'Let's talk about tampons'

Catchy title, eh?

Well, that was name of one of the slides used by Charlene Li in her Community 2.0 keynote, Tapping into the Groundswell, How to Create Your Community Strategy.

Charlene was talking about BeingGirl.com, an online community created "for girls, by girls" by Tampax, a company in the business of selling tampons.

Tampax used what Charlene called "POST" method in building its community:

• People – Assess your customers’ social activities
• Objectives – Decide what you want to accomplish
• Strategy – Plan for how relationships with customers will change
• Technology – Decide which social technologies to use

Good listening required

Charlene says that when she's asked, "So how do we get started?" it's usually a sign that companies haven't been paying attention, haven't been listening.

"How dare [they]!" Charlene said. "What kind of company wouldn't want to listen to its customers?"

David Weinberger is speaking next.