This was an awesome comment to the engagement effort, so I "pushed" it up from the Comments.  My responses are in bold and underlined.  Thanks Channing and Sean!

...or, more importantly, what the meaning of engagement here is, as well as its CONTEXT.  We were looking over the posts since we began the engagement campaign and realized a few items need clarification.

First off, when we use the word engagement here, we're talking about community building through collaboration.  N2 just wants to open up conversation with its users through the blog in order to learn from you what type of content is of best value to you for your operations.  And on top of that, we want to encourage you to engage one another.

Okay, I'm back.

Thanks to you who are emailing me privately and commenting here on the blog.  Let's jump right in.  I got this message anonymously (this is part of a longer email)...

"I have a somewhat specific interest that I thought I'd pass along in the spirit of two-way media.  I am a young professional working at a membership-based environmental nonprofit.  My background is nontechnical...  I am trying to transition some...academic knowledge into job skills.

Hey All,

So I received a few responsest to my post last week about how can N2 engage the community better.  Most came privately to my email address, and it is a theme in those emails that I want to use as this next engagement email.   Here is what one person wrote to me (this is only a portion of a much longer email about a variety of topics):

Happy Holidays, N2 community!!

I've been hush-hush for a while because the team over here has been discussing a critical issue - what do we need to be doing in order to get you all engaged a whole lot more?  The N2 blog is not churning up the type of engagement we had hoped to see and we're scratching our heads wondering why.  We're providing content - perhaps its not what you want or need?  We're focusing that content on social media strategies - perhaps we're missing the mark?  Essentially - we're rethinking our strategy and we want you, the community, to guide us.

Have you ever tried to interact with a company (of any size, from Mom-N-Pop to sprawling conglomerate) and been unable to get the information you need?  And not because you don't know exactly what question to ask, but more pointedly because any number of employees 1) don't have an answer, 2) give a damn, 3) don't know how to navigate the internal information that their company is bedrock-ed upon, 4) don't know how to work with you to distill your concern into a question that can be answered, or 5) fill in the blank...

 

This post is meant to be a conversation generator and I hope it works, because I think it’s time this converstaion began in earnest – Is Web 2.0 Mature?

First, I’m going to define Web 2.0 as the proliferation of web applications that have sprung up in the past 5 years – social utilities like MySpace and Facebook, instant publishing tools like Wordpress and Zhura, media conglomeration sites like Digg.com, video juggernauts like YouTube, and collaborative documentation tools such as mediawiki - and Softwares As Services (SAS) like SalesForce.com.  There are a few hundred other brand names and a few dozen other apps that I haven’t mentioned, but you get the point, I hope. 

Okay, so you've read the book review.  Let's take a look at why the authors are the type of people you want to listen to.

Let's start alphabetically with Shel Israel.  Described as a "U.S. technology advisor for startups on strategic communications issues", Shel Israel has been around a lot longer than the (in my estimation) still yet-to-mature social media explosion that has swept the Internet and businesses alike.

If you're even remotely into social media and have yet to read (or hear of) Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble, Shel Israel (and the host of other authors who played a part in bringing the book to life), then you have some catching up to do.  Published in 2006 about the way blogging was changing businesses (and with tremendous foresight regarding how blogging would continue to change business), the book is still exceptionally relevant to business managers who not only want to grasp just what the &%*$ social media means, but want to see that meaning in context...especially a successful context.

So last month I spoke about Skype for a VOIP telephony solution for your business.  Today I'm going to introduce you to www.freeconference.com.  Now, as the title says, FC is not necessarily free - some of their service offerings will cost you - but the expense really is negligible when compared to functionality and when considered in light of more and more employees working remotely.  As well, what if you're getting advice from board members who live on the other side of the state or who just never have the time to meet?  Or you want to speak with someone in another country about how they manage their supply chain for goods very similiar to you own?  Regardless, I think freeconference.com is worth a look-see.