Conversations with a writer: 'Everybody wants to be clever…everyone wants that Oreo moment'

I'm on this mini search as it relates to the web, digital marketing and social media. I've been around for a long time - 16 years. It seems that things are getting more automated and more back slaps are given for the ability to dissect a link and knowing that Person X clicked on something 10 times. Yet we've seemed to lose the innate part of social media and the digital web - having the patience and the skill to really know who Person X is and what makes them tick. 

So I'm having conversations with people. Alot of them. Writers, designers, strategists, non digital people, content producers, executives, you name it. I'll be documenting a series of our chats on this blog. I will also be withholding their names, out of respect for their livelihoods. 

The first of these Conversations happened today with an old friend, solid writer, digital analytics expert music lover.  Here are some excerpts from the talk.

"There used to be a time when being a community manager was about getting to know people…today it’s just doing an ad buy. It’s not about listening to the audience anymore. It used to be a hybrid situation – a cross section between Marketing, PR and overall communications."

"Twitter takes time to build, get to know people, build a relationship. Today it's assumed that a Twitter ad buy can do that - it can't.You still need to time to cultivate a following."

"Big brands want some of the massive followings regular everyday people have. They have those followings because they took the time. They are also CREDIBLE. Brands try to just bought that type of following/traffic."

What say you reader, would you agree?