable business tool in the trade press and mass-market business literature, informal surveys suggest that only a small number of companies are actually using weblogs.

Reliable academic studies about the use of weblogs in business have yet to appear. This study aims to contribute to filling this research gap by investigating the attitudes and experiences of small business bloggers using weblogs as a marketing and communications tool. Qualitative interviews were carried out with fifteen small business bloggers representing a wide range of business activities.

The results indicate that weblogs are being used for many different purposes and that the bloggers believe them to be an effective marketing tool. However, this perception is based more on the bloggers' trust in the benefits of the medium than on any measurable ROI (return on investment).

Moreover, there is little evidence that dialogue is taking place with customers, although the literature tends to advance this dialogue as one of the main advantages of using weblogs. More research needs to be done to determine who is reading company weblogs and what their effect on consumer behaviour is. (…)"

I wonder if anything has changed since? The ROI debate is still very problematic. Then again, if we view blogging merely as taking part in conversation, do we ever measure the ROI on talking with people in the corridor, on the street or in the shopping mall?

What do you think? Have blogs become an essential business tool?

‘Transform Your Conversation!’ – Enter Cluetail

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Jos Schuurmans

[While
Cluetail's website is in the making, I'm posting this description of
our company on my blog - because I want to start reaching out

UPDATE, March 31, 2009: I've put up a brief description of Cluetail in English, Finnish and Dutch, at http://www.cluetail.com (or, until the DNS records are updated, at: http://sites.google.com/a/cluetail.com/transform/)- note that http://cluetail.com does not yet redirect here.]

Cluetail Ltd. is an integrated communications services company which deeply appreciates the value of human conversation.

All
transactions – either privately, in business, or in the public domain
and the media – are a function of relationships, built on conversation
between people.

We exist to create value to our customers by enhancing the quality of their conversations, connections and relationships.

The Challenge

"Choice"
is sometimes referred to as the epidemic of the 21st century. During
the foreseeable future, information, choice and competition for
attention will keep growing at an increasing rate.

Without
access to the most relevant information and the right people, no
meaningful transactions can be done and business will suffer.

Our Vision

However,
Cluetail shares a more optimistic vision of the world: one in which
people engage conveniently, instantly and continuously in the
conversations most relevant to them, and connect to the people who
matter most.

Seasoned in journalism, organizational
communications, and participatory intra- and Internet applications, we
at Cluetail build processes and tools which maximize the reach, impact,
visibility and measurability of your communications efforts.

How We Do It

While harnessing enabling technologies in the realm of participatory
media and social software, our objective is to make these
technologies as unobtrusive as possible.

First we help you save money by making your communications practices more efficiently aligned with your strategic objectives.

Then we help you make money
by more effectively engaging your employees, customers, partners,
investors, media, interest groups and the general public in
conversations relevant to you and your brand.

Our Services

Our
consultancy services include current- and desired-state analyses and
road-mapping, process and tool development and implementation.

Our
operational support services include technical process and tool
support, content and channel management, content creation, media
monitoring and business intelligence, training, team building, coaching
and mediation.

Coming up…

Through our ASP (Application Service Provider) services we plan
offer content life-cycle management systems, online conversation
analysis and recommendation systems.

The latter will enable our
customer companies to make tacit communications structures visible; to
extract business intelligence and trend analysis from online
conversations; and to help their people identify the most relevant
conversations and build meaningful relationships with the people
involved.

By detecting tacit structures and weak signals early,
customer companies can faster anticipate a changing business
environment, thus gaining competitive advantage over their peers.

Talk Is Cheap

Drop us a line or give us a call: let's have a conversation about your conversation.

Jos Schuurmans

CEO & Sales, Cluetail Ltd. (y: 1747348-8)
Patteristonkatu 2, 50100 Mikkeli, Finland

+358 50 59 33 006
<jos.schuurmans@cluetail.com>
http://cluetail.josschuurmans.com
http://josschuurmans.com/contact

P.S.: The name Cluetail is an hommage to the Cluetrain Manifesto and the Long Tail, two concepts which, IMHO, are particularly insightful when we try to understand the Internet and where it will take us.

Into the mood

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Jos Schuurmans

Marko Teräs about Moodstream, by Getty Images:

"(…) Moodstream,
which is basically a service where you can tweak different kinds of
buttons [which include moods] and the application offers you pictures
and music accordingly. As a concept, I think this is a neat way to
promote service provider’s image bank pictures and sound bank music by
creating this site to play with.

(…) I don’t believe that services like Moodstream can ever be a death of
creativity – that designers would just go there and let an application
decide for him what pictures and music to use. But maybe as an impulse
awakener this could sometimes be useful. (…)"

I agree, this could be a useful tool when preparing e.g. a presentation, a media production or for a brainstorm about design or branding.

As it happens, just yesterday we've started the process of creating – or rather "distilling" – Cluetail Ltd.'s corporate identity. I will be collecting examples of likes and dislikes over the coming weeks.

Since "human conversation" is a central theme to the new company, I've been collecting some imagery from Flickr, tagged "conversation", for inspiration. Now, Moodstream could perhaps help in this process, as well.

Any other useful tools for this purpose?

‘Transform Your Conversation!’

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Jos Schuurmans

[UPDATE: As per January 21, 2009, my firm will be operating under two
new names: Cluetail Oy and Cluetail Ltd. It's an hommage to the Cluetrain Manifesto and the Long Tail, two concepts which, IMHO, are particularly insightful when we try to understand the Internet and where it will take us. Cluetail builds on the value proposition listed in this post below. Our office is at the
business incubator MikTech in Mikkeli, Finland. Cluetail's website is
in the making; more about that later.]

Hi and welcome to my blog!

Panta rhei: everything is in flux. I recently left Nokia’s global communications team after six years, for I couldn’t hold back any longer on the desire to pursue my own business vision.

I will always feel privileged when looking back at my Nokia years. There was great chemistry in the teams I’ve worked with, we’ve set impressive benchmarks for organizational communications strategies as well as process and tool implementation, and of course the whole thing was also a fantastic learning experience.

After a beautiful Finnish summer and spending most of my time with my family, now it’s time again to look at the future.

The business of ‘human conversation’

In whichever direction it will take me, the business I am in is the business of “human conversation”. Human conversation is what drives all business as well as public and private affairs. From media to customer relations, from organizational communications to individual coaching: it is through human conversation that we grow and create value.

Here’s to those who share my passion for human conversation: let’s link up to create value by living and working that passion.

In concrete terms, I’m open for business. Let me express my value proposition by way of this initial scope:

Organizational communications auditing
Strategic communications (re)design
Process and tool concepts, development, (outsourced) operations, training and support
(Outsourced) content and channel management
Content creation
Media monitoring & business intelligence
Media research & education
Coaching & mediation
Internet service development

Do you see how this offering can add value to what you are doing?

Do you have needs which are within or adjacent to this scope?

Do you want to contribute to extending this offering?

Drop me a line or give me a call!

Jos Schuurmans
http://www.josschuurmans.com/contact

The Live Web Will Be Federated

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Jos Schuurmans

Under the headline 'Blogging 2.0: Moving Toward Conversational "Flows"', Bill French wrote a piece on MyST Blogsite, in which he observes that conversations on the Internet are increasingly moving away from being contained within blogs, towards being distributed among lifestreaming or micro-blogging services (Bill calls them "flow applications") such as Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter.

He quotes me by saying:

"(…) Ironically, in this comment, Jos Schuurmans equate sthe emergence of social networks with the end of “channels”. (…)"

I subscribe to the view that online conversations will be less and less contained within channels, while more and more federated among and across different platforms and services. To the extent that channels can be seen as walled gardens, the emergence of the blogosphere itself was the disruption that started taking down those walls.

The point I was trying to make earlier, under 'The End of Channels?' and ''Channels' does not sufficiently describe the dynamics of distributed online conversations', is that conversations take place across and between channels, not just within, and that it is therefore less useful to think of the Web in terms of channels. As David Weinberger and Doc Searls have pointed out: the Internet is a place, not a medium.

Indeed, enablers like Jaiku, Twitter, FriendFeed, Identi.ca, Ping.fm, and Facebook are speeding up the trend of conversations being more distributed. But what these services represent most of all is the shift from a more static Web to the "live Web".

Another application worth mentioning in this context is Disqus, an enabler of blog comments federation. If Dave Winer will have his way, something similar is going to happen to micro-blogging as well… And why wouldn't he?

Tags: Bill French, David Weinberger, Doc Searls, Dave Winer, lifestreaming, micro-blogging, federation, channels, conversation

Dugg: How do you cope with negative people? | Christopher Evatt

Posted on June 14, 2008 by Jos Schuurmans

(1) Listen to them but DO NOT react to their negativity.
(2) Ask "To make sure I have fully understood you, may I let you know what think you said?"
(3) Ask "To make sure I appreciate how you feel, may I let you know what I experienced?"
(4) Ask "Tell me, what need do you have that you feel is unmet?"

Dugg: Who is Who: Interview with David Weinberger | Ulrike Reinhard

Posted on June 2, 2008 by Jos Schuurmans

Via David Weinberger:

"(…) Ulrike
Reinhard, of WhoIsWho, video-interviewed me on our back porch last
week. She asked me about the need for serendipity, what an “open”
Internet means, the costs of social networks, the new sense of privacy,
user-controlled identity systems, Web 3.0, market conversations,
categorization and control, Twitter, Obama… (…)"

http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwhoistv%2Eblip%2Etv%2Frss&file=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Frss%2Fflash%2F954559%3Freferrer%3Dblip%2Etv%26source%3D1&showplayerpath=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fscripts%2Fflash%2Fshowplayer%2Eswf

Serendipity is a fascinating concept. I strongly believe that the way we learn new things and expand our horizons is through serendipity. In order to discover and, if you will, accept something new, this "news" needs to be presented to us in a familiar, trusted, i.e. "old" context.

We hardly ever buy into something entirely unfamiliar. For example, if we don't know the source, we are less prone to trust the news. In conversations, I am more likely to learn something new from people with whom I have, say, 80 percent in common, than from people with whom I have, say, 10 percent in common. If you get my drift…

Schuurmudgeon

Jos Schuurmans / josschuurmans.com

Category Archives: conversation