April 10, 2007
the porous membrane, revisited
Mario Sundar, the “Community Evangelist” for LinkedIn.com, has another take on “The Porous Membrane”:
I’d like to think of the Community Evangelist as the one who connects the two entities A & B. They are the individuals entrusted with the task of pushing that membrane, aligning A and B and aiming for marketing Nirvana. And did I mention, they also help humanify the company.
Microsoft blog watchers, take note.
"Hugh's Daily Cartoon" Newsletter.
A new cartoon sent out every weekday morning to your inbox [RSS version here.].
A wee chuckle to start your day off right etc.
and to paraphrase a famous gapingvoid cartoon:
It’s all about everyone in the organization being a “Community Evangelist”. It’s all about being utterly fucked if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
Microsoft, as I’m sure you know, have people whose job title includes the E word. Apart from the implication that evangelism is a separate business function, it’s deeply unnerving to meet someone who is so titled. It reeks of selling, conversion and unquestioning devotion. Somebody who wants to talk at me rather than somebody who might listen to me.
Being a Community Evangelist — absolutely.
Being labelled an evangelist — absolutely not.
Yeah — I agree with John on this one. Occasonally I get called that — I hate the expression. Also, the cartoon reminds me of a fried egg. If it was a fresh egg on its way to being cooked then it would become an omelette. IMO.
First off, wasn’t that whole fucked-off creative titling thing over with 5+ years ago? It all seems very 90s Fast Company to me. The bigger problem here of course is the view that the Community Evangelist seeks ‘marketing nirvana’. Being in a constant, collective conversation with customers is everyone’s job — regardless of title. And what happens when you do this is less about ‘marketing nirvana’ and more about informing your organization’s worldview and collective gut instinct. To my mind, Hugh hits the nail on the head with the Porous Membrane post. So does another of Hugh’s cartoons — “Smarter conversations equals better products. it’s so fucking obvious.”