Great post, though I was slightly worried a few times that there may be a casualty! I really enjoyed your summary of the history of communication. Amazingly succinct! I really agree that the way we socialize and interact online, in a way that reflects offline interactions is what will make companies and individuals successful (or not) in the social media space. No Nathan Road suit salesman please!! Thanks for sharing Thomas.

"This is a revolutionary period of time that we are living in and we have to appreciate these huge changes" So true. I love the empowerment of Social Media and plan to use it in every way I can. Thanks for the cool post Thomas!

Also, I think Twitter is here to stay. I think that in the coming years we will see Twitter grow at a faster rate than even Facebook, which now boasts over 350,000,000 users.

Understand & agree. Never the patient fisherman, I.
If you have a sec in Paris, let me know & we'll grab coffee. Best

@Jeb
I agree that building a community is the strongest way to go, but that is fairly difficult to do well. My approach is to bring people into Social Media step-by-step. They need to walk before they can fly.

An excellent video, Thomas, and I kept being impressed about how you could elaborate on your views in such an elegant way without being bothered by all the traffic and sounds around you. A very good analysis indeed.

Thomas - fascinating as always. Your "first step" discussion considered how companies can "eavesdrop" on new media conversations, and eventually how to participate to increase their understanding. In addition to pitching a client on having a better "snapshot" of what's happening now, it seems to me more interesting and profitable to have the client consider the obvious benefits of actually sponsoring & building an ongoing "community". Surely the greatest potential of these new tools is to build lasting discussions between individuals and "trusted" institutions the same way that personal blog networks develop. "I read him, commented, he read mine, commented, now we have dialogues, we're in each others' neighborhood".
Other key elements in the discussion include clients dealing with a whole new level of transparency, their business ethics and handling criticism, and the other real responsibilities inherent in taking that step to build a community, the members of which become real stakeholders in the company/institution.

No offense Thomas! The content made a lot of sense, but it all looked a little scary. Hehe.

Hi Thomas,

That's a really cool video that you have there and loved how it was shot guerilla style on the streets of Hong Kong. Lots of food for thought on the social media realm especially for a noob like me. Plus, I'm in awe of your resume. From journalist to social media guru, I hope my career pans out that way too. Thanks and congratulations!

All the best and stay in touch,
Aldrina