Alister Cameron posted a brief he had crafted for a client about the differences between traditional web content and relational web content:
One of the things I spend quite a bit of my time doing is helping clients and prospects understand the difference between a “regular” website and a social network. I spend a lot of my time arguing in favour of “social media”, in the belief that a social media approach is at the heart of what we call “Web 2.0″ and is closer to how humans naturally function in “real life”.Alister is of course talking more from a business aspect rather than a personal blogger standpoint. On the personal side I just tell folks to blog what they want, after all page views or revenue is not their motivation.I wrote a version of what follows for a prospective client today, and I have reshaped it a little for my blog. Whether or not you’re considering building the next MySpace, YouTube or Flickr, I encourage you to “immerse” yourself for a few moments in what I describe below, so you can perhaps come to a deeper understanding of how the web’s move towards a more deeply immersive “social” experience is a reflection of our innate relationality, and therefore in keeping with how we naturally function, and therefore a good thing.
One of the underlying points Alister makes is that organizations should go out a learn first before embarking on a program of their own. Learn about the community and 'your' community. This is along the same lines as a post I wrote last year.
