1. INTERVIEW WITH LYNDA GRATTON

A leading authority on organisational strategy, founder of the HotSpots movement and London Business School professor, Lynda Gratton has been advising the world's biggest companies while writing top-rated business titles for 20 years. She shared her thoughts on how technology is changing the way we work and communicate.

Q: Lynda, what do you think the role of good communication is, in driving successful business?

A: Well, that's a really interesting question, and we've just been looking at some research figures, around engagement during this recession. We found that employees are engaged if they feel there's communication from the top. They get an idea of where the organisation is going, and where they fit in. But they're much more engaged, substantially more engaged, when they feel that it's not a one-way conversation. What seems to be more important than downward communication is when they're also involved and their voice is heard. That's something we've known to be true for some time. But in this recession, it's particularly true. People really want their voice to be heard.

Apart from old-fashioned skills, like active listening and speaking from the heart, are there differences that you noted for the new media decade?

I think there's a profound difference. In my view, technology will fundamentally, irrevocably change the way that we work, and we're only just beginning to see that now. For example, some of the companies that we work with, like Nokia, are putting in elaborate worker-platforms so that employees can talk to each other, can talk to executives, can share ideas, can work together in shared interests. This whole process of engagement is absolutely crucial, and I think that while active listening remains important, that's just a face-to-face skill. As organisations continue to globalize, as more people work from home or from different offices, the capacity to have conversations that are virtual becomes absolutely crucial.

Do you believe sincerely that differing channels result in step-change better conversations?

Well, in most cases with companies, you don't have any choice. We've looked at a huge number of teams right across the world and very few of them are co-located. There are very few teams now that you can be sure you'll have an eye-to-eye conversation with your colleagues every day. Even if that's the best possible way to communicate, the truth is that it's becoming less and less available. If I look at my own organisation, the HotSpots movement, we are completely virtual. Admin is done in Boston, research is done in California and the actual centre is now based in Singapore. We can't rely on face-to-face conversations. That means working with video - so people can see you - using telecoms, Google and a variety of other tools. We have to be a lot more creative with the way that we communicate with each other.

In your new book, GLOW, you talk about the need for active listening skills, the importance of trying to discover and release people's real passions. Do you think the fascination with new channels and new media facilitates active listening or does it prompt people towards inactive listening, jumping to inaccurate conclusions and so forth?

I think that's a really interesting question and, to be honest, I don't know the answer. I've seen very little research that has looked at communication in terms of virtual vs. face-to-face. In fact, there is anecdotal evidence that virtual communication can be more active. What happens when you're face-to-face with someone is that you're very distracted by visual cues. You can be distracted by facial movements, for example, or how someone looks, or what they're wearing. Whereas in telephone conversations, you tend to listen more to the actual words they're saying. As I said in my latest book, Glow, conversation is absolutely crucial to organisations. In Glow, I talk about the importance of conversations that have a rational-analytical element - so there is some new information coming in - and also have an emotional authentic element. That emotional authentic element is very important to building trust that is at the heart of a good conversation and good listening.

2. TWITTER: More speculation than communication?

In 2009, you can't go anywhere without hearing the word 'Twitter'. A social networking site where users post messages of no more than 140 characters, Twitter has grown exponentially in the last 12 months. However, recent research has suggested it might not be as revolutionary as we're often led to believe.

In a study undertaken by Harvard Business School, it was discovered that 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content. "Super-users", such as actor Ashton Kutcher, who currently has over 2 million 'followers', generate a great deal of the activity. Meanwhile, around 60% of new users fail to return to Twittering the month after registering. The study concluded that the median number of lifetime tweets - the name given to a single message posted on Twitter - per user is one. More than half of all users update their Twitter page less than once every 74 days.

Twitter now has more than 10 million users, and is continuing to grow faster than any other social network. But how many of these new users are communicating, rather than just receiving information from 'super-users'?

On a typical social networking site, the top 10% of users account for about 30% of the content. In this light, Twitter is quite different from social networking sites that foster relatively equal levels of communication. The study suggests Twitter is more of a one-way, one-to-many broadcasting service than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network.

Details of the research were announced at the same time as Dell announced around $3million in revenue through the Twitter platform. Visitors to Dell's Twitter page can view various offers and promotions, continuing through to the Dell homepage to purchase. Is Twitter functioning as a broadcast medium, much like television advertising, for Dell?

Richard Binhammer, from Dell's digital media team, is unconcerned about the conclusions of the Harvard study. "I'm not sure I agree with the research. It completely depends how you use it and who you connect with. It's a great way to fix customer problems and hear what customers have to say.

"There are about 200 Dell employees who talk to customers through Dell's Twitter account, from a gaming expert to a server expert to members of the chief technology officer's staff. And while we have announced substantial revenue results, the figures are reinforced by the relationships and direct connections we have with customers everyday."

Twitter may function, largely, as a one-way medium, with super-users communicating to many users. The challenge for organisations, a challenge that Dell might have pulled off, is to get the users to talk back.

3. THE END OF THE NEWSPAPER AGE?

Newspaper sales in the US are down 7% in newspaper sales, compared with last year. The New York Times has suffered greatly in recent times, with a drop in sales of 20.6% for the 6 months up to the end of March '09. Meanwhile, websites of newspapers have increased by 10.5% in the first quarter of '09. But websites cannot bring in the volume of revenue that newspapers can. So there are diminished newsrooms producing the same volume of news. What implications do these statistics have for the quality of news? What role for investigative reporting?

Elliott Blackburn is an investigative journalist for the Avalanche Journal, based in Texas. Elliott has worked on a series of articles over the last couple of years that ultimately resulted in the exoneration of a wrongfully convicted man who died in prison. Timothy Brian Cole, a Texas Tech student, was convicted of a rape he did not commit in 1986. Timothy died in prison in 1999 having always refused to accept guilt for the crime. Elliott's most recent articles have concerned the Cole family's campaign for an official pardon from the Governor of Texas.

Elliott shared his thoughts with Idealog regarding his series of articles about Timothy Brian Cole, the feasibility of such reporting in a purely online media landscape as well the future of investigative journalism.

My involvement in the Cole case began with a phone call from Cole's youngest brother. The Cole family had received a letter from an inmate in a nearby prison. The inmate confessed to the crime that put Timothy behind bars and promised to do whatever it took to clear his [Timothy's] name. The family faxed me a copy of the letter and I began confirming details described by the inmate.

I published an interview with him and recorded his confession. As more of the story came out, investigators in the local prosecutor's office began to confirm the story themselves. I sorted through the details of the 20-year-old crime while waiting for officials to test for DNA evidence. The testing proved Cole's innocence. The family had called me because I was a newspaper reporter. And also, the actual rapist, Jerry Johnson, agreed to see me because I was a newspaper reporter not affiliated with broadcast or "electronic media," a group which had angered him in his original trial. So I don't believe strictly online media would have had the same luck with this story. Without the credibility provided by working as a print journalist, a lot of doors would have stayed closed.

Perhaps online media can follow stories, [such as the Timothy Cole case] for extended periods. If they don't have constant content demands or deadline distractions, it's even easier. But, as with any publication, their experience and credibility with sources in their subject matter would dictate what they have to show for their trouble. Reporters of that kind are difficult for web sites to afford. Only a few sites, staffed with experienced, previously published investigators, exist that could accomplish this sort of work.

I fear that investigative journalism will fade with print industry. Recent announcements suggest reporters and editors much cleverer than I may have found solutions. The Associated Press in the U.S. will distribute work done by the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Investigative Reporting Workshop and ProPublica. That offers hope of similar arrangements with additional skilled groups dedicated to investigative journalism and a model for this sort of work carrying into the future.

But the model does not yet provide local readers with a replacement source of information for what their local governments do with their money. Without trained, committed investigators, I don't know who'll tell readers about the environment in their area, monitor local businesses and industries, or, in this case, study the consequences of problems with their justice system.

4. 2 SCOTS, 1 TUBE

In April, a clip appeared on YouTube from the TV show, Britain's Got Talent. The video, which featured a middle-aged Scottish lady named Susan Boyle singing a tune from 'Les Miserables', had registered more than 100 million views within the week. Her rise to worldwide fame, through one YouTube clip, was unprecedented.

Also in April, another middle-aged Scot made a notable YouTube appearance. In contrast to Susan's instant success, Gordon Brown's direct-to-camera announcement of proposed reform to MP's salaries was deemed by many to be a disaster. His delivery, which featured forced, inexplicable smiles, was mocked by journalists and politicians alike. It seemed to be his erratic smiling that put most people off.

While Susan Boyle's natural, unguarded manner and look was winning her millions of fans around the world, the Prime Minister's seeming lack of empathy appeared to be at odds with the most informal medium. As one blogger put it, his was "the best example of how NOT to use a social media tool".

In both cases, the immediacy of opinion was startling. The two cases showed just how quickly the consensus, be it positive or negative, forms on the internet. All you can control, even if you're the Prime Minister, is the original upload. Perhaps the mistake made on Gordon Brown's YouTube channel was the assumption that, for social media, the rules are the same as for traditional media. But this is not the case. Any immediacy and intimacy offered by social media is completely lost if you approach it in a formal manner. Susan Boyle's disarming approach won her millions of fans and was an antidote to Gordon Brown's stuffiness (forced smiles and all).

5. WORLD'S BEST PR STUNT

When Tourism Queensland advertised for a caretaker for Hamilton Island and the surrounding area, they can hardly have dreamed the attention it would receive.

Certainly the best PR stunt of this year, and perhaps of any other, the stroke of genius came when the vacancy was publicised as the 'best job in the world'. The job came with a substantial salary and accommodation in a luxury villa, while the duties are primarily publicity-based such as keeping a blog, uploading web videos and photo diaries.

The vacancy was reported around the world, in every form of media. 34,000 people, from around the world, applied for the job. This was narrowed down to 16 finalists (including one chosen by an on-line vote). The submission web site crashed two days after it opened due to unprecedented web traffic. Finalists came from Australia (two), US (two), UK, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Taiwan, India, China, Japan, France and South Korea.

Queensland Tourism, with support from PR company Hills Balfour Synergy, realised they could create a narrative around the job. The vacancy announcement gained a great deal of attention. But then further waves of (free) media coverage accompanied the announcement of the applicant shortlist of 16 applicants, the interview process and, on May 6th, the appointment of Ben Southall, from Hampshire in England.

We don't have to look too hard to find the reasons for the PR success. The initiative was built on simple principles: it's a feel-good story at a time of economic difficulty. Also, the location makes for a great photo opportunity, which taps into the wanderlust of readers and viewers. Tourism PR initiatives tend to be easier to feed into the media - editors and audiences are less averse than if it were a retail campaign, for example.

Queensland Tourism harnessed social media tools - now standard practice for any PR campaign. But, also, the tech-savvy duties required of the vacancy convinced many applicants to set up Facebook sites, YouTube channels and various social media tools to enhance their application. It was all geared towards them getting the job and, therefore, all geared at boosting exposure of Queensland. It is estimated the process has generated around $100 million in publicity.

The winning applicant has a one-year contract with Queensland Tourism, opening the door for the vacancy becoming an annual 'event'. The X-Factor style whittling-down of applicants will take place again when Ben is nearing the end of his contract, ensuring continuing exposure for the Great Barrier Reef. Ben Southall may have won "the best job in the world", but Queensland Tourism has surely performed one of the best PR tricks ever.

6. DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS

For another take on the digital evolution of communicating, take a look at Omegle. It's an online chatroom that doesn't require any log-in details. When you navigate to the site, you're assigned a chatroom with one other person, who is given the username "stranger" - you have the username "you". It's guaranteed anonymity: no usernames, no email addresses, no details whatsoever.

Launched in March 2009 by a U.S. high school student, Omegle is the exact opposite of a connected world. Where many social networking sites exist by people moving their real-life networks online, Omegle creates entirely new "relationships", in complete anonymity. A little like stumbling into a room with the lights off, Omegle showcases internet communication at it's most innovative or pointless, depending on your point of view.