The ABC’s of Social Media:

Communicating
on the Read/Write Web

SHEL HOLTZ, ABC

blogger, “a shel of my former self”

podcast co-host, “For Immediate Release”

IABC Teleseminar
July 13, 2006
 The Seismic Shifts
2

Web 2.0 – the evolution from read-only to

read/write

Anyone with a point of view can talk to the world

Text

Audio

Video

Disrupting traditional businesses and models

New companies, new ideas appearing to leverage the
shifts
 Truths
3

New media do not replace old media

Markets are conversations

The audience controls the message

Numbers don’t matter
 The Long Tail
4

“We sold more books today that didn't sell at all yesterday
than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday.”
 Participation
5

Institutions must cede

control of the message
in order to participate
in the conversation.
 Forces of Change: Equation #1
6

Low barriers to entry

+ Pervasive access
+ Growing broadband
+ Attention devices (RSS)
= The Net’s original promise
 Forces of Change: Equation #2
7

The Net’s original promise

+ Shifts in trust
+ Demands for transparency
= Tectonic change
 Who Do We Trust?
8
We trust…

Each other

Independent subject
matter experts

NGOs

We don’t trust…
“Person like y ourself or

Business y our peer” is seen as the
m ost credible

Government
spokesperson about a
com pany and am ong the
top three spokespeople in

Mainstream media ev ery country surv ey ed.
– 2006 Annual Edelman
Trust Barometer
The Era of Social Computing
9

The social structure

in which technology
puts power in
communities, not
institutions.
 The First Rumblings of Tectonic Change
10

Social communication tools

Weblogs

Podcasts

Internet telephony

Mobile/text/video

Virtual communities

My Space

Second Life
A Person Like Me…
11
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Participate in the Conversation
15
Facilitate the Conversation: Build Community
21
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The Wisdom of Crowds
23
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 Monitoring the read/write web
30

A range of free tools

BlogPulse

Technorati

Alexa

Feedburner

Fee-based services

What to monitor

Inbound links/connections

Conversation (tone, side-by-side comparisons)

Potential impact on reputation

 Communication Choices
31

Engage and Participate vs. Transmit

Advocate vs. Preach

Influence and Persuade vs. Command and Control

Informal and
vs. Formal and Instructive
Conversational

Build Community vs. Tell Your Audience

 Case Study: The Hobson & Holtz Report
32

Started January 2005

First podcast in the
communication profession

Co-hosts: Neville Hobson
(Amsterdam) and Shel Holtz
(California)

70-90 mins, twice weekly,
Monday and Thursday,
recorded via Skype

Global audience

Local reporters

Building community
 Why Podcast?
33

Low barriers to entry

Anybody can do it

A growing audience

10 million and counting

Niche audiences

You can listen while doing something else
 It’s About Community
34

Involve listeners

Listen to them

Encourage listeners

Address their needs

Engage

Gl obal di stri bu ti on : FIR l i sten ers 31/5/06

h ttp://www.frappr.com /fi r
w w w .forim m ediaterelease.biz
Let’s Listen…
36
 But wait…there’s more
37

Citizen journalism

Citizen marketing

Open source marketing

Microformats and “edge” communication

AJAX
 Conversation…
38

Shel Holtz, ABC
Podcast: For Immediate Release

Web: www.holtz.com co-hosted with Neville Hobson, ABC
Email: shel@holtz.com www.forimmediaterelease.biz
Phone: 415.367.3820
Blog:
a shel of my former self
blog.holtz.com

…listen
to my
podcast…
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my
Original cartoon by Hugh MacLeod (gapingvoid.com).
Used with permission. videocast