Bob LeDrew, blogger at Flack Life and relatively new acquisition of Ottawa’s Thornley Fallis team reviewed Joseph Jaffe’s Join the Conversation. He also invited students from the Ottawa area to share their thoughts on joining the conversation. The trophy for best comment: a copy of the book.

“I could use a free book; I’ve had my eye on that one,” I thought. But living outside Ottawa precluded me from playing. Instead, I prepared to watch from the sidelines.

But, after a couple days, the young buckaroos in Ottawa had yet to share their thoughts, so with the possibility of Bob making it a Canada-wide match up and me being the hungry student I am, I left a comment letting him know I was ready to get in the game. The ref signaled a substitution, and I was called in, so here’s my post.

First, here are some very basic tips for joining the conversation online:

1.Engage with others on a level they feel comfortable with. This relates to the interpersonal concept of empathy. (eg. Casual relationships call for casual writing).

2. Get involved across venues and mediums. This means that you use an array of tools to share ideas with people. You can blog, leave comments, Twitter, join Facebook or LinkedIn, snag an invite to Seesmic, listen and call in to podcasts or Utterz, or create a podcast; the list goes on. These venues and platforms allow for different dimensions of expression and create a richer experience for you and your “conversation partners.”

3. Learn the 5 Ws of groups and individuals with whom you want to converse. (ie. listen).

4. Contribute. You are smart, so find out how you can add something, but don’t forget to listen first.

The above list is fractured, out of order, and incomplete, but my main point is that three of the four suggestions have nothing to do with the actual technology—they have to do with people and the way people work. You can find much better and more comprehensive lists on social media engagement out there. If you’re new to all this, that is your first challenge (hint: check out some of the podcast and blog links on the left-hand sidebar of this blog).

Basically, what joining the conversation is about is people. Social media is built for people, and that’s what makes it special from the older forms of online media.

To answer the question “Why is joining the conversation important?”: Well, when you’re on a team you don’t hog the ball, so I’ll pass it off to Chris Clarke whose recent post on the subject says it better than I could.

I’m involved in social media partly because I’m a geek who is interested in this kind of thing. But you don’t have to be an uber-geek like me to try chatting up people you normally wouldn’t. It’s about being interested in other people and expanding your horizons.

I’m also involved because I live on an island, and in a couple months time I want to make good use of my Master’s degree in professional communication and meet all the awesome people I’ve been conversing with for the past year. I’m rearing to go pro.

I think the essence of Joseph Jaffe’s approach is that the landscape for marketers and PR practitioners, among others, is changing in a radical way that involves more than just one-way, impersonal interaction. As a non-professional interested in the field of PR, I can only look to textbooks to see how things worked “in the olden days,” so I shouldn’t elaborate.

I merely try to follow what Nike says: Just do it!

(photo credit: Esparta)