Naked Conversations

I wrapped up Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel several weeks ago. The book is all about blogging. And, as a blogger, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s filled with lots of examples of what’s worked and hasn’t worked in corporate blogging. A couple of my favorite people were also quoted in the book.

Here are a few of my highlights from Naked Conversations:

• "Companies need to offer something so unique, valuable, or compelling that people will want to tell others about it."
• "The single best way to accomplish word-of-mouth publicity is not with a clever web site or tell-a-friend software or cash rewards. The best way to do this is to make something worth talking about."
• "You may think you are conversing with the world, when it’s just a few people talking frequently, back and forth to each other, creating the illusion of amplification." (A good friend of mine likened it to girlfriends passing notes to each in school.)
• "People are hungry for companies that have conversations with them–warts and all."
• "…authenticity is the core value that makes blogging such a new and different way for businesses to communicate. If authenticity is the defining feature of blogging, then credibility is its benefit."
• "The greatest number of people and companies blogging wrong are guilty of no crime greater than being dull–of demonstrating the remarkability of Godin’s brown cows. You may not receive nasty comments, and other sites may not point to you with…indignant wrath…, but being bland will hurt you and the company you represent."
• "In this new era, companies don’t win just by talking to people. They win by listening to people as well."