Recommended reading: naked conversations

Recommended reading: naked conversations
by Karyn Romeis | Mon, 10/27/2008 - 10:06

This book, by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel is often seen as the unofficial sequel to Cluetrain. Once again, this isn't really a book about learning. It's a book about the way businesses engage with their customers, but the parallels are there for those who care to see them. 'Cluetrain' gave us an inkling of the power of web 2.0. 'Naked Conversations' illustrates the power of the blog, taking the theme of the conversation one step further.

The title of the book might be misleading, but in fact, the more you read the book, the more you realise how appropriate it is. The nakedness is not literal, of course. It's metaphorical. It refers to the way in which businesses can opt to lose their faceless corporate-ness, and engage with their customers on a human level.

When I read it, I ran a search on the name of my blue-chip corporate employer. The name cropped up in blog posts all over the place - often in a most unflattering context. I felt as if we should be engaging with these folks - addressing their concerns, dealing with the issues they raised, acknowledging valid criticisms. Not in the form of the amorphous XYZ corporation, but as Joe Bloggs, human being working for XYZ corporation. I didn't win that argument.

But increasingly, the customer is demanding this level of engagement... and why not?

Because I read the book as a learning professional, rather than a business guru, I kept seeing how the issues it addresses find echo in the learning world. Why shouldn't learning be a conversation, too? Why should there be a remove between the provider and the learner? My own learning journey has accelerated phenomenally since I opted to join the conversation.

As the book points out in the very helpful section on the dos and don'ts of blogging (although it isn't quite so prescriptively named... or handled), there is no official rule book on blogging. There are no blogpolice. Everyone just blogs as he or she sees fit and the blogosphere responds (or doesn't) as it chooses. The whole point is that we recognise the individual's right to choose for themselves.

What Scoble and Israel urge, however, is 'realness'... or nakedness. The power of the blogosphere is on the increase. It might not be with us to stay. Something else may come along and take its place. But for now, it is an avenue of expression and conversation that is open to all comers. Scoble and Israel provide insights into making that work for you.

Karyn Romeis

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