Naked Conversations


I just finished reading Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. It's a recently published book on how blogging is changing the way organizations are communicating with consumers. I found that nearly the entire book can be applied to public relations as it relates to the new social media communications tools. This book could really benefit young public relations professionals who are being asked to build an expertise around new social media.

Most interesting to me were the many case studies presented in the book that showed how companies have used blogging as a means to navigate through crisis. After reading through those examples, I've feel I'm better equipped to answer clients when they ask about the pro/cons of blogging. It's nice to be able to point to a company successfully blogging and say to a client "see, this tool really works, even for corporate blogs -- if it's done right.

I say this because too often my clients begin to see how blogging could be used a means to communicate with consumers, but then, just as the idea gets some momentum -- it stalls. There's alot of hand wringing going on in the corporate communications world about blogs, especially upstairs in the C-suites. Certainly, not every one of our clients is a shinning candidate for blogging. But, in my limited experience, I've found that more often than not, companies who really could truly benefit from blogging simply choose not to.

As the PR pros, we've got to be able to counter some of this sentiment and this new book gives us the ammunition to do that.

You can find more about the book and the related Naked Conversations blog here. Thanks to Scoble and Israel, two icons of blogging, for all their work on this book. My copy is already well used from being passed around the office.