From Advertising Age to Conversation Age

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"Whether or not the "Age of Conversation" prompts you to log on and jump out of your comfort zone as voyeur, you'll at least be able to take your pick of 103 new links to change up that morning Gawker-Jarvis-Drudge routine."
~ Matt Kinsey, Advertising Age.

Our somewhat global joint effort, the Age of Conversation gets some serious ink as a feature in the bookstore section in Advertising Age despite it's official debut tomorrow.   The book  will contain quality content from a collection of professionals who are ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS in emerging media vs. industry pundits who keep an eye on it from afar.  So why am I making this distinction?  Because there are a lot of folks commenting on emerging media who offer opinions from an observational perspective.  There's nothing wrong with this and it's definitely valuable as research, analysis and synthesis from smart and qualified people will always be in demand. 

But may of the contributers of the Age of Conversation are also qualified industry professionals with one exception.  We don't just talk about the effects of the conversation economy—we PARTICIPATE in it.  Daily participation—in our everyday lives.  Through blogs, Twitter, Second Life, Facebook, the list goes on and on...

But it's never been about blogging or the other never ending emerging technologies.  As the debate rages over the perceived decline of blogging vs other forms of social media—The Age of Conversation book proves that one thing above all transcends technology and the race to test drive the latest "social app".

We are discovering our purpose through finding each other—and ourselves.

Social networks connect communities and individuals who are finding out that they have a lot in common despite our own individual diversities.  The networks which are organic in nature and in some ways exhibit organized chaos—do produce fruit in the form of digital (and analog) fellowship, intellectual stimulation, sharing, and in this case giving birth to physical manifestation in the form of a book.

So why do I say it's about "finding our purpose"?  Don't ask me.  Ask any individual such as Karl Long of Nokia, Steve Rubel of Edelman, Mario Sundar of Linked In, Peter Kim of Forrester, Rohit Bhargava of Olgilvy PR, etc.  Ask them how being a participant has influenced their professional and personal lives.  And for practical examples at the organizational level—look at Adaptive Path, 37 Signals, Organic, Dell, (Direct2Dell just celebrated it's one year anniversary)  Southwest, GM—brands large and small that have benefited from participation in meaningful ways.  And of course this subject is near to my heart as my own experience as a participant has evolved the way I think, created new relationships as well as opportunities and influenced what I do for a living.

And for my designer friends, the Age of Conversation teaches us something about broader disciplines outside the bubble of the design world.  We always talk about making something real.  Rapid prototyping.  Collaboration.  Open source development.  We talk about design as facilitation.  The Age of Conversation effort shows us that marketers get this too.  I'm really excited to see the physical book end up on my coffee table.  It's tangible—real, and knowing that my cover design will package 100 + pages of interesting content from smart and passionate people tickles my own creativity and design sensibilities.  Designers aren't the only ones producing artifacts you can touch.

Tomorrow, I get to buy the actual book.  I'm going hard cover for maximum effect.  In retrospect, the recent discussions about Twitter vs. Pownce vs. Facebook vs. blogging are all mute.  At least for me they are.  The potential of social media is this:

Knowledge. Creativity. Sharing. Relationships.

My contribution to the Age of Conversation is a one page essay called the Relationship Renaissance.  In it, I propose the following:

"What sparked the original Renaissance?  Some historians speculate that the “Black Death” had something to do with it.  The theory is that this caused individuals to focus on the quality of their lives on earth in addition to the afterlife.  As a result, art and science exploded with the help of Greek and Arabic knowledge.

Maybe our own “Black Death” has been business as usual.  In Advertising.  In Business.  In our everyday lives.  To be called a “Renaissance Man” means that you possess multidisciplinary talents. Today’s Renaissance men and women combine skills in personal publishing, podcasting, virtual worlds and other kinds of digital disciplines—which connect, converse, and ultimately allow us to relate."

My hope is that the book allows us to relate.  If you are a non-participant—maybe it will provide an insight or two into the world of an active participant. what it's like to produce content and engage in conversations with our communities.  If you already participate, then maybe you will see a perspective which challenges some of your current assumptions.  Either way, I think it will be a good read—for a great cause.

Comments

[Connie Reece]

Just saw you announce this post over on Twitter, where I find a lot of breaking news.

Thanks for the great design for the book cover. Like you, I'm getting a hardcover copy as well as several paperback copies for friends. And of course, the e-book so I can download and read it right away.

Participating in this collaboration has been a mind-expanding experience. It was amazing to see it come together and to make the acquaintance of writers I'd been unaware of before--from across the world.

Let's keep the conversation rolling . . .

[lars]

I cant wait to get my hands on this. Great work guys. It is going to be fantastic to get a (albeit short) look into the minds and thoughts of so many talented individuals.

[Valeria Maltoni]

This confirms what I've long suspected. The release lives again! Thank you for designing the cover... and for drawing the story out of this project.

[Chris Bernard]

Congrats on the cover and essay. I'll be getting myself a hardcopy of this. It's going to be fascinating to see how the Relationship Renaissance is going to influence how we all work and play together.

There are so many people I never would have had the good fortune to meet were it now for things like blogging, social networking sites and sites like Twitter. I think this stuff is disruption in the class sense in that it democratizes the types of networks and relationships that were only available to people that perhaps lived in certain cities or traveled in certain networks. Those things are still important and perhaps relevant but the democratization of community and how we can all interact via technology has made this accessible to many more folks.

-C

PS Allard says hi.

[DA]

"PS Allard says hi."

Chris, I think you just proved your point by passing a "hello" to me from my own Critical Mass co-worker via a blog comment.

Times have indeed changed. :-)

[Lori Magno]

David! Nice writing there! You made me even more excited about the project (and I've been acting like a 6 year-old all day!) Cheers friend!

[Tim Jackson]

Well done David! The cover is pure gold and the content, I guess, would platinum? I dunno...

I'm thrilled to be on this list with you. Unless we both get arrested in the same riot, this might be the only chance I get to be on a list with you!

Very excited to be a part of this group effort.

[AMTOG]

What happens when there's a lull in the conversation?