Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

1. Most people in business read their news and information, by actively searching for it online, using their favorite (or default) browser.
2. Some people will mark their favorite articles using tools like Digg (where you can vote and promote your favorite stories) and del.icio.us (where you can share your favorites); or by using bookmarks in your browser (if you don’t want to share - but want to reference them).
3. And fewer people tag (or categorize) their articles using tools like del.icio.us (where you can tag articles for yourself and share with others). Smart bloggers tag/categorize their posts so search engines can more easily find them and serve them up as a result in searches.
4. Even fewer people (mostly other bloggers) will comment on stories they either like or disagree with, using the tools provided on most social media sites… you simply enter your comments in the comment box, confirm your identity, and you’re a commenter! (I blogged earlier about the prominence of “lurkers” online.) As noted, most people merely lurk - or read.
5. Subscribing to information is easy, and I have a feeling Ross might change the graph at this point to reflect more subscribers than commenters. RSS readers (like Attensa (for business use) / myYahoo! (a personal reader) are free. Like a magazine subscription, using one is like having news and articles delivered right to you as they appear (vs. searching for them).
6. Sharing can take many forms. Sites like Flicker (photos) and YouTube (videos) make it easy to share information with your friends - anytime you run across an article that invites you to “send to a friend” you’re sharing. Google allows you to share calendars, spreadsheets and more, making it handy to share with those even outside your own organization. And the new kid on the block, Twitter, let’s you tell the whole world exactly what you’re doing right now - should you choose to share it.
7. Been invited into someone’s LinkedIn network lately? It’s probably the most recognizable networking site for professionals. Hint: recruiters comb them regularly to find potential employees - so if you’re looking, get LinkedIn.
8. Writing is surprisingly simple to do - using blogging tools like WordPress, Movable Type or Blogger. Anyone who joins MySpace will automatically be invited to start a blog. Many blogging tools are free, and come with templates you can choose to get started (which is why so many blogs look the same, with their blue bar across the top and white title text…).
9. The best refactor example I’ve seen is what designers and artist have done making logos Web 2.0′ish by updating them graphically. It’s fun to see how they’ve morphed from makeovers. I’m refactoring in a way by blogging about another blog post - and now my readers have the benefit of increased exposure to new voices, newer ideas.
10. Collaboration tools include wikis - which are great for organizing information on a web site - project management tools like basecamp, and others. (Here in Portland, we have a wonderful collaboration software company developing tools for enterprise 2.0 called Jive Software - read their top 10 benefits for companies collaborating here…)

Oddly enough, a year ago Ross reported that in Wikipedia, 500 people, or 0.5% of users (in 2006), accounted for 50% of the edits. That’s moderating - and (I’d add) leadership.