Cafe-Shaped Conversations

Excellent post and such insight into the nature of what’s happening online ;-)

Another brilliant post, Chris. Thanks!

As Community Tech Steward of the World Café, I know that conversation about things that matter is not only good marketing strategy, but one of the keys to human survival. It is conversation (on a number of levels) that will in large part carry us through the formidable global challenges that stand before us now. And online communication tools like the ones you’ve mentioned will no doubt make a contribution.

How exciting it will be to have a President who really understands the power of the individual voice … I can’t wait to see how Obama’s presidency will effect participatory citizenship and this whole area of online interaction as a cultural meme that goes beyond digital natives and “geeky types” like us.

But back to business, what we’re calling Café Conversations (small intimate interactions that can connect with and feed into larger collective awareness) are important to large and small companies for reasons that go beyond product sales and marketing.

Conversation is now becoming recognized as a core business competency and World Cafés are hosted in corporations just as often as they are with health and educational institutions, government, neighborhood groups, and anywhere else that conversation can increase communication, address challenges or help build a sense of community. It’s only a matter of time until more and more of these conversations are happening online.

You’ve probably noticed that more and more conferences are moving to an interactive model, based on Cafe Conversations. Increasingly, conference organizers are realizing that attendees are tired of “talking heads”. There is so much more to be gained by an approach that calls on the collective intelligence gathered in the room, and engages in a conversation between the “experts” and those in the audience (who are often equally as knowledgeable).

So what I’m saying is that there’s an analogy here that expands the power of conversation and online communications out beyond marketing and product sales, and it’s still just in the beginning stages. I look forward to hearing more from you on where you think this is all going.

Amy

Excellent view point, Chris. I absolutely think there is, and always will be a place for both styles of “marketing,” and that the big corps will slowly conform and start spending more and more money on social media. in the not too distant future, I envision them hiring teams of people to “work” the social cafe’s.

Chris,

I agree with you all the way on this one. I think it’s really exciting. It is leveling off the playing field (for those that get this), especially for small business owners and artists. They are starting to be able to complete with these giant corp’s simply because (as you said) ” I think that your $15,000 an hour film crew can’t beat my Flip Mino and a personal touch.” It doesn’t matter how big your budget is anymore, everyone is starting to have equal opportunity to reach their niche communities. So if you are not getting involved in “Cafe-Shaped Conversations”… why not?!

Chris, thanks being so great at explaining social media in simple terms that people can easily understand.

This is a very interesting post and it appears to approach the topic from a corporate marcom perspective, which is certainly a logic perspective but only one of several aspects.

I’m new to social networking and looking for ways to incorporate it into channel sales operations. The analogy of cafe-shaped conversation, addressing relatively small numbers with real conversation, seems a good fit.

Social media may be able to provide a channel for customer / purpose specific 1:1 communication that is not possible through conventional marcom activities or channel sales communication strategies.

This is a very clear and concise post. I truly enjoyed it and gathered inspiration from it. Let me ask you this. Is there a place for social media in the Church realm? Can it be used effectively and is it worth my time and effort to make it a reality for our church? I work their and truly believe it can be, but you know I have my doubts sometimes. Your thoughts?

Social media is not only about marketing, it’s not just another ink well in the marketing mix. Social media and Web 2.0 is nothing new: it’s what marketers have labelled what internet geeks have been doing for, dare I say it, 2.0 decades.

In the mid-90s I despaired as Boards of Directors of brand names looked at the web as a marketing tool, or an IT tool, but never both and definitely never something that spanned their whole business.

Social media is about communication, and the web has been bringing people together away from the internet for at least 15 years: I can remember my own online social networks organising events in London for 500+ people way back in 1998 and attending other events organised through online web forums as far back as 1993. Why is it suddenly something new? Because marketers have just discovered it and marketers are driving much of the public discussion about it.

You’re TOTALLY right, Chris, social media is not about big business – it’s local and it’s small, it’s about bringing people together and big business does not work like that. Big business *cannot* benefit from true social media because the model is wrong, utterly wrong. Social media is about cafe-shaped businesses, as you say, about local communications… I think we’ll see a rise of the independent stores, the small retailers, the local businesses because communication is going that way, social media are pushing it that way, but really it’s about business and human communication… for sure, marketing is about communication too, but the change is far more fundamental than simply a marketing department issue.