What is influence? Are communities changing the dynamics that engage influence, or are they simply injecting transparency into them? How do you connect with real results for your business? Can influence be bought or sold? These are all age old questions and, for many, the answers have been a moving target.

1. Connecting with Real Influence
in your Communications
© Valeria
Maltoni, Conversation Agent,
www.conversationagent.com @ConversationAge
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwalker71/866562715/

2. “Influence – it’s not just about the size of your
network or how many people hear what you say
– it’s about your capacity to impact the actions
and and opinions of others.”
— Darren Rowse, ProBlogger
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregory_bastien/2565132371/

3. “The secret of my influence has always been that
it remained secret.”
— Salvador Dali
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/sir_leif/2929457183/

4. “Social proof is most influential under two conditions:
1. Uncertainty – when people are unsure and the situation is ambiguous they
are more likely to observe the behavior of others and to accept that
behavior as correct
2. Similarity – people are more inclined to follow the lead of others who are
similar.” — Robert Cialdini, Influence
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregory_bastien/2787215808

5. “As viewers get better and better, influencers matter less and less. In a weird
way, we will return to the world of mass marketing. Not because there are
fewer, louder media, but because the viewer is so mobile, so charged with his
or her own taste, so motivated by his or her interest in what TV has to offer,
that the only person most viewers will be listening to is themselves.”
— Grant McCracken, Thoughts on Jeff Bewkes and the End of Influence
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/sir_leif/3009044484/

6. “Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives
in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of
normal adulthood.”
— Walt Disney
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/adinges/437307303/

7. “The really important mechanism lies in what other people see, hear and feel
going on around them: it's in the eyes and ears of the advocate's peers and not
in the words of the advocate or recommendor. It’s at the influenced end of the
telescope and not the influencer.” — Mark Earls, Herd
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/adebond1/3487502203/

8. “Our access to information is increasing but our capacity for memory remains the same. So
when considering whether something is useful and valuable for us, we rely on others. We place
much higher trust in strong ties and in people who share our lifestyle than in celebrities,
bloggers, or hipsters. The common ways companies use to target influential people are
oversimplified. To measure influence, it’s just as important to measure how influenceable
someone is as how influential someone is.” — Paul Adams, Think Outside in
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregory_bastien/2574193550/

9. “Influence is fluid. It resides less in the node and more in the
interactions between the nodes. It is the interactions which change
the state of the group, not a change in the condition of the nodes
(think water H2O molecules and ice, water, steam...
... This means that giving interesting things to people to do together -
bringing them together around things they care about (through
shared purpose), to act on those things, has more value than spotting
the influencer and giving them some sort of message you expect
them to go off and influence others with.”
— David Cushman, Power of the Network
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkamp/2478311790/

10. “For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with
appearance, as though they were realities and are often more
influenced by the things that seems than by those that are.”
— Niccolo’ Machiavelli
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregory_bastien/2456611065/

11. “Influence is not just about the number of people that you have in your social
network. There is a much more complex dynamic in effect where your personal
store of social capital is used and accrued based on your interactions with those in
your network.” — Gavin Heaton, Servant of Chaos
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianauer/2076909553/

12. “It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to
which we are influenced by those we influence.”
— Eric Hoffer
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent http://www.conversationagent.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregory_bastien/2778902339