social media Archives - Page 3 of 4

Who are you?

April 27, 2009 by David

Last week I spent some time in my campaigns class helping students think about life after graduation.

Identity, online and off, was a topic. The main goal is to be “findable” online, which is easier for someone with an uncommon name and much more difficult if your name is “Smith” or “Johnson.” One student said she shares a name with an adult film actress. What to do?

There are no magic answers here. But everyone can proactively manage this problem. Use your name consistently. If it’s common, think about using your middle initial or nickname. Secure relevant domains. Create a Google Profile. Participate intelligently in the social web. And register for services that can help create “breadcrumbs” that lead back to you.

I counsel clients to sign up for Twitter, or other services, even if they have no intention of using them. At least you know other parties can’t use your identity.

If online identity is a concern to you, take a look at knowem.com. This service can instantly check if your preferred name is available on 120 social media websites. For about $65, the service will sign you up for all of ’em. That’s right, every one, from Aviary to Zooomr (If you’re not familiar with all of these services, you’re not alone.)

For an additional $20/month, the service will continue to sign up for new services as they launch. (Please note that I have not evaluated this service.)

It might be overkill for most individuals, but a quick scan of the list will show some services that you probably should consider. Of course, you can sign up without paying a third party. The takeaway is to a) think about who you are and want to be; b) take steps to identify and protect this name; and c) build the infrastructure of participation so the web is working for you, not against you.

Just remember: you can’t opt out. The online conversation will continue and grow. So stake your place in it, and manage your online identity.

In search of ethos online

April 15, 2009 by David

Aristotle, the father of rhetoric, taught us about the three great appeals: logos, the logical appeal; pathos, the emotional appeal; and ethos, the appeal of reputation.

Who you are matters. And as we go through life, we create meaningful relationships with people, in large part based upon ethos.

But all that falls apart online. And as social media evolve, we need to fix this, or the communities will fall apart.

Arthur Frommer wrote last week of widespread shill reviews on travel sites, including popular sites like tripadvisor.com. Frommer reports that one travel site, beatofhawaii.com, says up to half of tripadvisor’s reviews appear to be placed by PR firms, restaurants and hotels – all on their own behalf. He further reports that Royal Caribbean Cruise lines has engaged in a “pay for play” scheme to “wine and dine” frequent cruisers, in return for positive reviews on social media sites (note: do this search to see the blowback from consumer advocates about this program).

Locally, at kansas.com, the portal for the Wichita Eagle, the comments on stories are filled with hateful, cloaked comments, cheapening the site.

So, what can we do about this?

Require registration. Anonymous comments have no value. Only cowards hide behind anonymity.
Registration is a start, but websites and news services should require people to use their real names. A newspaper wouldn’t publish an anonymous or cloaked comment, so why should a website?
People who carry out discourse publicly should want to tell us who they are. If you’re a company or blogger, you can provide a link to your site. If you’re not, consider a suggestion by David Meeman Scott, author of World Wide Rave: create a Google Profile (here’s mine). A Google profile is free, easy to create, and provides basic contextual information about who you are.

You might use a LinkedIn or Facebook identity, but as Scott points out, you need to be a member of that network to see your page. Anyone can see your Google Profile.

Professionals should know better than to post phony reviews. As a member of the Public Relations Society of America, I am bound by the PRSA Code of Ethics, which includes the following:

Avoid deceptive practices
Reveal the sponsors for causes and interests represented
Be honest and accurate in all communications

It’s not rocket science. Any professional should know that it’s wrong to lie or fail to disclose an interest. And still, people do it all the time. And drilling down to the level of comments left on an online newspaper, there’s no pretense of professionalism. It’s a literal free-for-all.

In the end, people will tire of this tainted marketplace of ideas. Maybe that’s what it will take to get people to pay for content online. Online communities that are honest, ethical and policed for trolls. Like a country club, you charge a fee to weed out the undesirables. And then say good bye to the public swimming pool.

In my daily life, I’m very selective about who I’ll call a “friend.” Online, I would also rather hang out with friends than people who won’t even tell me their real names.

Let’s raise our standards online, treasure our friends, and say goodbye to the trolls.

These times call for … radical transparency

March 13, 2009 by David

In a world of communication-empowered customers, businesses are starting to figure out that treating customers well is … well, good business. They may also be treating customers well because they’re scared to death of the consequences of not doing so (see: Vincent Ferrari tries to cancel AOL). And that’s OK, too.

But many businesses have just put lipstick on the pig, hoping to fool their customers with the appearance of good customer care. Their business model is: up front, we cherish you and your money. In the back, not so much.

Here are some examples from my daily life of this “partial transparency”:

• I subscribed to a new magazine, and received the first issue yesterday (March 12). It was the February issue, which probably was on new stands around Christmas. Also in my mailbox: the March issue. So here’s my question to Rodale Press, which publishes the magazine: am I your customer, or just a convenient way to monetize your excess back inventory? I called Rodale, and they agreed to extend my subscription for one issue. No apology though, though I did get a “not a problem.” I might still cancel the magazine.

• I flew United Airlines to Chicago, and on the way home thought I should join the frequent flyer club. It’s easy to do so before you fly. After you’re safely home, however, it’s another matter. I endured a long-time tactic of an organization that wants to discourage a certain customer behavior: information buried deep in the website so no one can find it (hint: search for “retro credits”). When I finally found the right page, I was told I had to wait 72 hours after the last flight (translation: come back later, we’re confident you’ll forget).

• How many other organizations “talk the talk” of customer service, but absolutely fail to deliver it? Have you ever tried to call amazon.com? One customer who has had it even created a website full of codes that bypass the computerized voicemail hell that so many companies erect to keep customers out.

That’s why it’s so refreshing to see when companies get it right. When they’re on Twitter, answering questions and acting like human beings. When there’s a live chat option, so you can interact with a customer service agent. And when someone, anyone, says “thank you” and “you’re welcome.” Or, “I’m sorry; how can I make that right?”

Social media is about media, for sure, but it’s first and foremost social. We now have the tools to be social in a computer-mediated environment. And the spoils go to those who welcome their customers and treat them like the royalty they are.

Twitter: ultimate focus group or just a bunch of bullies?

February 23, 2009 by David

Tropicana is abandoning its new-look packaging after receiving criticism from consumers on Twitter and other social media channels.

Flash mobs are increasingly part of the modern life, whether it’s baby-wearing mothers who are angry at Motrin, or Facebook users upset with a change in their terms of service.

But do flash mobs constitute legitimate research?

Public relations pros quoted in The New York Times sing the praises of these new tools.

“You used to wait to go to the water cooler or a cocktail party to talk over something,” said Richard Laermer, chief executive at RLM Public Relations in New York. “Now, every minute is a cocktail party,” he added. “You write an e-mail and in an hour, you’ve got a fan base agreeing with you.”

And here’s Peter Shankman: “Twitter is the ultimate focus group. I can post something and in a minute get feedback from 700 people around the world, giving me their real opinions.”

Yes, the opinions are real. And somewhere in there you can find real insights. But the twitterverse is just a big SLOP sample – a self-selected opinion poll. The postings of the Twitterati don’t represent anyone – not even Twitter users overall.

Somewhere inside Tropicana, someone is listening to all these mini-rants. And that’s good. And that person should then consider the next step in an inquiry, which is to find out if these opinions are representative of some larger group that Tropicana cares about. There are lots of traditional tools with which to do that – from focus groups to large-sample surveys based upon an EPSEM sample (if you’re not a researcher, that’s an equal probability of selection method sample, which allows you to estimate error from the sample relative to the unknowable population parameter.)

There are lots of self-appointed “social media experts” out there who are just hammer-pounders. What’s that? You know the old saying, “give a kid a hammer, and everything looks like a nail.” These “experts” may or may not have real training or experience in marketing, public relations or research, and they view every problem as being solvable by the tool du jour, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or Flickr. They offer one-note solutions to complex problems.

Social media are a new part of the communication landscape, and they have transformed it. There are new rules of behavior, new opportunities, new cowpies to step in. Every business should learn about social media and take it seriously.

But I wouldn’t make a knee-jerk reaction based upon what a few cranks said on Twitter.

Yes, they may be customers, but they’re not representative of all your customers. Listen, yes. But don’t let them bully you into making poor decisions. That’s a poor use of social media.

Just one bad moment

February 11, 2009 by David

We’ve all had one. That moment you wish you could take back. Maybe you were impatient with your child, a colleague, or a loved one. Perhaps you laughed at someone’s expense. Or uncorked some profanity in an inappropriate situation.

You know why you did it. You were tired, you had had enough, you weren’t really thinking, you had a few drinks, you were just careless. You thought you were safe.

There’s nothing new about the one bad moment. What’s new is the omnipresence of recording devices and ways to share digital information. So today, your own bad moment can become permanently attached to you. It can go viral. And so, despite a lifetime of almost always doing the right thing, this one bad moment becomes the stain that never goes away.

Actor Christian Bale exploded on the set of Terminator 4, and his tirade has gone viral. The rant occurred in front of a small audience. But the recording has been shared millions of times. On YouTube, you can hear mashups of the rant with dance music and Dora the Explorer. There are currently about 40 videos featuring the profanity-laced rant. One has more than 2,320,000 page views.

“Christian Bale? Isn’t he that spoiled hothead? Oh, and I think he acted in some movies, too.”

Bale is not alone. Michael Richards had his bad moment. So did Michael Phelps. The pace of these moments seems to be accelerating. A-Rod lies about steroid use. Chris Brown may have assaulted his girlfriend, pop star Rihanna. Squeaky-clean Disney actress/singer Miley Cyrus appears to mock Asians. And that’s just from the past few days!

So please, be careful out there. And more importantly: be good. It is true: your true character is revealed by your behavior when you think no one is watching.

A more difficult issue that deserves further discussion: forgiveness. As a culture, how can we forgive people that we really don’t know? The viral qualities of a bad moment are far more powerful than those of atonement.