Microsoft Director of Corporate Communications for Citizenship Tom Murphy recently wrote a thought-provoking blog post on how social media is clearly important but not the end of public relations and marketing as we know it. "We should all embrace social media where it is useful, makes sense and has a practical use, but the baby needs to remain safely in the bath," he wrote. I am completely with him about embracing and mobilizing social media to support your … [Read more...]
Future Is in Creating Strategies, Not Copying Tactics
April 18, 2011 by
How not to react to social media is found in a famous exchange between Alice and the Cheshire cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. Which road do I take? she asked. Where do you want to go? was his response. I don't know, Alice answered. Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter.” It might seem obvious that you must know where you’re going to get anywhere. But because social … [Read more...]
HOW TO: 10 Ways to Engage ‘Luddites’ in Social Media
April 10, 2011 by
As more organizations decide to open up and join the Web 2.0 interaction revolution, some will flounder or even fail at it. Why? You need to get enough of your organization on board to really scale. Problems are inevitable if you can't inspire the technophobic "luddites" within your organization (Late Majority and Laggards on the Rogers Adoption Curve) to adapt. Distributing social media policies, mandating use of wikis or collaborative planning software, etc. … [Read more...]
Mobile the ‘Missing Link’ in Revolution 2.0 Debate
March 22, 2011 by
"I'll send you the email tomorrow when I have power. We're in a brownout," a volunteer I was coordinating with in Kenya tweeted in a direct message to me using her cell phone. The exchange (for one of my non-profit clients) brought home for me the "missing link" I think many are missing in the debate over social media's role in the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. To connect to Revolution 2.0, you don't need a computer. You don't even need electricity. All … [Read more...]
7 Ways to Be a Good Twitter Citizen During a Crisis
March 13, 2011 by
In the wake of Japan's earthquake and tsunami disaster, a handful of pranksters elected to play on fears and launch hoax tweets, fooling thousands if not millions. Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of the Pokemon, become a Trending Topic yesterday on Twitter after Twitter user @xCyrusAndLovato tweeted "The creator of Pokemon died today in the #tsunami, #Japan. RIP: Satoshi Tajiri. #prayforjapan." It turned out to be one of many online rumors, some more harmless than … [Read more...]
Egypt and the Rise of the Social Media ‘Swarm’
February 11, 2011 by
Last May I wrote that "we are on the verge of a massive shift in the way we communicate and inspire action." As I watch jubilant Egyptians in the video below celebrating the resignation of their 82-year-old former president, I think I can safely say that paradigm shift has arrived. The leaderless Revolution 2.0 in Egypt, and earlier in Tunisia, illustrate how powerfully social media can be used to galvanize real action in the real world. Social media contributed … [Read more...]
HOW TO: Top 10 Social Media Tips for Online Success
February 5, 2011 by
Today’s reality is that your organization needs to be on social media. You can no longer rely on issuing press releases and keeping your website up to date to get your message out. You must proactively lead conversations and participate in stories using Internet- and mobile-based social platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. To successfully start and maintain your social media presence, however, you need to know what works and what doesn’t. … [Read more...]
Video Clip of the Month: Christmas Flash Mob
December 1, 2010 by
My December 2010 video clip of the month is a flash mob surprising dinners in a mall food court with a breathtaking rendition of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." Regardless of your religious preference, you've got to love the great performance and the reaction of the people around them. I picked the video because it's a wonderful holiday example of how two relatively small organizations in Welland—a town of about 50,000 in Canada near Niagara Falls—hit a home run … [Read more...]
Tweeted & Deleted: Dodd’s ‘Technical Mistake’
November 22, 2010 by
Twitter followers of retiring Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) got a surprising tweet from him last Thursday morning. “U love torturing me w this shit.” was tweeted from the Senator's Twitter account @SenChrisDodd. Then came the tweet “From Dodd Staff – Apologies to Dodd’s followers, last tweet was not from Chris Dodd.” The first tweet has quickly deleted but not before some of his followers took screenshots and sent out comical tweets about it. Later in the day, … [Read more...]
Replacing Silos with Hives: Creating a Social Culture
October 24, 2010 by
This week I ran across a Geoff Livingston post with a brilliant bee metaphor explaining how organizations need to create a social culture to exploit social media's full potential (readers of my blog know I love social media bee metaphors): "The basic nest architecture for all honey bees is similar: 'Honey is stored in the upper part of the comb; beneath it are rows of pollen-storage cells, worker-brood cells, and drone-brood cells, in that order. The peanut-shaped … [Read more...]
The Washington Post: A Barrier to Communication?
October 21, 2010 by
We're in an extraordinary moment in journalism. "Who needs newspapers when you have Twitter?" many are saying. Others predict that all media as we know it today will become social and that journalists will become storytellers reporting in "interactive" ways. Granted "interactive" reporting hasn't caught on yet, but most people today do expect interaction on social networks. That’s the “social” part of social media. Apparently, the Washington Post, however, … [Read more...]
Will Social Media Kill Traditional Public Relations?
October 2, 2010 by
Social media will replace traditional media as the main tool for public relations practioners within two years, according to a new survey by StevensGouldPincus, merger and management consultants to the communications industry. Today, communications consulting firms devote 30 percent of their total percentage of work to social media as opposed to traditional media. Next year, the percentage will increase to an average of 42 percent. "If this trend persists, … [Read more...]
McDonald’s Foursquare Success: $1,000 Pays Off Big
September 17, 2010 by
Mashable posted a fascinating article today about how McDonald's spent a modest $1,000 on a pilot Foursquare campaign resulting in 33 percent more foot traffic in one day, more than 50 news articles, and 600,000 people opting to follow and fan the brand on social media sites. McDonald's Foursquare Day on April 16 used 100 randomly awarded $5 and $10 gift cards to lure Foursquare users into McDonald's restaurants to check in. Foursquare is a mobile … [Read more...]
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