Best Practices

Two years of ‘broad public access’ at State Dept blog

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Last week Dipnote, the blog by the State Department, turned two.

So much has happened in two years. It was the year that the iPhone debuted, and Microsoft bought a stake in Facebook. A few months before that TIME named all those people creating content and connecting through social media as the ‘Person of the Year’ – the famous “YOU” issue.

Luke Forgerson, Managing Editor of Dipnote

Luke Forgerson, Managing Editor of Dipnote

Dipnote took to this new way of communicating with amazing flair. If there is one example of I’ve been using repeatedly to illustrate how any organization could stop firing press releases and start a conversation, it’s been them.

Think about it. Foreign policy to many is as sexy as watching paint dry. But given the right angles –heck, the right to loosen up– and the interest in listening as much as speaking, it turns out to be a different animal.

I have talked to many organizations who are terrified at the thought of saying something that could come back to bite them. Blogs, and videos, and photos pulled from a diverse group of individuals seem like total anarchy to them. It might damage the brand, they fear. The question I get asked a lot is ‘What if someone says something nasty?” –followed by “should we publish that too?”

I won’t go into the responses I give, but you’d think a group of people who represent the brand image of a country must have thought about this a lot. There must be bookshelves of white papers and journals on this subject in their offices. There must be legal advisers shaking their heads in disbelief.

And yet…

If you look at the social media initiatives the State Dept has rolled out over the past few years, these ‘government employees’ seem to take to new media in a way you’d expect of a marketing organization. Maybe they understand that good marketing is all about good communication. It’s more than the ingredients of ‘technology and talent‘ that Sec. Clinton spoke about.

It’s about using social media as an antenna not a bullhorn.

Digidorm could ruffle feathers!

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

The idea of sharing in a 21st century university is a given. Terms like collaboration, cross-disciplinary, interactive get thrown around. The Open-source movement has also crept into class-room and curricular initiatives.

But what might happen when you take this to its logical conclusion, and invite participation and sharing at a different level? That’s what Digidorm is all about. A sort of a social network for colleges. I know what you’re thinking: isn’t that what Facebook was all about in its early days? It hopes to be more, engaging anyone in the education space –enrolled students, alumni, faculty, parents, employees, and even high school students.

Digidorm intends to tap into the culture and vitality of college life and the communities that sustain any college, mashing up knowledge, providing writing tips, and library info, and college applications.

Digidorm is a bold idea by James Palazzolo, formerlyof ASU. Bold because it compiles some 3000 universities and allows anyone -who registers– to publish writing, video, photographs, and documents.

Interestingly, James did his master’s degree at ASU on this topic, and has the chops to make this work. I’ve known him for years as someone always involved in collaboration and sharing, from wikis to text messaging (before the Virginia Tech incident forced every college to go this route) to live blogging.

Will it ruffle feathers? I can expect this for several reasons.

  • Not only because of the content that will show up there, but because it could become the defacto intranet for colleges that should have created this in the first place.
  • Being a third party space, it will be out of the range of those who must manage a college’s (or an individual’s) reputation. How will a professor dispute an inaccuracy? How could parents request a takedown of an embarrassing photo of a child?

Already people who are trying to cope with keeping tabs on a school’s image (that show up in Facebook posts, videos on YouTube, tweets and vlogs) have their hands full. Digidorm adds one more headache -or opportunity, depending on how you approach it.

CHECK THIS: video that explains how to get started with a contribution.

Three lessons in storyteling from the story of ‘stuff’

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Yesterday while interviewing Mara DeFilippis, founder of Arizona’s Arizona’s Green Chamber of Commerce, she mentioned ‘The story of stuff’ and I realized I had not seen it for some time now.

I revisited the site and discovered that it now has an international site, with the story told –via sub-titles– in Arabic, Hebrew, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Mandarin and Thai!

I also realized how there are some very powerful storytelling techniques at work, and I like to highlight three that anyone could inject into any form of communication:

Passion: Annie Leonard is no doubt a great presenter, but her passion for what she is presenting is what really makes the story come alive. We often present on topics we are very familiar with, and tend to get jaded. Our body language, and choice of words can convey that passion.

Connective Tissue: Good storytellers weave in and out of facts with an ulterior motive, drawing connections, building toward the denouement. This 20-minute video is packed with facts. But they all build a story of how the ‘system’ works –or doesn’t. She connects the dots for us as we listen.

Great mix of human & visual elements. In a digital world, it’s easy to amp up the ‘performance’ or use illustrations or stock photos to move a story forward. Leonard’s conversational technique interacts so well with the illustrations hovering above her head, it’s hard to see one without the other.  In storytelling people and images should not be an either/or choice. Even when there is no video or visual, it’s possible to paint images with words.

So the next time you are presenting, or telling Your Story, take a closer look at this video and you will probably find more than the three elements I highlighted.

Enjoy!

For attendees at social media conference y’day

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Hyperlinks may seem insignificant, but they can be subversive, helpful and enlightening.

At last evening’s video conference I suggested that one way of improving our communication is to embrace this ‘link economy.’ And since social media is the connective tissue, it keeps this economy humming.

It involves some loss of control, which makes it unsettling to some, but it also opens up plenty of new opportunities. I see these as falling into four groups:

  1. Collaboration  – It’s almost impossible to use social media with a control-freak, silo mentality
  2. Crowd Sourcing – We soon learn that ‘they are smarter than I’
  3. Content Curation – While everyone is creating, some of us better start curating
  4. Community Building – Social networks are nothing but communities.

Social Media lets us:

  • Conduct due diligence faster, deeper
  • Look at trends, by mapping out events as they break –swine flu, forest fires, crime rates
  • Bypass bottlenecks — from network outages, censorship, slow feedback
  • Tap into the ‘wisdom’ of the crowds –citizen journalism

Two great Citizen Journalism sites:

One other interesting way to enlarge a story I omited to mention: The Lede from The New York Times. By the way, it happens to be a blog!

On the topic of Citizen Journalism and Civic Journalism:

The purpose of civic journalism is “not to inform the public, but to form the public.”

– Charlotte Grimm, Scripps Howard Foundation

Pay attention to these:

  • Wolfram Alpha –a search engine that will knock your socks off!
  • TwtPoll –If you use Twitter, and want to check the pulse of your followers, try this!
  • TweetDeck – aA desk-top application that will help you manage multiple Twitter accounts
  • iPadio – a simple way to podcast from your iPhone
  • Flickr – much more than a way to share pictures with your inlaws!
  • BlogTalkRadio.com – a simple way to create a podcast using a phone!

Finally:

  • Forget scoops, and consider ‘swoops’
  • Less Content Creation and more Content Curation

Is content still king? Or is there a new crown prince?

/ Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

This morning I am participating in a web video conference for the US embassy in Sri Lanka on how to think about social media.

My working title for this is ”Think Outside the Blog,’ considering how blogs have become the center of gravity for so much of what we do –what we produce, consume, how we distribute, connect, and participate in the so-called link economy.

I therefore will be digging deeper, and framing it around Cocktail Conversations –how web 2.0 (which has infected our listening and speech faculties) lets us communicate in a very crowded room.

Why is the room crowded? First because everyone is gate crashing the party! It ‘s not just crowded, but noisy because everyone –and not just PR people, journalists and marketers– has a voice. Unfortunately everyone has arrived at the party with a megaphone, rather than an antenna. As such in social media (as in social life!) the best communicators are the best listeners.

But I will also be broaching the topic of whether content is still king. I hear this all the time, at new media hangouts, writing seminars etc. I don’t dispute that cointent is VERY important (the alternative is fluff) but we don’t give enough respect to context. It’s way too easy to come up with, and deliver content. Context takes more work.

Another way to think about this topic is to think about who really has a voice today? In the market economy, those who had the money to run ads and PR campaigns controlled the conversation. In the link economy there are new contenders to the throne.

Quotes for the week, ending 5 Sept, 2009

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“Fox knows that spewing this kind of sensationalistic crap to reporters will get her lots of press.”

Missy Schawttz, of Pop Watch, commenting on on Megan Fox’ rant against Transformers director Michael Bay.

“Some days we talk about the weather. Some days we talk about the ‘Chicken Dance.’

Alecia Dantico, on building community using Twitter.

“How’s the German car-maker whipping up an alt-fuel frenzy? With videos of lawnmowers.”

Fast Company review of ads by Audi, that rumor has it, might announce an electric powertrain

“Study finds prime time on the Internet is 11 p.m.”

Findings from a new study that shows there has been a shift in surfing times.

“So when I get upset about A BRAND NEW $1,300 APPLIANCE NOT WORKING, it’s not like I’m getting upset about the fact that my butler has bad breath.”

Heather Armstrong (a.k.a. Dooce) who blogged and tweeted about her Maytag washing machine on August 26th. It included a Tweet that went “So that you may not have to suffer like we have: DO NOT EVER BUY A MAYTAG. I repeat: OUR MAYTAG EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE.”

” @dooce We are trying to contact you by phone. Please DM me with your contact information. Thank you!”

Response from Whirlpool, via Twitter on the night of August 26th,

BTW: Guy on phone at Maytag headquarters was phenomenal. Super nice, super helpful.

Heather’s response to Whirlpool’s response.

“Phoenix has a reputation,” Moriarty says. “Joe Arpaio. Dry heat. That kind of junk. It’s not a personality…”

Jonathan Mcnmara, in Phoenix New Times, on the attempt by Jeff Moriaty to create cultural identity for Phoenix.

“Malicious pseudo-environmentalists”

Review of a ‘scareware’ vendor, reviewed by ZD Net,which calls it “a new social engineering tactic” (with a promise to donate $2 to save the Amazon forests).

Connecting the dots with your blog

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment
Not this!

Not this!

I was at the Social Media AZ conference last Thursday, and some of the well-known practitioners (note: everyone’s refraining from the word ‘experts’)  seemed to affirm what I have been talking about. I also learned a lot in six hours.

Here are some great takeaways — longer version at ValleyPRBlog.com:

  • “LinkedIn is the new Rolodex” – Al Maag
  • “In social media, do you want to measure the media, or the social?” – Ed Brice
  • “The ultimate metric is trust.” – Jay Baer
  • “Create a content stew” – Pam Slim
  • “Humanize your company” – Jay Baer
  • “Focus on the bottom of the marketing funnel” –  Chris Hewitt
  • “Segment your audience before forming tactics.” – Michael Corak

One of my big lessons, and something I tend to articulate differently to my clients is that blogging and tweeting, in and of themselves, are nothing if they don’t connect the dots between other activities, content buckets, people, and online/offline properties.

A blog or a podcast will not automatically solve every communication issue.  Unless you allow social media to leave ‘breadcrumbs’ between the different tactics, then all you might be doing is creating new silos.

Download or listen to the presentations:

I think of a blog as the second hub that has dotted lines –pointy arrows in, pointy arrows out– between branding, marketing, HR, PR, the people in the organization. Why? because this is what gives the content more depth and wider context.

Quotes for the week, ending 22 August, 09

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“Welcome to the hunt!”

WIRED’s electronic manhunt, a game to find a Evan Ratliff. Anyone who comes up with a clue will get a free subscription of the magazine.

“The PR blogosphere is beating a dead horse – nonetheless, it’s a horse tied to a rocket.”

Dan Wool, Co-editor of ValleyPRBlog, on social media hype and how strange it is that after 5-6 years of it being mainstream, we’re still screaming that the sky is falling.

“As the TV networks and hundreds of other businesses realized, computers could be used to impress people. A poll prediction looked much more accurate on computer print-out paper than in human handwriting.”

Cory Doctorov, on the earliest use of a ‘computer’ to predict election results, in the fifties sixties

“This isn’t an announcement of my disappearance.”

Larry Lessig, saying he is taking a sabbatical form blogging

“Tap into the expertise of your organization, and create a ‘content stew”

Pam Slim, at Social Media Az conference in Tempe, Arizona


Quotes for the week, ending 15 August 2009

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“We’ve just had a demonstration of democracy.”

Senator Arlen Specter, after a person attending a town hall meeting shouted at him. The man was escorted out of the room, at a Harrisburg Community College.

“The Obama administration has delivered … a message of tough love. We are not sugarcoating the problems. We’re not shying away from them.”

Secretary Hillary Clinton, summing up her trip to Africa

“The Internet disrupts any industry whose core product can be reduced to ones and zeros ..it is the biggest virgin forest out there”

Jose Ferreira, founder and CEO of education startup Knewton

“Doing sustainability is fine, but being sustainable is where we want to wind up.”

Michelle Bernhart, author of “The Rules of the Game” in an upcoming edition of IABC’s Communication World magazine, interviewed by Natasha Nicholson.

“FriendFeed, in my mind, is the new RSS reader.”

Robert Quigley in Old Media New Tricks

“Macaca Day, for those of us who make our living from video on the Internet and elsewhere, is a holy day – the day that marks the birth of YouTube politics, and reminds us that citizens with cellphone cameras and a YouTube account – or at least an election.”

Dan Manatt, at Tech President, on the infamous comment by senator George Allen during the election campaign

“Google Voice “is merely symptomatic of that larger question.”

Ben Scott, public policy director of Free Press, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group in Washington, on the investigation on whether the carrier (AT&T) and handset maker (Apple) had anything to do with banning Google’s voice application from the iPhone.

“This is a decision based upon consumer experiences, child protection and our strategic investment to build up MSN Messenger.”

Geoff Sutton, GM of MSN Europe, on the decision to shut down Microsoft chat rooms in 28 countries.

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Collaboration is distance agnostic. Of course you knew that!

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

I get a kick out of seeing how ordinary folk use simple tools of collaboration.

I do a lot of collaborative work here at the Decision Theater. This is often all about web-based tools, putting people in a room full of screens oozing with data, pulling up GIS maps with interactive features…

And then there’s this. Playing For Change. Collaboration on a whole different scale.

Proof that people of different cultures can be knitted together through music, with nothing more than a makeshift ‘recording studio’ powered by golf cart batteries.

You can’t listen to this version of Stand By Me and not be inspired. And it’s not just the words, but the sheer possibility of connecting people irrespective of distance. Enjoy!