Shel Israel is an author. He also has been an advisor on strategic communication issues.
He has co-authored Naked Conversations, How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers (John Wiley & Son 2006)
and interviewed 100s of social media people on what makes a difference when reaching out to potential customers, friends, clients and associates.
Enjoy!
Mike Dammann: Shel, for the past 16 months you have been writing the Social Media Global Report. Looking back at what has now been over a year, how has social media changed and which trend to you believe you have recognized and is going to dominate what develops in the face of social media?
Shel Israel: There are two trends that I found active in the 35 countries where I’ve interviewed people: (1) Youth is the killer app. In all countries, young people are driving social media adoption. Social media is allowing them to influence each other on what to buy, watch, listen to, travel to or download. It’s a phenomenon that implies fundamental change as one generations comes of age and replaces another in the workplace and in the marketplace.
(2) “Social” is more compelling than “tech.” What is universal all over the world is the tribalization, that Francois Gossieaux talks about in my recent interview with him. The power of social media is that we can spend time with people who share our interests all over the world. Yet, so very many organization approach social media from the perception of “should I blog, or Tweet. Should we use podcasts or video?” The tools are we you use to reach a larger goal.That goal may vary greatly, but it would be wise if it involved a human interaction.
Mike Dammann: When I look at Twitter, I see a program that took maybe 5k to develop, yet the concept is something that appeals to people.
Do you see a lot more programs and networks like that one emerging or do you predict present ones building on new ideas and a handful of outlets dominating this area of internet communication?
Shel Israel: Throughout history, visionary entrepreneurs have developed things that mostly failed. But a few endure. For example, the Great Dot Com Bubble produced thousands of companies that died. But look at the diamonds in the coal mine. Gems like Google, Amazon, etc. We are now coming to the end of a new era in which thousands of promising companies have contributed. A small handful will endure. YouTube, FaceBook and maybe MySpace are among them. I think Twitter will make the cut. That’s why I’m working on a book about the company.
As far as predicting, I try not to do it. I love how the future endlessly surprises us when it arrives. Of course the brilliance of the future will almost always be built upon the seat and success, the trial and error and bitter lessons of the present or the past. I am certain there we a good number of square wheels made of stone, before somebody decided to try round. There were a good number of pioneers who ended up as ground splatter before the Wright Brothers figured out how people could fly. Now we walk in space and Tweet from Mars. This continuum will go on as long as humans exist. We must keep innovating. It is as much in our nature as being social is.
Mike Dammann: A lot of people seem to fear the unknown. A huge generational gap is developping and I myself predict a lot of internet marketers who are a little bit older losing ground and more and more young people emerging. I also see networking skills dominating over technical skills. Do you see the “old world” doing a comeback and something as great as Google being done better or even something similar yet unique and new coming out of nowhere and giving us a 2nd birth of the web as in what we have seen in the 90s, only more mature?
Shel Israel: All generations gap. It is also in our nation. Only in movies that have flutes in the soundtrack do we go backwards. Yes, someday Google will be so yesterday. Mature is a word I try to avoid now that I am in my 60s. It implies stagnation. I try to keep my mind working by spending a lot of time with people half my age who will try things that my peers are ceratin will fail. As Kathy Sierra put it a couple of years ago, Blessed are the Clueless. The clues are the innovators, the disruptors, the pioneers. They’re the ones who will cure cancer and hopefully save this planet before it’s too late. God I miss Kathy Sierra’s blog.
Mike Dammann: One of the things I like about you is how you have given business owners guidelines. I am talking about “Naked Conversations, How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers”.
I’m sure you have received a lot of feedback about this book you have authored with Robert Scoble.
What do you believe you have not yet written about which according to the feedback can be said to make every business owner out there understand what they are missing out on by not taking full advantage of blogging and what can we look forward to from you?
Shel Israel: Not even the hand of God lazer-etching words onto stone, can get every business owner to see social media or anything else. It’s up to them to look and think and embrace or reject. Many who reject social media will continue to do quite well for quite some time. Others will wind up in Jurassic Park, a home for fierce throwbacks.
Mike Dammann: When you look at social media outlets, is there anything that you would like to see social networks do which they are missing out on at this time?
Shel Israel: I would like to see universal translation. I would like to talk in English to someone in China. I’d like that person to see, read or hear me in Chinese. I would like him to reply in his natural language and for me to see or hear it in mine.
Mike Dammann: You talk a lot about small business having a huge advantage. Looking at all the free resources to market and how red tape can kill creativity, I agree 100 percent.
Let’s say I am a small business owner struggling, having an extra 3 hours a day on my hands and a limited amount of cash.
Shel Israel: Historically, small business has had the advantage of agility and personal service. But they have had the severe handicap of finacial and human resources. Large companies have the reverse assets. They have money, but it is allocated to existing in systems. It is hard for them to change, or to change fast. They are more like supertankers going at full speed and suddenly discovering there are rocks ahead. They immediatly change course, but it takes a long time to turn around.
The little guy who invests those three hours every day in social media can move very fast. She or he can suddenly have global reach, without actual feet on the street. The internet can let sma business, market, distribute collaborate with lower cost resources, talk, listen and learn. And so on. The problem is that the little company will eventually become the big company.
10 yrs ago, Google disrupting Microsoft, or even Yahoo, or the once mighty inktome ould have been a silly thought. But the company had technology and absiolutely no legacy. They had no loyalty to MS Office or Windows, putting them in a great track to disrupt, whih they have done.
But now, here comes Microsoft with some potentially cool stuff. Google is now a big and powerful company. It has the obligations of being publically held. It no longer has agility, and the MS big ship has started to turn around a little faster.
It will be interesting to see what happens to these two companies over the next 10 years. I’m personally agnostic because either way, we users will win.
Mike Dammann: What would you recommend me spending my time on and is there something you would recommend investing a couple of thousand dollars in to help me establish a stronger presence long term?
Shel Israel: Do more great interview like this one.
Mike Dammann: The balancing act of making money and providing something of value is something few seem to “have down”. At what point should a blogger go from focus on being creative to strategizing on how to monetize better and let me have a couple of articles or resources which you believe can help somebody generate revenue without compromising the overall appearance of their work.
Shel Israel: A blogger or anyone else should spend as much time as they possibly can doing what they like to do best.
Mike Dammann: In
Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers
you have interviewed Mark Cuban, Bob Lutz, and Jonathan Schwartz. What have you learned from them and who else are you interestred in interviewing in the future and why?
Shel Israel: Since 2005, I’ve interviewed over 300 people in 35 countries–al on the subject of scial media. I want to speak to people who tell good stories and who somehow have moved the needle in terms of business and culture through social media.
Mike Dammann: Where can we hear you speak live. Any conferences you are planning to attend and how would you compare speaking live to blogging when it comes to getting your word out?
Shel Israel: I post all my speaking engagements here.
Mike Dammann: You have been one of the first to talk about the importance of video blogging. What do you believe will happen to good old writing? Will more and more people just go from that to taping themselves thru webcam or video cam or do you think that there will always be a demand for writing articles aside from the fact that Google is recognizing words to help a blog rank?
Shel Israel: I see enormous potential in video. I’ve learned that I seem to be better received as a writer, so I’ve returned to that. don’t think writing will ever disappear. Opera didn’t die when Rock N Roll came into play. We still have horses, even if the buggies are now in the front yards of rural Junktique shops.
Mike Dammann: How much emphasis do you spend on writing something that is most likely going to help you rank for targeted keyterms and how do you view the SEO industry as a whole?
Shel Israel: I pay little attention to SEO. I pay a great deal of attention to telling stories about social media to people who follow me.
Thank you, Shel. Excellent and informative interview! 
