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July 16, 2009

How do you rate?

There's an interesting article in the July/August issue of The Atlantic on the growth of ratings, those consumer-driven 5-star-to-none systems that rate books on Amazon, hotels on travel sites and contractors on Angie's List.

According to writer Kevin Maney, "rating is about to spread like a pandemic. Everything—everyone—will get rated by Web users. You. Me. The dentist. All the hairstylists in town. The sermons in every place of worship. Youth soccer coaches. Lunch meats."

Ratings will not only proliferate, they will change societal dynamics, predicts Maney. "Look at (ratings') impact on the relationship between doctors and patients. According to Pew, 47 percent of Internet users now search online for information about doctors. Ratings, though still a trickle, are increasingly part of that information." But soon there will come a day when we choose a doctor not on the recommendation of a friend, but on how patients rate his or her bedside manner or quality of care.

Why does this matter? Ratings are another form of social media, and reinforce the growing expectation among people (and employees are people, too) that communication is not something we view, but a process we participate on.

If you gave employees the power to rate aspects of the workplace, what score would they give? For instance, how would they rate your company's intranet? Leader town hall meetings? Health benefits? Pay?

This idea might seem preposterous, but it's also intriguing to think of an environment so transparent, so participative, that employee ratings are a way of life. Now, that would be engaging.

Posted by Alison Davis at 09:06 AM | Comments (1)

July 02, 2009

Blame Canada if your communication isn't working

Here's a great blog entry from CopyBlogger on why traditional marketing isn't working. The piece is not only funny (because everything pertaining to Canada is funny) but it's also insightful. And the insights don't just pertain to marketing—they're relevant to all forms of communication.

Happy Canada Day and Independence Day!

Posted by Alison Davis at 07:57 AM