The Virtual Cocktail Party

John Girard, the CEO of Clickability, has posted the video of my presentation — Social Media: The Ecology Of Participation — at the Clickability | VIP conference a few weeks ago. Here’s his comments:

[from Blogging: the Great Virtual Cocktail Party]

Stowe Boyd did a very good job at our VIP Conference last week making the case for blogging. He’s a natural evangelist for the form as one of the most linked to and respected bloggers out there, but what I found most interesting was his admonition to “listen” before talking (see the full slide presentation here).

I found myself wondering about just where blog etiquette comes from, until I realized that Stowe’s message could as easily be applied to cocktail parties. You know that annoying guy at cocktail parties who shows up, enters a circle where the conversation is already in full swing, and just starts talking, without actually paying attention to what the conversation is about? That’s the blogger that jumps in without first listening.

Here’s the video: