• Ad Age, Thursday, October 26, 2006 11:45 AM

Without a doubt, community-building has become the brand strategy of the year. Thanks to the MySpace revolution, traditional media companies, which used to be terrified of leaving their brands vulnerable to scrutiny, are now letting users interact with the writers and producers of their favorite shows.

For example, ABC's hit show "Grey's Anatomy" now has a hit blog, "Grey Matter," where writers interact with their hardcore fans. In a recent post, Allan Heinberg, a new writer for the series this season, wrote to fans: "...the way you write about the show, debate it, love and/or hate it carries an enormous amount of weight in the writers' room." That message endeared Heinberg to the show's faithful.

There's no doubt about it--feedback and word of mouth will continue to play a larger role than ever before in the way media is created and consumed. You can't be afraid of your audience, and you definitely can't be afraid of what they have to say about your brand. Otherwise, they'll sense you're not proud enough of what you represent to let it stand alone.

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