many thanks for your insightful comments. Re-reading the post, i think it sounds a lil bit harsh on the measurement gurus and that wasn’t the point. It’s the off-the-shelf tools like technorati and socialmeter that are increasingly irrelevant.

when I said ‘control’ i meant that because of the social media hype brands finally got nervous and are starting to listen, or at least hire people to help them listen and understand. So it’s really NOT about brands controlling the conversation but measurement pros that provide marketers with data and knowledge and strategic recommendations, which give you a sense of control.

And the point I was trying to make is that today, the unthreaded nature of the conversation poses technological as well as strategic challenges – most of the tools that I’ve seen scan blogs and forums and that might be the right place for some brands and not others. I still think that ‘the conversation’ has progressed and spilled over while the tools remain quite the same – but as i said it’s still extremely valuable.

Kevin – thanks for reminding me the Hermeneutic Spiral, it’s absolutely spot on.

The truth of the matter, though, is that we will never have perfect information, nor could we afford it if it were possible to get. The real core of the problem is to understand what information you have, what issues might exist with that information, and then make the best decisions we can based upon the available information. This also fits the way I think our minds work – as we gain information, we are better able to understand how to use that information, and what additional information we might need.

In the area of literature and art, this has been posited as the “hermeneutic spiral,” which suggests that a better understanding of the whole allows you to better understand the parts, and the better you understand the parts, the more they will inform your view of the whole. Implicit in this concept is that information, and better yet, knowledge, are evolutionary. This has always been the case (the history of virtually every discipline of arts, knowledge, and yes, even business, have followed this path).

So the goal of the practitioner in this case is to take what we know, apply our experience, knowledge and intuition to it, and evolve our knowledge over time. This does not require perfect information; in the past, it has not necessarily required very good information – a little information in the right hands can go a very long way.

You of all people, Asi, should know that this isn’t true.

We don’t need perfect information. All we need is enough information.

Sure, I agree — keeping an eye on “closed” Amazon reviews and Facebook groups is important (although these are often less closed than you suggest). I agree — a lot of the service vendors out there make slightly inflated claims for the accuracy of their product. And I agree — none of the tools out there gives you a complete picture.

But that shouldn’t stop us using them. It should stop us from relying on technology to answer what is a human resources problem.

Good discussion you’ve kicked off here. You’re very right that conversations across the web are fractured and splintered, and keeping track of them is a challenge for any business.

I certainly want to emphasize, though, that the idea of *control* is not at all at the heart of social media monitoring. Controlling the conversation is unhealthy if not impossible. At Radian6, what we’re hoping to help businesses do is aggregate the conversations that are happening about their brand, give them the tools to analyze and track those conversations (including metrics like influence and sentiment), and determine what responses and engagement strategies are best for them.

Engaging in discussions across the social web is going to be an increasingly important part of business communication in the digitally-focused world. But I certainly agree with you that offline conversations are important to foster. It’s the cycle of social communication that matters – online to offline and back again. Smart businesses are looking at the entire social ecosystem and finding and empowering their advocates where they want to be.

We’re always welcoming feedback and insights from the community on this topic, so please feel free to reach out anytime. Thanks for an insightful discussion.

Best,
Amber Naslund
Director of Community | Radian6
@AmberCadabra