Read an interesting post over on Jeremiah Owyang’s Web Strategy blog.

Jeremiah argues that “a successful blog is a dialog between more than two people” and that you can see how you’re doing on the social scale doing by simply looking at your blog’s conversation rate (comments divided by posts).

OK, Jeremiah is a little above my level and his blog has a conversation rate of just over 7 (1,697 posts and 12,159 comments) but I couldn’t resist. Despite no guests appearances on social web panels or being invited to talk to Oprah about how I brought social fever to Acer (yeah right), and despite the fact that I live in the wrong continent for real 2.0 networking, this blog has a healthy rate of just over 4 (228 posts and 956 comments). Sure, nowhere near as impressive as Jeremiah or many others but at least there’s a conversation going on, even if it is in a whisper. ;-)

UPDATE (December 2008): Just rechecked my score and my conversion rate is now a fraction over 10 (227 posts and 2288 comments). :-D

Another important point Jeremiah focused on was the quantity and quality of both information and insight brought to the surface by the various replies. Or in other words: it’s fascinating to see what makes you “tick” and trying to get my words to “tock” in rhythm.

I know most visitors to this blog come here looking for tech support because Simone’s just soooo damned good (and cheap too!) but as the guy entrusted with the words that go into Acer’s brand and product identities, your replies and observations are at times total eye openers.

This blog has been live for nearly a year and a half now and I’ve long forgotten what it’s like to live behind a smokescreen. I’ll even admit to having occasional problems devising “mass messages for mass markets” now that my conversation is firmly entrenched here but it’s still the bread and butter of what I do.

And if you think about it, that’s the way it should be. “Meatballs” Seth Godin calls them and he’s absolutely 100% spot on. Those messages will continue to thrive as long as the product stays the same. As long as Acer notebooks continue to appear on BestBuy, Amazon or your local electronics outlet (see ad box below), Acer is making and selling nothing more than high-tech meatballs.

The urge to change (and it is a big one) depends on Acer creating a separate sundae. A new product, technology or story we can mould into a conversation worth having. There’s an awful lot in the pipeline now there are three of us and plenty of opportunities to start something new.

Change happens. Products come out of nowhere (look at the iPod) and transform the public’s perception of a business and the same could also be said about the Acer Gemstone. Up until the 5920 hit the streets, Acer’s notebooks were, if we’re honest, just a little bit on the safe side.

The “dependability-doesn’t-come-in-fancy-dress” ethic really took a hit from the Gemstone concept and the overwhelming success of that single model not only brought Acer’s dreary consumer line back into the limelight but finally gave the company and its customers something sizzling to talk about.

That’s a sundae.

Check out the energy in the replies to this post to see what I mean.

There’s a story to tell here and I hope to be able to continue it when the next line of products are announced.