communication. community. cognition.
Recently, Copyblogger announced that it was ending comments on its site. The decision was attributed to the vast mountain of spam comments (96%), and the never-ending fight to determine the intent of the publisher. It was simply not worth the time, especially now that there are so many other places that discussion and engagement take place.
I wonder, however, how much of that conversation was triggered by emails like the one I just received:
[Read more…]
“Now Is Gone” is a finished project. It is done, and we set out to do what we wanted to do.
We’re locking closing the door, but this site will remain available (see comments). It’s important to know exactly what this site was about, and how it stands as a testament to the strengths and weaknesses of Social Media. Now Is Gone started as a way for Geoff Livingston to share the epiphanies he had with regards to the changing communications landscape. He went through some fairly distinct phases. I call them:
Essentially, it’s the same sense of discovery we all experience when faced with something new. Having worked in the marketing and communications arts for years, Geoff knew the questions and fears that those just hearing about blogs and vlogs and YouTube and wikis might have. “Now Is Gone” was the product of his desire to pick up executives and communicators arriving at step 3, and shepherd them on through step 7.
So, why end it at all? Because, quite frankly, there are only so many introductory lessons. Sure, if you want advanced applications with regards to certain communities or specific technologies, then you can plumb the depths of complexity to your curiosity’s content. “Now Is Gone” provided the grounding one needs to take those first steps into the Brave New World, and then decide where to go from there.
Frankly, it was an important project even if it is a product of its time. Too many of the pioneers in the space we call Social Media or Social Marketing have moved beyond this first outpost. They chase the bleeding edge, and are mining the riches in very small niches. They are too far down the rabbit hole to be of any real assistance to the businessman whose company finally gives the green light, and says “Bob, I need you to figure out this blogging stuff. And I need it by the next department meeting.”
This “Now Is Gone” blog was to be a resource providing new case studies, research, anecdotes, and insights that might extend the life of the source material in the book. In that regard, it was a success. Those who come across this site through various links will still find some good – albeit very basic – advice. If you want more meat and more depth, go elsewhere with our blessing.
Last month, I ranted about how Social Media is not a commodity — not an easy bundle of off-the-shelf “solutions.”
Well, our friend David Armano over at Logic+Emotion has the same idea, and provides us with this picture that replaces my thousand words. Enjoy:
(In an effort to provide a place for the Social Media Curious to dip their first toe, Ike continues a series of articles aimed at those who are looking for very basic context.)
At the most basic level, your participation in Social Media needs to include monitoring and listening. If you don’t know what’s being said about you, you’ll never have a chance to correct misperceptions or outright lies. Being functionally deaf makes you blind in targeting future efforts.
For those organizations that fail to even listen, the top hesitation is the fear of finding “bad news,” and not knowing how to deal with it. Given the flood of information that you might find about yourself, it’s easier to play the ostrich and pretend it doesn’t exist. While that might make you sleep a little easier, your shareholders and stakeholders might see things differently. So how exactly do you prioritize these potential “reputation threats” as they circulate?
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, you use monitoring tools to find a knock against your company in a blog or public forum. Aside from simple traffic statistics and site popularity, here are a few measures of “viral-ness” you can use to determine which ones are capable of becoming a big problem down the road.
A quick glance can usually knock a couple of these factors out for a particular instance, and you can move on. If you see a message that hits six out of seven flags, you may want to do an internet search for an unusual string within the message, to see if this is already moving and where.
If you see one that hits all seven warning triggers, you probably need to put it in the hands of whomever would handle your reactive messaging. A direct response might be in order, unless it comes off looking like an attack. But you need to be prepared for the likelihood that many people will see this attack on your brand and reputation.
As with all things in Social Media, your mileage will always vary. This tool is not scientific — but will empower you to concentrate your time on the messages that matter. It beats getting caught in the paralysis of analysis, or wasting resources on issues that will never materialize as real reputational threats.
(Ike Pigott regularly writes at Occam’s RazR)
“Video is the wave of the future for business! We’ve got to get some viral videos up and running! Customers love video!”
Simmer down. Now that it’s out of your system, lets look at what it takes to incorporate video into your overall communications strategy.
I worked in television for 16 years — a dozen of that on-air as a reporter. Being a “teevee reporter” isn’t rocket science, but it’s not as easy as you might think. However, there are a number of influences out there that might make you think the leap to video is a piece of cake:
All of that points to a no-brainer, but video can easily blow up in your face if you don’t know what you’re doing. And believe me, you don’t have to know anything about the subject matter to know when someone is making horrible television.
“American kids know television the way French kids know wine.”
– Lorne Michaels, Producer
Any idiot can grab a camera and shoot some video, even attempt to narrate it. The real skill is the weaving of those words and pictures in ways that simultaneously reinforce each other and amplify the communication. You can pack a lot of impact in a little piece of video if you know what you’re doing. It’s a language — one you have to study for a long time before you understand the nuances. Or, you can hire someone to tell your story for you.
Before you get to that point, and succumb to the You-Need-Videos Siren, please run down the following checklist:
If there are any red flags, then just say no. Bad video can kill off any good momentum in your other online pursuits.
(Ike Pigott is an Emmy Award-winning writer, who regularly posts at Occam’s RazR)
The title says it all.
Maybe a blog isn’t right for your company. Maybe you don’t have anyone in-house who can step up and be the voice for the firm, the agent of engagement. But you do need a blog policy, pronto.
Cisco is now in hot water because one of its employees was running an anonymous blog tracking so-called “patent trolls.” When a site is official and transparent, there is no confusion about loyalties or the source of information. When employees are engaging in underground behavior, their actions can be tied back to you down the road. That applies to sites they run, administer, or even participate in commenting.
Sun, Yahoo, IBM, and many other companies have publicly available policies. There are many other resources available to help you craft one.
You may never have a corporate blog. But you have employees who do, and they comment on things that interest them. A clear policy can be the firewall that keeps your corporate interests out of the flames.
(Ike Pigott regularly writes at Occam’s RazR)
“God gave you two ears and only one mouth for a reason.”
I admit, I heard that more times than I would care to mention. But the truth behind the sentiment applies to Social Media (and the marketing thereof.) I’m willing to bet that more than 90% of the discussion about new media tools centers around the various means of pushing or publishing your message. In reality, the biggest value we derive comes from listening.
I have a friend who uses 18 different tools to monitor conversations in the blogworld alone. They range from simple Google News Alerts to arcane engines with names that probably will be forgotten. I won’t bore you with a list, because ultimately you are the one who has to decide at what level and depth you want to pay attention to the discussion.
Instead, I am going to shill for a great little tool that helps you stay on top of conversations in progress. (I mean “shill” strictly in the amateur sense. I get no money, and I don’t know the people behind it, so it’s a clean endorsement.) It’s called “Commentful,” available as a service from Blogflux.
Commentful works best in Firefox, where a plugin automates everything. Whenever I come across a comment stream I want to track, I just right-click on Add to Commentful. The url is added to my watchlist, and I get an alert at the bottom of the browser anytime there is an update in those comment streams. I tend to track all threads where I have left a comment, and even track a few where I don’t. The beauty (for me) is getting a heads-up within minutes of a new comment.
If you’re like me (a communicator with a deep crisis communications streak) you’ll see the value instantly. If not, you can still impress those in the conversation with your attention to detail and promptness to respond. Many times, it’s not just what you say, but when you say it.
