It’s easy to get excited about the ‘new new thing’ and forget that principles don’t change that quickly. So when Anna Farmery described her farming ancestor bringing cattle to market, she said that he would be judged on his reputation. You see, reputation and social networks have always existed.
After a century of mass production supported by mass advertising, we’re returning to a more organic approach to marketing and promotion using social media tools like blogs and podcasts. (To keep the analogy going, some farmers are returning to organic principles in order to capture a more lucrative and sustainable niche. Remember that all farming was once organic so this approach is old, not new.)
One of these organic marketing promotional tools might be podcasting, but it is only a tool, not a strategy.
Most engaging of all, Anna spoke for over 90 minutes with little need for technology. Social media is often merely an attempt to replicate the authentic experience of people talking to people.
PR Studies 
It does seem strange to refer to speaking face to face with someone as ‘authentic’ though, even in these modern times we live in.
Richard it was a privilege to come to talk to your students. The reason why I enjoyed it so much, was that there was interaction…a desire to probe , to understand, to challenge…for me business leaders have a role to play in keeping that spirit alive when the students enter the world of PR and marketing. Curiosity is so often stifled and yet curiosity is a huge gift to have within the team. Thank you for a wonderful time
Richard I really enjoyed todays talk by Anna Farmery. What a fantastic speaker!
The idea that concepts come a full circle is really interesting and something which I have thought about before and it was great to look at it from a social networking point of view.
I too would like to stress how much I enjoyed Anna’s talk!
I have taken her advice and downloaded some of the podcasts she recommended and found them to be really useful as hearing what we talk about in theory put into a real context makes their importance far clearer.