Post from the Comments- Mike Sachleben

October 17, 2008 · Comments

Another great post from my comments from the other day’s post. This time from Mike Sachleben :

How are we Helping MEANINGFUL Communication Evolve

Long ago, in a storied time, people gave over to the machines the art of conversation. Through first BBS services then the World Wide Web we began to cast aside face to face or voice to voice conversation and put text in its’ place. We did this for the luxury of participating in pieces of conversations whenever WE wanted them – not when the other person in the conversation wanted them. This was freeing – especially to those pioneers who more thoroughly enjoyed talking without talk and interacting with another person while alone.

Then there was the great online gold rush of the ’90s. Everyone started to experience the unique joys that come with disconnected conversation. But those joys came with a price: we eliminated most of the emotion from our discourse and let our minds play tricks on us. Through email and IM (and later blogs) messages meant as positive became more neutral. Messages meant as neutral became negative in our heads. And negativity devolved (in thought and deed) into flaming. We had given our conversation over to the machines and they were changing us.

Today we are taking conversation back. We are learning how to have the best of disconnected conversations while leaving the worst behind. We are figuring out how to have connected conversations in an online space. We are striving to build a community through more than text; through voice and the way people look as they speak. We are wresting conversation back from the structures imposed by the initial limitations of the machines.

I think that we are learning that text-based conversation is but one way to communicate – and often the poorer one. The advent of video in both blogging and web site messaging is letting us bring nuance back to our conversation through the subtle ways we sound and look as we speak. Audio tools let us bring passion and excitement to our online discourse. Yes, text will remain important (as this blog post shows) but text should serve the conversation – not BE the conversation.

That is what we’re doing today to help MEANINGFUL communication evolve. We’re bringing conversation to the web.

Mike Sachleben blogs at Blitz Time

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  • It's interesting that letter-writing (pen and paper) didn't/doesn't have the same negative effects as giving over to the machines the art of conversation.
  • I hope that I am not committing the "Chili's" self focus. You have a great point, Donny-Marketing Twin #2.

    Inclusion and collective intelligence = powerful change and appreciation of simple things. It is also really possible to listen to people you will never meet and learn.

    Thanks for your post.

    Sal
  • When the problems that some have with online communication is they get so wrapped up in themselves. I liken it to sitting around a table at Chili's (or name your favorite restaurant) and all you did was talk about you. Someone mentions something that you find interesting but you don't respond - simply waiting for the next chance to interject about YOU. Good to have interactive conversation!
  • Good conversation that's actually developing the very networking sometimes described in the stream.

    There is a difference (I know you all know this), between social networking and social marketing.

    Concepts like Social CRM are now embedded into large organization tools for communication.

    Technology is meant to carry out our intentions. It's not my intention to call Angela at her office, her boat or her home. It's my intention to "Call Angela" and technology then connects at the right place.

    In this way, we can begin to understand intentions of how we choose to communicate and develop methodologies.

    It's not that the language of the Internet is focused only on money. It's that the business language of the internet is changing nuance and context. And,it will exclude many people unless we understand intentions and work responsibly as both communities of interest and need.

    At Davos a couple of years ago,it was mentioned that people using Internet had reach astounding numbers. However, more than 400,000 people had yet to make their first phone call.

    Television did not destroy radio and the internet has not destroyed the written book.

    Really understanding how we are progressing and questioning assumptions is important.

    Last week for example,when Europe made a rapid decision that affected the U.S. Stock Market in a positive way, you could almost feel the sudden understanding of a global business solution.

    In the same way, we need to understand that global communication, change management and project management has radically changed without our acknowledging it.

    What Twitter and other networking tools enable is choice. When E-bay was invented, it had little to do with online auctions. Rather, it was a new model for distribution of services and goods from the buyers' point of view, not the manufacturer's perspective.

    So too, has communication evolved from the tool and distribution context.

    What must never be inhibited is freedom expression. And, we should never be creating a need to conform. That's what crushes the human spirit. Unfortunately, many organizations work that way.
  • The evolution of communication was also well dissected by Marshall McLuhan - Canada's renowned communications theorist and the patron saint of Wired.

    http://tinyurl.com/76fh5

    "The medium is the message."
  • "It's not the platform, it's the practice."

    Exactly, Angela. I was just having a conversation with a colleague who refuses to do any kind of online social networking. I told him he'll have great difficulty marketing to anyone who doesn't live in his town if he isn't willing to leverage the internet to build relationships.

    To me, social networking online is just like belonging to the local chamber of commerce or a service organization. I've built my business by developing those kinds of relationships. Except online, geography is a non-issue. The closer we get to life-like interaction, with real time video and audio streams, the more the lines will be blurred.
  • Good post. I think we are also choosing or utilizing the different platforms to communicate in the best ways possible.I am here at ConvergeSouth 2008 in Greensboro where a panel of Anil Dash, Pam Spaulding and Robert Scoble discussed social media earlier this morning. One takeaway: Social networks can be found everywhere. Book clubs, friends meeting for dinner, a group riding on the bus together. It's not the platform it's the practice.
  • Great comments, all. Keep the conversation going!

    Thank you, Chris for letting me be your guest blogger today. It means a lot.

    Mike
  • Wow - a lot of truth in that. Our communication has been stunted by text-only methods, since so much of our communication is aided greatly by non-verbal means. I think there could be another angle that you did not touch-on, though, and that is the archival nature of text-only communication. We have to be so careful about what we say in an email now, that we tend to actually say very little.
  • This is a great post about communication. I believe leaving comments on blogs is a great example of this new communication you are talking about (the text communication)....
    I actually released my first ebook yesterday called Make Money Commenting which I think your readers will like.... http://www.smarterwealth.net/2008/10/make-money...

    I like this post. It is amazing how the internet has just completely changed the world
  • What I find fascinating is the “growth” of the web. At first it was a tool we used to mass communicate, not unlike the way we advertised with TV or radio commercials. The focus was (and in many cases still is) in getting a message blasted out to a large mailing list with a goal of making a sale.

    Now, we have learned that this “tool” is in fact a more direct means of expressing who we really are, but to the masses. We’ve realized that the mass marketing messages of the past do not connect with the consumer of today. We’ve realized that the only true way to make an impact on people is by being a person. We are having one on one conversation with hundreds of people at a time. In another era, that would have seemed improbable.

    We “tweet” our thoughts 140 characters at a time to those who are listening; some respond directly, some do not, some repost the thought and some just absorb it. We blog about our theories, perspectives and experiences to the hundreds or thousands that choose to read them. We include video so they can see our face and audio so they can hear the tone in our voice. We are reaching out to the masses on a more intimate level so they will trust us, see us for who we are (or portray ourselves to be).

    What has shifted is the intent. Our intent is not fixated in money, but rather in building a relationship. We’ve opened ourselves up to two way communication, allowing those we used to just talk to, reply back. It is through that relationship that we (hopefully) garner respect and perhaps achieve a “status” and develop a reputation as someone the people can connect and relate to. We’ve also learned to listen more, pay attention to the conversation and respond when we have something of value to share.
  • We are losing languages all the time. There are roughly 6 thousand languages across the world today. By the end of this century, only 3 thousand are expected to survive.

    Cicily Berry, in her new book "From Word to Play" discusses that each language "names the world differently". When we lose a language, what do we lose of the culture?

    You can see Cicely, an extraordinary woman,in a PBS documentary that I directed called "Where Words Prevail". This is an advertisement only in the sense of how deeply I admire her work.

    "The language of business on the Internet" is a concern for Cis, as she believes our current "speak" is connected to money and will affect right and left brain usage of people who do not have money. Self expression is that important.

    Communication is a living entity. One we must take care to understand and encourage people to use their real voice no matter what the format is.

    The title Where Words Prevail comes from a play that preceded Shakespeare. "Where Words Prevail Not, Violence Prevails".
  • Great line of thought. When "disconnected" (I prefer asynchronos) conversation works for me, I get a feeling like I am at a medieval bazaar. I imagine walking through a humble place teeming with sights, smells, sounds, overheard conversations, seeing new people, connecting with I haven't seen in ages, in short, possibilities. Online, I see pictures of people, watch videos, follow links, make new connections, get into discussions, offer help, and have the same kind of fun people have been having at these gatherings for centuries.
  • Mike,
    For me and the distributed teams I have worked with, the advent of high quality audio has been transformative to disconnected collaboration. Though the reliability could stand a boost, Skype's fine sound really brings the emotion and the feeling back into the discussion in ways text and even mobile / landline voice cannot. When we have similar quality video at a similar price point, the sky will be the limit.

    /t
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    Does this mean I should be using Jott for all my twittering?
  • Kudos for Mike - I couldn't agree more. I had a great opportunity to connect with Mike via Blitz Time back in July and it's been a whirlwind experience. I truly agree in human connection.. it's that personal connection that makes all the difference.. text, content.. truly the key to bringing the best of all the world utilizing all the ever changing tools out there. Happy to "read" what Mike has to say.. this is first..

    Best wishes~
  • This is a very cool thought and I really appreciate the way you've framed it. I long for human connection!
  • "Its getting better all the time", as the Beatles said!

    Mike is dead on in his assessment of the evolution in the forms of communication.

    What's even more powerful is that the means to be the speaker, via text, audio, video, etc. to a targeted audience is so much more accessible.

    The average guy is no longer listening, he's speaking!
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