An electronic collector's edition of 45 of the best Conversation Agent articles of 2011 with a special forward by the author will be available just in time for the holidays.

1. Conversation Agent Yearbook
Quotes
from the “best of 2011”
collector’s edition
1 year, 45 posts
VALERIA MALTONI . Conversation Agent . www.conversationagent.com. @ConversationAge

2. Special thanks for inspiring this project:
“The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually
something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can
mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing.
It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just
gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your
mark upon it. I think that’s very important and however you learn that,
once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s
kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be
the same again.
− Steve Jobs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pietroizzo/2034681616/

3. 8 Social Media Behaviors that Won't Win You
Customers
“Social media may not be optional moving
forward, in the sense that your customers and
buyers search online with increased
frequency and want to find your brand
where it's convenient for them to browse,
share, buy.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bogenfreund/556656621

4. “Within the space of two decades, we have gone from portals, to
content-based destination sites, blogs, and other publication RSS
feeds, to social voting. Then we had more personalized social
streams with related recommendations based upon what you
searched for in the past.
And right into our phones with mobile apps. There is a demand for
more customized experiences that are high value. You will need to
experiment a little with different combination to get to the right mix for
the people you're trying to attract − and for your bottom line.”
Create Demand for Your Content
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eole/380316678

5. Connecting the Stream with Action: Media Embraces Real Time
“Thanks to the ubiquity of media with digital, the newsreel
becomes both the thread of what is happening and a
reminder of what happened − much of which we may have
missed, given our speed and processing ability as humans.
Therefore, media connects the stream with action in
three important ways: embedded recording, ambient
journalism, and public experimenting.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/353737372

6. You're Connected, Now What?
“Connections are a gift. When you put a little bit of
effort in maintaining them, you'll be surprised at the
developments and possibilities they bring into your
work, and life. Often it's the connections of the
people you meetthat end up making a difference.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/good-karma/1120296853/

7. The 12 Habits of Highly Connective People
“Few things give you more joy than doing a good deed. Often that
goodness comes from introducing someone to something or
someone else, and that someone else doing the same − and so
on. We need to do this, more of it if we're already doing it.
Understanding the importance and power of networks, combined
with new tools is our lifeline. We have the ability to transform
businesses and institutions, and a need to undertake that
transformation.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chavals/2937779395/

8. “In this new digital world where physical goods live in
virtual stores, where search and discovery coexist in
the hands of individuals and groups, relevance is
even more a must for your content to work. The
conversation as market works well here − becoming
a relevant filter is the key to commerce.”
Become a Relevant Filter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiveinchpixie/38492306/

9. Connecting to Your Passions
“Some of the words associated with passion are:
Pursuit, progression, pull, connecting, discipline,
and authenticity.
Passion is becoming increasingly important to our
personal success and we must learn to harness its
magic without yielding to its unpredictability.
I'm most interested in the performance side of
passion.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bukutgirl/205092203/

10. “Even though our networks continue to evolve and
people move up and down different groups
depending on different stages of our lives, work
projects, or situations, whether we do it online or
not, we still build lists and we well aware of who
is top of mind, when, and why.”
Update on Filters
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2008/09/nin_show?currentPage=all

11. Ten Signs Your Business Hit The Wall
“Is there conflict in your organization? Conflict has insidious ways of
not manifesting itself. It runs underground when the prevailing wind is
one of consensus... or else. It then shows up as lack of sustained
productivity. Things are getting done on the cheap for effort and in a
check-the-box kind of way.
Are people engaged and energized, or are they feeling all used up?
Can you tell the difference? Maybe your business hit The Wall.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/haniamir/2460883111

12. “[…] the science and art of seeing patterns, zooming
on what matters, connecting the dots, and betting on
the right futures that can make or break a business
still depend on the ability to filter, sort, interpret,
and make decisions.
These are all characteristics of human
intervention.”
The Value Equation: Curators and Aggregators
http://www.flickr.com/photos/larimdame/4709993

13. “Developing relationships with customers needs to be baked
into your business for it to pay off at scale − and where it
matters most, profits. Just like with initiatives in social media, in
that case, upselling is invisible. It's a natural outcome of having
established a mutual interest based on value.
[…] The best way to upsell is to develop a system of reciprocity
where value is exchanged between a customer and the
company.
Reciprocity is one of the levers in marketing by context building.
Reciprocity anticipates a need − the good balance to strike
between the entitled quid pro quo, and the lazy status quo.”
When is it a Good Idea to Upsell?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdecomite/358634247/

14. The Future of Media is Social, it Streams, and it Scales
“The future of media:
• Is social - reading, learning together and sharing with friends is more
fun, and profitable
• It streams - having the ability to quickly glance through content and
connect with personal social presences makes sites sticky
• It scales - updating and refreshing information and stories frequently is
a sure recipe to get people to come back to your app or site and to
bring their friends through sharing
All of which is sustainable when looking at it as a model for trade.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/werkunz/3680331543/

15. “it's a time of great opportunity for new
applications and tools because the platforms
have stabilized. There is plenty of room and work
to be done on archiving and data
capture/analysis/utilization.
The query set is what matters, and mobile will
be accelerating the development of the next
generation technologies.”
Trends: Social is a Feature
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pietroizzo/831088000/

16. Ten Ways Leading Brands Lead
“Are you making what the customer wants to
do the most important part of the product?
Do you spend time listening, observing, and
anticipating, not just monitoring? Do you
match your business processes to the right
executions?”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pietroizzo/888174272/

17. On a Collision Course
“Sometimes both the tools and the rewards make it too easy.
They make it too easy to hit the publish button before you've
had the chance to think about the content you are sharing.
Yet you are sharing because there is a race going on.
A race on who writes more, shares more, posts more, has
more traffic to their sites, gets more followers, and so on. In
some cases, social over-sharing leads to the loss of
business.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdecomite/358634247/

18. How do You (or can you) Measure Online Influence?
“[…] no matter how influential a person or a few may
be, based upon their credibility and trust, there is still a
gap to cover between buzz and action, convenience
and relevance, talk, and walk. That gap is better
analysis of data/information.
It is also better business acumen in knowing what to
listen for.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wili/2628869994/

19. “You cannot give 110% if you're not in love with
what you're doing, and 100% isn't enough these
days. If you don't love your work enough to
provide a consistently excellent stream of
content, hire someone who does.”
The 5 Es of Content Marketing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyron/268886883

20. Connecting the Stream with Action: Technology and Humanism Meet
“I would liken filters to the specificity of input the brain needs to
grow. Currently, those filters are mainly search, like-minded
groups, and a dash of serendipity in tools like Twitter and
events like SxSW. Pull technology may not replace push
completely, as I wrote almost four years ago. However, as
technology becomes more humanized (e.g., IBM's Watson), there
is indeed a chance that Artificial Intelligence agents will be
Conversation Agents.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/a6u571n/3207185886/

21. “Listening is very important for finding
meaning. And meaning is the key to connecting.
Which is why networking is not an activity, not a
verb, it's an outcome, a noun − a network.”
Connecting People is the Secret to Success
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpics/483295954/

22. Want Better Response Rates? Make Emails Valuable
“Email is not perfect.
It feels like a conversation, it is more like a letter.
Since it is in writing, it may not convey all the subtle
signals you intended to wrap around it.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whoalse/481134988/

23. “[…] why Apple has such strong brand evangelists.
Unwavering product focus. This is where Steve Jobs
had the most influence: In the hands of people
everywhere, who, like me, found it easy to use Apple
products.
A really good experience is one you go back to over
and over again.”
Steve Jobs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marfis75/2459534903/

24. Social Journalism on Facebook
“While there are clear advantages to using Facebook,
for example, a journalist can do wonder for his brand,
and really build an audience. Is reaching readers
directly through Facebook compelling enough without a
monetary component attached to conversation?
Will publications and journalists issue corrections to
stories in real time? Would you help set the record
straight on a story facts and figures using Facebook vs.
the Web site or trying to reach the editorial team?”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualpanic/2422742902/

25. The Stream Comes First
“[…] the stream now comes first. That's where
we go to see what is going on, share the
experience with others, make sense of things and
support each other in a moment of need.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pietroizzo/1968705028/

26. “You can meet opportunity with a robust archive by
sharing the link to a relevant post or article to be helpful.
Build pages that aggregate articles and posts to show
the thought process, highlight patterns, and tell stories. I
recently organized my voluminous archives into a hub.
There is a meta narrative there, which is what informs
my methodology and process for marketing that
makes business sense.”
Use Your Content Archives to be Relevant
http://www.flickr.com/photos/natalielucier/3623933748/

27. “When you help answer questions posed by
other professionals, you demonstrate expertise
and generosity − thus building visibility and
earning a good reputation.”
Ten Ways to Avoid Getting Pitches When
Asking Questions on LinkedIn
http://www.flickr.com/photos/remuz78/869530406/

28. Be Social to Drive Social Effectively
“People always got things done through
connections. Your success depends on making
others succeed. Who are you taking to lunch
today?”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/2442371176/

29. […] nearly half (48%) of married dads report a fulfilled feeling from
learning how to do new things around the house, such as cook or
do home repairs. And, about one in three fathers would be
interested to learn more about advanced home renovation (35%),
basic home repair (33%) or landscaping and gardening (33%).
Dads also admit they'd like some assistance with parenting tasks,
such as shopping for school clothes or supplies (41%), talking to
their child about important issues (39%) or planning family outings
or trips (37%).
Are Dads a New Market Opportunity?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xabier-martinez/273845199/

30. Ten Reasons Why Your Content Strategy Fails
“Will your customers and prospects find you on the Web when they're
looking for what you provide? Will your articles, bylines, white papers,
eBooks, blog posts convey that you understand the issues − from their
pain points − like no one else in the market?
Does your newsletter provide timely, relevant tips, commentary, and
information that reveal industry or industry vertical knowledge? Do
analysts and third parties pick up your thought leadership in their articles
and amplify what you know?”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chavals/3045853162/

31. “Curate information for your community. Showing trends, sharing
resources, becoming the platform for all the services in your
neighborhood for newcomers and long timers alike. People go
online to find resources, how about building links to several in your
area?
Say you're in real estate, how about creating a welcome page with
links to local veterinary, SPA, hairdresser and barbers, general
family medicine practitioners, home repair stores, plumbers,
electricians, etc.? Profile your business friends every week.”
Bridging the Content Gap
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eustaquio/3211540017/

32. What Influences Behavior
“This is what everyone wants − to be respected,
to have a chance to contribute, to create
meaning and be considered as a human
being.
Which is why many choose to vote for
themselves these days.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaneda99/2429333030/

33. “[…] the biggest opportunity for companies in
social media is that to transform buyers into
customers − to increase the number of transactions
people have with them from one to more than one.
[..] three major areas of opportunity I see for
organizations and brands to help business become
more social: situational awareness, ambience
concierge, and adaptive DNA.”
Connecting the Stream with Action: Business Becomes Social
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/5019447262/

34. “We can hardly make someone else or
something else do what we want, can we?
What we can do is having the proper attitude
and approach to open up opportunity.
The more expansive our thinking, the easier to
find help and support along the way.”
Ten Useful Hacks to Make Things Happen
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/236299644

35. “Is there any way you can turn your one message, promotional
initiative, one meeting, one time creative into a canvas over which
to paint more enduring − and rewarding − engagement?
Does your value come with an expiration date? Would anyone find
your proposition interesting over time?
Starting something gets you well on your way, of course. Staying
top of mind is where it pays off. From buyers to customers,
acquaintances to friends, single contributors to teams, and so on.”
Ten Ways to Sustain Connections Over Time
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notsogoodphotography/347830380

36. Record. Remember. Revisit.
“Your content is how you continue to have people understand
what you are by recording, remembering, and revisiting,
which allow you to build the context of your story as it
meets that of others and comes back to you as feedback.
The best content (and products) sets the stage that welcomes
conversation. In a world obsessed with social proofing, let's not
forget that the most important conversation your customers and
readers have is with themselves - their worldview, their stories,
what they want to do.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgraths/3289448299/

37. 50 Job Resources for Makers
“Do you know who you are? I don't mean your title,
that means little here. I mean your craft, your skill,
your love and strength.
Many make the mistake of looking to others to find the
answers. As long as you do that, as long as you
depend on others to define you, as long as you wait
for the job to tell you who you are, you're not going to
be free to become that person.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/medaugh/14491339/

38. Are You Missing out on Connecting?
“While prior generations are still working on protecting and in
some cases carefully managing personal image and
reputations, GenY are looking to their social identity based
upon connections. However, connecting is a richer
experience than friending and becoming a fan.
Regardless of which generation you belong to, connecting
with the right people and resources will help you get your
project or work done, or to get the next job, or the first one.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goingslo/4067593977/

39. “Real time streams and social graphs are training people
to react. I see the transformation also in blog comments. It
is tempting to use the seagull move − who has the time,
right?
Reacting to information is the exact opposite of critical
thinking.
It will not help you or your business understand why a trend
may be emerging, what it means to you, and how to
reorganize your thinking about it.”
The Five Rs of 21st Century Content Curation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/watz/1471975780/

40. 5 Retail Trends Applicable to Your
Business
“[…] something businesses need to get better at
doing. Creating that connection between what
they do and daily life.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mugley/2290446177/

41. “[…] a job that helps users (people, us) solve
the world's problems in unconventional ways
through the use of the organization's
technology products. People and their problems
or quests, as it may be, at the center.
Which is how you make the user the hero, and,
yes, let technology speak for itself.”
Find the Magic. Find the User. Connect the Two.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bombeador/770898426/

42. “We all love a really good deal. At the same time, many of us
are also prepared to pay for value. Why? Because we
understand that we live in an ultra connected world, and
investing in the right things is more sustainable − for us and
for our communities.
Deep discounting creates a race at the bottom effect and
undermines quality. What we don't have, however, and where
I see potential with Groupon, is an infrastructure that can
connect small business owners with customers at scale.”
How Content Seals the Deal at Groupon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hamed/1305699422/

43. “Customer service is the best form of marketing you
could ever execute, even when you call it operations,
Business
3 Ways to Show Your Customers You Appreciate their
or design of experience. It's an attitude.
With every interaction, you have the opportunity to
make a person whole, develop a relationship, and
get a referral. That means that you helped them see
you care about their needs, you are listening and
hearing what they're saying, and they will win friends
when they send people your way.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/manicomi/2260527943/

44. “Organizations opening their web site to customer ratings
and reviews is a defining moment, a big decision, and still
fairly rare.
Even more rare on the Italian Web, where it considered
is a frightening thing, a taboo.
The risk of disagreement is normally considered too high.”
Impact of Reviews on Buying Behavior
http://www.flickr.com/photos/platinum/4141147/

45. Failure
“We learn the most when we apply ourselves
to solving the problem at hand creatively.
Good execution will make a winner out of
failure.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelgermain/3840003650/

46. Turning Pro
“Turning pro means committing to doing the work to
figure out what you're trading and the promises you
are making, so you can make better ones. It's the
condition we put ourselves in to make our own future
by doing the work right now.
It is how you get to meaning from purpose.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurafire/343629962/

47. “When you design an experiencethat helps people do
something differently and give them something to record,
remember, see that is highly relevant in the context,
motivation and opportunity marry. In the case of the
open market, you also have inspiration derived from face
to face and public interaction.
Education is part of that.”
Why Do People do What They do?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcnbits/154285061/

48. Sign up to learn more about
VALERIA MALTONI . CONVERSATION AGENT . www.conversationagent.com. @ConversationAge
Conversation Agent Yearbook
from the “best of 2011”
collector’s edition
1 year, 45 posts
thank you