Verdomme Cees, wie schets mijn verbazing,ben je ineens mediadocent.
Leuk!!
Natuurlijk die Noord-Zuidlijn een disaster, maar voor jouw exposure wel lekker!!

Laat als je dit ziet/leest wat horen s.v.p.
Groet ook aan Renate.

Je ouwe partner in Crime,
Johannes Rossenaar

Mo:06 41 51 42 71

You bring a really interesting point – maybe not explicitly: the social networks exist, and sites like Twitter and Linked in are simply tools where the people that form the hub meet. It is like a group of friends who can meet at a bar, at a sporting event or at a friend’s house. The group of friends is the social network itself and the bar or venue is the tool they use to interact. The community exists independent of the tool.

Like you, I am a firm believer in the power of social + enterprise content (what you call user generated content with professional content) and that integration deliver tremendous value to end users. But I have a different vision on how to get there: I don’t think marketers should moderate or editorialize social media. As you say, it is about trust and transparency – but this requires authenticity and personal conversations. The marketer can present both social and professional content labeling each as such: “here is the unedited content from the community, and here is our official corporate content”.

We did this at Microsoft where in our web properties and some of our products a search query will produce the official company “editorial” results, content from Microsoft bloggers and answers from the community. Social media is integrated on the website, technical support, marketing activities and also in the product Help system. Even the technical documentation is now a wiki.

Measurement tools and paradigms need to shift. It is not enough to measure community engagement or activity, maybe we should measure trust and sentiment. Maybe even loyalty. It is about winning hearts and minds.

About your question of how to identify the hubs? I see this as one of the intrinsic values of social media: it fosters the gravitation of people with similar goals and interests towards areas where they can have a conversation. Social media is enabling conversations across geographies, cultures and organizational boundaries.

A relevant quote from the Cluetrain Manifesto written almost 10 years ago:

“Markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking…the human voice is unmistakably genuine… Corporate firewalls have kept smart employees in and smart markets out. It’s going to cause real pain to tear those walls down. But the result will be a new kind of conversation. And it will be the most exciting conversation business has ever engaged in.”

The STOF-workshop that we did with you was much enjoyed by us as well. As a matter of fact the STOF book that you mention is heading your way right now. Some more info can be found on http://www.stofmethod.com – the place where we want to communicate about STOF developments and practices, and where we hope to start a STOF commmunity.

http://www.apenkooi.com