thinks

Mike Moran points out a great social media case study. The thing to note is that most companies - Toyota included, in this case - miss the point of social media’s “dangers.” The problem isn’t that customers can say anything. It’s that customers can see everything. Toyota has no issue being green, so long as that green is opaque. It’s transparent green that it’s having problems with. The company’s response is that of an opaque company mindset, while its customers live in an increasingly transparent world. Even in today’s world, most customers are going to point out your flaws to a very small number of their friends. And a very small number of your customers are going to try to point out those flaws to a large number of potential customers. But, it’s very easy for that large number to find that small number, far easier than it’s ever been. Many business books point out the merits of running your business as though its dirty laundry could end up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The reality of social media is that it doesn’t have to. So long as it’s out there, somewhere, your customers - current or potential - can find it. Are you ready to run a truly transparent business? You should be. Because no one’s going to give you a choice.

Are social aggregators of blogs over? Fred Wilson thinks so. And generally, you won’’t go wrong listening to what he has to say. What I found disappointing, though, is that Fred seems to miss that nature hates a vacuum. While there’’s always been mainstream media, there’’s also always been an alternative press. That’’s where the action is and that’’s where it will be again. Techmeme may have become the CNN of the blog space. But, there will always be an audience - and not just Fred Wilson - for the voices Fred worries this shift has silenced. Who’’s up for going after it?

[BTW - it looks like a number of folks are using Fred’s comments to show how they’’re going after it. Who’’s doing it best of that bunch?]

TechCrunch announced that VibeAgent launched today. Speaking as a guy working for a hotel company, it’’s pretty cool. The weight VibeAgent gives to reviews to determine search relevance is excellent, and a feature other social search engines would do well to copy, er, liberate, er, emulate. I agree with TechCrunch that they’’re swimming upstream against TripAdvisor - and may be neither different enough, nor clear enough to consumers - to capture that side of the market. But its underlying concepts provide an excellent model for other social search sites. More important, it provides businesses with an excellent view of what consumers may expect in their search results going forward and what types of content businesses will need to ensure they’’re found in those results.

Is your business engaged with your customers using social media? In this excellent writeup of why small businesses should participate in the social dialogue, Yellowhouse explores how consumers use these tools. Even better, Ze Frank pointed out at the Forrester Consumer Forum last week how brands help provide context for their customers. Also at the Forum, Sam Decker captured 10 steps for participating in a meaningful way. Simply put, there’s no reason not to provide context to your customers within the social sphere. Your customers now experience your brand in these spaces, engaging in a dialogue with one another. Are you interested in listening? Are you part of the dialogue?

Linda Bustos over at Get Elastic offers up a big list of examples of retailers using social media for marketing. Fantastic opportunity to see what others are doing and learn from their practices.

Fred asks a great question. The strange reality of social networks is that they’re often more network than social. Anne had her say on this a few weeks ago. But the question remains: How connected offline are you with the folks you’re connected with online? More importantly: Does it matter?