Holistic engagement: capitalising on online discourse

TANDOT Ltd.team@tandot.co.ukhttp://tandot.co.uk/

How marketing used to work

Expense of broadcast

Knowledge as a scare

resourceTop-down

The new landscape

Everyone is a publisher/ contributor

Dissemination is free

Bottom –up communication

Ryanair blowback

Photo used by permission of Jason Roe, http://www.jason-roe.com/

Top-down communication no longer works

•Efforts to hide things backfire

Streisand Effect

•Only works in closed mediums

Astroturfing

•Conversation will happen

Scarcity is gone

The medium is the message

Open software

Free use

Constant beta

Meritocracy of code

Open to analysis

Open media

Free access

Emergent consensus

Meritocracy of ideas

Attention economy

How do we find things out online?

Recommendation (immediate

network)Email

Documentation (extended network)

Syndication

Discovery (aligned

language)Google

Text is King• Text is our only current

discovery medium• If we can describe it,

we can find it• Success is related to

how much overlap there is between how you describe things, and how they describe things

Seeker descripti

on

Your descripti

on

The Blog is dead – Long live the Blog!

Encourage discourse to aid visibility

Communicate publicly

Patrons describe things differently from providers – use your own words

Capitalise on signposting to aid future discovery

Paths are manifestations of evolved discourse

Photo used by permission of Darren Capes, http://www.flickr.com/photos/alycidon/

Online presence: domain glue

• Pull together activity elsewhere

• Leave evidence of participation

• Foster activity, feedback, results

• Increase presence and discoverability

Discover

Signpost

Document

Attract

The new curatorialism

•Select•Filter

& Organise

•Highlight

Editorial activity –

Define the tone, set the agenda

•Don’t assume rigid control is the best path

•Support alternative interpretations

Facilitate discourse,

encourage self-service

The public sphere

Free discourse leads to communicative action

A true public sphere is emerging

Forums and comments

allow this to happen visibly

The net creates a levelled

playing field for discourse

Invisible communities

•But one-hundred fold, a community is formed

1 in a million is statistically insignificant

•Elimination of time and space allows a greater audience

Networks magnify effects

•+1 reader is valid participation: a vote

We’re all participants in as-yet unidentified

communities

RateMD, an invisible community

Participants on journeys

You are not a destination but one of many stops along a path

Identify the points where you can be involved

Refine the path

What’s your organisational journey?

Journeys and interaction lifecycles

The technology is just a layer

Ask the fundamental questions:

How did they get here?

What were they looking

for?

What happens after they close the window?

How do they signpost

participation for others?

… be aware of other outlets

Identify and associate with their existing avenues

Don’t be afraid to use spaces beyond your site – this can be valuable to drive new awareness

Watch how mobile users will engage – how are their needs different?

Platforms are fickle, but conversation is constant - Consider secondary and tertiary communication

Thanks!

Words are a cool technology

Conversation builds on this infrastructure

dave@tandot.co.uk