Jan 31 2008

Hit the Road, Jack!

January 31, 2008 – 3:29 pm

I’ll be out and about quite a bit over the next few months, and hope to meet up with some of you.  The following is my speaking and conference schedule this winter/spring:

  1. General Dynamics Information Technology Marketing Meeting (private), lunch keynote on Social Media, February 1
  2. Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (attending): February 10-12
  3. PRSA Ft. Worth’s Professional Development Day on New/Social Media, running/speaking for all day conference: February 21
  4. Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association, speaking on social media: February 27
  5. MarketingProfs B2B 2.0 Expo, panel on B2B uses of Social Media,  online: March 5
  6. PRSA National Capital Chapter, lunch speaker in Tysons Corner, VA: March 6
  7. Human Capital Institute’s National Human Capital Summit in Phoenix, panelist on Attracting and Retaining the New Economy Workforce: GenX and Y (using social media), March 10
  8. MarketingProfs Online Seminar, presenting Re-Engineering marketing for a Social Media World: March 13
  9. Blogger Social ‘08, New York City (attending): April 4-6
  10. New Communications Forum in Sonoma, CA, two sessions with Kami Huyse: April 22-25
  11. BlogPotomac in Falls Church, VA, host: June 13

Plus Brian Solis and I will likely do an event or two for Now Is Gone.  I hope to meet many of you over the next few months!

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Livingston Communications | Comments (1)

Maggie Fox’s Take on Social Media Releases and More

January 31, 2008 – 12:10 pm

n681510503_7807On Monday, Maggie Fox took some time to talk about social media releases and more.  Our 13+ minute conversation was packed with great insights, and covered the following topics:

If you prefer to download, visit media.libsyn.com/media/geoliv/MFox.wav.

Also, don’t miss our companion interview with Shannon Whitley, who has been developing SMRs for two years now!

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Interviews, Podcasts | Comments (4)

Shannon Whitley Speaks on Social Media Releases

January 31, 2008 – 1:17 am

swhitley This week we are talking with Shannon Whitley, from the Voice of Tech blog about his experience with the social media release (SMR). Later today, we will also publish a podcast with Maggie Fox from the Social Media Group on the very same topic. Shannon currently works for a global law firm as the HR Systems Lead. He brings his experience of building interfaces and integrating systems to life with the Portable Release XML (PRX) format for the SMR to be distributed over newswires.

BB:  Tell us a little about your history with the SMR.

SW: In May 2006, I read a blog post by Shel Holz on a new template that some guy named Todd Defren had released in response to Tom Foremski’s famous rant, “Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die!”  I had been issuing press releases for some of my software products and found the process cumbersome and expensive.  When I saw Todd’s template, it immediately struck me as something that could be turned into an electronic document and used to streamline the press release process. I asked around to see if something like this already existed, but no one could point me to a working solution.

There is already a pretty good model for using electronic documents in the world of shareware distribution. I thought that the same model could be applied to the distribution of news, using the SHIFT template as a starting point. My goals were pretty simple: news authors would only need to write a release one time, and all of the pieces of the release would already be broken down and identified separately for easier distribution among the newswires’ computer systems. I worked on this idea for several weeks, and it resulted in the creation of the Portable Release XML (PRX) format.

Most people have a hard time relating to "geek talk" about electronic documents and XML schemas.  To help others see the potential uses for the technology, I created PRX Builder, a tool for generating Social Media News Releases.  Under the hood, it’s all XML, but the end result is a nicely-formatted news release.  The power in each PRX release is that it’s not only human-readable, but computer-readable as well.  This means that a newswire can pull in a release directly across the Internet.  It also means that pieces of a release can be displayed separately, depending on the needs of the reader.  For example, if a journalist only wants to see the photos in a release, no problem.  If someone is reading a release and wants to add the contact information to their experts’ database, it’s a simple mouse-click away.

I contacted Todd Defren in June of 2006 and we worked together on the first versions of PRX Builder. We later joined forces with PR Newswire and integrated with their distribution services. PRX Builder was released to the public in October of 2006. 

In addition to working on PRX Builder, in November 2006 I joined Chris Heuer’s New Media Release discussion group. By October of 2007, I decided that I could make a larger contribution to that group and took on a leadership role with the hRelease Working Group. The first draft of the hRelease working document was finished in December 2007and has been released for public comment.

As of today, the hRelease draft is still open for comment. I’m currently calling for additional feedback on the document and challenging more people to get involved in the review process.

BB: What is your hope for the SMR?

SW: I’d like to see the old-style news release adapt to the online world.  We can provide news consumers, be they professional journalists or casual readers, with rich, shareable content that can improve the impact of the news.  The Social Media News Release, at its core, is about making news easier to share, and providing more media in one place for news consumers.  My hope is that people will recognize that the Social Media News Release is not a disruptive, revolutionary approach.  It’s just the next step in the evolution of the press release. 

BB: What are your thoughts about the multiple groups now developing SMR initiatives?

SW: I’m encouraged by the work that is going on in these groups.  I want to see more experimentation with different approaches because we are all still trying to figure out what works best with new methods of display and distribution.

One thing I’d also like to see is that new products or services in this space reduce the hype in their announcements. One of my favorite social media commentators, Brian Solis, says that the SMNR is not just about technology, it’s about reducing the spin in our writing. It’s ironic that some of the recent releases about SMNR efforts have included so much hype.

Additionally, I’d like to see more sharing among these various groups. For instance, the hRelease project has been a public effort and is open to all, but most of the groups working on their own have elected not to participate. If you understand Social Media, then you understand that sharing content is a primary focus. We can’t share anything if all of our efforts are separate and distinct.  

BB: What do you think has to happen next for SMR’s success in general?

SW: Although many of us have worked diligently on these projects, it’s important that an established, professional group come forward and take ownership of this initiative.  I’m pleased to say that there will be a forthcoming announcement regarding this exact thing once details are ironed out.

BB: What’s your favorite aspect of social media?

SW: I love the creative aspect of writing new code and sharing my applications with people all over the world.  My work has also brought me many new online friends and I’m learning something from each one of them.  That part of social media, the education that comes from sharing, is probably my favorite part of these projects.

BB:  What do you think of corporations’ current efforts online?

SW: I’m pleased to see large corporations like Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola, Cisco, and Verizon issuing social media news releases.  The standard is being set now and I think it is only a matter of time before all releases have at least one version that is geared for online consumption. 

Where we are lagging is in the exploration of new, better distribution processes.  The newswires should provide simple, inexpensive solutions for distributing news in an online format.  Many people have been calling for this for a long time and I am still looking forward to a time when boring, plain-text releases are not the norm.

Q: What’s next for Shannon Whitley?

SW: TBD

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Larissa Fair | Posted in Interviews | Comments (3)
Jan 30 2008

The Age and Influence of Social Media

January 30, 2008 – 10:44 am

It’s been interesting to see the flurry of activity among Web 2.0 consultants and gurus who are attending technology conferences. From CES to MacWorld to DEMO, blogs are nearly bursting with information and updates. Twitter has been on fire resulting in recruiting new users but also contributing to unfortunate downtime.

(Photo credit: Flickr)

Web 2.0Social media’s appeal as a great way to share information at those conferences is its live, direct to the constituent delivery. More and more corporations are turning to it as a solution for creating much needed community interaction. The New York Times reported that blogs focusing on business travel are on the rise, seeking a new market of users.

This proves the users themselves are changing, becoming more corporate. By catering to an older, more professional demographic (like business travel or even religious interests), companies can capitalize on loyal readers who are engaging and provide value.

Finding the correct older audience gives you not only readers who care about a topic (as opposed to teenagers who tend to be fickle), but ones who have solid backgrounds, knowledge and expertise. Gauging this loyalty is very valuable in determining the true success of a product or brand.

So What?

This is more than a cultural phenomenon, I think social media will soon become something that is integrated into our everyday life, as much as browsing the web or writing an email. As professionals, we must recognize this shift and develop our skills to stay relevant and close the gap between younger social media marketers and older PR pros.

Citizen journalism and the fifth estate is creating an environment that pushes everyday people into roles as market influencers. Fast Company came out with an article interviewing Duncan Watts who states that targeting influencers doesn’t make sense and can be seen as a “wasted effort”, even though (according to the article):

…more than $1 billion is spent a year on word-of-mouth campaigns targeting Influentials, an amount growing at 36% a year, faster than any other part of marketing and advertising. That’s on top of billions more in PR and ads leveled at the cognoscenti.

Certainly, there could be some truth to his critique, however other evidence points to the contrary. Social media has behind it the power of links, word of mouth and the ability to create relationships that push people together to become an interactive, engaging community. It gives power back to the masses and provides something that traditional media can’t compete with. A voice.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Larissa Fair | Posted in Social Networks | Comments (6)
Jan 29 2008

Federal Social Media Accelerates

January 29, 2008 – 12:17 pm

275650488_371ef6631c Since the last time we covered federal social media en masse (Federal Blogging Poised to Take Off) your government has done more to embrace the latest communication tools! In fact, the federal government’s social media usage has begun in earnest, and is enjoying a healthy period of adoption (Image credit: Lynn).

Consider the following widespread adoption of "Government 2.0 (yuck!):"

The examples go on and on. Internal wikis, social networks, etc. Heck, friend and ultra-open social media expert Shel Israel speak here in DC at a Social Media for Government conference.

Difficulties in Federal Social Media

Yet there are challenges ahead. Perhaps the biggest seems to be the inordinate amount of control that public sector organizations want in their social media efforts.  Political PR revolves around command and control, and most of these organizations will not give it up. 

Controlling the message can be a maniacal endeavor for these organizations… And one that just flattens the liveliness of public sector social media efforts. It will probably take an act of courage for one of these organizations to loosen the message control and unleash the power of social media. But once one does it…

Next is the ongoing astroturf problem that occurs in Washington.  And don’t kid yourself, FEMA got busted, but others are doing it both in and out of the government.

Lastly, the general contracting community in DC has yet to adapt to social media.  Yeah, I hear you. No one wants a Halliburton or Blackwater blog.  But what about one for the F-35 joint strike fighter project?  Federal contractors have a lot to gain from social media, yet they fear it.  They are even more reactionary than their customers. It may be the mid-tier to small contractors who start before Lockheed, Raytheon and the like begin.

Fear of reprisal and negative public backlash really hurts federal social media. Consider how many black eyes the government and its contractors take for even the slightest wrong.  As a result, social media has been stunted, and comments are rare.  If comments do occur, they are often done through an anonymous handle.

Still much progress has been made. DC has the largest Facebook community in the country. And a regime change cannot hurt as the Bush administration’s communications policy has been very control oriented. More shall be revealed…

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Social Networks | Comments (4)

Goodness Gracious, Great Blogs of Fire!

January 29, 2008 – 2:26 am

BoF2008The hot word for the week is widget. At least according to Nick O’Neill at the Social Times and Jeremiah Owyang. Based on their posts, widgets are going to become more important in developing web strategy for various targeted audiences.

Michael Morton at Marketing Monster claims that Technorati has become irrelevant. He declares that spam has hurt the search engine, forcing it to feed into “useless tripe”.

Does social media as the fifth estate cause people to become even more critical of traditional media? Crisisblogger reports on a few examples and asks the tough question.

Matt McDonald gives us a comprehensive list of posts that he claims will make you a better marketer. From content to conversation, he covers a wide base of tips from some top bloggers.

Interested in Google Adwords? Clix Marketing shares some of the most recent changes and updates to the content.

Digg users will be interested in David Binkowski’s post on the recent uproar resulting from Digg altering its algorithms. The battle between “Power Users” and the site operators continues on, although in the end it’s apparent that nobody will really come out on top from controversial change.

The lines of ethics for bloggers unfortunately continue to be blurred, and even Mark Cuban has become a victim. On his blog he cites an incident with a journalist who also happens to be a blogger, and asks us whether or not the journalist/blogger’s actions were ethical.

The real power of word of mouth marketing is discussed at the Marketing Whore. Gracie gives results from a recent study on the value of word of mouth.

Do you work from home? The benefits of telecommuting, working for yourself and flexible schedules are outlined by ReadWriteWeb, with another view by consultant Kami Huyse.

If you’re interested in DEMO ‘08, check out this website for updates on the conference from our client and friends at StackSafe. It’s a cool place to see their real-time Twitter updates, interesting links to others who are blogging or writing about DEMO, and get the overall scoop from the front lines.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Larissa Fair | Posted in Blogs of Fire | Comments (0)
Jan 28 2008

Fifth Estate Trends Continue: Survival of the Fittest Newspapers

January 28, 2008 – 2:56 am

In continuing trends outlined in the social media manifesto, “Welcome to the Fifth Estate,” the traditional media establishment continues to respond to social media adoption. Consider the following three news stories from last week:

1) The New York Times lauded fifth estate citizen journalism as innovative means for receiving news.The paper cited presidential campaign use of Twitter as well as the use of mil-blogs to report on the Iraq war.

2) Other news outlets have followed the NY Times stunning move to open its content and the corresponding large jump in traffic the paper received. The Times opened up to compete more effectively with newer social media outlets. The Atlantic Monthly, a political and cultural mainstay, and the Wall Street Journal announced they will follow suit, and make all or most of their content free to Internet readers.

These publications are actively moving towards their readerships’ media consumption habits. Perhaps they will enjoy the same success as the New York Times did.

mediatrendreport

3) At the same time, some newspapers have failed to adapt, and are not serving their communities.  Monopoly power has made them drunk on power. A recent WaPost article guest written by The Wire’s David Simon (found through Wikinomics’ Denis Haycock) discussed the trials and tribulations of the Baltimore Sun, and its failure to serve the majority of local citizens:

At the moment when the Internet was about to arrive, most big-city newspapers — having survived the arrival of television and confident in their advertising base — were neither hungry, nor worried, nor ambitious…

So in a city where half the adult black males are unemployed, where the unions have been busted, and crime and poverty have overwhelmed one neighborhood after the next, the daily newspaper no longer maintains a poverty beat or a labor beat. The city courthouse went uncovered for almost a year at one point. The last time a reporter was assigned to monitor a burgeoning prison system, I was a kid working the night desk.

Simon goes on to account for further changes through the internet era, and the ultimate demise of quality in many newsrooms across America.

Per the Fifth Estate manifesto, "While still authoritative, the media no longer enjoys complete trust. The Fifth Estate — citizen media — brings to bear unreported yet relevant news, and questions stated facts.  Indeed, in some cases the media has welcomed social media, using it to augment its own research."

These three stories show the symbiotic relationship between online social media and traditional newspapers continues to strengthen.  Sacrificing quality yields less subscribers, and at the same holding quality from online readers only also yields lower readership.  Listening to the community, serving the community with open great content does seem to work. The Fifth Estate works with the Fourth to create the 21st century’s composite media picture.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in PR | Comments (3)
Jan 26 2008

K.D. Paine Podcast Part II

January 26, 2008 – 7:01 pm

On Thursday, we ran part one of our interview with measurement guru K.D. Paine, author of the new book, Measuring Public Relationships.  In part II we discuss:

  • A tangent between K.D. Paine  and Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae
  • The power and relevancy of the Cluetrain Manifesto
  • Journalism and blogging tied together
  • K.D.’s favorite blogging moment
  • Her next book, which will focus more on actual tales of relationship building through social media

If you prefer to download, visit media.libsyn.com/media/geoliv/KDPaineII.wav.

In addition to the new book, K.D. recently released a paper with Pauline Draper and Angela Jeffrey, titled, Using Public Relations Research to Drive Business Results.  From Kami Huyse’s review:

It includes six case studies and a measurement matrix that gives suggested measurement tools for specific objectives.  If you are just starting out with public relations measurement, this is a great tool to get your feet wet.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Interviews, Podcasts | Comments (0)

TechCocktail’s Frank Gruber Interview on Now Is Gone

January 26, 2008 – 10:55 am

TechCocktail Founder Frank Gruber, (also product manager of social media platforms at AOL) interviewed me recently on Now Is Gone.  This video interview discusses some of the genesis of Now Is Gone, a primer for execs and entrepreneurs on new media!



Frank’s blog Somewhat Frank is one of the better social media blogs out there with more than 33K subs. His TechCocktail series has brought online to real life, forging great relationships.  A very good friend of Now Is Gone compatriot in crime Brian Solis, Frank is one the DC region’s brightest social media minds, and one of our keynotes for BlogPotomac.  I sat on a panel discussing social media with Frank at the New New Internet conference this past November, and have stayed in touch since.

It was a thrill to be interview by him. Thanks, Frank!

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Interviews, Livingston Communications | Comments (0)
Jan 25 2008

New Fashionable Condom: Must-Have for Fashion Week

January 25, 2008 – 9:30 am

 

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is unveiling a new condom brand, Proper Attire, as a fashionable “must” have this season. Featuring a chic package with a unique fig leaf print, the brand is aimed at making women more comfortable buying protection and taking care of themselves.

“Social taboos make women embarrassed to buy condoms, that’s why Proper Attire was created,” PPFA President Cecile Richards is quote as saying in TickerTech.com. “With it’s fashionable wrapping, women will now have the option to choose the right ‘attire’ for that special occasion. Responsible decisions about sex are everybody’s personal fashion statement.”

I think it’s brilliant. Set to coincide with Fashion Week and Valentine’s Day with a Feb 1 launch, Proper Attire has the ability to create just the right amount of buzz. The firm Corbin & Associates, who specialize in brand building and who feature a long list of clients that include Sephora, Nabisco and Crabtree and Evelyn, has been tapped to drive the strategy and messaging. And from what I can tell they’ve taken a subject that make most women blush and found a way to make it hip.

They’ve added a level of fun to their strategy. Proper Attire comes in four styles — regular, color, dots and extra large. It does present women with a variety of options, whatever their mood may be.

Aimed toward women 18-34, the condoms will be found at boutique hotels and upscale nightclubs. To kick it off, the PR team will give out a sample distribution in “stylish” New York neighborhoods, as well as targeting celebrity endorsements and PPFA advocates.

I’d say their PR team did something right. I am one of those women who blush at the mere mention of condom, but at the same time I am a woman who takes pride in being stylish and ahead of the curve. I will check out Proper Attire …

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michele Capots | Posted in PR | Comments (2)