To Beth’s point about receiving ads at cocktail parties, is that not what a business card is now? Maybe more marketing material than advertising, but the goal is the same: to make a buck. Will the time come (and it may be soon) when business cards are passe and one only needs to pull a Scott Monty and give the recipient instructions how to Google you?

That’s understanding the reason people are using the network, and working on insights about that reason.

I preach listen, and part of my plate now has thinking through tools for our agency to listen. But i also preach relevance. We say marketers are looking to make a buck, and that’s true. Brands don’t advertise because of philanthropy, they do it to sell product. Still, there’s a way to do it less overt and interruptive.

Remember, we advertising people have been in the interruptive business for over 50 years. And for the last decade, as more channels (literal TV ones and figurative online ones) came into being, our response was to get MORE interruptive. So this will be a learning curve. But the smart ones are up to it.

More and more, I’m realizing that I’m not in the business of beating my head against a brick wall to convince someone that they need to rethink their marketing and communications. Instead, I’m in the business of helping those with the curiosity and right attitude move forward and leave their competition in the dust.

I’m being flip, but truthfully there is always an ignorant sector of the population that will never convert. They’re the same ones that are still arguing that press releases are what drive media placements and that the .03% response on their multi-million dollar direct mail campaign is cause for celebration.

I am content to move boldly forward and walk with those that are ready to blaze a new trail. The rest of ‘em can keep burning their dollars in the advertising spending while the rest of us are capturing their market share and earning customers for the long haul.

I have seen banner ads in socnets that never really bothered me, because they weren’t dumped into the middle of a conversation/thread, but at the top of the site.

And, both the advertising industry and the IDC should be admonished for suggesting that people use their connections for advertising. That’s just in bad taste. It’s like showing up to a party and handing out ads to people there. Maybe that’s what a lot of folks aren’t getting. Social media and social networks are the same interactions (and etiquette) that would would have off-line.