Magnosticism

Wired’s Chris Anderson educated MPlanet attendees on the Long Tail (and signed copies of his book afterwards). He’s an entertaining presenter who had everyone’s attention as he made a strong case for the power of bloggers and their potential impact on a brand. “In an era where every customer has a megaphone, word of mouth is everything,” he said. He used the experiences as Sony and Dell as cautionary tales about the peril of ignoring what customers are saying online, and also reflected on his own industry: “We used to compete with other [media] giants; now we compete with an army of minnows. They are different, and they are the new taste makers.”

Anderson was joined by Jason Zajac, general manager of social media at Yahoo, who walked through a campaign that Nikon did on Yahoo’s Flickr site to encourage users to upload photos shot with their Nikon digital cameras. More than 60,000 photos have been uploaded. “When people use tools of technology to talk about their passions, they’re telling you a lot about themselves,” said Zajac. The key for marketers, he added, is tapping into that information without getting in the way.