Apr 30 2008

Who Cares About Twitter?

April 30, 2008 – 8:27 am

tweet Most people in the Web 2.0 tech community know what Twitter is. We love it so much that we use it for work and for fun, and consistently tout its advantages despite long periods of unplanned downtime and the overwhelming nature of 24×7 microblogging.

(Photo credit: Geek and Poke)

But, is Twitter really the wave of the future? Will the general public be quick to adopt this as a new tool to keep in touch, keep track of, share links, and converse with their networks of friends and family?

I’m in my 20’s, supposedly one of the main adopters of Twitter and like services. None of my friends have a clue what Twitter is, and many aren’t even on Facebook (or, if they are, they rarely log in and interact).

Will this continue to be another Web 2.0 service for the “tech elite”? What about the other Web 2.0 companies that are fighting for a piece of the pie? From Sandhill.com:

Something like Twitter is ground breaking in terms of breakout adoption, but what about the other 10,000 startups?

Twitter has received so much press and start-up hype because it’s largely used by a community of influencers, which is fueling its growth. According to top tech bloggers, media sites, PR firms, social media marketers, and more, it appears that Twitter IS the wave of the future. It’s proven to be changing the way we communicate with each other, gather information, and network. In terms of the larger picture of technology and innovation that’s set to change the world, is Twitter really that important?

For businesses, it may be that important. Companies have an even bigger stake in getting involved with Twitter. ComcastCares proves it’s a unique way to engage customers. Are they reaching a large majority of their customers this way though? Comcast is barely reaching 1,250 users on Twitter. How did they communicate before Twitter? Before blogs? What was their disaster plan?

It’s easy to get caught up in something when your entire community is engaged. But, consider life beyond the glowing reviews, fast-track adoption rates and VC funding. If the greater Web 2.0 and tech community suddenly moves away from Twitter, then how will that impact the service? While our community is certainly attached to Twitter, is the rest of the world? That remains to be seen, and so far the jury is out.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Larissa Fair | Posted in Internet Marketing, Social Networks | Comments (18)
Apr 29 2008

Goodness Gracious, Great Blogs of Fire!

April 29, 2008 – 6:34 am

2008blogsoffire3 Allen Sterns of CenterNetworks reports that the professional network site LinkedIn shows growth up to 319 percent compared to Facebook’s 98 percent. Sterns says, “A year ago the Facebook fans claimed LinkedIn was dead and that Facebook would replace LinkedIn as the business networking tool of choice. I haven’t seen that happen and if anything, I’ve seen more LinkedIn requests than Facebook requests lately.”

Jason Falls answers how PR pros gets placement on blogs in Social Media Explorer. According to Falls, PR pros don’t get placement on blogs because don’t have placements, rather stores. He also sites that the biggest hurdle for PR pros is “the disconnect between media outlets and bloggers as media.”

Just as the Buzz Bin discusses customer service let downs, Andy Sernovitz’s Damn I Wish I Thought of That reiterates the need for excellent customer service. He states that companies should not hide their problems and that they should ask their customers for help and advice on how to fix the issues. Andy also cites Dell’s Ideastorm as an example.

Five Blogs Before Lunch’s David Isben provides three steps towards improving a professional marketer’s reputation. Isben’s steps are in reference to the “bad press” that marketers get and his claim that they’re “simply misunderstood.” He says, “Our [marketers] ability to quietly, and deftly present organizations, which might otherwise be overlooked, to the American public is unparalleled.”

Gyutae Park of Winning the Web lists 11 steps to building an indestructible authority site. “…you can build a site with potential long term value without constantly looking over your shoulder for penalties and copycats. In the end, authority sites will rule the web,” states Gyutae. Among the eleven steps are write posts that build off your expertise, use confident language and take a stance, and make friends with the top people in your industry.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Marinel Mones | Posted in Blogs of Fire | Comments (0)

Public Relations by Association(s)

April 29, 2008 – 5:34 am

Last Friday’s conference for PRSA’s Nonprofit/Association section, “PR 2.0: Riding the Social Media Wave,” was a big draw for the District’s 501(c)-something crowd. You might not know many of the attending groups, but this could change as they move into the digital era. Hey, the train doesn’t leave the station without the caboose!

Is it a “Wave” or a Slip-n-Slide?

slipnslide

Without question, the association world is taking strides in public relations and marketing. As with other sectors, you’ll find plenty of hemming, hawing and urgency here. (Photo credit: brodiemanlsue)

As membership-driven entities, associations often know what their stakeholders need before the members themselves have a clue. Sometimes it’s the other way around. And depending on the association, the members may or may not keep in touch before and after in-person events. Oh, the limitless possibilities to stay in touch with members, foster dialogue with each other, and create useful knowledge-sharing channels for all. It’s no surprise that most of PR professionals at this event represented associations.

I was lucky to speak alongside Jeff De Cagna, who could tell you a thing or two about the slip-and-slide nature of the association community’s group effort in this area. Jeff keeps associations on their toes through his private practice, Principled Innovation. He also yells at his audience.

During his presentation on the adoption of social technologies by different demographic groups, Jeff paced among the crowd, weaving through tables and chairs, pleading (if not preaching): “We have all these tools, but we’re scared to death of them. [You say] ‘Oh my God! The members might actually talk to each other!!’ I say, ‘FANTASTIC.’”

Jeff recently launched an interesting formula to help clients strategically approach social technology: P.R.E.P. (purpose, readiness, experimentation, practice). It could very well apply to your own issue at hand.

Influencing Leadership

Later in the day, Jeff joined my mild-mannered panel with Melanie Miller, VP of PR for The Sugar Association, Inc, moderated by Aaron Ellis, Director of Communications for the American Association of Port Authorities. (Pictured below – Aaron’s standing.)

Aaron Ellis, Jeff De Cagna, Melanie Miller, Qui Diaz

We wrapped up the event with a frank discussion on senior leadership hurdles to adopting social media. It comes down to one secret: you have to do whatever it takes to get people on board.

  • Present the facts: find your audience online, see what your competitors are up to, and point out opportunities to improve the situation.
  • Highlight examples: the people who are doing this right want to be spotlighted; use their work as case study and to help expand the comfort zone.
  • Provide a personal experience: Have a wary CEO who doesn’t get it? Set him up with a blogging platform, LinkedIn account or other hands-on training wheels.

Daryl McCullough (Paine PR), Brian Reich (Echo Ditto) and Howard Mortman (New Media Strategies and his delightful blog, Extreme Mortman) also spoke. Brian is a new personal hero: check out his blog, Thinking About Media.

Among those in attendance: Mark Coindreau, PR Manager of the the American Payroll Association, Amanda Bednar (another PR Manager) for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, and Elizabeth Griffin and Jennifer Hardy from Catholic Relief Services. Thanks to all those who brought great questions and commentary to the forefront.

Looking for more association resources? Take a look at ASAE’s Acronym blog and Jeff’s wiki about social media for associations. They’ll help you maneuver the plunge.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Qui Diaz | Posted in PR | Comments (4)
Apr 28 2008

BlogPotomac: Lionel Menchaca Gives Keynote Preview

April 28, 2008 – 3:03 pm

Lionel_menchaca_2
This interview was originally posted to Debbie Weil’s blog. Debbie interviewed Keynote Speaker Lionel Menchaca in advance of BlogPotomac.

With BlogPotomac coming up in seven weeks (hey, register here), I asked Dell Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca to tell us a bit more about Direct2Dell and Dell’s other community (aka social media) initiatives. Lionel is giving the opening keynote on Friday June 13, 2008.

BadgeblogpotomacNote: In keeping with the unconference format (see here and here) of BlogPotomac, Lionel and the other speakers will be delivering informal presentations – no PowerPoint – with plenty of time for Q&A with attendees.

Debbie: Does your Dell business card say “Chief Blogger” on it? Was it your idea to give yourself that title and what, in fact, does it mean?

Lionel: No, because I haven’t ordered more cards yet. It will though. It was my idea, and the main reason was to reflect our expansion beyond one centralized blog. We now have blogs in several languages as well as three group blogs: Cloud Computing, Inside IT and Small Business. And more will be coming soon.

As we expand, part of my job is to know what is happening across all of these sites. Ultimately though, my job is to help our customers find the information they’re looking for. Sometimes I may point to a discussion that’s happening on one of our other blogs. Other times, I may contribute posts on other blogs. The title Chief Blogger seemed to communicate that in a straightforward way, so I went with it.

Dellblog

Debbie: Blogosphere watchers say it took Dell an awfully long time (a year) to start its corporate blog after Jeff Jarvis’s Dell Hell blog rant. Tell us briefly how and why Dell’s blog got started.

Lionel: Our work in this space began just over two years ago when Michael Dell asked our group to find customers in the blogosphere who were blogging about hardware issues to provide technical support. Several weeks into that process, we shared a broader social media strategy plan with Michael–Direct2Dell was part of that. We launched the blog in July, 2006.

Debbie: You are one of the first companies to publish your blog(s) in languages other than English. Are there plans for more languages? (Note: there is a “global community” section on Dell’s Community page.)

Lionel: Yes, we currently also have blogs in Spanish, Chinese and Norwegian. Japanese will be coming soon, and we’re planning for more languages beyond that.

Debbie: Real estate on a corporate home page is precious. I see a prominent link to Dell Community (Ideas, Blogs, Forums, Videos) on Dell’s home page. Tell us about that.

Dellcommunity
Lionel: Having a community link on Dell.com is a small part of a bigger long-term strategy to blend community and commerce. For the most part, corporate websites (including Dell.com) are focused largely on e-commerce. Another small step is to incorporate ratings and reviews, which we started last year. We are working on long-term strategies to blend community elements into the commerce side of things. Stay tuned.

Debbie: What has been your most challenging experience so far as Dell Chief Blogger?

Lionel: I would say weathering the negativity storm in the early days of the launch of the blog was probably the toughest. I was prepared for a rough ride because we had been listening for a while before we launched the blog, but that in itself didn’t make things easier.

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

jetBlue Delivers a Systematic Customer Service Letdown

April 28, 2008 – 2:14 am

jetblue-airways.pngjetBlue airlines has experienced its fair share of ups and downs online. First, it had a fantastic blog, then failed to use it when a series of flight cancellations crippled the airline on Valentine’s Day, 2007. Instead the airline produced a late and often jeered at YouTube mia culpa from former CEO David Neeleman.

jetBlue’s latest foray into social media occurs on Twitter. Unfortunately, a series of events last week demonstrated that while responsive, jetBlue Twitterer Morgan Johnston cannot affect change for the airline.

Two posts on my personal blog — Boo! jetBlue and jetBlue Adds Insults to Injury — detailed a series of bad experiences that occurred last week on different flights. In short:

  • Lost e-ticket flight change in Oakland
  • Oakland n-site manager chastised me for not booking e-ticket “in time,” then qualified me for extra security screening
  • On return flight, outdoor baggage clerk asks for tip
  • Bag gets lost in Oakland, causing additional issues

    • The complaints and discussion spilled out into Twitter, and soon included Morgan Johnston. To Morgan’s credit, he was very responsive and sympathetic, even DMing me several times. But when it came time to do something, he was powerless to help, instead referring me to a complaint form (note the bonus tweet for District of Corruption Co-Host Technosailor’s Aaron Brazell).

    MorganResponds.jpg

    The formal jetBlue response came only a few hours later, but instead of taking actions to alleviate this disappointment an empty apology was issued without relief for the extra costs or time consumed. As a result, while feeling listened to, my experience was a systematic letdown. In turn, jetBlue will not likely receive business from me for a long time.

    If companies want to engage in social media then they need to empower online representatives to act. Having a corporate Twitter representative is only an effective customer service tool when representatives can do more than empathize and promote discounts. One of Dell’s great social media strengths comes from empowering folks like Richard Binhammer to act on behalf of the company.

    If Morgan Johnston had that power this situation may not have ever gotten to a second blog post, much less this third one on a much wider read blog. Instead, jetBlue receives another public black-eye, and its brand experience becomes tainted.

     
    AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Branding, Internet Marketing | Comments (27)
    Apr 27 2008

    Catching Up with Shana Glickfield at Podcamp DC

    April 27, 2008 – 4:43 pm

    Last weekend at Podcamp DC, DC Concierge Author Shana Glickfield took some time to catch up with the Buzz Bin. In this 1:30 minute video, Shana discusses lattes, her blog, video and PR’s greatest challenge.

     
    AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Geoff, Interviews | Comments (6)
    Apr 25 2008

    The Parasocial Phenomena

    April 25, 2008 – 1:32 am

    Parasocial: something beyond social norm. From Latin where para can have the meaning ‘beyond normal’. One example of this phenomenon is that someone who watches a soap opera over a period of time creates an illusion that s/he has a relationship to the television persona. These relationships can significantly influence and change people’s lives. This is generally perceived as an unconscious event, as the subject does not realize what is happening.*

    It’s kind of fun being a micro nano B-List celebrity, especially if you don’t take it seriously. Social TNT Author Chris Lynn and I had fun with this at the Love 2.0 Engage web 2.0 party on Monday (see this 20 second video).

    Yet, attendance at Web 2.0 parties this week in Silicon Valley and SNCR’s NewComm Forum reminded me of how strange this cultural phenomena is becoming in social worlds. Watching other relatively to extremely well known bloggers and executives get worshipped, hit on, and in some cases mocked and/or stalked, gives one reason to pause.

    Social media lowers the bar for stardom, at lease within microcommunities. And as a result, people that may naturally be inclined towards becoming groupies, stalkers and trolls find themselves empowered. Identities are stolen, attacks occur, and mayhem ensues.

    HootOwl_Golden_Gate.jpgPerhaps the most hilarious of these was this week’s hijacking of Shel Israel’s Owl named Hoot on Twitter. This comes after the whole (and pathetically continuing) puppet thing from Loren Feldman. The plastic bird’s fowl representation really shows the hilarious and absolutely silly nature of social media “stardom.”

    There is no worse example of the absolute pathetic nature of parasocial than Valleywag a shameless virtual tabloid that chronicles the rise and fall of Silicon Valley rock stars. Having spent some significant time in Silicon Valley since the book was published, it’s easy to see how this rag serves a certain part of the population, both locally and from afar.

    Living in a town where the Washingtonienne (a.ka. Jessica Cutler) and the Monica Lewinsky-inspired impeachment happened, where scandal rocks national and global governance, this seems so… Little League. At the same time, it’s very real and needs to be taken seriously.

    In a fractured media environment, a certain percentage of the population in any micro-community will become parasocially attached to A, B and C-list stars in an unhealthy manner. It’s best to accept it, and start talking about what to do, if anything.

    Some may say, “That’s the price you pay for fame and success.” This made sense to me when millions of dollars were being doled out to athletes and Hollywood stars. But most bloggers and social media successes don’t make more money.

    So should we really tolerate parasocial behavior just because someone has a achieved a little nano success? Conversely, is it simply a part of the human condition? Or do we just love a success, and some take it way too far?

    Sidenote: I actually saw Feldman at a party this past weekend, and at the behest of several friends, decided to put aside my original feelings expressed here and other places and say hello and a possible handshake. This was promptly dismissed with a snarl.

    I’m not sure if this Tweet was a response, but it really doesn’t matter. Principles must supersede personalities. While I still strongly and openly disagree with Feldman’s continuing and unnecessary attacking of Shel Israel, civility matters more in the big picture.

    * American Psychological Association (APA): Parasocial. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 24, 2008, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Parasocial

     
    AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Social Networks | Comments (11)
    Apr 24 2008

    Pro PR’s Joe Thornley on the Toronto Social Media Scene, Measurement

    April 24, 2008 – 11:53 am

    At SNCR NewComm Forum, Pro PR’s Joe Thornley took time to chat with the Buzz Bin. Joe attends many of these industry leading events and has some incredible knowledge and perspective on the trends. This two minute plus video highlights Toronto’s burgeoning social media scene and the upcoming social media measurement round table Joe will be hosting in late May.

     
    AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Geoff, Interviews | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

    SMC-DC Goes Federal with FCW’s Chris Dorobek

    April 24, 2008 – 11:45 am

    Our next SMC-DC meeting will be May 15 at Viget Labs. We welcome Chris Dorobek, Editor-in-Chief of Federal Computer Week. Chris is no stranger to social media, and he will share his experience with blogging and social networks (visit him on Twitter and Facebook), as well as his opinion of government and military use of Web 2.0.

    The federal government strives for collaboration between the different departments and units it holds. The government is still experimenting with social media, with the wiki Intellipedia already in use for the intelligence community, and even the Department of the Navy’s CIO dipping his toes into blogging.

    So how else is the government using social media? Are they ready for it, and what’s the value for them? Come discuss the current and future state of Web 2.0 as the government views it.

    More details:

    Please RSVP by Tuesday, May 13 to Larissa Fair.

    Special thanks to Viget Labs for hosting the event.

    Date: Thursday, May 15, 2008

    Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

    Location:

    Viget Labs headquarters

    400 S. Maple Avenue, Suite 200
    Falls Church, VA 22046

    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19100475790

     
    AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Larissa Fair | Posted in Blogging, Livingston Communications, Social Networks | Comments (0)
    Apr 23 2008

    SNCR: ROI of Online News Releases

    April 23, 2008 – 5:27 pm

    The research team of Shel Holtz (Holtz Communication), Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu (Clemson University), and Jiyan Wei (Vocus) presented findings of a research study of how, why, and what types of people are using online news releases.

    Three indicators of success for online press releases – which is the best?

    • 32% increase in unique web site visitors
    • Over $100,000 in new sales over a quarter
    • Article placed on Boston Globe web site

    There are direct returns and indirect returns. The first could be direct, the second could be indirect as a result of web traffic.

    Marketing Sherpa put out a series of releases and correlated traffic from each release. They found that traffic generated by press releases was 21.24% less. There is a demonstrable ROI which can be compared to pay-per-click.

    Results Highlights

    The online survey had 423 respondents for data collection, mostly marketing and PR professionals with a few small business owners. The questions were developed by interviews with PR professionals who use online news releases.

    Goals

    The goals of online news releases were ranked – the top being increasing visibility, increasing visibility and credibility, and announcing news. The last three are directly reaching customers and consumers, creating readily available online content, and SEO.

    Audience

    Interestingly enough, traditional media was the top audience people wanted to reach, with bloggers and new media outlets following a close second.

    PR professionals were most interested in reaching traditional media, while marketing professionals were the least interested. As for B2B consumers/customers and prospects, the same statistics came through. PR professionals were the least interested in reaching B2C consumers/customers and prospects. As Mihaela said, that is SAD.

    Tactics

    The primary tactics for online news releases were close together in importance: good headline/subhead with keywords, interesting and newsworthy content, keywords, and links to corporate websites.

    Measurement

    In terms of measurement to determine ROI, the first was whether or not the release is republished on websites, the number of online views, whether or not they got an article based on the release, any media interview requests, or traffic to the organization’s site.

    Most want to be on news aggregators (Yahoo! News), then news websites (Reuters), then blogs.

    Advantages

    Opportunity for SEO and ability to reach both consumers and media.

    Challenges

    Cutting through the clutter, targeting and distribution, and measurement.

    People are more likely to use online press releases based on affordability and the ability to get detailed and accurate metrics.

    Age Factor

    The age of respondents of the survey was pretty evenly split, with those under age 30 actually making up the smallest segment.

    Goals and audiences was more important to those over age 50 while SEO optimization was more important to those under age 30.

    User Groups

    PR, Marketing, and Small Business owners all used online news releases. However, they used them for different ways with significant differences in goals, although all wanted to increase visibility and gain credibility.

    • PR – announcing news, enhancing thought leadership
    • Marketing – SEO optimization for website, reaching customers/consumers
    • Small business – using the release as a sales tool, reaching customers/consumers

    The overall satisfaction levels with online news releases were high. However, the relationship between the goals leave some discrepancies that should be addressed.

     
    AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Larissa Fair | Posted in Internet Marketing | Comments (9)