Go Big Always

Interview with Jeremiah Owyang

This is my second interview. My first was Shel Israel which was a lot of fun. This time, it’s Forrester Analyst Jeremiah Owyang. I need to do more of these so if you have ideas, your recommendations are welcome.

You post multiple blogs a day, constantly refer to resources on Twitter and pump out tons of Forrester work. How the hell do you find the time and does it wreck your home life? I mean, are you an addict?

The first step is admittance, it’s true, I’m doing what I’m passionate about, and yeah, it’s a big part of my life. Believe it or not, I actually have a normal life outside of social media that involves a beautiful wife (although I forget what she looks like, thankfully flickr archives are great) and quite an active social life!

Honestly, I budget my time as I do money, and that requires that I pay myself first. I spend the early morning before most people rise to read, then blog, and research. I think check my personal email, then move on to work stuff. By giving these actions separate and distinct allotted time, I can ensure I can do each one with the same amount of passion and quality.

For what it’s worth, I consider myself a pretty average analyst, there’s quite a few of my colleagues who perform far better than I do. Overtime, of course, I look to improve.

Be honest, did my post about the analyst report card upset you?

No, not at all, I was very pleased to see it for two reasons. First off, customers should always be given the opportunity to voice their opinions and experiences. Customers have a right and companies need to know how they are doing, both good and bad (in order to improve). I want to give the best service that I can to my clients, so having honest and real feedback is important.

Secondly, you scored us pretty well, although not an “A”, I want to see how we’re doing. So thanks, not bad, but grateful. You can be sure that I’ll score (and sometimes in public) companies that I’m a customer of.

Can a big company really have a genuine community or is it always destined for griping and support while the real, splintered conversations happen on the consumer web?

I don’t draw a distinction between a ‘big company or consumer company’ having different kinds of conversations. There are plenty of companies that have real conversations within their corporate forums, it doesn’t always have to be support. For example, when I was the community manager at Hitachi Data Systems, we asked customers how they wanted us to communicate to them, and they told us. It has nothing to do with customer support. Lastly, the lines are so blurry between consumer and enterprise websites, cross linking keeps it that way, and I’ll for it.

How can a company ever be good at developing community if they don’t know how to do it within their own company?

I’m seeing a new role appear at companies where the skillset is not native, the “Community Manager” role is appearing.

You started out as a blogger and now you’re an analyst. What’s been the biggest surprises for you now that you’re on the other side?

The job is very difficult. The screening process to become an analyst was very stringent, and I understand why. There are some many aspects of the job that it makes it very exciting, but at the same time, very consuming. One thing that’s become very apparent is the amount of effort it takes to put into a report, is 20-100X the effort of a blog post. Unlike blog posts, research is defensible, and although it often is easy to read, and many of the points are “duh”, we’re actually held to only write what has been vetted and what we can prove.

I’m still struggling with becoming a great analyst, the ramp up rate to be comfortable is 9-18 months, and I’m at the 8 month mark, I’m an akward gangly teenager, who’s not quite met analyst adulthood. I’m thankful to have great mentors like Josh, Charlene, Peter, Ray, and my management team.

In short, I’ve had to learn quite a few more skills, to be more than a pundit or observer, to really becoming a researcher, which is the core skill of the job. It’s difficult, yet fun and rewarding.

What are the important conversations you are trying to keep up with?

The conversation around public social networks, especially around data portability, and widgets. Also, my main coverage area is with white or private label social network applications. I’ve starting to see some important patterns, and have an idea where this specific industry is headed.

What do you think of the idea of a “Social Media Campaign?”

I’d prefer the idea and term of a “Social Media Program” as I believe that these are just tools to build relationships with customers, and therefore should be long term. Programs are often ongoing commitments that you’ll have with your customers. Therefore, I encourage all my clients to have a long term view. The biggest

challenge for them is that most want to ‘toe-dip’ and not dive in completely. Once they find out the water is warm, many of them get ready for the long haul.

Which online communities do you belong to and how often do you participate?

To me, communities are about people, so I tend to think outside of just a ‘community software platform’. I’m part of the Twitter community, I participate nearly all day, every day. I’m also part of the blogging community, I participate all the time there. I also have a Facebook group for Web Strategy professionals and Community Managers, there are thousands in each. I don’t visit those as often, as they tend to self-regulate.

What did you think you were going to be when you grew up (are you grown up)?

I thought I was going to be a professional musician, but that didn’t pan out. Since I discovered the web at the end of high school, I knew that’s what I wanted to do, I was so drawn to it.

Would you pose shirtless with Shel Israel if enough people asked you to?

Only if I could replace my hairless chest with a full chest of Shel Israel hair (and back).