Uh… We love conversations
Amidst all the e-book discussion; the conversations about “conversations” within the realm of social media (including book reviews); and the idea of community, I felt that while there may be a lot of focus on what authors, publishers, marketers and technologists may want — there wasn’t really any focus on the fundamental elements that truly bring people together.
There seemed not to be enough understanding of the idea and general empathy for the fact that people are unique individuals and that each person has their own method of discovering and enjoying content, or for that matter, joining in on an already-existent conversation surrounding a book or any product.
What’s actually important…?
One thing I am a huge proponent of is the idea that any company (or organization) with any product or service needs to thoroughly understand their customer experience. I’ve written about this before using the example of the Toronto Transit Commission and my good friend Sonny Gill has also written an article that really helps sum up the problem. Most authors, publishers or many other businesses are focused on the short-sighted success, which is the level of convenience for the customer to make a purchase, subscribe to an email newsletter, or some sort of objective. These are all necessary so no one can deny that it is vital for any business to do so; but if the experience of performing these actions is rather bleh or bland, and provides little context (or connection) for the individual — why would anyone pay attention? More importantly, how is this connection or context being conveyed to the people who come by the website.
The Conceptual Example: Books as a conversational device
A thought came across me amidst the discussion at BookCamp Toronto’s session moderated by Hugh Mcguire surrounding bookish online communities. There was a lot of talk about setting up forums, Facebook groups, MySpace pages, etc. all of which are, as Mitch Joel pointed out at his session on digital marketing, mere tactics to make a very small attempt at connecting readers with one another. Mitch also made a good point about the overarching strategy that needs to be involved. This was all nice and well with regards to how many authors and publishers want to interact with their customers and readers.
But what about readers and book lovers? Now I admit I am not a book lover but I am definitely an avid reader of content and the conversations involved. Here are my overarching points:
- Readers want to connect to one another.
- Readers want to connect to the author.
- Book reviews are stuck to newspapers or are allocated to book blogs and then re-quoted on to a publisher’s blog (sharing the news about the news).
- Readers can somewhat share some elements of the book like a cover or two, but very little
- There are numerous bookish online communities, which really doesn’t help connect readers whatsoever, and are more divisive than anything.
- Amazon currently holds on to the conversation surrounding many products. This needs to be opened up and integrated with the rest of the conversation surrounding a product.
If we think about it the conversation revolving around any book is dynamic and ideally would take place around the world. I believe there was a point made at BookCamp Toronto that booksellers have traditionally brought people together based on conversations surrounding a book or two. Good point! Unfortunately, I can’t remember who stated this in the session.
Now in my opinion if publishers take that idea further combining the concept behind data portability, the twitter hash tag and the RFID — you could literally turn every book into a conversational device. The idea is essentially to integrate a unique identifier (not an ISBN) within the production of each book that would allow for a reader to easily access and join the conversation taking place surrounding the book. The integration of this function with e-books has even more potential.
Indigo definitely has the opportunity to facilitate a channel of communication for their forthcoming e-book reader, assuming they don’t attempt to keep the conversations to their own website. By opening up this channel of communication anyone who wants to integrate the conversation into their product page, can do so.
There may be a fear that by doing so will permit people to leave a website and go else where but we need to accept that this is the true nature of conversation. It is dynamic; it is constant; and that people will talk with one another about your product, service or your store elsewhere. At least now, this would provide the greater opportunity to do something about it and more importantly — learn.
Practicality: Where can we go from here?
This section is merely ideas being thrown around just another addition to many ideas bouncing off the walls of my head. Just as Google Wave has been announced which provides an even greater opportunity for creativity and collaboration, I’m pretty sure any industry will want to tie all conversations together. This idea can already begin to be applied with a combination of Google Alerts, Twitter hash tags, and RSS feeds. Whether it may be good or bad, the fact of the matter is that the conversations taking place surrounding the product are definitely real.
Any e-book can integrate some sort of constant hash tag and allow for comments via an e-book reader or mobile device that is sent to twitter.
Privacy
Building on top of the ideas of data portability, privacy and confidentiality would still be important. This is assuming of course that users of social media and the web do not make inappropriate comments in public space online.
Conversation and Community Building
People want to socialize and want genuine communities that are built in a organically — not just another forum set up by businesses. The community and the conversation needs to be integrated into part of the customer experience and as such, part of the product itself.
