Just in time to add it to your summer reading list, the third installment of the AOC collaborative project has hit store shelves!

For those not familiar with the series, it first started as an experimental writing project, which brought together over 100 bloggers from 9 different countries to produce the aptly titled book, The Age of Conversation.

The Age of Conversation legacy continues as 171 authors from 15 different countries came together to write The Age of Conversation 3: Itís Time to Get Busy. The book discusses the distinct shift from social media as a hypothetical consumer loyalty tool, as it was considered only a little more than a year ago, to its current state as a staple in the modern marketing toolbox. The book covers more than just social media, but the topic is woven throughout the books 10 sections:

• At the coalface
• Conversational branding
• Influence
• Getting to work
• Corporate conversations
• Measurement
• In the boardroom
• Pitching social media
• Innovation and execution
• Identities, friends and trusted strangers

My contribution to the book takes a look at the idea of making the branding process more organic, growing a brand, in contrast to the traditionally rigid structure of building a brand.

As it has become customary with past editions, all of the proceeds from this yearís book, will be donated to an international charity of the authorís choosing.

- Get your copy of The Age of Conversation 3 -

A big thanks to my fellow authors this year!

“We’ve got to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in!” – Axel Chaldecott, JWT

The idea of branded utility is nothing new. In fact, it’s an idea that has cycled in and out of popular conversations for almost a decade, and yet there is still debate on exactly what it means and whether or not brands can truly provide branded utility in a way that makes a relevant connection to the brand.

(Slide from my Micro-Pulse presentation)

I roughly define branded utility as any way that a brand can truly make the lives of consumers better. Branded utility is something that brands can create in different ways, which are often overlapping. I suggest that there are 6 key ways that brands can look to provide a branded utility:

• be creative – something new, unexpected and original
• be helpful – make something easier for consumers
• be relational – be in a convenient location
• be interesting – arouse curiosity and hold attention
• be relevant – do something that makes sense given the context
• be useful – serve a practical purpose

To make it simple, look for ways to provide value. That’s the key. Instead of looking for ways to shout a marketing message, create situations that add value to consumers so that they desire to engage with the brand.

For many this is the ending point in the discussion on branded utility. The thought is that if a brand can provide value in anyway and connect it to the brand, then they call it a win. I’m not so sure about that, in fact, I believe the Holy Grail of branded utility is found in when the solution is both utilitarian and (most importantly) on strategy. In my mind, you’re wasting your money if you can’t connect your efforts to the brand in a way that makes sense.

So what does on strategy branded utility look like?

This year at SXSW, Chevy brought some fine examples of how brands can provide value and stay on strategy.

(Disclosure: My employer, Fleishman-Hillard, was the agency for record for Chevy at SXSW 2010.)

Gowalla Airport Shuttle

Chevy partnered with the location-based travel game, Gowalla to provide a pop-up to randomly selected people checking in at the airport, offering them a free ride to downtown Austin. It was a fun way to experiment with emerging technologies, provide a helpful service to people (saving them a $50 cab ride) and give them an opportunity to experience riding in a Chevy vehicle first hand.

Read how Mike Schneider, one of the first to find and redeem a free Chevy ride, describes his experience.

Volt Recharge Lounge

During the Interactive portion of SXSW, the Volt Recharge Lounge was like finding a oasis in the desert for attendees desperately needing to charge their smartphones and laptops. SXSW can be draining, on both your body and on your devices. The Volt Lounge provided a great place to relax, recharge and even try some refreshing Sobe.

This made the lounge a great spot to meet new people and power-up community at SXSW. On a recent episode of JaffeJuiceTV, Joseph Jaffe called the lounge both “rescuing and rewarding.”

Catch a Chevy

At SXSW, a majority of the people in attendance have no choice but to walk. Most don’t have cars and if they do, parking fees can quickly add up when moving from one venue another that most choose to walk it. That all changed this year. Chevy provided attendees free rides to strategic stops around downtown Austin, helping them get to their destinations faster and save the souls of their shoes, all while experiencing a 2010 Chevy vehicle.

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Do you have any good examples of branded utility?

Where you at SXSW 2010? What do you think of the examples I’ve written about here?

I haven’t really been a fan when it comes to listing trends and predictions for the new year. After all, shouldn’t we always be looking forward? Especially with the rate of change that currently exists?

That’s not to say that I haven’t contributed my thoughts as to what 2010 holds. Check out the 100 Social Media & Content Marketing Predictions for 2010, where I along with 60+ other marketing minds made our predictions.

I find a lot of value in being able to see future through so many different lenses this time of the year. I can see what topics are repeating and if there are any irregular gems that catch my eye as something to keep a close eye on in the coming months.

So with that goal in mind I’ve listed 46 different 2010 trends and predictions posts, that I’ve organized (as much as I can) by topic.

Please let me know I missed your predictions post. Go ahead and leave a link in the comments. I welcome different perspectives on what 2010 holds.

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Digital

• 100 Social Media & Content Marketing Predictions for 2010, by Various Authors

• 2010: Year of Digital Distraction?, by Pete Cashmore

• Twitter at a Crossroads: Audience Growth Won’t Be Enough in 2010, by Josh Bernoff

• Social Media 2010: it’s time to get boring, by Jackie Huba

• Top Digital Trends for 2010, by Brian Morrissey

• What’s the Twitter of 2010?, by Mark Evans

• 5 Social Media Implications for Brands in 2010, by Sienna Farris

• 2010 Social Media Influencers – Trend Predictions in 140 Characters, by TrendsSpotting

• ReadWriteWeb 2010 Predictions, by ReadWriteWeb

• The 10 TENsions That Will Define 2010, by Ross Dawson

• Top 5 Predictions for the Next 5 Years in Business Social Media, by Tac Anderson

• 10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010, by Ravit Lichtenberg

• 6 Social Media Predictions for 2010, by Amy Porterfield

• 9 digital trends to watch in 2010, by Nuri Djavit

• Nick Law on 2010 Trends, by MediaBeat

• (Social Media) Trends to Watch in 2010, by Mike Sansone

• 2010 Trends: Social Media & Paid Content, by Debra Aho Williamson

• 10 Web trends to watch in 2010, by Pete Cashmore

• 100 Things to Watch in 2010, by JWT

Mobile

• How Carrier Evolution will Affect Mobile in 2010, by Vince Lesch

• What will be the major trends in mobile marketing in 2010?, by Giselle Tsirulnik

• 9 unpredictions: What’s not going to happen with mobile in 2010, by Vanessa Horwell

• 10 Trends to Watch in 2010, by David Stutts

• Six Social Media Trends for 2010, by David Armano

• Top ten digital trends for 2010, by Drew Neisser

• 8 Mobile Technologies to Watch in 2010, by Sarah Perez

Marketing

• 10 Internet Online Trends for 2010, by John Arnold

• Trends That Will Shape Market Research In 2010, by Reineke Reitsma

• 2010: The Year Marketing Dies…, by Augie Ray

• 2010 Marketing Predictions, by Matt Granfield

• Three Words to Sing in 2010, by Pete Blackshaw

• 5 Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2010, by John Jantsch

• Four Email Marketing Predictions for 2010, by Chad White

• Top 10 Brand and Marketing Trends for 2010, by Robert Passikoff

• 11 Smart Marketers Shared Their 2010 Predictions, by Various Authors

Public Relations

• What to Look Out For in 2010, by PRSA

• PR Trends in 2010: The Future of PR, by Sally Falkow

• Jeremiah Owyang: Public relations will be impacted by ’social CRM’ in 2010, by Dave Armon

• Envisioning Media Relations: 2010 Predictions, by BurrellesLuce

• Public Relations Measurement 2010: Five Things to Forget & Five Things to Learn, by Don Bartholomew

Customer Service

• 10 Customer Service Trends for 2010, by Barry Moltz

Journalism

• 8 News Media Business Trends for 2010, by Vadim Lavrusik

• 10 Reasons Media Relations Will Get Easier in 2010, by Jeremy Porter

Nonprofits/Social Good

• 3 Powerful Social Good Trends in 2010, by Ben Rattray

• Five Social Media Fundraising Trends for 2010, by Beth Kanter

Music

• 5 Predictions for the Music Industry in 2010, by Nick Crocker

Finally, to put all of these predictions into perspective, Iain Tait from Crackunit has some mockingly humorous Trend Predictions for 2010.

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What did I miss? Let us know what you think 2010 holds in the comments, or leave a link to your trends and predictions post.

This is something I think we really started to see come to life with Twitter and the evolving network of connections it provides. We are able to maintain loose connections with large groups of people around a number of different interests. For example, I’m connected with people on Twitter around a very eclectic set of topics: branding, social media, music mashups, location (Oklahoma City), mountain biking, and other topics might be on my mind.

Some have argued that these loose connections don’t provide as much value that a smaller community that is focused around a specific problem or topic can provide, especially when it comes to solving problems or making something happen. And I agree totally, but I also think that the value of Twitter comes from the way it creates serendipitous crossroads of opportunity for us to connect with others we may never have come into contact with otherwise.

It’s amazing to watch Twitter, which is seemingly unorganized, to see how people cluster together in discussions around ideas.

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Have you found value in loose connections?

How often have these connections developed into something greater?

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Via: The Social Path

Chris Brogan discusses what he calls, The Serendipity Engine, at Web 2.0 Expo NY 09.

Some takeaways:

• Social media tools allow brands to acknowledge consumers and say, “I see you. There is a person there.”
• There is the potential in social media, particularly Twitter, for the serendipitous creation of connections and opportunities.
• Listen far more than time than you spend worrying about what to say.
• Use the 12 to 1 ratio. “Spend 12 times talking about other people as you do yourself.”
• Drive social media tools deeper inside organizations.

Download the Brand Touch Cycle pdf

A discipline that I consistently see organizations struggling with is in fully understanding the importance of touchpoints of their brand.

Yes they understand the basic idea of a touchpoint—that interactions with their brand is a touchpoint that influences the overall perception of their brand. And yes they know that it is to their advantage to integrate the touchpoints of their brand as much as possible.

The disconnects start to happen when we start to dig a little deeper into the organization and really start to identify all the ways in which consumers experience the brand. You then start to see areas where the brand experience doesn’t flow quite as smoothly as it should.

This typically happens because of lack of clarity in three areas:

1. Identifying all the touchpoints of a brand—large and small.
2. Understanding how consumers tend to move from one touchpoint to the next.
3. Recognizing that all touch have an impact the brand experience.

While working with clients to help them continually improve and grow their brands, I’ve developed a framework to help them fully grasp the depth and complexity of the many ways that consumers experience their brand, and also help them improve this experience over time.

I call it the Touch Cycle. Here are the steps:

1. Choreograph Touches
Map out as many different paths that a consumer might take with your brand, from start to finish. Think about all the interactions that consumers have with your brand, large and small.

Don’t forget the small touches here. We have a tendency to let all the big things our brands do overshadow the small things that slowly chip away at our brands.

How do they fit together? How do consumers move from one step to the next?

Play out these scenerios in your head. Do they flow together well?

2. Listen and Watch
At each of these touchpoints listen and watch what consumers say and do. What are they telling you through their actions, or what they tell others?

Take note of any confusion or frustrations that consumers might have at a specific touchpoint.

3. Reinforce Behaviors
Support the positive reactions and actions happening around with the touchpoints of your brand. Strengthen those touchpoints by encouraging good behaviors.

For example, if someone refers a friend to your product or brand, at the very least thank them. Or better yet, reward them in some way.

This is especially important when it comes to your brands online touchpoints. When someone says something good about your brand, engage with them. Thank them and encourage them to continue being advocates for your brand.

4. Evaluate and Expand

Take a look back at all the work you’ve done in steps 1, 2, and 3. Evaluate the effectiveness of the touchpoints you identified in step 1. Determine what’s working and what’s not.

Are there touchpoints that we should eliminate? Are there areas what we should expand into and add new touchpoints to the brand experience?

Download the Brand Touch Cycle pdf

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It’s at this point that the cycle starts over and begins again. Obviously this is something that needs to be worked into a larger brand strategy, but I’ve found it to be a great tool to help organizations start to think of their brands in a more holistic way.

Thoughts? What say you?

For the last two years I’ve hosted a very unscientific poll/survey to find out what companies over the past year have shown that they were listening. The goal was to get an sense of who stood out among the minds of readers as an organization with open ears.

Here are the results from past years if you are interested:

• 2008
• 2007

This year however, I’ve decided not to do a survey for 2009, at least not in way as have the past two years. The reason for this decision, comes after spending a large amount of time advising clients on their online monitoring and reputation management plans. I’ve come to understand more deeply that there are many different levels and reasons to listen.

Most importantly, I’ve come to grips with the fact that organizations are at different stages when it comes to listening. Strategist Jeremiah Owyang drove this point home with The Eight Stages of Listening. Jeremiah lays out eight different stages of listening that organizations can find themselves in. I’ve found this matrix to be a great resource, but one that brings up new questions.

So this year instead of asking, “who was listening,” I want to continue the dialogue that Jeremiah started on his blog.

Which of the eight stages are companies at?

What stage do companies think they are at?

And in reality, what stage are companies truly acting at?

Let us know what you think in the comments!

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You can review Jeremiah’s 8 Stages of Listening in a variety of formats below. I created jpeg and pdf versions for you to add to your resource archive, which you can download below.

Download a The Eight Stages of Listening pdf

The Eight Stages Of Listening

Stage 1 – No objective at all

Description – Organization has a listening program but has no goals, nor uses the information for anything resourceful.

Resources Needed – Simple alerting tools, like Google Alerts and feedreaders will suffice.

Impacts – At the basic level, simple self-awareness.  Yet without any action from the data, this is useless.

Stage 2 – Tracking of brand mentions

Description – Like traditional “clip reports” of media relations, companies now track mentions in the social space.  Despite tracking there is no guidance on what to do next.

Resources Needed – Listening platform with report capability based on brand or product keywords.  Radian 6, Visible Technologies, Techrigy/Alterian, Buzzmetrics and Cymfony, Dow Jones are providers.

Impacts – Improved self-awareness to track volume of information, yet unable to track depth, and tonality of conversations.  As a result, not a full understanding of opportunities.

Stage 3 – Identifying market risks and opportunities

Description – This proactive process involves seeking out discussions online that may result in identifying flare-ups, or possible prospect opportunities.

Resources Needed – In addition to a listening platform staff must actively seek out discussions and signal to internal teams.  Alerting tools, and listening platforms are required.

Impacts – Organization can reduce risk of flare ups before they become mainstream, identify prospects and poach unhappy competitors customers.

Stage 4 – Improving campaign efficiency

Description – Rather than just measure a marketing effort after it’s occurred, using tools to gauge during in-flight behavior yields real-time marketing efficiency.

Resources Needed – Dedicated resource to manage reactions, activity, and sentiment to a marketing effort, and the resources to make course corrections nearly real-time.  Traditional web analytics tools like Omniture, Webtrends and Google Analytics are common.

Impacts – Campaigns can be more effective, as hot spots are bolstered, and dead spots are diminished.

Stage 5 – Measuring customer satisfaction

Description – In addition to customer satisfaction scores,organizations can measure real-time sentiment as customers interact. Sysomos and Backtype have focus areas into this space.

Resources Needed – Customer experience professionals will have to extend their scope to the social web, using a listening platform and sentiment analysis.  Insight platforms like Communispace and Passenger offer online focus groups solutions.

Impacts – Brands can now measure impacts of real time satisfaction or frustration during the actual phases of customer interaction.  Then identify areas of improvement during customer lifecycle.

Stage 6 – Responding to customer inquiry

Description – This proactive response finds customers where they are (fish where fish are) in order to answer questions.  Example: Comcastcares account on Twitter asks customers if they need help –then may respond.

Resources Needed – An active customer advocacy team that’s empowered, training, and ready to make real-time responses nearly around the clock.

Impacts – Customers will fill a greater sense of satisfaction, yet this teaches customers to ‘yell in public’ to get a response.

Stage 7 – Better understand customers

Description – Evolving the classic market research function, brands can improve their customer profiles and personas by adding social information to them.

Resources Needed – Social CRM systems are quickly emerging that tie together a customer record and their online behavior, locations, and preferences. Salesforce, SAP, both have partnerships with Twitter to synch data.

Impacts – The opportunity to not only serve customers in their natural mediums, but to offer them a richer experience regardless of their customer touchpoints.

Stage 8 – Being proactive and anticipating customers

Description – Minority Report: This most sophisticated form actually anticipates what customers will say or do before they’ve done it.  By looking at previous patterns of historical data, companies can put in place the right resources to guide prospects and customers.

Resources Needed – An advanced customer database, with a predictive application put in place, as well as a proactive team to reach out to customers before an incident has happened.  Haven’t seen any such application yet.

Impacts – Identifying prospects and engaging them before competitors can yield a larger marketing funnel, or reducing customer frustration as problems are fixed before they happen.

Think about all the brands you interacted with today. Nearly everything you have done so far today involved a brand, was enabled by a brand or was accompanied by a brand. These interactions are just one of many touchpoints with a specific brand.

Touchpoints, or touches for short, work in a way similar to that of how blood flows through our bodies. Your heart pumps blood through your body, providing it with the oxygen and nutrients it needs, but the heart alone isn’t solely responsible for enabling a steady, healthy heartbeat. Every vein, artery and vessel has an impact on your heartbeat. No matter how small a constricted vein may be, it has an impact on the flow of blood.

The same true for brand touches. There are probably some big touchpoints that your organization tends to focus on, like advertising and other outward facing communications. But while the focus is being put on these areas that tend to be seen as more important, the small touches are ignored and are chipping away at the heartbeat of your brand.

Because of the abundance of times that brands touch our lives in a given day, and the fact that we now have access to brands wherever and whenever we want to, every touchpoint has become a crucial interaction.

The Micro-Pulse is an idea that I introduced a few weeks ago at OpenBeta. On Wednesday at the InnoTech conference in Oklahoma City, I was given the opportunity to give a talk that expanded on the idea even further. I focused more on touches in social media with this presentation, since I was speaking to at a technology conference, but I plan on applying this concept to both the online and offline brand worlds.

I’ve posted the deck below. I welcome your comments and suggestions on this. It is an idea that I plan on developing further.

Feedreaders click here to view the presentation.

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What do you think?

Do you have an example of a time when a small touchpoint mattered to you?

There is a lot great content on the web. (Understatement of the year.)

Everyday I wade through piles of RSS feeds, funneling blog posts and the long list of various industry and client-related keywords that I track into one spot. And everyday I come across some really cool stuff, stuff that I find valuable in some way. Whether it be an interesting case study, a informational slide deck, or an original and creative marketing approach, I take it in, store it, if I think I might want to reference it later and then share it if I think you will find it valuable.

If you are following me on Twitter (@freshpeel) you probably see some of this content, because I share a good portion of it there.

A few months back I started a posterous account to collect and share more of these chunks of content with you. I’ve found posterous to be the perfect place to record and share slide decks, infographics, videos and content that doesn’t need much, if any additional commentary. It’s become a new bucket for me share things of value.

If you haven’t already, please check it out. And I hope it will be a nice accompaniment to the content you find here at the Fresh Peel.

Subscribe to my posterous

This year featured an awesome collection of technology demos, most notably a soon to be released iPhone app called Audio Footnote, which lets users record and attach audio notes to podcasts and audiobooks. The keynote featured Josh Williams, the CEO and founder of Alamofire, the creators of Gowalla and the Facebook app, Packrat.

The tradition after the keynote is a rapid fire series of Lightening Talks, which is a lot like the PechaKucha 20×20, where each speaker delivers a talk on a set of 20 slides in 5-minutes. My talk was a quick look at an idea that I’ve been brewing for a while. I call it Micro-Pulse: how small touches impact the heartbeat of your brand.

The idea is that in a world with an unlimited amount of brand touchpoints, some in a brands control and many not, and the fact that consumers can interact with a brand whenever and wherever they want to, every touch matters. I credit the birth of this idea to David Armano and his Micro-Interactions presentation.

In this very short form the idea is still ripe, but I’ve posted the slides below. I welcome your thoughts.

View the slideshow: Micro-Pulse

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Do you have any personal examples of how small brand touches have made a big impact on you?

Have you seen this in action in social media?

The FTC’s recent Guidelines on Endorsements and Testimonials has gained a lot of attention for such a dry, lengthy document at 81 pages long, emerging out of the fast, bite sized world we live in. The reason for this attention is well deserved because for the first time these guidelines will include blogs and other forms of digital publishing.

Rather than give you my own opinions on the document and how I interpret the them (as some have done), I’ve decided it would be much more beneficial to round up some more qualified explanations of the document, so that we can dispel the myths and opinions and find out exactly what this means for everyone working in the digital space (especially bloggers).

Legal Interpretations

The two posts I’ll point you toward, are a written by individuals with professional legal experience. The first is written by blogger, podcaster and former attorney, Whitney Hoffman. The second is by Thomas O’Toole, who is the managing editor of the Electronic Commerce Law Report for the Bureau of National Affairs, e-commerce and tech law blogger and attorney.

The New FTC Guidelines on Endorsements by Bloggers – by Whitney Hoffman.
Takeaways for Social Media Advertisers in the FTC’s New Endorsement Guides – by Thomas O’Toole

Update: WOMMA hosted a webinar last week to discuss the new FTC guidelines and their impact. The webinar was hosted by Paul Rand, WOMMA’s president and CEO of the Zocalo Group, along with WOMMA’s legal counsel Anthony DiResta from the Manatt Phelps & Phillips law firm. I’ve embedded a short summary slide deck of that presentation. (Thanks to Brand Autopsy for the tip)

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After reading these dissections of the FTC Guidelines, here are a few questions for you. I’d enjoy your thoughts.

Does this at all impact what your organization’s digital strategy?

If your organization hesitant to get involved in the online space, will these guidelines make it easier or harder for them to make the leap?

(Photo is a mashup of Flickr pics credited to jasoneppink and St_A_Sh.)

The internet provides us with an endless number of ways to test and perfect our marketing communications. Like mad scientists, we can experiment with our website using Google’s Website Optimizer, continuously tweaking it to better. Tim Ferris even talks about testing product names and price points using eBay listings and AdWord campaigns.

Something that I’ve been playing around with is using Twitter and the url shortening service, Bit.ly, to test the effectiveness of headlines. It’s a quick way to find out which phrasings work and which don’t.

Here how you can gain quick insights to perfect your headlines:

1. Pick a URL Shortener

First pick a url shortening service that will let you create two or more short urls for your link and that collects click data on your urls. I like Bit.ly because it is easy to use and it displays data in an clean format that takes no time to digest. (Plus it is the most common url shortening service.)

2. Select Your Content

Now find the content that you want to test headlines for. In this example, I picked an article on the Dachis Group‘s Social Business Design.

3. Create Two Different Short URLs to the Content

Copy the url from the content page you want test headlines around. Create two different short urls linking to this page.

4. Pair Each Short URL with a Different Headline

Pair each of the short urls to a different headline that you want to test. (Using Bit.ly, this is when I rename the link titles so that I know which headline I used for each link.)

5. Tweet the Headlines Followed by the Paired Short URL

Tweet the first headline you want to test with the url to the content page. Then wait a few minutes and tweet the second headline and url.

6. Track the Results

Using your url shortening service, track the number of clicks on each headline. If you are using Bit.ly, the top number is how many clicks there have been and the bottom number is how many clicks there have been total, through Bit.ly, to the long url. That is why the bottom number for both links is the same, because they are both linking to the same page.

So from this we can see that “Social Business Design” is a much more effective headline hook than “Improving Value Exchange.”

7. Repeat to Find the Perfect Headline

This is where you start the process over. Go back to step 1 pairing up the most clicked headline from the first test with a new headline variation. As you do multiple tests make minor variations in the headlines in order to better understand the results. (e.g., instead of using the word “design” you might try using the word “blueprint.”) Do as many tests as you want, until you are satisfied with your headline. Depending on your timeline and what you are testing for will determine the length of time you want to spend testing.

I should point out that there are some limitations to this testing method:

• For this to be of any value, you need to have a history of participation and a following of enough size to accurately make a comparison.
• There is no way of knowing whether or not users clicked on both links.
• Participants on Twitter won’t always match up to the audience you are crafting a headline for.

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That’s it! A quick way to experiment and perfect your headlines.

Thoughts?

The reason I’m mentioning this here is that Solis also had some important things to say about how reaching the right group of people takes more than a look at a data sheet.

“They are not demographics, they are not statistics, they are not avatars, nor are they waiting with baited breath for you to friend or market at them and their network friends. This data represents whole numbers and is not representative of the individuals that are looking for resources and guidance, and in turn, will help you participate as a community member.

So, how will you use this information to engage more effectively and genuinely?”

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Great question. How will you use this information to engage more effectively and genuinely?

Have you looked for pockets of consumers in smaller niche networks? What are you doing to connect these smaller groups?

1. Creating yet another outlet for brands to monitor
2. Further fragmenting conversation
3. Overwhelming potential for spam

And that’s just to name a few.

I don’t deny that these are issues that Sidewiki will have to deal with, but I see this as just another inevitable phase in the evolution of the web and the world, with life continuing to become more and connected and more social. (Social business design anyone?)

Let’s look at Google’s explaination of Sidewiki:

“Sidewiki enables users who have installed Google Toolbar to contribute information alongside any page on the web, inside of a simple sidebar UI. This information, which can include text entries, links, and embedded videos, will be ranked by quality and community ratings. For instance, on a site about a specific beach town, a user could add a relevant YouTube video showing local attractions. Once users opt in to the feature, they’ll be able to view annotations contributed by other users within a browser sidebar, and can choose to hide the sidebar at any time. Google Sidewiki also won’t change the appearance of any web page – all Sidewiki entries will be displayed only in the sidebar.”

The game changer here is that Side Wiki gives users the ability a comment or add more information to any page on the web. It allows comments to go where no comments have gone before. While some may see this as Google unleashing a tool that can’t be controlled in place, I think we should be grateful that Google has started experimenting in this space before other, possibly less accountable, companies have a chance to gain significant ground.

Something else to note: Sidewiki requires that users have a Google account before they comment. This ensures the users identity. And with the introduction of Google profiles, identities can potentially be extended even further by giving the contributor a point of reference to everyone else. This doesn’t eliminate the potential for spam, but I would think lessens that potential.

Augmented Reality: Sidewiki for the World

If you’re having some trouble swallowing Google Sidewiki, then you’re in for a rough ride. This is just a glimpse of how the world will continue to become more connected and more social.

Now imagine that consumers are given the ability to comment on every aspect of your organization — everything — the bathrooms, the waiting area, the parking lot, and even the performance of employees. And the comments wouldn’t be on some obscure site, they would be right next to the item or desk of the person being discussed.

If the things happening with mobile augmented reality are any indication, this scenario isn’t far from being a reality. Just look at what Yelp has done with their iphone app. The app contains an augmented reality component that provides users with an overlaid view of how far away a business is, user reviews and ratings, all in real-time within walking distance of the company. It’s a good demonstration of how a brand’s ability to control and manage is further slipping away.

You can probably see how this could evolve into the situation that I described above, where every choice that a company makes becomes a whiteboard for comments that all can see.

What if my friends that work at the Dell office in Oklahoma City were able to leave comments on what floor has the best vending machine, or what people to avoid in the company. Better yet what if another one of my friends, who was laid off from Dell a few years ago, was able to comment in the same way? He might have some very revealing things to say.

Learn to Adapt

The point I’m trying to make here is that things are going to continue to change. Walls will be broken down. The internet is going to evolve in ways that will continue to make us feel like we are losing control of our brands.

We can’t fight it. Our only choice is to continue to adapt and stay connected to the ways that consumers are communicating, no matter where that may be, or how hard that is to swallow.

I’m a believer in the idea that the way we work – the freedoms or restraints we put on ourselves when we work – has a large impact on the results that we produce, or in some cases, the results that we fail to produce. This is a topic I’ve explored this topic before with The Future of Work: Interview Series.

As our world shifts in the way that information is shared and how we are connected to one another, the way organizations function internally and externally is being forced to adapt as well. Organizations that have been quick to embrace new methodologies are reaping the benefits. You don’t have to look any further than companies like Google or Best Buy to see that there are other ways to get things done than the typical 9 to 5 cube format.

Mollie Partesotti and Ben Alter are two communications strategists that are tackling the problems in how we work for their master’s thesis project at the VCU Brandcenter. The project is a video series called Cubes Are Evil. They explain:

“We as a society need to reconsider what contributes towards and takes away from productivity.”

So far they have done just that. There are two videos in the series so far, with more to come. Watch below.

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Mollie and Ben’s work on Cubes Are Evil has me contemplating bringing back the Future of Work Interviews for a second round.

If I did that who should I interview this time?

What aspects of work should we focus on?

One of the favorite activities right now in social media (right there behind making fun of so-called social media experts) is spouting out large statistics and demographics revolving around the use of social media and the growth of social networks. You’ve probably seen these stats in the popular presentations, videos, or research findings that circulate the web faster than Steve Jobs rumors. From time to time I even fuel the fire myself.

Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with sharing these stats (assuming they are factually accurate). And many times the right statistic or fact about social activities can be a pivotal, eye-opening moment for some people.

The problem occurs when we take all of this information at face value and don’t dig any deeper. As I’ve argued before, demographics are only a small part of the equation. To take these broad forms of information and immediately act is not only irresponsible, but will more than likely be a waste of time.

Here’s a good example: Studies have shown that Facebook is growing fastest among the 35-54 age groups and a larger percentage of that group are women. Lets say you are the brand manager for a line of spa products that is targeted towards women over the age of 40. After seeing this statistic, your impulse might be to dive into adding a full-blown Facebook strategy to your marketing plan, but this would be a mistake. (Hint: If you ever use or hear someone else use the phrase “Facebook strategy” that’s a red flag)

Your first step should be to find where your ideal consumers hang out. Where are they active. All the above stat does is give you a hint. A pocket of women dieing to talk spa may exist on Facebook, but do your research before jumping in.

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What do you think?

Are companies looking before they jump?

So for the last few months I’ve been in research mode, exploring the psychological forces behind what motivates people to join a cause and why they donate their time and money. To say it’s a complex subject is an understatement.

During my research I ran across a study that seemed so obvious on first read, but as I continue to think about it, has become intriguing and I think it has some great applications to social media strategies. It’s called the foot-in-the-door phenomenom, which is defined as,

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

The term actually originated from when door-to-door salesmen would ask small requests of homeowners in order to get inside the house ask for the sale. They found that it was harder for people to say no once they had said yes once.

A good example of the foot-in-the-door phenomenom in action is the little lapel pins that the American Cancer Society asks people to wear. In a study done on these pins found that when people were asked a day ahead to wear a lapel pin publicizing a drive in their area, they were twice as likely to donate to the cause.

So what does this have to do with social media?

Well, start thinking about ways that you can you create a foot-in-the-door in your social media strategy. Think of how you can lower the barriers to entry to experience your brand, creating easy ways for consumers to become involved in some way.

Facebook Fan Pages immediately come to mind. There’s no risk. It’s just one click. And if someone is even remotely interested in an organization or product they have nothing to lose. In turn this gives you an in with them to drip information to them, slowly easing them in the brand and ultimately leading them to a bigger yes.

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What other foot-in-the-door opportunities do you see for brands?

I welcome your comments!

(Photo via: Herodoto)

What new tools are you experimenting with?

Social media is always changing, evolving, shifting and growing. It takes a high level of curiosity and dedication to keep up, but it’s this experimentation (the dirty work) that sets the thought leaders apart from everyone else.

In order to lead the way, we have to have some ideas about where we are going. And we can’t form these ideas without rearranging the parts we are currently using and throwing in some new parts to see what happens—experimentation.

People like Chris Brogan, Steve Rubel, Christopher S. Penn and Jeremiah Owyang became the thought leaders that they have risen to today because of their constant experimentation in the space which has allowed them to better analyze all that is happening around us and see a slightly clearer picture of what’s next. The same could be said of just about anyone from Mashable or ReadWriteWeb.

Want to take your level of insights to a whole new level?

Then start experimenting.

What are you experimenting with in social media?

Let us know in the comments below.

If you need some help finding tools to experiment with make Mashable or ReadWriteWeb a part of your daily exploration.

And if you’d like to try out a tool that’s just now hitting the social media runway, check out uVizz. (Disclosure: I’m currently an adviser to uVizz) The across social network video advertising app just launched in mid June and is now accepting campaigns. They are also giving you cash to get your experiment off the ground. The first 200 people to sign-up will receive a $250 in uVizz campaign funds. Click the button below to signup.