Blunt – The Conversation Agency

January 2010

• On Social Media Noise Reduction

  posted by Michael Whitehouse in Blog, JS Cournoyer, Jonathan Levitt, Michael Whitehouse, Richard Zeidel, Social Media, real-time

  Mon 4^th

  Social media cleansing doesn’t have to mean a complete tune-out. With apologies to John Mayer and Matt Cutts and their Lent-like digital cleanses, a little noise reduction can be just as effective.

December 2009

• A Place for Enemies?

  posted by Michael Whitehouse in Blog, Michael Whitehouse, Social Media, facebook, twitter

  Tue 29^th

  Welcome to social media 2010, where your lifestream testifies to who and what you are, and your audience is not always a friendly one. With Twitter largely public by design and Facebook on a forced march towards openness, people will increasingly have to stop to consider whether their contributions might be seen, tracked, or flagged by audiences that could use their words, opinions, and pictures against them.

• The only thing I’m prepared to predict, is change

  posted by Jonathan Levitt in Blog, Jonathan Levitt, Marketing, Start Up

  Wed 23^rd

  Through it all, my hopes for the future of digital marketing have remained unchanged. Back in October, I summarized the direction that I think marketing as a discipline has to head in. Marketing must become a participatory mode, where brands can talk WITH consumers instead of AT them. Conversational marketing deconstructs marketing and takes it back to its roots. It restores the sacred trust between buyer and seller–an unspoken compact that used to govern human relations before the industrial revolution. Connecting people is the most critical function of marketing, even more important than collecting data.

• On Facebook’s waning value to local business owners

  posted by Michael Whitehouse in Blog, Local business, Michael Whitehouse, Small business, Social Media, facebook

  Tue 22^nd

  If I were a local business owner, I’d be excited about Google’s shiny new toys, and I’d wonder if Facebook has the chops to keep up from an innovation standpoint, at least on this front. Cutesy business pages with pictures and wall comments were fine for 2008, showed their age in 2009, but they’ll cease to relevant if there’s no innovation coming in 2010.

• 3 reasons why I’m ambivalent about social media in 2010

  posted by Michael Whitehouse in Blog, Marketing, Michael Whitehouse, Social Media, facebook, twitter

  Fri 18^th

  2009 started off with marketing consultants speaking about social media in almost messianic language. But as the year advanced, evidence emerged of a darker side to social media, and I’ve outlined 3 reasons why I am ambivalent about its future as we move in 2010.

• Facebook: Abandoning our Father’s Secrets

  posted by Richard Zeidel in Blog, JS Cournoyer, Jonathan Levitt, Marketing, Media, Richard Zeidel, Social Media

  Tue 15^th

  In time, most of us will be always on: being disconnected will be the anomaly. What impact does this hyper-connectivity and its attendant transparency on society? I think much is still unknown – but if I had to guess the upside is that it will drive the human race forward at exponential rate.

• I Do Not Trust Facebook with My Personal Information

  posted by JS Cournoyer in Blog, JS Cournoyer, Media, Social Media

  Mon 14^th

  In response to Jason Calacanis’ article titled: “Is Facebook unethical, clueless or unlucky?”, although I’ve never met Mark Zuckerberg, I believe Facebook’s move to open up user information to everyone probably has more to do with its VCs/investors than its founder. The investors are the ones that need returns in a relatively short time period and, with the price that’s been paid by most of them and the existing revenue multiples for media/online advertising companies, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re constantly trying to push the envelope

• What’s the frequency Kenneth?

  posted by Jonathan Levitt in Blog, Jonathan Levitt, Media, Social Media

  Sat 12^th

  Technology has catalyzed a certain type of social mutation. A new class (not generation, because it cuts across age buckets) of individuals has sprung up, with hyper-connectivity to real-time digital information their collective sine qua non. This class is distinct from the proverbial masses, who have integrated the web into their information consumption routines without abandoning legacy media.

• Googling for Tiger Woods

  posted by Richard Zeidel in Blog, Marketing, Richard Zeidel, Social Media

  Thu 10^th

  Search used to be about building up a quasi-permanent form of authority. Through the gadgets in the search engine optimization toolbox, marketers sought to create an inherently static world, where the most authoritative pieces of content were privileged on SERPs, almost in perpetuity.

• Value Proposition – The Importance of Core

  posted by Richard Zeidel in Blog, Marketing, Richard Zeidel, Sales

  Tue 8^th

  Nothing is more important than a clear value proposition. If you don’t know who you are, how will the market? This distillation of what makes your company special and your company’s offerings indispensable should be burned into the minds of every employee at your company, starting at the top. If should be a mantra that orients everybody around a clear and well-understood core: we do THIS in THAT manner, better than THESE people, and we deliver value in THIS way.