A friend and colleague, Steven Slater, has been focusing on the importance of embracing Web 2.0 and helping his clients understand it and take advantage of Web 2.0 services and capabilities.  Here is his article in its entirety:

Taking the Mystery Out of Web 2.0

Steven. J. Slater

The head of a successful public relations company said to me recently that he has a Fortune 500 client threatening to break his coveted retainer unless the PR firm begins providing Web 2.0 services.

The PR executive said influencing bloggers presented its own challenges, but the social networking thing was causing even greater concern.  Not only would there be a new element to his PR business that would add skills he couldn’t yet understand, but even more, he didn’t really see the benefit for the client.  With PR you get placement in the media, but how do you shape a social networking activity to gain similar benefit?  Again, this is an executive who I admire and respect, and who has built a very successful firm.

He knew instinctively the answer had something to do with the The Long Tail, an idea made popular by Chris Anderson.  In statistical terms, a distribution curve has a long tail that levels out and extends farther than the space occupied by the curve itself.  Applying this to consumables, as Netflix and Amazon have done to build successful businesses, there is a tremendous wealth of interest and buying potential along that tail. Web 2.0 tools allow for tapping into just an intersection, which if you find and feed a particular segmented interest, can be extremely powerful.  My friend was being kept awake at night pondering how he could adopt these Web 2.0 tools and provide exceptional delivery in a fashion for which he was known. He asked if I could I help.

Based on experience, research, and the accumulation of interviews with other Web 2.0 practioneers, I mentioned to him my belief that Web 2.0 was simply a term du jour for what publishers have been doing all along – building communities of interest.  This evolved from printing presses, to radio broadcasts, to television and now to the Internet, with technology underlying every advancement. 

I also explained that in every evolution there remained a pocket of enthusiasts for the older technology.  But history shows 1) the masses would migrate with improved technology, and 2) as a result, the users of older technology would decrease significantly, and 3) most importantly, whoever remained a traditionalist, or just a subset of the masses, would naturally segment into smaller and smaller groups.  Cable TV and Satellite radio provide the best examples of this.

So the decision for this executive became obvious.  Since there was no way he could out perform anyone else in his field by focusing on “traditional” technology, he must adapt to new technology and skills…or whither away.  The good news in all of this, perhaps, is that by virtue of the adoption curve – the pace at which consumers embrace new products or technology -- the market is moving at a sufficiently slow pace, making it possible to jump in and look new and fresh. Furthermore, most of what falls into this broad brush of Web 2.0, or soon-to-be Web 3.0, are technologies and adaptations of applications pioneered at least ten years ago.  As a result, I didn’t think his investment today would become obsolete anytime soon. Plus, it will only evolve from here.

What is Web 2.0, more or less.

Internet applications allow us to communicate in ways that only when combined are exclusive to this medium: low cost; high speed; seamless, accessible and flexible use of various formats; opportunity for cross dialogue; and, the ability to segment even more finely (only possible because of low cost).  Wikipedia’s definition seems to align: “Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity , information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.”

I also suggested to this PR executive who asked me for advice that instead of being dragged into Web 2.0, he should be drawn in by the power of its results.

One marketing director for a non-profit world relief fundraising organization developed an opt-in newsletter when he had a bevy of timely content that would be out of date by the time it was delivered using traditional print format.  The information centered on a particular part of the world that was exploding and where the organization had most of its operations. Readers were invited to comment and they let their energy and enthusiasm be known through an exchange of emails.  Meantime, nowhere was there an ‘ask’ for contributions.  Yet as the newsletter grew to unforeseen proportions, so did the contributions.  Also out of necessity with this organization, website content was turned over to the membership because, quite frankly, it was costing too much to develop interesting, timely content.  Today the organization has one of the largest philanthropic websites, with content continuing to stream in from local affiliations and membership organizations.  In all, these developments served to tap into a vein of interest and henceforth, created an online community. This all began, by the way, in 1997 over ten years ago. 

Since then, to no surprise, the biggest improvements along these lines have been technologically -- offering greater reliability, ease of use and added features.  But the concepts are no different and the idea works the same. I have a favorite ski resort that sends out an opt-in newsletter offering me deals on places to stay, which I forward on to other ski buddies.  I also have this resort’s widget, which sits on my desktop with a skier who periodically straps on skis and schusses down my screen.  The widget keeps me connected with current conditions and forecasts, which incidentally was passed on to me from someone else. Pretty powerful stuff with just a few inexpensive Internet tools cleverly integrated.  That’s a role for PR firms.

Here are my two cents on Web 2.0.  Who better than PR firms or marketing organizations to help tap into a vein of interest that resides along The Long Tail, and then shape relevant, unbiased and focused information? This will serve to create a community of interest that will look to their clients for timely, relevant information, plus advice and ultimately validity. It’s exactly the same role as any newsletter publisher today or in the past.  Which is why I maintain that Web 2.0 is merely the evolution of the Guttenberg press; the Internet just makes it a whole lot more accessible. 

Slater, a veteran marketing consultant, has advised the leadership of numerous organizations and was previously a strategic marketing planner for Booz Allen Hamilton. We have served together on the Board of Directors of the American Marketing Association-DC where Steven served as VP Finance.

If you have questions or wish to respond to this blog entry, in addition to posting your comment here, you can reach Steven at sjslater001@usa.net or me at pat@lovenhart.com.