Adrian Trenholm

Stop Continue the Feedster madness

April 16th, 2005

Useful insight from Johnnie Moore this week. Here’s what happened.

At 173 Drury Lane , I had linked to half a dozen Sainsbury’s-related blog posts which I had picked up from Feedster. Johnnie picked up the thread with a couple more links . We were having fun. At which point, I thought, “OK, Adrian, enough of the funny stuff, time to get serious again. Haven’t got all day.” I emailed Johnnie to that effect, with the subject line “Stop the Feedster Madness.” Johnnie’s response was:

Well, maybe we should actually do more.

I’m serious. It will almost certainly lead to more readers and it might engage some good debates.

I think this is a place for us to play, unsupervised by a client. It would be cool if we became the hosts for lively conversations with real customers…

Of course! Trust a professional facilitator to remind me about the importance of conversation. Quirky posts, funny posts, serious posts - they are all legitimate, because people are quirky and funny and serious in equal measure. This is real conversation, not the sterile stuff you get in focus groups. I am starting to understand Johnnie’s passion for Improv . Improv’s “Yes, And” idea clicked into place for me:

Yes, And : Finding ways to build upon the events that come our way and to include different perspectives. This is not a simple injunction to agree, but rather to acknowledge what happens and incorporate its lessons in our response.

Thanks, Johnnie. Stop Continue the Feedster madness.

Entry Filed under: Thinking , Blogging , Listening