NEVILLE HOBSON conducted a social networking Master Class for a dozen people while he visited Boston College Dublin (at left) today. He called the session "10 Trends That Matter" and effecitvely distilled ideas in 90 minutes that some take a half day to explain. One's online profile now extends far beyond a blog or a photostream and Neville illustrated that new reach by citing several first-person examples from Ford, pharmas, and tabloid journalism. "The nature of trust has changed," he said, pointing to slides released this week in the Edelman Trust Barometer. We now live in a stakeholder world where 60% of people need to hear the message from three to five sources before they believe it is true. This 21st century perspective of trust is the framework today's Transition Year students will take into the workplace and into their media consumption patterns. Research shows that we give highest credibility to specialist sources while we trust expeet voices the most. When viewed from a media analysis perspective, this research suggests people give less respect to talking heads while awarding greater value to five of their tweeting friends who say the same thing.
And while some brand managers might sneer at the decline of traditional top-down message management, customers are coshaping reputations every day. Proactive communicators know exactly where key conversations are happening, who has influence and why. These important conversations happen across different forms of social media and effective communicators know those disparate social media.
The small size of the group and the cozy setting of Boston College Dublin made for some colorful exchanges concerning Ryanair, the Mail on Sunday and gardening. Looking at my twitterstream, I can see those social conversations continue to run their course.
Neville Hobson -- "A memorable Dublin experience" on his blog, 1 Feb 10. Bonus Download: "Are friends electric" by Kathy Foley in Culture, a Sunday Times publication, 31 Jan 10. [580 kb PDF]
