Social Media Insight from the Geek & the Gatherer

Here are “marketing voices” that make you ask — are there really any remaining good reasons why people, companies and organizations ought to step slowing into Social Media?  I’m sure there are many, but possibilities seem to trump potential harm.

From the Terry Gross of Social Media, PodTech’s Jennifer Jones give us these great interviews:

Dave Sifry, CEO of Technorati, is the recognized authority about what is happening on the Web at any one moment. He tells how Technorati is changing the news cycle. One way to think of it is this way: instead of a 24-hour turnaround between an event and its coverage (and longer for analysis), it’s more like a 60-second turnaround. Technorati indexes what people post within one minute of its posting. The site tracks 67 million blogs in total, and 1.5 million blog posts a day. It has already changed the landscape of marketing, and it definitely alters what companies that care about “listening” need to do.

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/02/PID_001948/Podtech_MV_Dave_Sifry_CEO_Technorati.mp3&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/marketingvoices/marketing-voices/1251/technorati-the-focus-group-for-the-web&totalTime=1245000&breadcrumb=3F34K2L1]

The best company cultures that work for social media are just like people who embrace conversations and two-way interactions — they are open, trusting and talkative. Jennifer McClure, executive director of the Society for New Communications Research talks to Marketing Voices host Jennifer Jones about corporations like IBM that embrace the idea of blogging employees (more than 25,000 IBM bloggers attest to this) and are willing to talk directly with their customers and employees. McClure also discusses how she would assess a company’s readiness for social media. Fear used to reign in corporate cultures, but McClure sees fear waning, as trust becomes more prevalent in Fortune 500 environments. [podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/01/PID_001922/Podtech_MV_Jennifer_McClure.mp3&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/marketingvoices/marketing-voices/1249/building-a-corporate-culture-for-social-media&totalTime=884000&breadcrumb=3F34K2L1]