Love the way you've built on this and added so much to it. Great stuff

Thanks John - we look forward to getting you back sometime in the future! Best, Scott

John Thanks for this - very, very useful! Scott

Yeah, it is.

Of course, the point is that by being transparently unauthentic, it is actually authentic. Read Pine and Gilmore's "Authenticity" for exceptional stuff on this.

Tim, I saw this earlier this week but didn't watch all the way through - thanks for sharing this because now I have! Scott

Thanks for this - nice to suddenly see myself here! Wow!

I'm just more concerned about Ted running a church, period. Re: in-home - sure, home groups / cells / life groups / community groups / home church - new name for something that has been around since the book of Acts. Certainly, throwing everything else our in favour of something new is just imbalance.

If you're an expert, you don't need to say so. I think that's how I view it..

Thanks for this Tim. Seems we're all feeling this. Who dares to go first and start behaving differently - namely, by no pumping out loads of content?

Say it, Tim. Tough, but true. I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with Chris Brogan a few weeks ago. He taught me blogging strategy at a whole new level. There was clear intent behind each thing that he wrote. I find too many of us (particularly those who are not well known bloggers) are changing their strategies all the time to mirror the latest new idea that they pick up. We lack the focus and restraint that is required for greatness. I'm trying to do the same as you Tim. There is no need for me to write a lot of new content. What I need to do is help people ACT on what they know - and connect them with other like minded individuals who can collaborate with them.

Yep yep yep! I wrote about it myself two days ago. One guy was saying to me "I hope so and so got my tweet" - I was like, "phone???"

Sure. So disclaimers are necessary when you writing on behalf of. but a generic account - people don't care.

John I think those 7 have some harmony. A large part depends, as the degrees say, on whether there is outsourced management for a brand/organisation or if it is an individual. Of course, many individuals are brands in their own right. I've got a lot to say on the subject, as I carry out some management where we upfront say we are acting 'on behalf of', where as other times the client and the situation requires us to be like an annexed part of their organisation, and so there is no line between them and us. This seamless kind of integration is stronger, I think, because end users don't care who they are talking to. If you have the brand logo, you are the brand. End of story. Case in point: Eurostar. No one cared that the Twitter account being managed by We Are Social was 'on behalf of'. They had the brand, and should act accordingly.

John, I agree with you totally. I'm having to deal with this junk all day. I've developed a large number of models and frameworks detailing strategy and integration, yet many are happy to go with the hack-job you describe above, and then get mad when it fails. The Eurostar debacle around Christmas time proves that Social Media cannot be peice-meal - it must have deep company integration.

Thanks for this Tim

I agree with this. I wrote a little while ago about 'connections vs community', and the idea that we need to focus less on building width and more on depth. Social Media makes it easy to attain width. Depth requires work. When Seth talked about having lots of friends and followers on social networks being meaningless, he said that they were because they wouldn't write the cheque when you needed it - they would just read your content. I agree. Therefore we need deep connections to get that type of buy in.

Hey John Thanks for this. I'm studying Authenticity at the moment, so this is helpful. My agency carries out Social Media management that is outsourced to us - so we have issues along these lines of authenticity and transparency. Whilst there are many ideals, we also have to be frank about the growth of outsourced Social Media and how brands can use it. I like these 7 points. They appreciate reality, and in my mind, work.

Totally. I wrote a similar thing today that the SOcial Media world - despite the mantra - is just not flat.

Hey John We're thrilled to be welcoming you to Like Minds. Can't wait! Thanks again for your time on the phone. Scott

Very good - "in charge, not in control" I've been writing about the same thing, pointing out that an increase in spreadability of ideas requires 'guidance not governance', and that the fear of social media for many companies is this very issue of not being able to 'govern' or 'control' it. I'll be linking here!

Al, such a good article. Michelle - I understand your point, but for me, all the brands that I stick with is because I love them.

Ed, great real post. We need leaders who get down and dirty and talk about what leadership really is in the church today. Thank you.

Al, whole thing is a great article - but my biggest take away was the study of 2nd place brands. That information is invaluable - thank you.