Conversations are Markets?
Submitted by alan8373 on Tue, 07/12/2005 - 16:37.
Tom Foremski's recent piece entitled "The selling of the Blogosphere" in SiliconValleyWatcher.com brings up very fascinating and interesting points about Technorati's push to monetize it's archives of blogs. We all know that markets are conversations, but does Technorati's efforts mean that now conversations are markets? I'm not sure of the entire implication of this statement, but it seems to me that the idea of a 'market' is so far gone from what we knew it to be even 10 years ago that we can now make a direct one-to-one correlation between healthy, vibrant conversations through blogging, and the markets of which they speak. Even the conversations that don't discuss direct commercial references and topics are becoming their own markets in the sense that there is value to what is being discussed and how it is done.
Take the recent attacks in London, or any topic that is not directly commercial or corporate in nature. The buzzing conversation that happens around those topics (the healthy ones at least) create a pseudo-market in and of itself simply because of the fact that all participants are interested in that one topic - whatever it may be. By watching the conversation and how it eb's and flow's to and fro, you in essence are observing a living, breathing entity that may be able to be marketed to. I hate using 'market' as a verb, but what more could you want as an advertiser or company than to know what people are thinking about right now. Talk about timeliness.
Google can only surmise what you're looking for when you TELL google what you're looking for. Blogs and the network of conversations surrounding a topic or idea can perhaps provide their own organic 'external thought' monitor for a group of people as a collective. What better way to find out who your customers can be than to watch who's talking about something related to a product or service you provide. Think of Google's AdSense on steroids ... maybe Technorati should think about using "Technorati's TopicSense" as a brand name.
Conversations are markets?
"Coversations are markets"...Hasn't this always been the case, at least implicitly? The first things that leap to mind are product placements and things like trade show schwag (and I'm not even going to go down the "buzz" marketing path). Is not any place where communication/conversation is taking place a place where marketers can (attempt) to inject themselves?
The "marketization" of the conversation could be explicit...one or more of the participants can be promoting something through their direct words. Or it can be implicit...the messages in the conversation can be used to imply a marketing outcome. Or the marketization of the conversation could be environmental/contextual...the company logo shirt a participant in the conversation is wearing, the backdrop of the photo, the choice of venue itself.
Ain't sayin' it's right; just sayin' it is.