Discovering blogs all over again

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Those of you who’ve been following this blog know that I make the point that while blogs do not solve every communication challenge (good ole face-to-face still works great) it’s become the center of gravity for a lot of what goes on in PR, marketing and media.

So I was glad to see Dave Winer, the father of blogs, invite Robert Scoble to get back to basics … and blogging.

In case you missed it, Scoble, who co-authored one of the earliest books on blogging (and wrote an early blog with a huge following) famously spoke out in favor of FriendFeed. It was all about Lifestreaming, with some concerns. But now that Friend Feed was swallowed up by Facebook, Winer suggests that it’s time to return to using the Internet for what it was designed for -to share and to store knowledge, to connect and to engage.

Doc Searls‘ comment to this is worth thinking about: In this new Eden, blogging and microbloging are native. Corporate walled gardens are just short-lived substitutes.

There’s a lesson here about the tendency to obsess with tools. For all the hype you hear about the new tools, and the ‘pay attention to Facebook’ talk, it’s what we do to connect and communicate, and yes, to ‘store knowledge’ that matters.

That’s why blogs, which some have thought to be soooo passe, are worth discovering all over again.

Quotes for the week ending 19 Sept, 2009

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“We sound like a support group for superheroes. ‘By day I do this, by night…'”

Joe Michels, on the Phoenix iPhone Developer Group, or Pi.

“The more times he is required to write “I will not call the president a liar” on a special blackboard set up in the well of the White House, the bigger hero he will become to a large chunk of the population.”

Michael Kinsley, on the Joe Wilson umbrage against Obama.

“Hello, Kevin Rudd. We are Anonymous. We have been watching you.”

Hackers who sent an anonymous message via a video and a manifesto (on this web site), to Australian Prime Minister.

“Google economist sees good signs in searches.”

Washington Post article on how search is predicting an economic recovery.

“From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point.”

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman

“My answer is not the answer, it is an answer. If you have a better or different answer, put it in the comments.”

Josh Bernoff, on a post that responds to social netiquette questions he receives.

Three lessons in storyteling from the story of ‘stuff’

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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!

Why shout, when you could communicate?

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Friend_TrafalgarSquareA few months ago I blogged about a street vendor (left)  in Trafalgar Square, and some interesting things he told me about ‘making a statement.’

I expanded that idea into an article that appeared in the latest issue of Communication World. For those of you who are not IABC members, here is a link to the PDF.

I wrestled between  givinng this article the headline”Stop shouting and I will pay attention!” and “Silent Messages in an Over-communicated World.” The editors settled for “Picture This!”

Let me know what you think of the article.

Quotes for ther week, ending 12 Sept 2009

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“Stories are a terrible way to store information.”

Zach Echola,  a founding member of Wired Journalists, on the role of journalism in providing context. Howard Owens and Ryan Sholin were the other two founders of Wired Journalists, an amazing resource!

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. Facebook, the online social grid, could not command loyalty forever.”

Opening line in an article in the NYT on people quitting Facebook.

“we now tweet and friend and tag. But that’s not all—we also listen.”

Colleen Ringer, Comms Manager, blogging about Downtown Phoenix Partnership’s new web site that launched this week. The site has bloggers and several social media options to help users find useful information and build a community.

“Probably not.”

Jim Nail, chief marketing and strategy officer of TNS Cymfony, on whether brands should respond to criticism via social media. The quote was in a  story about a false story about P&G’s Always circulating via social media.

“don’t worry we won’t tell your followers!”

TwittDir, yet another ‘let us help you get famous on Twitter’ type appliications that asks you to add your name in a directory chock full of models, sexed-up people.

“If you were expecting an Apple jetpack or an Apple hovercraft, or even an Apple tablet, you didn’t get that.”

Michael Gartenberg, a technology analyst on Steve Jobs reapparance at Apple’s launch of the iPod Nano.

Goodbye, ASU. Hello Public Radius!

/ Angelo Fernando / 7 Comments

Today is my last day at ASU’s Decision Theater. Taking some time off to pursue some very exciting opportunities that have come up.

PublicRadius_logoThis includes starting out my own consulting practice, Public Radius that is in soft launch mode.

Public Radius is all about helping organizations resize their  circle of influence. Individuals and organiztions have a defined radius. But defined does not have to be fixed.

Can we bridge the gaps between physical and digital networks? Certainly! Some of us do it unconsciously. Some of us do it strategically.

Generating ‘dotted lines’ between these circles of influence is what Public Radius is all about. You will hear more about this shortly!

For attendees at social media conference y’day

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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.

Marketing to a community, a powerful brew

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In the face of competition from the other coffee house in the same block, on the NE corner of Southern and Mclintock in Tempe,  Gold Bar Expresso seems to have an unique way to keep its customers: Building and nurturing a small, but fiercely loyal community. The coffee is incidental.

Indeed the roasts are excellent, usually served in mugs. But if you ask owners Dennis Miller and his wife Karen who run it in true mom-and-pop style, they’ll tell you the marketing recipe is simple. “If you’re going to build something with a community, it’s very hard to duplicate that. We operate the coffee shop with the same heart that we operated a church for 35 years.” It’s almost as if he had been reading from the ‘Church of the Customer’ and Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba’s Citizen Marketers.

Dennis’ transition from pastor to barista taught him something, and that is simply to be there for his community. In the first year, he decided to keep Gold Bar open on Dec. 25 and didn’t charge anything. He just didn’t want to make any money on Christmas day. He plays jazz at a nearby cigar bar, he chats with his customers as if they were friends (they are!). It’s one big social network, and some happen to be with a mug of coffee.

This is probably the reason why the community comes here not just to enjoy the legendary Granita, or the Red Eye, but to be part of this unique coffee house experience –one that  goes back several hundred years, when people used to talk to each other, and share stories, not tweets.  It’s probably why someone once left a $100 tip in the tip jar!

It’s also why in a recent survey of 104 customers, 80 had been visiting for years. Only four were there for the first time, and 12 had been coming for months. On Friday and Saturday nights. the coffee house is turned into a jazz bar, where Dennis plays.

If Gold Bar is one of Tempe’s best kept secrets, it’s probably a good thing because word of mouth fills in for those spots taken up by expensive marketing. I once overheard a customer ask the owners why she had not seen any advertising. Dennis’ answer (half in jest) was “because we are that good!” There are very few businesses that can say that today. Trouble is, they are marketing to our wallets, not our hearts.

So if you want to get a quick lesson in community marketing, stop by Gold Bar. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. As it says on the web site, the coffee house is “closed 49 hours a week, open 365 Days a Year.”

My last project at Decision Theater

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

It’s going to be one of the strangest parting shots. My one last project as I transit out of Decision Theater is the redesign of the present web site.

Ridiculous?

The typical questions I get asked go like this:

  • Why do you care?
  • Why would they want you to manage this?
  • Isn’t it odd, for the outgoing Communications Manager to have anything to say about an organization that’s changing direction?

My short answer is: I’ve been asked to do equally bizarre things. The Decision Theater web site, for all its visual appeal has been something I’ve wanted to update for a while. It sends a message of  ‘old media’ when we actually employ some really advanced tools and processes –from GIS data and visualization, to brainstorming tools, to interactive exercises. I began the blog, Light Bulb Moments ( and a podcast and a microblog, and white papers and…) partly as a solution to fill this gap, and partly to communicate quicker, link better, embed more and aspects of Decision Theater that tended to get buried in a static web site. If things go well, the new site will be extremely dynamic.

In case you’re wondering what  ‘transit out of the Decision Theater’ meant, it’s an euphemism I use very cautiously for:  ‘my job was eliminated due to budget cuts.’

Regretful? Yes. But I have started on a path of new media and communications that does not leave time for looking in the rear-view mirror. Ergo, spending my last days at ASU looking at what’s emerging, even in a place I say goodbye to.