(Also posted to SteveOuting.com)

"Social marketing" (aka, "conversational marketing") online means engaging in public conversations with consumers/customers, and responding to questions -- and problems. On YourClimbing.com, where we've done a number of product giveaway promotions with Joby for its Gorillapod bendable camera tripod, Joby had a chance to demonstrate the proper technique -- and aced the test.

Here's what happened: We'd given away a bunch of Gorillapods as prizes for the site's "Post of the Week" contest. Recipients had posted a bunch of complimentary comments and reviews of the gadgets. But after having the tripod for a few months, user Woodchuck07's Gorillapod broke (that's him in the photo before it got busted) -- and he posted a note about it to the site.

I made sure Joby knew about this, and then Joby's Joel Melamed posted a note on the comment thread offering to replace Woodchuck's broken tripod with a new one. Melamed also offered an explanation of why some people occasionally have problems (putting a large camera on the small model of the Gorillapod).

I thought this was a brilliant example of a new kind of rapid-response online marketing that increasingly is required of companies these days. People are talking about your company online, and you need to keep tabs on those conversations. When a problem like this pops up, company representatives can step in in an appropriate manner and either explain themselves or rectify the problem.

If Melamed hadn't stepped in, some damage could have been done to the product's reputation.

The lesson should be obvious to product and brand companies: Keep tabs on online conversations so you can respond when it makes sense. Sadly, few companies have figured out how important this is. Bravo, Joby!

The Internet has degraded the impact of traditional product advertising. The availability of consumer reviews of products online means that people can look to others who have experienced a product to make buying decisions.

A global Nielsen Internet survey confirms that new fact of life. The company surveyed 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets around the world and determined that word of mouth is the most powerful selling tool.

From David McCallum, global managing director for Nielsen's Customized Research Services:

"The recommendation of someone else remains the most trusted sources of information when consumers decide which products and services to buy. ... Furthermore, given that nothing travels faster than bad news -- with estimates that reports of bad experiences outnumber good service reports by as many as 5:1 -- the importance of responsive, high quality customer service is yet again highlighted."

Nielsen's research confirms the urgent needs for companies to become more "social" online. You might want to check out our white paper, Enabling the Social Company, for advice on how to do that.

Facebook took the lead in the social networking wars when it opened up to third-party applications. MySpace resisted, which has allowed Facebook to catch up. But now MySpace has finally announced that it will open its platform to outside application developers.

We've been expecting this. We already advise publishers and brand companies, when they develop a social media/social networking strategy, to come up with Facebook applications that support the overall strategy. (The Enthusiast Group can do this work.)

I write a monthly column for Editor & Publisher Online, and recently wrote "What's Your Facebook Strategy?"

Now we'll all have to think about MySpace applications. (Some should do double duty on Facebook and MySpace.) But the MySpace demographic is younger than Facebook's, so developing MySpace applications isn't necessary for everyone.

The New York Times today has an insightful story about marketers shifting from traditional ad buys to becoming new media companies: "The New Advertising Outlet: Your Life."

Nike is the showcase example. The sports giant is pouring money into useful online social tools that runners come to willingly to use, and thus are exposed to Nike brand messages while getting value from visiting the sites.

Cell phones represent great promise for grassroots media. Most of us carry around with us phones that have a camera feature, so we're always ready to snap an image when something good comes up. Cell phone users represent an army of "citizen" content creators.

Alas, cell phone photo quality has been poor, albeit improving. But something happened on YourMTB.com (an Enthusiast Group website) that makes me think there's hope for phone photo quality.

The YourMTB "Post of the Week" is the photo below. I learned from the photographer that he snapped it with his cell phone!

OK, it's not crystal clear; you can tell it wasn't taken with a Nikon D80. But until he told me the truth about the picture, I assumed it came from a digital camera.

Especially given that the flying biker is moving pretty fast, that's not bad for a phone!

Should a celebrity guru who makes a living doling out advice open up by getting into social media? You bet.

Martha Stewart, as has been reported, is launching a new website, called "Marthapedia," that will adopt a certain style of social media.

Here's an interesting idea from the Indianapolis Colts and the team's new social networking initiative:

They've created an "AT&T Fan Photo Gallery" and ask Colts fans to post a photo of themselves showing "Colts pride" at each home game.

The AT&T sponsor connection, of course, is that they want people to use their camera phones to send in the pics from the game.

Best photo as selected by the Colts gets: a phone call from a Colts player!

OK, personally that doesn't do much for me, but if you're a serious enough fan to participate in the Colts social network, you'll probably think that's way cool.

This is a great example of an organization with a passionate customer base utilizing its celebrities to interact with its enthusiasts. We've noticed how powerful that can be on our homegrown sites like YourClimbing.com, which has as "enthusiast-in-chief" Katie Brown, a famous pro climber and former world champion. Folks on that site seem to really love that they have the chance to interact with a climbing celebrity.

So if you've got some celebrity star-power in your organization, get those people involved in your social media initiatives!

After reading the Enabling the Social Company white paper, Nupur Sen sent me a bunch of follow-up questions about social networking and how companies are starting to use it. Perhaps our exchange will be useful to others exploring this burgeoning field, so I'm publishing it here.

NUPUR SEN: I get the impression that you're advocating that companies use social networking as a feature on their websites or create their own niche social networking communities. Would you say that is the new trend?

STEVE OUTING: Yes, definitely. With the incredible success of MySpace and Facebook, especially, many other web publishers are adding social networking and social media features, and in cases where it makes sense, creating their own social networks.

Everyone is talking. And blogging. And sharing photos. And video. And interacting on social networks. We are living in the age of digital personal expression.

Alas, too many brand and media companies are still speaking AT us, instead of WITH us. As more and more people are taking advantage of blogs, Youtube, MySpace, and yet more Internet goodies to speak out and share of themselves, corporations often are leaving themselves out of what is the largest conversation ever.

We love it when users of our websites display our bumper stickers (we give them away free). On YourMTB.com, we have a number of police mountain biking fans. "Sarge" proudly displays his affection for YourMTB.com with our "Eat. Sleep. Mountain Bike." sticker on his patrol vehicle...