I have been talking about 2009 being the "Year of Listening". This may be a little ahead of its time as we are still getting sign on for the idea that social media as a doctrine is even worth the space or tab for the business plan or model. I think that social media gives an opportunity to do more listening and less shouting. I even do this in the real world. I tend to sit back and gather intelligence in a situation before I ever enter into the discussion or argument or whatever might be the mode of communication at the time. I get more accomplished by first hearing what is being said and then contributing. I tend to learn more about a subject and the people discussing that subject than I would if I jumped into the conversation early. Many times I have done that I find myself with foot in mouth and backing out of the conversation sooner than later. My first advice to many companies to to listen.
Now the other side of that coin that is usually the first reason many companies are not quick to sign on to the idea is listening does not convert. I have heard many an executive tell me, "listening doesn’t sell." After all that is the bottom line in a company selling your product or your service to the person that holds the money. I recently spoke to a group and later the owner of the company met me in the hall and said "oh good someone that will explain how social media is going to help us SELL." That four letter word is the only one I tend to hear from the likes of those looking at the bottom line. I can assure you if sell is not the goal I will hear other four letter words that will describe certain feelings. It really is only about the sell so how do you impart listening as a way to get the sale? Listening does not convert. Sure that statement might be true but when does your program have the ability to know when someone wants to buy or better yet what they want to buy?
I have been showing some companies that listening actually helps them sell. I like to use the idea behind the tire swing.
Listening actually gets you to the final image, knowing what it is your customer actually wants. The problem with that scenario is that the CEO or head of the department or whoever seems to be the decision maker has to be thinking about all the other panels in the cartoon above. They have learned that making all the other departments happy and still coming in under a budget is what it is actually all about. This is not listening. If more of us actually listened for a while to find out what the customer actually wants, we could sell them that product every time. Perhaps the problem is not that they don’t know what the customer actually wants, its what they can provide the customer from their company. Maybe they sell jungle gyms and not tire swings. This is a problem, and not something that social media will help them overcome. Listening converts but only if you actually listen.
Photo via sonyradio.com
I have been traveling quite a bit lately and that has caused me to get seriously behind on a large amount of work that I need to accomplish. I have finally caught up with my email inbox which usually hovers around 60 unread messages at any given time, which usually equates to the amount of Twitter bios I need to read to approve or discard. I began digging into the RSS feed readers (yes plural) that I have disregarded that have been so overwhelmed that many of the search feeds I have for the likes of “business blogging” and “social media consulting” are defaulting to the most it will store. In other words, I have much work and little time to get it done. I know I play this off with the idea that I am also the stay at home dad of 4 kids at the ages of 9, 8, 4, and 3, and that has some merit but for the most part I have times when they are sleeping or are not in the picture that I spend catching up but I still think I can be more efficient. I know I need to explain the title of this post. One of the things I need to catch up on that I have not been doing much of lately is finding what my mentors and friends and colleagues are talking about. One of the people I admire and one that I think has his finger on the pulse of my industry is 
For a long time I have been touting that we all live in a Google world. We cannot seem to leave our house without first checking directions on Google, or order Chinese food without getting the local menu and number from Google, etc. Many companies have come to us and asked, "How do we get on page one of Google’s search results?" That has been the mainstay of my presentations about why companies need to get into blogging and other forms of social media. I have yet to figure into the mix, 
Reading the article today that Wired put out about the 
I also think there is another small player that might be making things interesting and that of course is the social media darling of the bunch, Twitter. They can help perform the function of both search and of the social network. All of it actually has to do with data. As we begin to see the emergence of what I call 2009 The Year of Listening, more and more companies are concentrating on brand monitoring and reputation monitoring and how they can get into community and infiltrate them with their brand, their message and their mission. Yes, it is all about the business after all and that is the company that will win. Which one will provide the best of all worlds? Right now we are still living in the Google world, but there are some other players in the Internet solar system. 
He took us out across the channel to our destination which was called "The Aquarium". Once I jumped into the crystal clear water I knew exactly why it was called that. I could see everything, and the coral structure and the brilliant fish colors were awesome. We swam and looked at puffer fish and many other varieties and then as I got out of the boat and said "WOW", I was handed a cool passion orange juice and was also given some breakfast. This is the life of the Captain, seeing the look on the face of those as I they exit the water after seeing Hawaii from underwater, and handing them some fresh fruit and breakfast. I would say that is a good salary there, but it doesn’t pay all the bills. I reflected that in my tip as I headed off and away from this Captain for what will probably be forever. Thanks Captain Tim and enjoy your job as only you can!
One of the things that most of the local people here discuss is its diversity. Many of the differernt cultures all come together be it tahitian, polynesian, portugese, japanese, chinese or other ethnic backgrounds, they all have their own language, philosophy and look. The same goes for resorts, hotels and other places we have been staying at here in the Hawaiian Islands. 
As bloggers we have a different approach to our experience. We are not just here to relax and have a good time but weare also here to create and produce some qaulity content. I for one have been trying to live stream my experience and have my viewers go along for the ride, but that has proven nearly impossible since I have not been able to stay connected to the Internet for more than about 10 minutes at a time. I actually received a nasty note from the 
We kept driving up, up and up some more. As we finally reached the summit where the lodge was located we were at our destination. Then we headed to the trail head where we went down, down, down and more down until we saw the most breathtaking drop off and steep canyon walls you can have without a helicopter ride. 
We hopped into the back of an army person ell carrier and like soldiers heading off to battle we had our gear, harnesses and helmets. The wet weather was welcome because it kept us cool and hydrated as the anticipation sucked the water from our system making us swallow hard. This would normally be the description from a military blogger, but this describes the scene as we headed off to our zipline adventure.
dicated that if we dropped our flip cameras they would be gone forever. Yes that is a long time. I was hoping at this point that we would not drop ourselves and be gone forever. The thing is this adventure is probably more safe than any other excursion I was doing while here in Hawaii. 
I stood on the bow of the catamaran and the wind and salt cleansed my face of stress and renewed my belief that you can truly feel the tension leaving your body. I was quiet except for the sea and the beauty before me. I cannot begin to describe the surroundings and the feeling, so I will let you come and experience it yourself.
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