Monday, February 26, 2007

Michael Wesch's Video: Who Is Using Whom?


Michael Wesch, assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University has produced a fanastic video called Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us.  I sent the link to a few folks.  Maybe it is the music, but I find the video arresting.  I think Professor Wesch said it best in an interview with John Battelle: 

 “I wanted to show people how digital technology has evolved and give them a sense of where it might be going and to give some momentum to the all-important conversation about the consequences of that on our global society. I did not know it would reach so many people, but I had hoped that for those it did reach it would spark some reflection on the power of the technology they were using. Because without proper understanding and reflection, “the machine” is using us – all of us – even those that don’t have access to the machine at all.”  

It is an empowering four and half minutes that brings to life what all of us have been thinking about, talking about and doing.  It is very hopeful as it lays out new ways of communicating and understanding information. 

On further reflection, Professor Wesch has actually revealed something about technology that we have all probably suspected: our jobs and our lives are getting a little easier and much more complicated. 

I look back to college and wish I had a computer in my dorm room. (Yes, I graduated in 1986.)  It would have made my life a lot easier, and I like to believe it would have made me a better writer.  I suspect today, however, that computers have only raised the bar on what is required from students.  It puts greater emphasis on presentation, and I am sure many are still pulling all-nighters to finish term papers. 

Similarly today, new media is changing how we communicate.  Never has it been so easy to reach so many so inexpensively.  We don’t need fancy equipment, production crews and extensive distribution networks to make our voices heard.  Bloggers can begin blogging in minutes.   We now have the capacity to turn our bedrooms into recording studios and production houses.  Podcasts and videos are easily disseminated around the world -- "frictionlessly."  There is no real barrier to entry save your own pluck and talent. 

As Professor Wesch’s video reveals, blogging – the written word – is only the beginning of what is to come.  Pictures, audio and video are increasingly becoming part of the equation – not a nice to have, but a cost of doing business. 

We now have the ability to create the Internet in our image.  Customization and personalization enable us to create real and virtual representations of ourselves.  We are “da man” and big media companies are following our lead.  We decide when we want to watch something and how.  Not only that, we are creating content for them.  User generated content contributed to some of the most popular ads during the Super Bowl.  

The pressure is on.  I frequently have discussions with bloggers about whether they need to start producing podcasts and taping videos for YouTube.  Will our blogs suffer if they lack a multimedia component?  The written word is no longer enough. 

In the end, let’s not kid ourselves.  The machine, as Professor Wesch call it, is using us no matter how vehemently we say otherwise and no matter how deep our understanding of technology.  It is dictating more and more of what we say and how we say it.   

I think we have no choice but to embrace this new reality.  We can't go back; nor should we.  Technology is facilitating connections and empowering individuals in ways that were unimaginable just a generation ago.  And the rate of change is only accelerating.  And, I for one am not returning to an electric typewriter to write press or term papers. 

 Let me get back to you.

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Posted by Dan Greenfield at 10:02:42 | Permanent Link | Comments (3) |

Thursday, February 22, 2007

The JetBlue Blues



As if JetBlue wasn’t having enough troubles. Flight cancellations and videos of customers stuck on planes stranded on runways have dominated the news for the past week.

But then I read Shel Holtz's post mortem and Todd Defren’s posting from Tuesday. Apparently, as Paul Kedrosky observed, JetBlue has an official blog bylined by Jet Blue CEO David Neeleman. It was just updated today.  The last update was February 1 – weeks before the crisis began. Once more, the previous post was written in marketing speak with no opportunity to comment -- exhibits one, two and three on how not to blog.

While JetBlue failed to take advantage of its blog, the company at least learned its new media lesson. Mr. Neeleman outlined the company's Bill of Rights in a video posted on YouTube. The delivery was sincere and appears to represent a genuine effort at correcting mistakes.

I am not here to pick on JetBlue. They enjoy a terrific reputation. Aside from sharing passenger data a few years back, JetBlue has been a marketing marvel and a case study on how the troubled airline industry can do it right. Their innovative approach has earned them the admiration of competitors and the loyalty of customers.

In fact the blog is an unfortunate oversight in the company's handling of the crisis. A New York Times front page story recognizes their efforts to make amends for their failure to anticipate the impact of bad weather on service. Proactive and responsive, Mr. Neeleman has put a human face the company – expressing how “humiliated and mortified” he was. Their blog represents a huge lost opportunity to take advantage of the new medium.  Of course, not all JetBlue passengers read blogs, but I am sure many fliers do.  In the past 30 days, there has been a spike in the number of mentions about JetBlue in the blogosphere as this Technorati chart indicates.

What can blogs do for you in a crisis? A while back, I interviewed Erin Byrne, managing director of interactive at Burson-Marsteller who wrote:

The blogosphere and Internet communications in general have created a thirst for immediate information on a deeper level.  A cursory response will not satisfy online information-seekers, and an unacceptable response can create chatter and questions about a company and their intentions. However, bloggers create an opportunity as well - for companies who are willing to engage in Internet conversations, they have a significant opportunity to deepen loyalty in their company and products…

I wish my JetBlue PR brethren the best as they work their way through this crisis. Anyone who thinks he or she is immune to a communications crisis is only deluding him or herself. I am also confident that JetBlue will rebound from this experience. I only hope they they learn their lessons.  An updated blog wouldn't have solved their situation, but it certainly could not have hurt.

Let me get back to you.

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Posted by Dan Greenfield at 10:30:51 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, February 19, 2007

Can Personal Comments Get You Fired?

I spent the weekend thinking about a posting that John Wagner wrote on Friday.

It discussed former Miami Heat Tim Hardaway’s comments on a radio show last week.  His comments about gay people were hateful, insensitive and plain wrong. 

In the case of Mr. Hardaway, the NBA stripped him of his duties for the weekend’s All Star Game in Las Vegas as a result of his comments. 

Putting aside the particulars, the controversy raises for me a larger and thornier issue that all of us as communications professionals and web 2.0 advocates must address:  Can or should employees be fired or disciplined for discussing non-company related topics on personal blogs -- topics that would result in a dismissal if they were made in the workplace, at a company event or on behalf of the company?

I am an advocate of free speech and greater openness and candor in the age of Web 2.0.  I don’t want to be member of the thought police, but where do we draw the line?  How open or closed minded should we be? 

Clearly, there are cases where employees whose contract or terms of employment may restrict what is said.  There are others who by the nature of their job are in the public eye, and any negative publicity -- no matter how personal -- makes certain topics too controversial and therefore inappropriate and unacceptable.  But what about employees who traditionally fall outside these categories?

My reluctant answer is that employees have the right to exercise free speech on a blog as long as the comments don't relate to the company he or she works for.  Employees forfeit that right if they do and violate established policies for employment or codes of conduct.

But there are exceptions.  Certain comments are too egregious to be ignored.  Disciplinary action can’t be taken simply because we disagree with the comments.  I think punishment and dismissal may be appropriate if the comments prove to have a materially negative effect on the company or its reputation.   Of course, demonstrating a material impact may prove difficult, which is why companies need policies that govern acceptable and non-acceptable behavior.  

Ultimately, blogging gives us a tremendous opportunity to create whole new channels of communications.  We can connect inexpensively and easily -- building bridges, exchanging ideas, and fostering business and personal relationships. Ironically, the same platform that can help spread ideas can get us into deep trouble.

It is a powerful medium, and we must be prepared for comments that we don’t like or agree with.  Certainly what we say in our homes or even at a bar is very different than what we say on the Internet.  The Internet, by its nature, has the ability to amplify and magnify.  We can’t pretend that these forums operate by the same principles.  Once more, comments we make can also be recorded by others and posted online without our permission or approval – making it even more important to be careful what we say and where we say it.

Like anything else, this very powerful medium can be abused.  We have the freedom to say what we want, but we also must recognize that there are consequences for how we use that freedom.  As I have long maintained, having the ability to say anything you want doesn’t make it acceptable to actually say it.

Let me get back to you.

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Posted by Dan Greenfield at 09:45:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Employee Blogging at EarthLink

Bernaisesource has a second home of sorts.  Today, as some of you may have read on Earthling – EarthLink’s corporate blog, we unveiled an “extension.”   It’s a list of links to official EarthLink product blogs and a directory of unofficial personal blogs of EarthLink employees including yours truly.  

This directory is part of a journey we began last year to define the shape and direction of web 2.0 within EarthLink.  I am not sure that anyone knows the exact definition of web 2.0, but we are doing our best to embrace it.  Through this directory, hopefully my colleagues and I will learn together.  As part of the effort, we established an employee policy for blogging and online communications.  We started a blogging boot camp to help employees who were interested in blogging.  And who knows, maybe in the not too distant future we will explore Second Life and help employees get avatars. 

Among companies, I am sure there is a lot debate over how and even whether they should feature employee blogs.  Some folks I have spoken to feel that participating in a directory of personal blogs – even done on a voluntary basis – would stifle creativity and hinder the free flow of ideas.  From this perspective, it would be far better to let people hide in plain sight and blog on their own.   Previously, Chris Barger who heads up blogging initiatives at IBM told me in an interview on Bernaisesource: "Unlike other companies, we don’t house our blogs in one place.  There is no single template they have to use.  We don't necessarily know about all our employee blogs."

 Others may be concerned that a directory is an endorsement of participating blogs.  Without any restrictions, a company could find themselves in a difficult position if they did not like or disagreed with the content on an employee blog. In our case, it is a gamble worth taking.  While we won’t censor content, participants must abide by our blogging policy.  

Complaints will have to be taken on a case by case basis.  We also trust our employees to do the right thing.  Since it is voluntary, it is also self regulating.  Presumably, if employees had any doubts, they would think twice about being part of a directory in the first place. 

Over the years, we at EarthLink have had internal forums for employees to, in the immortal words of Saturday Night Live from days gone by, “talk amongst yourselves.”  Debate has been lively at times.  Now we are sharing a small part of our collective selves with the outside world.  Hopefully it will give you a better understanding of me and my colleagues and encourage others to do the same at their companies. 

Let me get back to you. 

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Posted by Dan Greenfield at 10:52:43 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Blogging’s Second Act: Measuring Its Success

You’ve successfully launched a corporate blog.  You gained support from your clients and bosses, managed to get some traction in the blogging community and even garnered some coverage in the mainstream media.  Now what?  Is act two measuring your blog's success and determining its ROI?  

ROI – rate of return – a term most PR folks are loath to discuss.  It’s not that we don’t want to measure our success; it’s just that the measurements are often inexact and subjective.  How do you measure stories you kill?  Is a brief mention in the New York Times better than a full profile in a less widely read publication?  How do you factor in tone and placement?  Are three cameras at a local press conference better than one if that camera yields a longer story on the number one affiliate in the market?  And these questions don’t even begin to address the role of new media.

Similarly, I think measuring a blog’s impact still lacks precision and meaningful quantification.  It is difficult to gauge the real (monetary) value of fostering greater employee engagement, minimizing customer discontent, personalizing a company’s image and enhancing the understanding of a company’s products and researchers.

To their credit, vice president and principal analyst Charlene Li and Chloe Stromberg have taken on the ROI of blogging in a recent report for Forrester Research, Inc.  It’s an inexact science, but at least they are attempting to construct a methodology to gauge blogging's effectiveness. In it, The ROI of Blogging, The “Why” and “How” of External Blogging Accountability (January 2007), they discuss ways to evaluate a blog’s effectiveness.  Given the number of responses (Steve Rubel, Mario Sundar, Renee Blodgett), the authors are onto something.

Their approach factors in the benefits, costs and risks of having a blog.

Benefits:  What are the primary ways that your company will benefit from having a blog?
Costs:  How will your company pay, both in hard costs and resources, for a blog?
Risks:  How do the uncertainties change the total impact of blogging on your business?

Putting aside the study’s conclusions, what is obvious about ROI is that it helps us to focus on a blog’s value and conversely the price of not having one at all.  To be sure, there are real costs associated with blogging -- software, system administration, employee time and possible legal costs -- but blogging in my opinion is an essential component of a company’s total communications strategy.   Risks can be minimized, costs reduced, and success gauged but blogs are here to stay – even if the ROI is not as high as originally projected.

The challenge in developing an industry standard is that there are as many reasons for blogs as there are blogs themselves.  As Charlene Li wrote on her blog:  "As you can see, this process and framework is not cut and dry, black and white. Rather, it’s highly subjective, requires tremendous judgment, and is open to interpretation. But it is a starting point for an otherwise nebulous activity."  Ultimately, blogging's value will correspond to the corporate culture in which it functions.   Who writes them, what they write and why they write them vary from company to company.

Granted there is a lot of hype associated with blogs which can obscure the true measure of their worth.  But putting aside the hype, corporate blogging still defies easy measurement precisely because we are in the early stages of its life cycle.   

That we are trying to quantify a blog’s value demonstrates the growing legitimacy of blogging as, dare I say, a marketing tool.    Bosses and clients are going to want a way to gauge success.  In their report, the authors offer up some benefits to consider (see chart below) including blog traffic, press mentions, search engine positioning, savings on consumer insight.  These benefits are useful, but they only tell part of the story. 


                                                                Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

In the end, I think we need to be cautious in applying existing marketing measurements to what is clearly a new form of communications.  Trying to fit blogging within traditional PR or marketing tools with corresponding measurements, may not only kill its spontaneity, it may result in a backlash from the blogging community.

Let me get back to you.

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Posted by Dan Greenfield at 09:52:33 | Permanent Link | Comments (5) |

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Hawks vs Lakers: Blogging at Philips Arena

   

Live or nearly live from Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta.

Last evening I had the chance to be part of Hawks Blog Night -- an opportunity for bloggers to report live and in person as the Hawks took on the Lakers.  It is just another example of how folks are using new media to filter their everyday experiences.  For sports fans, it is a way to enhance the way they follow their favorite team.

The event was sponsored by the Atlanta Spirit -- the parent company of the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers. This season EarthLink has partnered with Atlanta Spirit to help raise our visibility and hopefully get some sign ups.

I counted about 11 bloggers reporting on the game and at least 2 celebrities in the stands -- Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence. Though unconfirmed, I was told that the rap star Bow Wow was in the house.  I could have sworn I saw Patrick Ewing on my way up to the suite.  Too bad he couldn't bring one home for the Knicks. 

A lot of Kobe fans in the crowd -- a fact that did not go unnoticed by the highly partisan group of bloggers.  I was doing more observing, but my fellow bloggers were reporting with regular updates, weaving highlights from the court and stunts for the fans into a single chronology of the game.  One fan favorite was the Kiss Cam in which couples are singled out and encouraged to kiss on camera.

I spoke to Micah Hart manager of websites for the the Hawks and Thrashers.  Touting the new Atlanta Hawks blog, he told me that "Ultimately our job is to sell tickets, but we want fans to come to our site for information and content they can't get anywhere else." 

"We want to cater to the fan and take advantage of the way the web is changing."

Taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi access, the bloggers were very enthusiastic. Said sports blogger -- Jay Busbee:  "It's a great idea -- real time feedback -- not a sanitized view of the game -- talking like the way I  would if I was sitting at home watching the game with my buddies.  It's not for everybody.  It requires you to keep focused."

My take: Blogging is still relatively new and professional teams are only beginning to understand the potential for fan engagement.   Fans are a team's ultimate ambassadors.  Engage them and they will help you spread the word.

Granted many people don't go to games to blog and if they wanted to, they probably couldn't get their laptops through security.  

 

For the Atlanta Spirit, they are looking to possibly sponsor more live blog nights.  Seeing the underbelly of the stadium, getting a press pass, some food and access to a post game press conference becomes part of the ultimate sports experience for die hard fans.   It is all about engaging fans in a space between sports fantasy leagues and paying for the right to play against old time baseball greats in Florida during spring training.

In the end, it was a really great experience. It was interesting to hang out with bloggers who are more passionate about the subject matter than the technology that drives their discussions.  I haven't decided about live blogging.  It gives you a sense of immediacy, but it is hard for me to do much reflecting as I get caught up in the half time show -- the contortionist -- Rubberboy -- and the contortions of Kobe Bryant freeing himself from some pretty intense man-to-man coverage to score a basket.

Let me get back to you.

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Posted by Dan Greenfield at 10:51:08 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Monday, February 05, 2007

10 Reasons Why Your CEO Shouldn't Blog

Recently a colleague sent me an article in the Puget Sound Business Journal about a CEO whose blog caused a stir because the post sparked a rumor about a potential sale.  The CEO eventually deleted the entry.

As blog ging becomes more acceptable in the business world, more CEOs are starting to consider  blog ging.  CEO bloggers are still in the minority, but they stand in good company.  Sun Microsystem CEO Jonathan Schwartz is one prominent example of a successful CEO blog ger. He has gotten a great deal of positive press for his blog .  But I would tread carefully.  There are plenty of people offering plenty of reasons for CEOs to blog .  Here for your consideration are ten reasons not to:

10:  Your CEO heads up a start-up and wants more people to pay attention to his or her company.

9:  Your CEO heads up a Fortune 500 company but wants to stand out from the pack.

8:  Your CEO thinks he or she should because his or her employees are blogging.

7: Your CEO thinks blog ging is less expensive than hiring professional PR and marketing teams.

6:  Your CEO does not have the time to write his or her own postings.

5:  Your CEO is not a good writer.

4:  Your CEO is not comfortable with candid feedback or criticism.

3:  Other CEOs are blog ging and he or she doesn’t want to cede a competitive advantage.

2:  Other CEOs aren’t blog ging and he or she wants a competitive advantage.

1:  Your CEO thinks he or she should.  

Most PR folks have enough trouble getting their CEOs to blog .  But blog ging for the wrong reasons can be far worse than not blogging at all.  No one, whether they work in the mailroom or the executive suite SHOULD blog . 

Blogging is for those who passionately believe they have something to say and who are willing to engage in an open candid conversation with the public.  Especially for a CEO, blogging is an opportunity to put a personal face on a company's leadership.  It is forum to exhibit thought leadership and to add context to publicly disclosed information. For the CEO who understands the new communications reality, who is not afraid of criticism and who has the time to be personally engaged on a regular basis, then blog ging can pay big dividends. 

For us in PR, we should encourage our executives to blog, but be prepared to explain that it is not a PR substitute.  We need to explain the rules of engagement, but should also be prepared to advise against it when we feel it is not in the best interest of your CEO or the company to blog.  A personal face to the company is one thing; discussions that don't have a clear strategic advantage is another.  (Gossiping or comedy routines would be bad reasons to blog.)  But if your CEO chooses to blog, it may be difficult, but we need to step back and let him or her communicate freely with minimal PR oversight.

Let me get back to you.

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Posted by Dan Greenfield at 09:55:11 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Hiring in the New Media Age

Ahhh…the joys of hiring in the new media age.  One of my managers is leaving.  Her departure creates an opportunity for me, but also a challenge.  In past years, my key requirements were strong media relations experience, excellent verbal and written communications skills and a working knowledge of the high tech or ISP industry

Today, I am also looking for someone having a familiarity and comfort with new media – blogging, social websites, viral marketing, etc.  Those qualifications may seem obvious, but choosing the right mix of skills and experience is difficult, especially with limited resources and a small staff.

Ideally, this candidate would understand the relationship between new media and old and know how to write for a blog and produce a podcast or vlog.  He or she would need to have technical skills and communications skills – and in a sign of the times, have even more familiarity with technology and more comfort with social networks than I have.  While the manager would be a junior member of the staff, I would look to him or her for advice and counsel.

Compounding the challenge is the recognition that most of the world still relies heavily on mainstream media for validation.  Most of my time is spent with traditional news sources.  You can have someone who is an expert at blogging, but when a consumer reporter calls with a question or complaint or a national news daily wants to do a profile, you can’t ignore them.

And so the question becomes whether you hire for your immediate needs or where you want your department to be in a year or so.  You also have to ensure that the skill set of a new hire fits in with those of your existing staffers who may not be as conversant with web 2.0.  

In the end, my job function is also evolving.  I no longer just do media relations.  Corporate communications involves customer interaction, employee engagement and marketing.  These components live in the intersection of many different stakeholders, and because of new media, are much more visible to the outside world.  My new hire needs to reflect this evolution.

I suppose the easy answer is a balance of the two skill sets.  And that is probably what I will do, but if it comes down to two candidates – one with strong new media experience and one with strong mainstream skills – the answer won’t be obvious. 

I would be curious to hear from you about the choices you are making in regard to new hires.

Let me get back to you.   

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Posted by Dan Greenfield at 10:13:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |