I knew I wouldn’t have to interact at such depth with a blog, but, frankly, most of the blog comments I read online were not ones I was eager too receive.

Now I know I was wrong. I started this blog in May, and it has enriched my life. I have been astonished by the high quality of the comments received. I have also been educated, amused, moved, corrected, encouraged. I personally read all the comments that are submitted, and after four months I have received not one obscene message, not one illiterate message, not one hostile message. Those few comments I have not published were not dumb or offensive, but simply things like well-wishes that I didn’t think most readers would be interested in.

Your comments have provided me with the best idea of my readers that I have ever had, and you are the readers I have dreamed of. I was writing to you before I was sure you were there. You are thoughtful, engaged, fair, and often the authors of eloquent prose. You take the time to craft comments of hundreds of words. Frequently you are experts, and generous enough to share your knowledge.

Reading the comments, for example, on my entries about special effects and 3-D, I found people who make a living in those fields, speaking from direct knowledge. There have been comments from directors, producers, screenwriters, cinematographers, critics. I seem to hear from who I need to hear from.

I was already familiar with Andrea’s work but hadn’t yet seen Nate’s blog which is titled Catch and Release. After taking a look I subscribed straightaway. He reports on a Brooklyn Public Library fundraiser filled with 20-30somethings and booze, and also shows us his neat looking org chart displaying where a library website could fit:

More, please!

Recently, they’ve been doing something different and really neat. They’ve been directly soliciting input about their company from blog readers. They’re being user-centered. Here are the types of questions they have been asking. Not that you necessarily care about the bike bits, but pay attention to the casual, friendly tone of their posts, and the questions they’re asking.

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Imagine a bunch of little Salsa Pepperman Elves running about and building all sorts of Christmas presents for the good cycling people of the world. Santa Pepperman is looking over his crew of elves making sure everything is just right. Now, imagine asking Santa Pepperman for just one new product from Salsa Cycles. What would “IT” be?
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Greetings folks. As you know we’ve been having a lot of discussion about designs and materials. Well, we are still having these discussions and we’ve got more questions. Today, I want to ask you for your feedback on cut to length seat tubes and press in bottom brackets.
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Salsa is taking a look at our packaging and we have a few goals:

Minimize the environmental costs by using minimal packaging, recycled materials, and recycleable materials when possible.

Obviously the packaging needs to accomplish a few other things as well:

Protect the product during shipping, sufficiently and efficiently brand the product, and possibly provide for efficient display of the product on the sales floor.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on bike part packaging. Please identify whether you are a consumer or bike dealer and shop staff.
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So, here goes….

Carbon fiber is everywhere in the bicycle world! Heck, we use it already on bars and seatstays on our successful Mamasita, Campeon & Moto Rapido frames.

Do you, our readers & customers, want Salsa to offer complete carbon frames and/or complete bikes?

If yes, what models or categories would you like to see?

If no, why?

Lastly, if you respond, could you please identify yourself as a dealer or a consumer?
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(I couldn’t find permalinks for their posts)

They don’t have to take every piece of advice or request that people make. Most importantly, they’re letting their customers (and fan base) have a say and that’s valuable to the fans, even if Salsa doesn’t take their advice. It shows they are interested in their customers, and who doesn’t like to have people interested in them? Beyond this, Salsa *can* use this info to get new ideas, as a general guide, or maybe even confirm hunches. They can mine the collective intelligence of people enthusiastic about their products.

It takes a bit of guts to open up your company (or institution) like this. Many organizations might be afraid of what they’d hear. I haven’t seen this type of exchange on a library website, but think this is what we should be aiming for.

Please let me know if you’ve seen libraries actively soliciting input about library services or materials on their website.