Today, we had the great fortune of talking with John Palfrey, co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.  John and his colleague Urs Gasser co-wrote a great new book, Born Digital. 

John talks almost as fast as I do, but he thinks even faster -- and bigger.  In our hour together, John switched seamlessly from the impact of Digital Natives on the future of democracy to privacy to productivity. 

While all of it was fantastic, my favorite bit came at the end: the Berkman Center does not have a communications department.  Instead, they have community organizers.  I've written about this subject before, so I was excited to find a compatriot out there thinking similar thoughts.  Is communications part of community organizing?  Yes.  Is community organizing part of communications?  We want it to be, but it isn't yet.  

Over the last 60 years, marketing and communications have been centered around the idea of talking AT people.  Think about it in terms of the language we use when we talk about communications: we "deploy" "campaigns" to "target" markets.  It's all militaristic and linear.  I'm guilty of using the same language and thinking the same way.

But the way people expect to be communicated with -- and WITH is the operative word here -- is different now.  They don't want to be talked to, they want to be part of a conversation.  You know that.  I know you know that.  But the steps  we're taking to create that conversation are not good enough.

• You can't just have comments on your blog, you have to comment on THEIR blogs.
• You can't just ask people to email you with ideas, you have to respond to those emails.
• You can't just start a group in Facebook, and then only message at them.

Communications is more about listening than it is about talking -- and demographics and user surveys don't count as listening any more. 

You need to go deeper.  You need to listen harder.  You need to add value to existing conversations as much or more than you try to start your own.  You need to hear what people are asking for, and then help them get it.  That's what community organizers do.

So let me ask you: do you really need your communications department? 

Share with us in the comments (be sure to include your name), and we'll select a few of you to receive John's book!