AMY GAHRAN: The Right Conversation

Organic Conversations (Pun Intended)

Jonny Hunter, via Flickr

On Friday, June 22, I'll be speaking right here in Boulder, CO at the Organic Summit Leadership Conference -- cosponsored by New Hope Natural Media and the Organic Farming Research Foundation. I'll be speaking on a panel: What makes the organic news?

Like any industry, people in the organic food & product business want to spread the word about their offerings and issues. As a longtime environmental journalist (among other things), I'm very used to talking to people in this field, so I'm looking forward to it. At the very least, the food will be excellent, of course!

My co-panelists are award-winning food and nutrition journalist Carolyn O'Neil and Kristine Kidd, food editor of Bon Appetit magazine.

Most of the people attending this panel will probably be in involved in PR and media relations for the organics industry. That's great, because it seems to me that these folks, in particular, can have a ton of productive fun with online and conversational media.

Here are some things I plan to discuss...

Buh-Bye Old Stars, and Good Riddance

Independent music journalist Michael Kirk.

This morning I was having an interesting conversation with my friend, independent music journalist Michael Kirk. We were tossing around observations on how the conventional "star system," at least in the entertainment business, appears to be waning with the rise of the internet -- particularly with easy access to social and conversational media.

Anyway, with Michael's permission, here are some excerpts from our conversation...

Beyond Blogs: Moleskine Goes Where the Conversation Happens

My Moleskine reporter's notebook -- which is holding up well, despite frequent abuse.

Like many media pros, I'm a die-hard fan of Moleskine notebooks -- especially their small, unlined reporter's notebook (see photo).

Moleskine notebooks aren't fancy. In fact, this brand's reputation hinges almost entirely on quality, and on a vocal, dedicated community of customer evangelists -- such as Merlin Mann of the popular productivity site 43 Folders.

Therefore, when sharply worded complaints about Moleskin's quality and service erupted on the 43 Folders Google Groups forum on Aug. 15, Modo & Modo (manufacturer of Moleskine notebooks) had a pretty big problem.

Apparently, some Moleskine notebooks started falling apart after just a few weeks or months of use. Some owners of these defective notebooks tried contacting Moleskine US, but got no response. Later, it turned out that Moleskin US is not the US distributor for this brand. The official US distributor is Kikkerland Design Inc. But in the meantime, these customers believed Moleskine was ignoring them. Not good.

Clued in by e-mails, Moleskine maker Modo & Modo began checking out the online complaints. On Aug. 30, the company posted a sincere apology on its blog. They offered an explanation of their late response: they're a small company, and in Italy everyone's on vacation in August -- not a great answer, but an honest one. They also offered clear instructions on how owners of defective notebooks could get their problem addressed.

Even smarter, Modo & Modo posted the full text of this statement onto the 43 Folders forum where the complaints arose. It's interesting to note that, despite earlier frustrations aired in that forum, all the responses to the company's apology were positive and supportive.

This story demonstrates the importance of three lessons for all organizations who understand how conversational media can help make or break your reputation...

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE on the Capture the Conversation blog...

I'm On a Panel Tonight: Podcasting & PR (Palo Alto)

Today I'm catching a plane to San Jose for the second annual BlogHer conference, which starts tomorrow.

Tonight (Thursday, July 27) I've been invited to speak on a panel at a monthly gathering of Bay Area PR luminaries, held this month in Palo Alto. The topic is podcasting.

My fellow panelists are:

• Phil Gomes (Edelman)
• Barbara Anthony (Palo Alto 360)
• Aaron Burcell (Podshow)
• Jarah Euston (Fresno Famous)

The panel is at Fanny & Alexander in Palo Alto. It starts at 6:30 tonight, and probably goes until 9 or so. I don't believe there's a fee to attend this event, but you might want to RSVP via Meetup.com.

So to warm up my brain for this, here are a few thoughts on podcasting as conversational media...

Trackbacks, comments, and conversations

Ah, I love conversational media...  My earlier post on strategic commenting has generated an intriguing multi-threaded discussion. In one comment to that article, Uri Baruchin asked:

"Amy, could you share your opinion regarding the use of trackbacks vs. comments?"

Trackbacks are ubiquitous among weblogs, and often misunderstood. This theme also arose in the comments to Guy Kawasaki's posting which recommended my strategic commenting article. Here's how I responded the trackback v. comments issue there...

Why Conversational Media Is Newly Important, Even Though It's Definitely Not "New"

What's the big deal about conversational media? A lot of people get confused by that term because, rightly, they know that print and broadcast media have been used to facilitate certain kinds of conversations. So why bother talking about it if it's not new?

That's an important point: conversational media is NOT new. In fact, it's quite ancient. However, conversational media recently has attained crucial significance because, thanks to advances in communication and search technology, it's now more widely accessible and less controlled than ever before.

In media, conversation used to be a minor sideline to publishing. More and more, it's getting to be the main attraction -- not just in terms of popularity, but influence.

How old is conversational media? Well, do you have a Bible lying around?...

The Elevator Speech for Conversational Media

My good friend and mentor Catherine Dold pointed out to me yesterday over lunch that the phrase "conversational media" means little or nothing to most people.

Damn it, she's right.

So I'm trying to figure out a very sort way to convey the core concept and value of conversational media in, say, ten words or less.

Here's what I've come up with so far -- but I could sure use your help...

(UPDATE JAN. 13: See the progress I've made so far on crafting this definition...)

What Is Conversational Media?

Media doesn't have to be a spectator sport.

Conversational media is both monumental and mundane. Right now I like to think of it as "hiding in plain sight" on the media landscape. People see it and accept it, but they don't necessary grasp its significance and vast potential.

This new weblog will focus on the emerging field of conversational media: where it comes from, how people are using it, and what it can do.

To get things started, here are some thoughts on what I understand so far about conversational media...