There are days when I really enjoy eating my own dog food, as they say. Today is one of them. We recently added functionality to the CustomScoop ClipIQ product to enable it to consume RSS feeds of the user’s choice and integrate it with the data gathered from our proprietary search technology.
(more...)Listening to NPR on the way home the other evening, I was intrigued by a story about a recent contest that allowed participants on a writer’s forum to serve as the screeners for novels.
As background, aspiring novelists used to send unsolicited manuscripts to publishing houses, where the novels would reside in the so-called “slush pile.” Every so often groups of editorial assistants would gather and read through them, hoping to find the next great undiscovered American novel.
The NPR piece gives several reasons for the demise of this practice, including the events of 9/11 and the apparent preference of editorial assistants to now consume salads at their desks instead of the traditional pizza in the conference room. Personally, I think it’s this, because if you don’t read, you can’t write well. But I digress.
The contest was developed by publishing house Touchstone Books and Gather.com, a social networking site. The founder/CEO of Gather.com, Tom Gerace, set up a writer’s forum when he noticed users posting short stories and poems on the site, asking others to critique their work. The First Chapters competition had 2,600 entries, and as one writer pointed out, competing in this way was a bit nerve-wracking. Participants submit their writing, and others vote on it. Winner Terry Shaw noted:
“Anyone can say anything they want,” Shaw points out. “And of course you’re following it closely, and watching the votes. That was a strain. If you send something off to an agent, thousands of people don’t get to look at it and praise you or mock you.”
Two writers were selected as winners; Terry Shaw won the grand prize for his novel The Way Life Should Be, and Geoffrey Edwards won runner up for Fire Bell In The Night. Borders, another partner in the competition, will carry both books in its stores when they are released on September 18. The competition was so successful First Chapters is now holding another contest for romance novelists.
What’s on your mind?
That is the basic theme behind Bryan Person’s latest creation, the Social Media Top Ten. Who is influencing you this week? What social media trends are catching your eye? Which memes are stuck in your head like like a song you’ve been humming in the shower every morning?
Here’s my offering for what’s on my mind this week. Along with Bryan, I encourage everyone to post on this meme, and use the SMT10 Technorati tag so we can all find each other’s thoughts.
Social Media Top Ten
1) Twitter – When I first caved into the microblogging peer pressure, I went against the grain and signed up for Pownce. It soon became obvious that Twitter is where it’s at. And, as Bryan says, I dare you to find a conversation about social media where Twitter doesn’t come up.
2) Facebook videos – I’ve seen a surge in posting videos to Facebook in the last week. Notably, Kevin Dugan has been posting videos that are both helpful and hilarious.
3) Johnson & Johnson vs. the Red Cross – CustomScoop’s Jen White discussed the case in this space when the news broke; I’ve enjoyed following everyone else’s reactions, particularly that of Eric Eggerston.
4) iJustine - It took her now-famous “300-page iPhone Bill” video for me to find her, but now I’m hooked. Blogging needs more young female voices. Sisterhood is powerful!
5) PR Power Women – Speaking of strong female voices…The PR Power Women are all smart, savvy communicators. If you’re not subscribing, feel free to do so now!
6) Bacn – Not a spam, but not yet an email? Bacn! There’s been a little backlash to this new term, but there’s no denying it is here to stay.
7) Let’s Go Camping! – BarCamp and PodCamp discussions are all over my social media radar this week. See you all in Boston!
Boston the Place to Be for Social Media – Okay, so I live a good 45 minutes from Boston. But this still made me proud. Yeah, New England!
9) The Friendly Ghost’s PR Blog Index – Some competition for the Power 150?
10) Fool Me Once… – Embarrassingly enough, I discovered this week that “Fitzy,” the star of Townie News.com’s hilarious (though definitely NSFW kids!) Boston sports webcasts, is simply a character played by a Boston-area actor and comedian. Truly a low point for me.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be posting new Social Media Top Ten lists periodically. Check back for more!
Technorati tags: SMT10
No matter how many companies learn and adapt to the way social media has changed their businesses, there will always be a few who stand and steadfastly refuse to accept the changes.
While I understand in some small way the reticence of s
ome companies to adopt, say, a company-wide blogging platform as their first foray into social media (that is a big step), I honestly do not understand a café owner putting up a sign stating “No Yelpers!” Yelp is an online local review site, where apparently some (now banned) customers had posted bad reviews. You would think that anyone involved in the foodservice or hospitality industry would be aware of the implications of a negative review, and would take steps to improve their service upon receiving one.
Techdirt once again hits the nail on the head, saying:
This is effectively saying that the shop owner has no interest in what its customers think of it, has no interest in improving the quality of service and doesn’t seem to realize that this will only encourage anyone who has a bad experience to go to Yelp and post about it. In fact, putting this sign in the window seems likely to damage the reputation of the cafe a lot more than any bad review on Yelp.
I suppose this could be some weird contrarian method of getting publicity (hey, I am writing about it), but my guess is that this shop owner has no idea that he’s simply fanning the flames with this move. It would be far wiser for him to monitor the forums, and use the insights gained to improve his café.
I just read a post on BusinessWeek Online-Blogspotting about a survey conducted by Fusion PR, an independent PR agency that focuses on technology communications. The survey sought to determine the impact of social media on the jobs of technology journalists.
While some of the content is unsurprising (for example, technology journalists feel that social media has impacted the way they cover stories), some of it was quite interesting. The results that caught my eye, however, were the following:
31% regard bloggers as credible sources
35% maintain their own blog
Isn’t that a little strange? You would think that if 35 percent maintain their own blog, then at least 35 percent would regard bloggers as credible sources. Does this mean that there are technology reporters/bloggers out there that question their own credibility? Then, in light of that, this is an even more interesting survey result:
67% cite blogs in their articles
So, less than a third of survey respondents regard bloggers as credible sources, and yet more than two-thirds cite blogs in their articles?
Surveys are fun.
I noticed a post on Consumerist recently under the title “Stealth PR.” Figuring it was yet another story about the dangers of astroturfing or another fake blog exposed, I had to click. It was pretty brief, but definitely pulled a highly interesting topic into relief: A grad student CalTech devised a program revealing the IP addresses of those altering Wikipedia articles. Gee, what do you suppose he found?
Naturally, companies, organizations and religious groups have been anonymously self-editing their Wikipedia entries, a big no-no according to the FAQ. Sometimes they are deleting entire sections of information, as in the case of Diebold voting machines (someone working from a Diebolt IP address deleted 15 paragraphs of information on the company). Or deleting information they found critical, as in the case of the Church of Scientology.
Monitoring online forums like wikis is a big part of online reputation management, this much we know. But what’s wrong with going through the appropriate channels to make changes or correct errors? And to do so transparently? Anything less, and you’re treading on dangerous ground. Get caught (and you will), and you’ll come off looking sneaky and suspicious rather than open and willing to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.
The unfortunate flipside? With wikis, the public has the power. After the story was circulated here at CustomScoop, my colleague Mackenzie Bradley had this to say:
I still find it disturbing that “the public” can post whatever foolishness they want on a Wiki with no need to back up false or misleading claims. Even more disturbing, there is no good way for the subjects of the entry to redress or refute the material – It is seen as evil and manipulative for the subject of the post to have an opinion or want to introduce clarification. So the message is “lie all you want, they can’t do anything about it.” I think the most a company or individual can do is contact the webmasters or administrators with a grievance which then goes under a lengthy review process and never quite gets resolved. Is my understanding wrong in this sense?
Obviously, deleting 15 paragraphs from a company IP is an extreme case but still – how else can the subjects of the entries defend themselves from this sort of group libel? And how does the phrase “A lie retold a thousand times becomes truth” play into the predicament?
She makes a good point—if there really is fraudulent information contained in a wiki, why shouldn’t a company use the collaborative nature of a wiki to anonymously make corrections? The answer is easy—because they end up looking deceptive, as if they have something to hide.
What are the best ways for a company to combat false information on wikis? Are the approved transparent channels enough?
I had a few different ideas today, so I thought I’d compile a little jots-style rundown of the things I’m reading and thinking about today. Think of it like Potpourri, but with less Trebek.
It’s JotPourri!
First order of business, it looks like Wal-mart finally gets it. It’s not the greatest campaign ever conceived, but it seems that after enduring a few blogstorms (flogstorms?) and major stumbles on the road to fully embracing social media, Wal-Mart has a venture that could be a lot of fun and good for business. They’ve launched a Facebook group linking future college roomies together to design the look for their dorm room. Hitching its wagon to an already established platform like Facebook was the key move here, as Techdirt has pointed out. It was floggy nature of the retailer’s previous attempt at a social network that probably caused the lack of interest. By working with Facebook, this new program has a shot at success. (And it’s interesting following Jen’s observation last week that parents are also using Facebook to screen potential new roommates for their incoming freshmen kids.)
Notable piece on Drudge today: workers are reporting email stress that is affecting their productivity. That is, the pressure to deal with seemingly nonstop emails flying in all day can get in the way of achieving goals. I think it’s interesting to note that the “social media overload” meme flying around earlier this summer seems to have penetrated the mainstream. Average workers may not have the added pressures of sorting through thousands of RSS feeds, updating various social networking sites, and finding time to follow along on sites like Twitter and Pownce, but they are experiencing the same technology fatigue that plagues some of the more plugged in among us.
Two Tweets have also caught my eye today.
In an interesting bit of symmetry to the Drudge piece, Bryan Person conducted a little Twitter poll, asking fellow Tweeters how they avoid getting sucked into the “Twitter Time Suck” when they had other tasks to sort through. The responses were immediate and made for a great post on Bryan’s blog. The general consensus makes sense: check in when you have the time, keep an eye on your “Replies” tab to respond to any Tweets aimed at you specifically, and try not to stress out if you’ve been away a few hours.
Doug Haslam made my favorite point in response, however, pointing out that as “procrastination aids” go, at least Twitter is productive. Can’t help but agree there, it can lead to brainstorms, ideas, new contacts—far more than say, a rousing round of Minesweeper.
And finally, Kevin Dugan made my day by passing along a link to a story indicating Michael Vick’s likely full season suspension. As I previously argued, this is the only move for the league in terms of public relations; Vick’s public image has been all but destroyed by this scandal, and to tacitly defend the player by allowing him to continue play would have been disastrous for a league already beleaguered by off-field shenanigans. I continue to maintain that if Vick is convicted, a permanent ban from football would be the only move, no matter how badly the Falcons need his exceptional talents.
According to a piece in USA Today, some parents of incoming college freshmen are using Facebook as a screening tool for their child’s roommate, and apparently this is causing an increase in the number of room change requests.
One of the beauties/benefits of social media is its ability to foster connections. It’s unfortunate that this example is proving that social media is being used for the exact opposite function.
Most colleges aren’t honoring room change requests, citing policies that freeze room changes from a few weeks to the entire semester.
As one student who commented on the USA Today piece pointed out, what made her change roommates was behavior that wasn’t stated or even hinted at in her (former) roommate’s profile, so this certainly isn’t a foolproof way to go about screening a roommate.
Some schools are utilizing technology and social networks to allow incoming students to fill out profiles to find roommates. While this is a more constructive use, it still feels as though this is allowing cliques to be formed prior to anyone setting foot on campus.
Isn’t part of college learning how to live with someone who isn’t an immediate family member, and doesn’t this help the student learn a number of skills that will be necessary in the ”real” world?
When I saw this post on BrandweekNRx, I did actually have to follow Peter Rost’s direction to do a Google News search on the issue–it was (almost) too bizarre to believe.
I really have to wonder what Johnson & Johnson thinks that they will accomplish by going this route, and what the pattern of logic was behind filing the lawsuit. Suing an organization that is recognized the world over as providing help and hope in times of disaster over their namesake symbol, because your company uses the same symbol on stuff you sell looks bad.
It certainly isn’t good PR.
In a lot of blog posts I read, a common theme is that PR pros are flacks and hacks and serve little redeeming value. They obfuscate and spin, and in the world of web 2.0, there is no need for them if only companies and CEOs would only just speak their minds and “tell it like it is.”
Yesterday, as I listened to and watched the owner of Murray Energy in Utah, I could not disagree more. If you haven’t seen it, here’s a clip:
In a passionate and obviously heartfelt speech, Robert E. Murray, Chairman of Murray Energy Corp., covered a wide range of topics, including: global warming, the need for coal powered plants, the mineworkers’ union, seismic activity, and the inaccuracies in media reports of the mine disaster. He also discussed the missing miners and the obvious concerns of their families.
He was all over the place, and not at all “on message.” Live television covering a mine disaster was not the place for political messages; it might be how he feels, but this was not the appropriate forum to relay his feelings on these topics.
Staying “on message”–discussing the missing miners–would have relayed a much stronger presence, and conveyed the sense that the company was doing all it could to be a resource in an obviously very difficult situation.
I don’t know if Murray has a PR firm or an internal PR group, or if he’s inclined to listen to them. I get the sense that yesterday’s performance was a missed opportunity for Murray.
