Re. tag clouds – I’ve never got them and don;t have one on my website. They strike me as the web equivalent of sticky dot voting: dots attract dots, and big bold type attracts clicks. Tag clouds strike me as a visual manifestation of the bell curve and can serve to reinforce the felt marginalisation of the people whose interests lie on either side of the hump: big and bold is good, small and non-bold is fringe.

I’m looking forward to the next iteration of your presentation. Good work … warm thanks.

Nick – absolutely – I think we’ll see more strategic tools and workshops to help clients work out exactly what it is that they *need* and develop a common language around all this cool stuff before they look at any tech… maybe… I know some great outfits who go to great lengths to ensure that the client knows what they are getting into, so it’s happening already…

Steve – ah yes – hence my early warning – it’s a boisterous presentation rather than a diplomatic thought piece, not forgetting that in some areas, I am one of these ‘early adopters’ of course… Always hated lurker, and always thought ‘converting’ them wasn’t a goer – unless it’s in a suitable social context.

I don’t think that people measure their tag clouds any more than they might google themselves (I’m an alcoholic TV presenter I think), but there’s a little bit of something a weenie bit odd about it all if you ask me, and the use of language around the tools definitely infers a relationship between contact list size/tag cloud name bigness and importance…

I’m wondering then what techniques can be used to help people appreciate where their boundaries are. We wont want everyone to go down the ultra immersed route only to find they’d be happier phoning their mate for a yack.