As leaders gather at the ARF to discuss research transformation, something big is happening…a new vision for research that creates a learning organization. To learn, we must listen…we must be able to hear the unexpected. That’s where social media, search, managed communities come in. People use THEIR words, rather than answer questions in your words. Look at what columnists for trade journals were saying about superbowl commercials and then look at the app the NY Times created to show twittering against a timeline. Very different! Somehow, I believe the twittering more than opinions of “pundits”. For a full description of my thoughts on this go to a recent blog interview with me by Toby at diva marketing. OK, so listening to social media is important but HOW do we do it? At our annual conference, we have created a one-stop “listening zone”. All the leaders in this space in one place where you can turbo-charge your knowledge about this space. On the sunday before our annual conference, you can even participate in social media bootcamp–admit you don’t know as much about twitter, blogging, facebook, creating a youtube channel…and do something about it. Listening is going to be a big part of the research value chain. Start embracing that.