Pogue on Web 2.0 & Moderation

Nice piece from David Pogue at the NYT:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/are-you-taking-advantage-of-web-20/

Before my talk, though, an emcee warmed up the audience with an exercise. He pointed out the wireless laptops on every table in the ballroom, and explained that anything typed on them would appear on huge screens. Using this instant-feedback mechanism, he posed P.R.-related questions to the attendees and commented on the responses as they appeared on the big screens.

One of them was: “Why isn’t your company (or client) taking advantage of Web 2.0?”

The audience loved that one; within seconds, there were 132 responses on the screen in a huge, scrolling list. “Not enough money.” “Don’t understand it.” “No technical resources.” “Not enough manpower.” “No visible return on investment.” “Fear of ridicule.” “Fear of slander.” “Fear of permanence.” “Fear of the public running amok.”

Would that be fun or what at a conference? What questions would you ask?

Later, Pogue writes:

When a company embraces the possibilities of Web 2.0, though, it makes contact with its public in a more casual, less sanitized way that, as a result, is accepted with much less cynicism. Web 2.0 offers a direct, more trusted line of communications than anything that came before it.

Nice.