Giovanni Rodriguez, one of the earliest communications practitioners to work in social media on behalf of clients, has launched a new social media consulting firm, SocialxDesign. The agency is an independent strategy firm that was developed as an incubator project at Eastwick, a technology communication agency where Rodriguez worked from 2002 to 2006.

SocialxDesign, according to an Eastwick press release, is “focused on helping businesses, government agencies and NGOs to remake themselves for the socially networked economy. SoxialxDesign will enable organizations to grow, reduce costs and increase their market value by engaging and empowering people in their ecosystems – customers, employees, industry partners – to take an active part in remaking the enterprise.”

In this FIR interview, Giovanni talked with FIR co-host Shel Holtz about the new firm, how it’s structured and his vision for its future. He also talks about one of SocialxDesign’s inaugural clients, The White House.

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About our Conversation Partner

Before launching SocialxDesign, Giovanni Rodriguez served as a senior member of the social-technology team at Deloitte Consulting, chief marketing officer for a publicly traded company, and managing partner of The Conversation Group (TCG), one of the first social-technology consulting firms.

Giovanni has consulted for numerous B2B leaders such as The New York Stock Exchange, SAP, Alcatel-Lucent, and Verizon Business, as well as leading consumer brands such as General Mills, Unilever, and Best Buy. He is also known for his work in positioning technology companies in transition, including FAST Search and Transfer (now Microsoft), Ribbit (now British Telecom), JAJAH (now Telefonica), and VMware, where he worked with the team that led the company’s entry into the enterprise software market (in 2000).

Giovanni is a founding fellow at the Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) and a board member at Latinos for Social Media (LATISM). He is a graduate of Princeton University and an MSc candidate at the University of London.

Connect with Giovanni on Twitter at @giorodriguez.

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This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music – On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)