Seat of My Pants

They will always find a way

2006-10-20T17:21:00.000-04:00

I was one of those calling for Edelman to outline what they were going to do to be sure it didn't happen again. Now that they have, I find myself questioning the merit of doing so. Below is a note I sent to our staff today. Am I being simplistic and naive?

"One of the topics discussed during this week’s social media training was the notion of credibility and transparency in a world where everyone can be a publisher. A recent example of how not to do it is the Edelman/Wal-Mart debacle. Earlier this week, Edelman apologized – a move that was met with a chorus of “Too little, too late! and “So, what are ya gonna do about it?” (For my thoughts on the matter read the first two posts here.) The firm today outlined its initial steps.

As more and more clients are calling on Matter to advise them on social media, it can feel like quite dangerous territory. Certainly, look at what Edelman did and learn from it. But, really, if you apply common sense and act as you would in any other medium – with integrity, honesty and openness – it shouldn’t be all that hard."

Credit where it's due

2006-10-17T17:31:00.000-04:00

While there is still much to criticize (although not as much as some would have you think...) in the Edelman/Wal-Mart debacle, I do have to give credit to Richard Edelman for trying to take the right steps. I posted a comment to his blog yesterday basically saying that we needed more in the way of explanation of what Edelman is doing to ensure something like this doesn't happen again. He responded to that immediately with a somewhat vague answer (which was all I would have expected) and then I got the following e-mail follow up from him today:

"We are having our Me2Revolution gang (Rubel, Murray, Gomes etc) go on the road to all of our office to explain our standard for transparency.
We are making this a core part of Edelman University
We are going to have a central clearinghouse for social media programs
We will walk the talk!"

Credit to Richard for a) realizing that his initial answer wasn't sufficient and b) providing me a more satisfying one when he could've just let it be.

Let's hope this type of follow through is indicative of how Edelman is addressing the root problems that got them in this mess to begin with.

Edelman speaks...kinda

2006-10-16T16:20:00.000-04:00

Richard and Steve have both issued the expected mea culpas over the whole Wal-Mart/Edelman blog hoax. From the early comments, all seems to be forgiven (aside from the requisite "took long enough" jibes). I have to admit, I'm shocked.

I'm the first to praise accountability and I appreciate the fact that they are not making excuses, so full credit there. But I want a better explanation of what took so long to address this. I can't believe 'we needed all the facts' is all we get. Frankly, I can't believe the facts were that hard to gather.

Richard says, "Our commitment is to openness and engagement because trust is not negotiable and we are working to be sure that commitment is delivered in all our programs."

OK, fair enough to move on and focus on a solution, not the problem. But please, after a third strike, tell us what steps are being taken to ensure this doesn't happen again.

I have been looking to Edelman for guidance as I (and the agency I work for) to navigate the social media landscape. This response is hugely disappointing (to say nothing of the event itself).

Heading to San Francisco

2006-10-02T11:53:00.000-04:00

I'll be on the Left Coast this week for a mixture of business and pleasure. I'll get the chance to meet Andy Lark in person (which I'm sure will fall into both categories), so I expect to have some really interesting things to blog about upon my return!

What's with the anonymity?

2006-09-28T12:06:00.000-04:00

I don't get commenters who use "anonymous" or some codeword name. (My favorite are the ones whose comments are rants about transparency!) Is it not true that some of the tenets of blogging are to speak your mind, have a thick skin, attack the idea not the person? If that's the culture we are trying to create, don't undermine it by hiding behind psuedonyms.

Enough already.

2006-09-27T15:04:00.000-04:00

Old media vs. new media. TV vs. video blogging (Amanda disagrees with Jeff on that one...I'd argue it doesn't matter who is right, but Jeff makes a good point about the path of least resistance.) Publishing vs. conversing. Much ado about nothing.

"New media" is merely a label 'we' have chosen to talk about the latest collection of tools for publishing content (in only becomes a conversation if others engage) and sharing points of view. Certainly, these tools are making it much easier - and there is tremendous value in that. But they are only means to an end.

It's not trendy to admit this, but consumers and citizens have always been able to participate, it just wasn't as convenient. Op/Ed pieces, fan clubs, choose your own ending books, town hall meetings, the right to vote....the spirit of participation and conversation has long existed (in this country, at least).

So, can we stop pretending that the tools matter more than the outcome? If I want to cut down a tree, I'll use a chainsaw. If I want to slice bread, pass the knife, please.

What will determine winners and losers is the quality of the content and conversation, regardless of the medium. And hasn't this always been true, too? Anybody remember the sitcoms Jason Alexander did after Seinfeld? Didn't think so. (If there is a downside to new media tools, it is that the drivel spicket is now wiiiiiide open.)

I knew there was a good reason for it!

2006-09-27T11:51:00.000-04:00

A study shows that social drinking helps boost income. No wonder my wife is so supportive of me going out for drinks after work! (Couldn't be that she just wants me out of the house, could it? Naaahhhh...)

Thanks, Zoli, for pointing this out.

Thank you, Nick Carr!!

2006-09-15T14:46:00.000-04:00

I have been struggling to characterize the unease that accompanies my enthusiasm about this whole social media thing. I smell the next big thing in our profession, but abhor hype.

Nick Carr's thoughts on innovation really struck a chord.

Vocus now has blogger profiles

2006-09-14T09:07:00.000-04:00

During a recent training one of my teams was given on Vocus, the trainer mentioned that the service had just recently added bloggers to its database. Obviously, reaching bloggers is important to me and my clients, so I'm very much in favor of anything that is going to make that job easier - and I applaud Vocus for staying current and relevant. However, I am a little nervous about the concept of using PR 1.0 tools to conduct PR 2.0.

In theory, there should be no danger here b/c every PR practitioner would always perform due diligence before sending a pitch. (But we all know that, sadly, that isn't always the case.) My fear is that making it so easy to find bloggers will only encourage lazy PR. With so much sensitivity and discussion about the rules of blogosphere engagement, this could be a recipe for disaster.

Certainly, there were tools (Technorati, etc.) available already to research bloggers, but at least a) it required real research and b) it put the researchers in the new media realm, where you can't help but learn.

I'm not suggesting that we exclude anybody from PR 2.0, but I do hope the introduction happens the right way and spirit.

I don't wanna be lonely no more

2006-09-13T15:35:00.000-04:00

YouTube's Lonelygirl15 has been exposed as a hoax! (Insert gasp, quickly use hand to cover open mouth.)

While it's possible that this does represent the future of brand marketing, until I get an explanation as to the point of the whole thing, I'm finding myself more annoyed than intrigued. (To be fair, I have a cold and am terribly cranky when I'm sick.)

That said, I am impressed by Matt Foremski's work to actually confirm the hunch I (and many others, I'm sure) had about this.

Weighing in on accreditation

2006-09-05T15:35:00.000-04:00

Kami Huyse, Todd Defren and many others are debating the merits of accreditation in the PR field.

A while back, a client of mine proudly announced on a conference call "Guess what...I'm now an APR!!" At that point, those of us on the agency team stared at each other blankly before I finally regained my senses and managed to sputter some falsely enthusiastic congratulations. Now, this team contained some of the agency's best, brightest and most experienced folks (present company excluded, of course...) and none of us had any idea what she was talking about.

I'm the first to admit that we were ignorant, but it's telling that a group of very successful PR pros had never even explored the possibility of accreditation. This is not necessarily indicative that getting your APR is not valuable at all, but it does demonstrate there is not the same inherent value in it as in say, passing the bar exam.

I respect the effort, intelligence and dedication it takes to become an APR or ABC. And I'm sure that most are better at PR than they were before they got the accreditation. But if the goal is to make PR more relevant and change how it is viewed in the larger business context (I'm paraphrasing Kami here, but I'm sure she'd agree it's accurate), this is simply not the right fix for that problem.

Since we all have a finite amount of time, energy and brainpower, it's imporant that we prioritize and focus on efforts that will go the farthest toward attaining Kami's objectives. Rather than prioritizing accreditation - which is akin to getting preached at while sitting in the choir - we need to dedicate our efforts to getting real experience in other business functions. Probably the most valuable job I've had was when I ran corporate communications for a biotech company in San Francisco. In that role, I did run PR, but I also actively participated in fundraising, corporate development, HR and operational decision-making. When I returned to agency life, I was able to offer counsel to my clients with a level of knowledge and credibility that I couldn't have earned if I was "just" a PR guy.

Granted, I was lucky that I had a CEO with a relatively unique view on the value of the communications function and who was comfortable with me spreading my wings in this way. Not every role will provide this type of exposure all in one place, but the point is if you are going to look to become a better PR pro, first look outside the function to add perspective, skills and experience.

The Gettysburg Address is 272 words long...

2006-08-31T12:27:00.000-04:00

The front page story in the Marketplace section of today's Wall Street Journal (I am still allowed to read that, even though I have a blog, right??) looks at dilemma bloggers face during the vacation season. Ah...to post or not to post?

Although I'm new to this blogging game, I've felt guilty for failing to post in the last few weeks, owing to prep for, taking of and catching up from vacation. (Hell, forget posting, I'm intimidated by my unread feeds in Bloglines right now...) Worse, I've been struggling to figure out how to re-engage. Is it more important to get my post up, get through my blogline feeds, engage in the Google discussion group on the social media press release, catch up on Rocketboom?

Uh-oh.

I'm all for this new media thing, but even with my toe barely in the water, I can already see the risk of irrelevance driven by information overload and an inability to separate the wheat from the chaff. After all, are RSS readers really that different from "push" technology? (Please do let me know what Pointcast channels you are still subscribed to.)

This is not an attack on blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc. It's more a call to action to make sure we are using them (and viewing them) as means to an end - whether it's selling more product, advocating for a social issue or figuring out what movie to drop 10 bucks on.

The value is in the content and the connections with like-minded people (meaning people who care about the same things, not necessarily share the same opinios on them). Yes, we must remain engaged, but posting for posting's sake doesn't necessarily do anything to further the discussion.

UPDATE: Maybe I should have scrolled through those RSS feeds first, after all...looks like Mike Manual is of a similar mind.

Can't we all...

2006-08-04T11:28:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Matt Podboy for highlighting another journalist ‘calling out’ shoddy PR.

The tension between PR pros and journalists is at the same time both silly and totally justified. It's silly because we need each other and, done right, we help each other do a better job. It's justified b/c it is done right far too infrequently, as Network World’s Paul McNamara points out.

I agree with Matt that it's generally bad form for journalists to call out flaks. The problem is our industry keeps giving them so many opportunities to do so! We have an obligation to be professional, creative and thoughtful – even in the face of client and supervisor pressures. (And yes, journalists, too have a reciprocal responsibility to the PR community…responsiveness should not be just a one-way street when they want access to a client and are on deadline.)

Frankly, it’s really not that hard. Giving people what they want is almost always a sure fire way of getting what you need.

The king is dead! Long live the king!

2006-08-01T11:26:00.000-04:00

Robert Scoble is touting the 'demise of big conferences' using Colin Cambell's analysis on the collapse of E3 as a jumping off point.

There's certainly validity to the arguments to be made against big shows (in fact, I've made them myself to many clients over the years). My fear is that the pendulum may swing too far. Sure, a blog may be a more effective news dissemination vehicle than a conference. (In yet another fact, I'd argue that for most companies big conferences were poor venues to break news even before the advent of blogs.) And, yes, the Internet allows people to interact and collaborate in exciting and myriad ways.

But you can't convince me that means there is no longer a place for like-minded people (or at least people with common interests) to gather and meet in-person. All businesses are built on relationships. And relationships cannot be nurtured through electronic channels alone.

I'm a fan of blogs (duh) and am fascinated and energized by the what else is going on in new media/Web 2.0/citizen journalism. But just like conferences...and press releases...and analyst relations...new media tactics should be considered arrows in the quiver, not magic bullets.

A refreshing admission

2006-07-26T15:28:00.000-04:00

We professional flaks have collectively earned a (generally well-deserved) reputation for speaking in jargon and clichés. Sadly, this is most often pointed out by the journalists we are supposed to be "relating to" on behalf of our clients.

It's easy to criticize, but self-examination is seldom practiced. So props (it's the new "kudos") to Jeremy Wagstaff for pointing out that our friends in the media are human, too.

Physicians heal thyselves! (Oh, damn...)