First of all – many thanks for the comment and I truly did enjoy your talk at Random House on Thursday. It was equally inspiring & necessary.

I also understand your trade show analogy but I think the complexities of BIP extend a little further. While yes, you don't have to “have a booth” – at the same time, CES or ABA aren't setting one up for you. Sure, the “conversation” is happening no matter what/everywhere but there wouldn't be a proverbial line of consumers waiting at a faux CES booth expecting an answer that might not ever arrive. I suppose this seems a bit similar to an issue 37signals (disclosure: 37s is an MWW client) had with Get Satisfaction back in March: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfa.... The argument there is a bit more granular and focused than the debate surrounding BIP but the principles are similar. 37s didn't feel comfortable with a third-party channel claiming itself to be an option for “official support.”

With this said, for companies looking to address communications issues the way Squidoo imagines the Brands in Public project working – then great, I'm sure it's a solid solution and product. As you've acknowledged in your follow-up post (which I've updated above with), you've changed the approach to be opt-in and I think that's a solid decision.

First of all – many thanks for the comment and I truly did enjoy your talk at Random House on Thursday. It was equally inspiring & necessary.

I also understand your trade show analogy but I think the complexities of BIP extend a little further. While yes, you don't have to “have a booth” – at the same time, CES or ABA aren't setting one up for you. Sure, the “conversation” is happening no matter what/everywhere but there wouldn't be a proverbial line of consumers waiting at a faux CES booth expecting an answer that might not ever arrive. I suppose this seems a bit similar to an issue 37signals (disclosure: 37s is an MWW client) had with Get Satisfaction back in March: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfa.... The argument there is a bit more granular and focused than the debate surrounding BIP but the principles are similar. 37s didn't feel comfortable with a third-party channel claiming itself to be an option for “official support.”

With this said, for companies looking to address communications issues the way Squidoo imagines the Brands in Public project working – then great, I'm sure it's a solid solution and product. As you've acknowledged in your follow-up post (which I've updated above with), you've changed the approach to be opt-in and I think that's a solid decision.