In the past 2 days, I was asked what Hoi Polloi means. I mentoned the Greek definition, about the ‘masses.’ If I may reiterate, since this web log has been around for over a year, it is based on my marcom philosophy that ordinary people –and not ‘brand managers’ have more control over the messages. Hoi Polloi is about intelligent end-users who are participants –not ‘targets.’

So it was serendipitous that I got a link from Monty Metzger of CScout reporting from a conference on Swarm Inteligence, in Germany. It seems like an extension of Howard Rheinghold’s ideas. Rheingold, is the man behind the concept of ‘smart mobs’ as outlined in his brilliant book on the subject, published a few years back.

The 10th German Trend Day featured topics on knowledge management, advertising, word-of-mouth communication, teen culture, and social networks.

Swarm Intelligence holds that "The majority is cleverer than each of its members."  My favorite example, is podcasting. I am writing an article for IABC magazine on the subjest, so if anyone has some really good examples of podcasts being used for branding, guerilla marketing, or something truly innovative, send me a link, or post your message here.