I just came across the very newly launched Wells Fargo Wachovia blog. Right off the bat, I noticed three things:
1. There are real people here
2. They want to talk to me
3. They are making it very easy to talk to them
Now, I'm not interested in the debate of should Wells be blogging and when is it right to blog, but in light of my recent post on making the participatory experience pleasant—Wells has done something very simple, and possibly elegant here. While most blog experiences make us scroll to the bottom, fill out forms and decipher fuzzy graphics, Wells puts the call for participation right at the top, front and center and they even put a face to it. Hello Matt Wadley!
Call for participation may be the new call to action when it comes to communicating using social technologies and as I've said before—companies who invest by putting REAL LIVE PEOPLE behind there efforts are the ones that understand the real work which goes behind an initiative like this.
Blog aside, this seemingly small execution is symbolic in my mind. I haven't seen something like this before and of course, I left a comment right away. In seconds. Kudos on the execution Wells, one small step for blogging, one giant step for participation.
I love the idea that "Call for participation may be the new call to action..."
Posted by: Derek Phillips | Monday, January 05, 2009 at 11:59 AM
It's so nice to see them exposing REAL people. No easy task for many firms. Most choose to parade a few evangelists around behind the mask of the organization. My favorite was a past video chat startup whose evangelists had chosen imaginary names to "protect themselves."
Posted by: Sean Howard | Monday, January 05, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Nice find David. Great to find blogs like that that get it isn't it? Financial institutions could use some transparency these days eh? :)
Posted by: Jim Kukral | Monday, January 05, 2009 at 12:15 PM
This is a great example. What is interesting is that once you hit the permalink the comments field moves back below the post...
Thanks for pointing this out.
Posted by: Joshua-Michéle Ross | Monday, January 05, 2009 at 01:14 PM
David, thanks so much for your kind post. Yes, we're real! :-) Seriously, we designed that integrated comment feature first for Guided by History, our first blog. My reason was this: I figured that most people visiting Guided by History (at least 3 years ago, when we launched) were not familiar with the blog format. Looking for that little "comment" link at the bottom of the post isn't exactly obvious, nor inviting. I really wanted it to be a very direct, easy, and personal experience.
We more than doubled our comments when we launched that feature. Very happy with it.
Cheers!
-Ed
Posted by: Ed Terpening, VP Social Media, Wells Fargo | Monday, January 05, 2009 at 03:33 PM
Ed,
No kidding? 3 years ago? Even better. It stands the test of time. Thanks for the comment here. Good luck with the new initiative.
Posted by: David Armano | Monday, January 05, 2009 at 03:45 PM
It reminds me of an initiative I put together ages ago to have everyone's picture on the website. It was a real trial at first (hundreds of pics, and new ones added weekly) but since this was the early days of the web, pictures were one of the easiest ways to add personality and initiate discussion. The only question is why it isn't more common? You can even have fun with it (http://www.houseind.com/about/housebios/), but it certainly contextualizes the information on a site quite effectively.
Posted by: Michael Dain | Tuesday, January 06, 2009 at 08:15 AM
I'm mad keen to see how this one evolves, because I can't imagine a more sensitive junction for blogging than folks and the folks who manage their money. (Well, maybe folks and the folks who operate on them, but that's a way off yet) A real test of corporate blogs in some key ways. Thanks for bringing it up. None of our banks (in Ireland) are doing the blogging thing yet.
Posted by: Nick McGivney | Tuesday, January 06, 2009 at 05:08 PM