This BusinessWeek piece by David Armano from last year is a useful starting point summary of the conventional wisdom on whatever this thing is that we’re talking about (what is the difference, exactly, between a “conversation economy” and an “attention economy”?)
It’s the conversation economy, stupid. One of the engines that is driving “2.0″ growth is the fact that communities are forming around popular social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Ning, Twitter—the list goes on and on. These platforms facilitate conversation. Conversation leads to relationships and relationships lead to affinity.
Brand affinity, as companies such as Harley-Davidson (HOG) have proven, often drives communities to form around them. This is why anyone who plays a role in branding needs to become a conversation architect. Marketers, businesses, and designers must have an intimate understanding of how these platforms are evolving and influencing human behavior. There has to be an in-depth understanding of why some us of love to incorporate these services in our digital lives.
Long second page on the wonders of Twitter, which I am currently exploring and of which more later.
