Grounded In Reality

TechCrunch writes a great post about how social media (particularly Twitter and FriendFeed) is becoming too much to handle… so much so that Robert Scoble is even cutting back on his number of Twitter subscriptions. The TechCrunch post concludes:

“So where is the startup that is going to be my information filter? I am aware of a few companies working on this problem, but I have yet to see one that has solved it in a compelling way. Can someone please do this for me? Please? I need help. We all do.”

In a response to this post, Maple Leaf 2.0 seems to differ. Their stance is that TechCrunch just isn’t using the tools right. Another differing opinion comes from Alexander Van Elsa’s blog. (I like his stance best.) He posts that the truly cluttered sensation from ‘too many updates’ only affects the Tech elite. Most users are able to join the conversation when they like, then pop out and smell the roses of the real world.

My personal take on this?

Twitter has been the most recent addition to my social media mix. I had a hard time using the service at first, but after adding the Twitter Facebook application, having Twitter updates sent through my Google Talk (or GChat) account, and being more selective with the users I follow, I find I use it more.

As far as update overload goes, I think I had a taste of that with Twitter. When I first signed on I only followed my friends and co-workers (the few who have joined the service). I then decided to follow a few high profile bloggers on Twitter (who shall remain nameless) because I liked their blog and figured I’d want to see what they twittered about. This is where the trouble came. My Twitter page was always so busy that I found I couldn’t keep track of conversations and quickly lost interest. I think this is what Elsa was talking about in his post: the ‘tech elite’ I was following was too active for my lifestyle.

Just this week I decided enough was enough and I stopped following them. I find I get much more joy from the tool by keeping my feed to a smaller number of users who post at a rate I can handle. Only time will tell if I truly become an adopter of Twitter, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

Summary: If you are worried about information overload the answer is simple, edit-edit-edit. Keep your lists/feeds/subscriptions/follows down to manageable level.

Some of the best moments of the Ad Age Digital Marketing Conference were the “Digital Shorts” – 15 minute case studies presented by creative execs from top interactive shops.  My favorite was a demo of Sharkrunners - an online game created for the Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week” series.

The gist of the game is that players take on the role of marine biologists conducting shark research. Participants select a virtual boat and crew and begin charting their course in search of great whites.  Here’s where it gets interesting: the game is virtual, but the sharks are real.  The shark movements in the game are controlled by real-world white sharks with GPS units attached to their fins.

This is a fascinating illustration of how alternate reality games can incorporate real-world situations and locations.  The game is also multiplayer, so participants compete with rival boats for research dollars and prestige. Players can even receive email and SMS alerts during the day when their boat is within range of an encounter. Kevin Slavin, Co-Founder of Area/Code (agency behind the project) talked about the success of this game and how it raised the bar for branded storylines.  On the surface, searching for sharks online doesn’t sound very compelling, but adding in the real-world element changes the entire dynamic. According to Slavin, the game has had a tremendous impact in engaging users and increasing participation and involvement in Discovery’s Shark Week. Props to the Area/Code team for a job well done.

This has been an interesting year for blogging. Going from guerilla to grounded and back… Early in 2007, I heard form some colleagues that their client was ready to cut all ties with Gizmodo after they posted a video poking fun at a speaker during a press conference… come on guys, he is a human being, he wasn’t the best speaker (at the time) and you made him look like a robot? Seriously, have a heart… The good news is they actually pulled the video and only weeks later, hired an onslaught of magazine and newspaper freelancers hungry for work as the print press starts to dry up.

One of the hires most notable to me was former Time Magazine tech reporter Wilson Rothman. From this publicist’s humble perspective, Rothman covers great tech stories (with real news value), he honors embargoes, he is fair and honest and has integrity as a journalist. Huge sigh of relief and Gizmodo returns to good graces with most technology manufacturers. In fact, only a few months later, they were offered an exclusive on the Pioneer KURO HDTV announcement, easily one of the biggest consumer electronics launches of 2007 (Yes, Pioneer is my client BUT, in my defense, the KURO won ALMOST as many tech awards in 2007 as the iPhone).

The blogging community has long been at odds with “credible journalists” and we at GCI have been supportive of the blogging world, counseling our clients to give influential bloggers (FYI, they are just reporters with faster publishing) the same pre-briefings we would offer a few select reporters at New York Times, WSJ, BusinessWeek or Financial Times around a big announcement.

CES 2008 was no exception… influential bloggers had unprecedented access, they brought live blogging to a new art form and they played the mother of all pranks… and that was just Gizmodo.

This publicists humble opinion on the prank of all pranks? I am mixed on this one. On one hand, I want to say, “grow up guys” and stop turning off all of the television around CES with the remote that you blasted in a review three or four years ago. On the other, “no harm, no foul.” It is funny, clever and you wouldn’t have one of the most influential blogs in the world if you didn’t turn a few heads now and then. Still, Gizmodo may just be the “bad kid” in class? All I know is that Engadget has yet to pull a prank like this and they are still hanging on to #1…

Bottom line, I can’t help feeling sick to my stomach for the people behind the scenes at Motorola who worked tirelessly to bring something newsworthy to CES, to put on a good show and get credit for the CNET People’s Voice Award winner, the Moto Rokr E8. I also disagree with Brian Lam’s recent article chastising tech reporters taking freebies and becoming the pawns of major corporations. I believe journalists (and bloggers alike) today are NOT the pawns of corporate America. In fact, for the first time in 50 years, journalism has significantly changed (thanks to blogging and community forums) and it is creating an open dialogue with corporate America that never existed before. Bravo blogga mania – if you must, go on and turn off as many TVs as you like, just don’t be surprised if you find yourself nursing a puncture wound courtesy of the business end of a publicists’ high heel…

In addition to being writers, the next wave of pro journalists will also be videographers and audio techs. Today’s half-second news cycle is demanding that reporters evolve into multimedia producers who can publish text, audio, and video on the fly. The old school system of deploying multi-person camera crews to cover news is coming to an end. It’s too clunky and slow. Arming reporters with internet-enabled recording tools is the only way publishers can keep up and cover maximum ground (not to mention scoop the average college kid with a camera phone and moblog widget).

In a sign that publishers are adapting, Reuters and Nokia just completed a cool experiment to illustrate the emergence of mobile reporting. Reuters armed several of its reporters with gadgets that make publishing stories from the field a breeze. The centerpiece of the toolkit is the Nokia N95 smartphone – a video-shooting, photo-snapping, GPS-mapping, web-surfing device that also happens to let users email and make calls. Participating reporters were also given a Bluetooth keyboard to crank out text-heavy articles, as well as a microphone and tripod to assist with A/V production.

Check out this video interview with Google’s Vint Cerf to see the toolkit in action. The quality is a bit jittery, but it’s a good example of where things are headed: instant, raw, behind-the-scenes, and comment-friendly.

Next steps for Reuters and Nokia? They are planning to use the kits to teach journalism students about the importance of mobile reporting. Interesting that Reuters didn’t choose to use a multi-media press release to communicate this story.

Over the past week, Dell has been the topic of many conversations in the blogosphere, spurred by a Forrester Groundswell Award and BusinessWeek article discussing the company’s transformation from digital bystander to leader.  In reading these posts, I am incredibly proud of the GCI team that helped make this happen. (NOTE: Dell is a GCI client)

Below are a few highlights from the blogosphere:

• BusinessWeek: Dell Learns to Listen: Jeff Jarvis takes a guest columnist role to discuss his two-year relationship with Dell and an overview of Dell’s social media initiatives. The online version is complete with a 25-minute video of an interview with Michael Dell (also available on Jeff’s blog: BuzzMachine).   He also posted the un-edited version, which notes a very measurable impact of Dell’s programs:

“Thanks to this new relationship, the company learns about issues online before they do in the press or sometimes in-house. They are stanching the flow of bad buzz. By their measure, negative word of mouth in blogs has dropped from 49 to 22 percent. And my Dell Hell posts, which used to come up third on a Google search for the company, are now relegated to second-page search-engine Siberia. ‘That change in perception just doesn’t happen with a press release,’ Menchaca says.”

• Direct2Dell - Dell’s Blog: Lionel Manchaca did an interview with Jeff near the end of the day and posted the vlog that resulted on Direct2Dell.

• Forrester’s Groundswell blog also mentions Dell’s transformation when referencing the Forrester Groundswell Awards that were given out last week.

Company transformation. Dell.
We created this new category to capture the powerful changes happening across all functions at Dell. The Dell Customer Advocate program, which pursues fast resolution of support problems, decreased the negative share of online comments about Dell by 25%. Direct2Dell, Dell’s frank and informative blog, generates 3.5 million page views per month. Ideastorm, Dell’s innovation community, tallied 500,000 votes for over 7,000 ideas and generated a new product, Dell PC’s with Linux pre-installed. And Employee Storm, an internal idea community, has generated 2,700 ideas and seen visits from 22% of Dell’s employees.

• From Geoff Livingston at The Buzz Bin:

Relationships and RELATIONS are about being human — not God. Together as humans we experience life and grow together. Mistakes happen, and good PR can overcome this. Consider Dell’s incredible lesson in admitting wrongs, listening and changing. This week’s BusinessWeek story is a celebration of relations.

• Our own Paul Walker mentioned that he is “really proud of the people and programs mentioned in the article. Thanks, Dell, for letting us be a part of it.” 

On behalf of GCI, I want to give the entire team a big pat on the back! The consistent creativity and innovation in new media waters is something to be extremely proud of.

An interesting new crowd-sourcing site appeared recently, still in Beta, of course, from The Nielsen Company and is (not-so-cleverly) called: Hey! Nielsen.   The site requires that you register to participate and share your opinion, but without registration, you can search through the results of other folks recommendations.  Feels to me like a mix of Digg, IdeaStorm (for Dell, a GCI client), and TV Guide.

There are a couple of things to look at on the site:

• Opinions
  In topics labeled TV, Movies, Music, Personalities, and Internet, members can post opinions about current shows, bands, songs, people, Web sites, etc.  Then the crowd gets to agree or disagree and add additional comments.
• Rankings
  “Each topic (TV show, Movie, etc.) earns a Hey! Nielsen Score, determined by user opinions, comments, and ratings. Calculated daily, the Hey! Nielsen Score also factors in internet buzz via BlogPulse.com.  There is currenlty about a 7-hour avg for updating statistics information.”
• Calendars
  Soon enough this will be the “TV Guide with opinions”…but it will have to launch first.
• Members
  Looking similar to other social networking profiles…and very similar to Digg’s latest ‘profile’ launch, you will be able to click on a member to see which shows, music, etc they like and dont like.  The earlist member date I saw was in May for NatGuy who claims “I’m one of the folks involved in helping to build this site.”  Nielsen lists how many recommendations they have made and lists all their posts.
• Widgets
  What would a site be if you couldnt see if scrolling on your blog? :)  Therefore, they have created a nice scrolling widget for you to keep up with the latest and greatest recommendations on the site.  Hopefully this will become customizable.

Naturally, if you are related to the entertainment industry, this would be an ideal place to gather consumer insights and responses to your content.  However, it would not be an ideal place to promote your entertainment client unless you are extremely open and transparent in your role.

Eventually, Nielsen sees using the information as statistical evidence in each catagory, but personally I think you will need to let the site live for a good amount of time before you can qualify the information collected as valid.  I am also still stuck on the problem of the ‘online demographic’ setting the opinions of a whole set of humans.  I still feel like it is skewed unless mixed with other forms of information collection.

I am interested to see how others respond to the site and the use of the information as statisical analysis.  Would you believe what they say, just because its Nielsen?

For the first time, the NY Times has published a video letter to the editor: Charles Ferguson, documentary filmmaker of No End in Sight, presents a video rebuttal to claims made by L. Paul Bremer III that top American officials approved the decision to disband the Iraqi army.

I’m sure the Times will be monitoring reaction to this new medium–and where the Times lead, others will follow.

With readily available video and audio editing software, cost is no longer a barrier to entry.  However, video or audio letters are not necessarily right for all clients or subject matter.  Factors that determine a good fit include compelling visuals and crisp sound bites.  Ask the questions: What can video do that text cannot?  Are the desired emotions or facts conveyed any more compellingly?  Would the target audience have the motivation or time to sit through a viewing?

NY Times posted an article on Sunday called ”Grade-school Girls, Grown-up Gossip“ taht that discussed the influx (and ease) on information available to the children growing up during this Internet Age.

Although the article is predominately focused on how these tweens view the actions of celebrities, there are some facts:

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, the death of Anna Nicole Smith, on Feb. 8, constituted 9 percent of news coverage the week she died (she died midweek). That same week, 8 percent was devoted to the 2008 campaign and 3 percent to the Super Bowl. Pew also found that in the two days following Ms. Smith’s death, “nearly a quarter of the news from all sectors (24 percent) was devoted to this story, and fully half of cable news.”

One of the worst examples of this is that when Anna Nicole’s name is mentioned above, the NYTimes links back to ALL the coverage they produced, obviously contributing significantly to the Pew research.

With that kind of saturation, how is a kid NOT supposed to read about Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton?!?!

The race to provide ‘on-demand’ TV in the UK is really heating up. Out of the major networks (that means no set-top box required), Channel 4’s 4oD was the first to market in December 2006 and has already claimed one million viewers watching a total of 20 million programs since it was launched. Although I understand from the Guardian’s Kate Bevan they still have to smooth out some compatibility issues.

Hot on it’s heels is the BBC iPlayer (sorry Katie Green another non-Apple lower case ‘i’ user to add to the list). The new service is located on the BBC and allows viewers to catch up with programs from the previous seven days and store them on a computer for 30 days.

This is all good for the UK consumer and means that we no longer have to wait or miss out on the programs we want to watch. However, in terms of marketing and general awareness, there’s still a lot to do.

I think the digital area is still riddled with unnecessary jargon and at the moment a lot of the messages are still aimed at ‘early adopters’. For the needle to really move we need to make things a bit more tangible. For example, I’m not a soap fan but most people in the UK probably don’t know that they are only ‘two clicks’ away from watching Coronation Street whenever they like…

If you are trying to get your head around what the UK networks are up to right now it’s worth checking out this well researched and, almost, impartial run down courtesy of the BBC.

For those with a pathological desire to square the circle or just have a serious aversion to ‘hype’ why not try out one of Ofcom’s beautifully crafted documents on digital TV. Sleep well.

Social technographics®–a coin termed by Charlene Li at Forrester Research in a new report about how companies should start thinking about their media campaigns by understanding their audiences rather than beginning by considering the different digital channels and technologies available.

Like all things PR: hello common sense! I mean in a social setting, surely, you wouldn’t talk about the same things, or even use the same language while speaking with your parents as you would with your friends, right? Then why do the same with a media campaign?

It’s interesting to see how the communication strategy roadmap is constantly morphing. In school I was taught, don’t start thinking with the execution. First, think about what you want to achieve and then about what you want to say in order to achive the goal. Now, with the exploding societal effect of Web 2.0, you first start thinking about who your niche audiences are, and then you decide what you want to say to them and finally the how you’d do it.

Just as Steve Rubel mentions, it’s fascinating to see how applicable and appropriate this breakdown of communication strategy can be for a PR professional. Advertising is all nice and entertaining like during the Super Bowl half-time. But, it’s not about engaging your preferred audiences in a conversation as only PR professionals are trained to do.

The tricky/challenging part of this approach however, is that there is no one “right” way of achieving and measuring success. Although personally, I think this, by itself, is a reward on the job! How exciting is it that with a smart and thought out new media campaign we can impact not only perception of our audiences, but also the way they interact and experience these brands!

This constantly changing social technographics® landscape pushes us to think differently not only of the message and the product but also helps us to factor in how our key audiences will use these messages.

A call to action is no longer as simple as “please respond to this email.” It’s more like please respond to this email, post it on your blog, then add a widget about it to your social networking page and then finally discuss it with your family over the dinner table! (or not!)