( ? , qUeStIoNMaRk )

Begining 2008, Wafer is keeping up with the good ol’Web Cocktail tradition. Yesterday On friday evening I got to the WebCocktail on “MA CHI L’HA DETTO??
REPUTAZIONE, CREDITO, POPOLARITÀ AL TEMPO DI INTERNET“, and it turned, as in past “editions”, a good chance to hear some interesting thoughts and reflections concerning the web (in this case reputation) and have a few talks with intellectually honest and stimulating geeks people.
From the panel, moderated by Alessandra Farabegoli, I got some notes/sketches (I beg you pardon for my poor english which will affect the transposition of the original thoughts hereafter intertwingled with personal considerations):
- [Gianluca Diegoli - Minimarketing] Blogs made the critique (towards products/firms/brands) individual (no more anonymous as it was used in newsgroups time) weighing in the balance the reputation of the critique author (his blog, his thoughts, his social relations) . Bottom line: critiques grain consistency and “value” for the criticized product/firm/brand which can build on these to improve the “user experience”.
With respect to astroturfing the internet and the web do have antibodies, and the ecosystem is quite good at keeping everyone honest, in other words “lies have short legs” on the internet”. If you start a fake-user-generated marketing campaign the chances you got exposed and the firm’s reputation is blown are fairly high. On the other hand there’s an ever increasing interest in fruition of the web as an old-style/main-stream media as entertainment, so it doesn’t bother (this kind of audience) if the video is fake (e.g. Ronaldo and Crescina); it only matters if it is entertaining.
- [Massimo Mantellini] Long live “shop-window” corporate websites; firms hiding beyond fictitious participation (faking positive comments/blog posts) pollutes the value of social interactions on the web reducing the overall ecosystem value and reputation. Is really the case for corporate participation in social networking, does it bring any good (to the community/net-citizens)?
Nice question. Gianluca points out that if the value for a company lies in the relations (interactions) with its customers and hence the company do really value the relations (i.e. honest communication), keeping it apart from the participitative web/social networking scene inhibits it from exploiting its true potential.
- Speaking of transparency and honest communication [Antonella Beccaria] notes that journalism is not any stranger from distortion and pollution (often more subtle and difficultly discoverable due to relations with “strong powers” and interests rather than a “one company affair”); in the last years the consumer perception of the reputation of the main-stream information has been changing: more and more people started questioning newspapers, TV news.

Following the panel it came the so awaited cocktail… There I spoke with Gianluca, Massimo, Enzo, Francesco, and Fullo and Leonora about everything-web-computer-related (from (lack of) “hacking-attitude” of the new generations, to RSS (lack of) adoption, to still dominant portals market share in traffic on the web, to javascript for server-side scripting/agile development, http://appjet.com).

Then, I must thank Laura for being my Local Positioning System, driving me to the restaurant and to the wine bar.
Among the many matters of discussion It is worth noting that talking about methane-fueled vehicles it is always extraordinary amusing and funny (I do remember an incredible methane-powered trip from Cesenatico to Dimaro for a rafting week-end: never ending quests in find of a station, turbo-boost system (AKA fuel switch) to surpass other cars). I recommend you read Elena’s post on the matter: “Son sicura di voler entrare nel tunnel del metano?“.

From the high clock-wise: me, Elena, Tommaso, [mini]moglie and [mini]marketing, Alessandra, Michele, Laura, Luca and Livia. The photo was taken by .
Thank you all for the great time.