Everyone knows the interactive web (Web 2.0 if you like Americanisms) is changing the way we gain information on products, services and subjects we like, or just buy an increasing number of things. However, Australian business is getting left behind in this evolving interactive online world as consumers forge their own paths.

Online conversation (two-way interaction and engagement, not just one-way posting of a point of view) is no longer the domain of nerds or internet-addicts. It now incorporates mainstream Australia. However, Australian business and government is largely ignoring this opportunity to speak directly and interact with their customers and consumers.

Yesterday, Edelman issued a research report to clients which monitors conversation in myriad Australian online locations, including: forums, social networking sites, blogs and other user generated content sites. These sites, increasing in number and popularity, allow for conversation between interested, passionate and knowledgeable brand and issue advocates; key drivers of trust and credibility.

Whether it is because business is uncomfortable, or does not understand how to effectively conduct social media campaigns, consumers are filling the void as they seek information from people like themselves.

For those who believe it’s as simple as a blog, a rude shock: blogs are less popular here than social networking sites (such as Facebook) and forums (such as Whirlpool.net.au), and Aussie blog post numbers are in gradual decline (in fact the lowest in Asia). This doesn’t mean blogs don’t have a place – but in Australia we’re more attracted to the subject, than the person who has a view on it. This is quite different to Japan or the US where blogs are dominant source of online conversation – Japanese blog entries having recently overtaken English language blog entries.

However, all is not lost for local businesses or government entities that want to engage or even be “friends” with their consumers or stakeholders. There are many things you can do to engage with consumers and advocates online: start ceding control of the brand message.

While this sounds scary, even crazy, many Australian businesses or government bodies treat communications with customers as if they are within a walled garden and try and control or “spin” the message. Sound familiar? This may have worked when the many channels for conversation online didn’t exist. However, nowadays people just go around the walls you create and talk about you anyway. And you probably don’t even know it because you’re not monitoring it because you think the conversation only exists within the walls you’ve created.

To address this business now needs to convene, collaborate and aggregate. Recognise that the conversation exists beyond your walls. Embrace it, and participate in an open, transparent and frequent manner to build trust with stakeholders that matter to you.

Be it, don’t buy it: One of the biggest mistakes organisations make is “build it and they will come”. Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams mantra does not work here. The Australian new media space is littered with corpses of corporate portals (Scape, Tribe, et al) imposed onto a public, rather than built from the bottom up, driven by consumer conversation. Be part of your market, understand it and converse by adding value as an informed peer.

Curate, don’t create: Communities innovate. They provide vision, creativity and passion. They collectively know more about your products or services than you. They always have, the difference now is that the interactive web provides the tools for them to more effectively share their experiences. Harness the credibility and creativity of these communities around their passion and be part of it, rather than popping an ad on a site and waiting for the click-throughs.

More (often) is better: The deeper and more frequent the conversation, the deeper the relationship between you and your customers or other stakeholders.

Engaging in an interactive online environment is a different mindset that business and government needs to embrace – in five years we’ll all be doing it and wonder what all the fuss was about. To get there business needs to move from “messages sent” to “opinions sought”, from “talking at” to “engaging with”. Australian business and government needs to be part of the conversation if they are to remain relevant to consumers.