Interview with Josh Bernoff, co author of Groundswell

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Groundswell. Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies


1. The book Groundswell suggests that this bottom-up world, where no one is in control is a good thing. Who would be the most alarmed by this? Who would not want to read this book?

2. Why is the groundswell happening now?

3. When one reads the technology, HR, media and marketing trade press -ecen conference agendas -- one gets the feeling that people are obsessed with bright shiny objects. Your book, however, warns people to not be focused on technologies but relationships. Isn't the iPhone, and Metacafe, and Twitter popular because they are 'shiny' to some extent?

4. The need to connect is not new to humans. Did the groundswell happen because of the internet, or is the internet itself changing because of the was people are connecting?

5. What could PR and advertising do start building what you call a 'social technology profile' for their clients?

6. Listening, talking, energizing, supporting, embracing. Some companies seem to get by without using some of these steps. Apple comes to mind. You don't have much to say in your book about Apple, and yet they seem to have a groundswell of raving fans.

7. Let me get back to the 'why now?' question. The bottom-up movement is spontaneous, you say. Pre-Facebook and Flickr, we have had 'smart mobs' forming activist groups without the internet or mobile phones, and social networks used for marketing like the Avon house parties etc. What's different now?

8. Tell me what you do, and what is your day like at Forrester?

9. Do you ever indulge in analog media -newspapers, magazines etc?

10. Of course you wrote Groundswell for an analog, rather than digital reader.Did Charlene and you wrestle with that? How did you collaborateon it?

11. Bonus question: Is there one social technology that you use that has changed your work or your lifestyle?

Thanks,

Angelo Fernando
IABC, Communication World magazine
Tel: 602.750.3476
Hoipolloireport.com