Inspired by Chris Anderson's "Hah" post about "The Top Five Mistakes of Long Tail Criticism", I wondered about my own usage of the Amazons and Netflixes of this world. It's pretty much a combination of short & long tail ordering as I read and watch the blockbusters as much as the hidden gems.
But then - Hah! - I realized that I use one of my favorite devices almost exclusively as a long tail instrument: My iPod! I don't spend any time on transferring my favorite or the latest & hottest CDs onto the iPod. But I download every (old) song that I've been humming and singing along to for many years. I never bought the album because I only like that one song.
That is why I think the iTunes Store needs to optimize its search engine. Often I can only remember parts of the song, hardly ever the title or the singer/band. PLEASE, iTunes, help me and the other Long Tail users of the iPod to find what were're looking for!
David Meerman Scott asks whether MSM journalists are one-way communicators and wonders about blogging policies at mainstream media outlets. Stevel Rubel tells us that CNET has a policy that requires blogging journalists to respond to comments. Rachel Gross who comments likes the idea that journalists have to defend their arguments or facts to their audience.
Journalists were used to being wooed. By companies and PR people. In the old days ,"Letters to the Editor" were about the only means of consumer-generated feedback to an article in the paper or a magazine. Unless you were a famous print or broadcast journalist, you didn't need to respond to your readers/viewers. At least not directly. No need to explain why you wrote what you wrote. Now this has changed - especially for blogging journalists.
Blogging journalists are encouraged to engage in a conversation with their readers - and yes, even the PR folks. They might now have to explain and defend their work (as Rachel says). That must hurt. Actively commenting on other people's blogs, as John Cass suggested, must feel strange to many journalists who are not used to reaching out to Jane and John Doe.
If MSM policies include the requirement for blogging journalists to actively engage with the blogosphere, will be we get to the point where journalist comments for comment's sake? That is scary!
Yesterday I attended an IABC luncheon in downtown Boston. The Yankee chapter of IABC is a great organization and very committed to providing forums for members, lapsed members (that's me!) and future members to come together and share thoughts, ideas, strategies and tactics.
A lot of the people I talked to work in internal communications. I asked about the use of social media in their daily work and the primary answer is still: "Well...we've got an intranet". Intranets are great but they offer so much more beyond being a repository of company information.
Here's what companies should consider for their intranets in 2007 (if they haven't done so already):
- Newsfeeds: allow your employees to customize their company news by using RSS
- YouToo can do what YouTube does: incorporate video in your intranet. This doesn't mean that every employee should be able to publish his or her own amateur video on the company site. Use semi-professional video to communicate news on your intranet as it reaches more employees than pure text.
- The same is true for Vodcasts or Podcasts which proof to be a valuable alternative to announcing
company news such as a new benefits program, the opening of a new
facility or an upcoming tradeshow the company exhibits at.
- Consider a blog for internal communications especially if you work in an environment where an external blog faces all kinds of regulatory and legal hurdles that you can't get past. One of the attendees yesterday suggested an Editor's Blog to solicit ideas and content for the employee newsletter. What a great idea!
- If you've got employees in various locations collaborating on writing a publication, a series of white papers or other forms of content, consider offering a wiki as part of the Intranet.
- Multi-cultural global corporations can also benefit from their own social networking component. Intranets usually have an employee directory, often with pictures, and sometimes with an attached skill profile. Why not allow all company experts on a certain topic - no matter where they are located - to form their own little community.
If you want to know what makes an intranet a great intranet, check out Jacob Nielsen's Best Intranets of 2007.
Last week NPR ran a series on the shortage of nurses. This leads to nurses being overextended and overworked. One of the nurses who was interviewed mentioned that her boss, the President and CEO of Jordan Hospital has a great way of showing that he cares for his staff. Every once in a while he'd deliver pizzas to the nursing staff at 3 am.
Internal communications can be so easy!
With Barack Obama having announced his intentions to run for president on YouTube, the campaign before the campaign is starting to heat up. Recently John Edwards invited citizen journalists and bloggers to join him on the campaign trail. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, A-list blogger Robert Scoble was part of the gang and interviewed the Senator about his intentions. And the McCains and Clintons will follow as the pressure continues to build to include bloggers, vloggers, wiki producers, podcasters and OhMyNews journalists as a target audience.
The media has always been a major part of a presidential race. This time, it'll even be bigger. In our day day and age, almost everybody can be a (citizen) journalist or a publisher of news and information. The number of influencers has skyrocketed.
So, if I am not sure who to believe and, in the end, vote for - who do I listen to along the way? The political correspondent of a big time newspapers, the same person on his or her personal blog which expresses more personal opinions, my neighborhood podcast where Suzie, my neighbor voices her political views, the campaign ads on TV which I mute anyway or the wannabe political videogapher on YouTube who gives me his or her two cents about each candidate?
Let me know. I'd be curious to find out!
The Boston chapter of the Social Media Club met last night at the offices of Network World. It's obvious that the Social Media Club fills a void: CGM and citizen media evangelists & enthusiasts get together with marketing/SEO and PR experts who are clearly intrigued about the changing face of media. It's exciting and invigorating.
Todd Defren, Principal of SHIFT Communications did a terrific job of explaining the benefits of the social media release (disclosure: Todd is an old business friend of mine and I also worked at SHIFT and therefore witnessed the creation of the SMR). He's cautious and careful not to place too much emphasis on it. It's just one small piece of the social media puzzle.
When I saw David Meerman Scott in the audience I first thought that there would be a lively discussion of his view "the press release is for buyers - not for the media" which he discussed many times on his fantastic blog. But I totally underestimated the crowd. Todd nodded and may nodded with him. Journalists and editors base their decision on what to write a story about on (almost) everything but a press release. Will the social media release change that? Maybe.
Ian Lamont, the online project editor for Computerworld.com who was also present, said he liked the new format but I don't think he's ever gotten a social media release. As pretty much the only media representative in the room, Ian was also questioned by John Cass, a Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research, on whether he or any of his colleagues leave comments on other blogs. Of course, Computer World Bloggers invite comments on their blogs but do they actively go to other blogs and engage in a conversation with bloggers and citizen journalists? Ian didn't quite answer the question. I hope John will do a post about it. I'd love to read what other "old media" establishment have to say.
Thanks to Todd from Topaz Partners as well as Howard from the Social Media Club who made this happen!
In our day & age where visual stimulation has become so very important, the power of words is often forgotten or underestimated. You're "out" if your blog is just a blog, and not a vlog and/or doesn't include attention-grabbing photos or funny cartoons.
"Words That Work" is a new book by Republican political consultant and pollster Frank Luntz who provides insight into the significance of the right or wrong word(s) in politics. (Note: The Amazon editorial review warns readers of its lack of bipartisan balance!) In an NPR interview today, he described the word "surge" - now being used by the government in conjunction with the new strategy in Iraq - as a bad choice since it emphasizes sending more and more troops to Iraq. Americans who oppose this strategy will therefore experience this word as unpleasant and alarming.
This little example also transcends into the social media/marketingsphere as it shows how important it is to select the right tags, company claims and keywords. Choose them carefully. Not just in terms of being found on the Internet but also in terms of their hidden meanings and connotations. Sometimes the right word can reach more than a thousand soulmates.
NPR reported today that Logan Airport recorded the highest temperature ever on any given January 5th: 63 degrees Fahrenheit. Rain is in the air and it feels like spring.
I don't like it. What happened to winter? To ice skating, skiing, tubing, snow-boarding or just having fun in the now? Who wants to snuggle up with hot chocolate in this kind of weather. Right - nobody.
Winter Warmland definitely feels like something is wrong with our environment. In December most people I met liked the mild air and said "Let's enjoy it while we can". Now, more and more people feel like it's strange and doesn't feel right. Maybe this helps us realize that we need to change for the environment to stay the same.
First let me say, that I like Robert Scoble and his blog and show. He seems the "real thing" and quite authentic and he's livin' the American 2.0 dream.
But I don't think that he did John Edwards or himself any favor by publishing the John Edwards interview.
Why? Here are my two cents:
- To start off with a questions: "Who are you?" clearly shows that Robert Scoble is not a journalist. I know he doesn't claim to be but asking a presidential candidate who he is doesn't really reflect well on Robert's IQ. It definitely gets a zero on the journalistic IQ scale.
- As a result of the opening question, John Edwards is taken aback, doesn't quite know what to say and looks insecure and a bit embarrassed for Robert. Exactly how a candidate wants to look like a good 24 hours after he announced his candidacy!
- Then Robert fires away the second question "What do you do?" which causes John Edwards to make even more facial expression that don't become him too well. Yes, he looks young and casual but does he want to look goofy?
- At that point, I stopped watching the video. I also got annoyed by the sound of the engine and the unsteady video that cut off John Edwards' forehead.
Later on I watched the whole thing and there's some more interesting stuff coming and yes, better questions leading to better answers. But do viewers even get to this point?
Jeremiah Owyang says that the next presidential election will be fought on online. That might well be true but John Edward's smart move to invite citizen journalists and bloggers along the campaign trail might have ramifications on his reputation. Oh yes, it makes him seem open and not worried about people finding out who the real John Edwards is and what he stands for. But being a nice, open, transparent guy just isn't enough for the job. Or is it? We'll see how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will handle the social mediasphere.
