By “encouraged to,” I mean by their employers. And maybe I mean “required to.”
I’m talking about having some sort of online communication with readers, customers, or users. Being able to find books by that person, or websites geared towards selling his or her products, or links to academic articles published by other content providers, does not address this need for me.
A biography helps, but I’d like to have some writing or insight into the person’s current projects and thought processes. I’m disappointed when there is no blog, Twitter stream, or Facebook page for me to follow or link to. I want to discuss that person’s ideas with my colleagues and friends.
I don’t just want to see the finished product for sale. There are so many books I could buy, so many courses I could take, so many sources of information and products that I want to know something deeper that differentiates and draws me in.
The examples that are currently relevant to me are reporters and professors.
I’m linking up my learning, gathering, curating it. I want to know about the sources of my information, and if I admire that source, I love being able to follow them in a more continuous way.
Do you agree, or is this less important to you? What other jobs fall into this category for you?
