When is enough, enough?

Americans revel in the fact that in our land of opportunity we have choices. I have 26 different brands of bottled water in my grocery store, 450 channels of television and music on my cable, and 930 news sites on my browser’s RSS feed. I can download any of 5 million songs today into my Itunes. In 21st century America, we’ve all got a gazillion choices of what to wear, where to eat, what to do, what to read. But enough is enough. I’m experiencing informational overload and I’m starting to get sweaty palms.

Sometimes too much information or too many choices are a bad thing. I appreciate all the new community powered sites that allow blogrolling, and the fact that Technorati is uncovering the link farmers as the shysters they most certainly are. But sometimes too many choices make for bad choices and can be detrimental to your mental health. In fact, googling “too much information” uncovered an actual scientific experiment by some phychologists trying to determine if there is such a phenomena. Not surprisingly, there is. “If the number of variables to be considered exceeds human processing capacity then the worker will drop his or her mental bundle and become unable to proceed,” Professor Halford said. Forgive me if I’ve got the processing power of a 12 year old, but the variety and quantity of Gen 3.0 search engines are making my head spin.

I checked out Swickis for Avian Flu, avant guard filmmaking and Michael Moore. WhiteSpider has a wonderful aggregation of blocks and websites on Avian flu. Michael Moore or Cut Lab, not so much. (I chose Michael Moore simply because he’s in the news right now with his film Sicko, and I’m going to see that tonight). Clusty had more than 59 million results for Michael Moore, 8 million for Avian Flu, but nothing relevant for Cut Lab. IPhone, however, got 696 million results. Everyzing by Technorati is my favorite new media search tool. Michael Moore had 6542 hits in audio and video in 1.422 seconds. Cut Lab seemingly had 9859 hits, but on closer inspection it was just the meta tags that had cut or lab. No real CutLab material was there.

So while there seems to be a lot of wonderful work going on in the world of search optimization, what really is of value to me today? How would I attempt to get through the millions of relevant results for Avian Flu? I think right now I prefer Google. It’s my old reliable standy, that, for my personal needs, does its job very well. But I’m excited about the new ways data is being mined and processed, and I hope that someday soon, my computer can tell me which bottle of water is the best for price and nutritional value, what channel I should turn on for relaxation, or which new story is most relevant and of interest to me.

On a More Positive Note

Guy Kawasaki, author of the blog “How to Change the World,” helps blogging neophytes refine their skills in this emerging communications channel. For example, in an interview with David Sifry, CEO of Technorati, the importance of linki-ness and RSS feeds are explained. Making it easy to let both Technorati and your blog-fans know when you’ve posted new insights, opinions, and knowledge is a common courtesy that will also help you get noticed and highlighted on search engines. Sifry goes on to explain good blogging etiquett. He states that, “The hyperlnk is becoming a new form of social gesture used between people” in their blogs to signify respect. It also, obviously, allows readers to examine the whole conversation that was going on before they arrived to the site. I really appreciate the ability to really get to know who these bloggers are, their expertise, and the relationships that exist out there in cyberspace.

Like Citizen Marketers and Naked Conversations, Sifry suggests the best blog practices: post often, write about your passion and area of expertise, link prolifically. He then reveals advanced blogger applications, which I am still struggling with myself: tagging and rss feeds. So while I still awake, I’ll go back to the wordpress tutorials. In my dreams I’ll be conjuring up an Iphone that will do my laundry and drive me to work, and add tags to my blog.

Is Blogging the New Killer App?

During the birth of web commerce and the Internet frenzy of the late 90’s, through the turn of the century, before the bubble burst, everyone talked about the next killer apps. Killer apps, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe PageMaker, or Google, are forward leaps in technology that add huge efficiencies to our work lives. People clue in right away to their positive applications and don’t question their values. Today’s killer app very well could be the blog. Bloggers have brought multinational corporations to their knees (Dell Hell), caused investigations into Attorney General Gonzales’s hiring and firing practices of U.S. Attorneys and raised awareness on issues from the environment to the plight of the elephant. So why are so many people opposed to them?

I have many friends who have spent their careers in the marketing departments of large corporations, doing important work positioning important products. So it is a total surprise to me that they have absolutely no interest in reading blogs, learning about blogs or trying to write one. No matter how much I try to enlighten them with my newfound knowledge on the virtue of the blog, they still don’t want to hear about it. Is it because blogs are still too new and undefined?

Blogs might be newest form of communications in Web 2.0, but they’re clearly making their impact known. In Naked Conversations, I found the section that explained how Google’s search engines are so finely tuned into the blogosphere very compelling. Scoble and Israel state that “For now…the shortest, cheapest, fastest and easiest route to a prominent Google ranking is to blog often.” Wow. If blogging is the secret to search engine supremacy, why all the resistance?

There are plusses and minuses to the new killer app. On the plus side, blogging is fast, cheap, viral, linkable, etc. On the minus side are the seeming lack of traditional measures of authenticity or legitimacy. These are the reasons for blogging resistance cited by my friends who are opposed to blogging. There is also a widespread perception that blogging is all about one individual’s opinions or deep thoughts, and why would I or should I want to read such drivel?

First Person, Singular

Well blogging is all about one person’s thoughts and opinions, and maybe most importantly, passions. Naked Conversations discusses the world’s most famous Savile Row tailor, Horsefeather’s Restaurant and Sun Microsystems comeback from the verge of oblivion. These success stories epitomize the five success tips that Scoble and Israel lay down for the newbie blogger: Talk, and don’t just try to market yourself or your product. Post daily, or even more often—but be interesting! Write about things that you care about, are expert/experience in. Blogs are free to start, but cost time to nurture. And finally, they say, listen and learn!

I hope my marketing friends will give blogging another look. I’m convinced and hooked on the merits of blogging as a two-way communications tool, truly the next killer app.

We’re not all Jack Kennedys

We’re Not All Jack Kennedys
(or how I learned to stop worrying and love the blog)

If the old success model for public relations was, “He who shouts loudest wins,” then the new model may well be, “He who listens hardest prevails.” As Ogilvy PR guru John Bell offers in his blog on Leader’s Perspective: The idea is to actively engage in a two- way discussion with customers and influencers. Really listen and respond to your customers, especially when they are intelligently commentlng and/or complaining about valid concerns, as in Bell’s experience with his new Bose earbuds. NeilsonBuzz Metric’s Pete Blackshaw even offers a new acronym: Listening-Centered Marketing, or LCM. Both advocate that building greater brand loyalty or issue advocacy through the new two-way communications paradigm is of much greater long term value than a single sale or single vote was in days past.

But in today’s crowded blogospheres, congested internet highways and overfilled portals, how can a PR voice of reason rise above the din? How do you single yourself or your message out with class and credibility?
The Trusted Advisor offers a simple plan: get good people on your team to represent the company, look for win-win solutions to problems a customer may be having, and commit to next steps.

Today, I’m wearily happy to report that both Apple and Avid are actively listening and working with their customers to ensure brand loyalty and positive solutions.
This week I’ve been in my own version of “Dell Hell.” On one side I’m a MacAddict with unfailing loyalty to the brand (only ever owned Apple, never wanted or needed to be PC.) On the other side I’m a loyal Avid user. Avid, which makes the absolute best video editing software ever, defected to Microsoft a few years ago and has ticked many, many people off in the process. Many of my clients have moved their Avids to PC workstations, or even worse, to Final Cut Pro, Apple’s poor man’s version of the Avid. FCP is way, way cheaper, and works without going through hell and high water with every software upgrade. Anyway, this “Perfect Storm” combination of Intel Mac upgrades and Avid dongle dumper disasters has made my life miserable this week. After working in Final Cut Pro for the last five (count ‘em one, two, three, four, five long) months, I was so excited to be back on Avid.

Anyway, long story a little longer (hope you’re not totally confused or bored), both Apple and Avid rose to the occasion in terms of customer service. Apple walked me through downgrading my system to 10.4.8. Avid twice Fed Ex-ed the software and hardware I need to get back in business.

Golden Lessons Learned

So my lessons learned, that I would share with the public relations professionals of the world: Make sure that the people on the your side of the customer service lines are professional, courteous and dedicated. My long, painful saga took many forms: online help, telephone help, physical help. (And I can only hope and pray that on Monday it is over.) But in the meantime I’m at peace that the issues will be resolved in a way that makes me happy.

I’m a member of two professional groups and one discussion group in which Avid is a frequent topic (or the central topic). By keeping one customer happy, with some hours of support and hand-holding, along with minimal shipping charges to swallow, the public relations gained is pure gold. Instead of blasting Avid, I’ll continue to be a disciple.

So what does this have to do with the price of oil in Scotland or my reference to Jack Kennedy?

The problem with User Generated Content, or Social Generated Media is: Who cares? What makes my blog, or Slave to Target, or any of the 48 million blogs out there stand out? Why should I read any of them? What makes one special? I guess it’s the pureness of intent. We are all just expressing honest opinions about what matters to us. (Although maybe I’ll be lucky and crowned “authoritative” by Technorati one day, or maybe someone will start paying me to have an opinion, like my fave columnist Jeanne Marie Laskas.)

In the meantime, I can swim through the digital ocean in my quest to find connectedness and meaning in my day. As Jim Nail says, sometimes a marketer finds answers to questions they didn’t even know they were supposed to ask. I guess that’s the ultimate point. How can we know everything we’re supposed to know? There isn’t enough time in a lifetime, much less in a day, to absorb the knowledge and information out there. First there was Gutenburg and the printing press. Then, Marconi, Alexander Graham Bell, and you know I have to plug him, Al Gore, who came in and championed the internet.* Okay, so he’s no Jack Kennedy, but he’s a lot closer than Dan Quayle ever was, or for that matter, Bush 41’s little boy.

*According to Vincent Cerf, a senior vice president with MCI Worldcom who’s been called the Father of the Internet, “The Internet would not be where it is in the United States without the strong support given to it and related research areas by the Vice President in his current role and in his earlier role as Senator.”

A Dog is a Dog on the Internet

A paradigm shift is happening in the already frenetic world of the Internet as Web 1.0 morphs into the next generation. No longer is the Internet user passively consuming whatever the authorities deem appropriate for the masses: In fact this citizens’ revolt manifests itself in the 48 million Americans who now contribute to the content of the Internet. Today, the communications vehicle that was formerly the domain of corporate America and the 4th Estate has evolved into a sounding board for its consumers and subscribers. The revolution has begun: Web 2.0 has been unleashed.

The differences between the first generation of the Internet and Web 2.0 are remarkable not only in the technological advances such as the widespread dissemination of video content, interactive components including blogging, contests, and wikis, but in perhaps most amazingly, in the pure democratic, egalitarian nature of the Internet itself. Easy to use tools enable those from eight to eighty to publish web pages of their latest vacations, or contribute to message boards on how to be a better grandmother, providing a two-way experience on the information superhighway. People are creating, discussing, inventing and promoting their passions. And considering that a web page from an average citizen takes up the same space on a computer screen, and is accessible by the same number of people as the home page of the New York Times, it really is democratic.

Media Redefined

Social Media is bottom up, interactive and collaborative communications characterized by freedom of expression. The old media is out of favor with fewer and fewer people believing in the authenticity of their stories. In fact, when Anna Nicole Smith died in March 2007, news of the Iraq war, the crisis in Darfur, the continuing plight of Hurricane Katrina victims, and all the other real news was put on the back-burner as CNN and other cable news media devoted the vast majority of their reporting on a former playboy bunny/drug addict in order to get ratings. The news media, pressed by corporate greed, has sold their souls to the corporate devil. So in my opinion, the disintermediation of the regulatory authorities and the overthrow of the publisher are warranted, if not overdue.

What does this mean to the marketer, the advertiser who pays to place his advertising message in the traditional media spaces? While recent studies conclude that Tivo is not significantly affecting the number of advertising viewers in the television world, there is a fall off in newspaper readership and sister websites that negatively impact marketing dollars expended in these realms. Public relations professionals and marketers need to heed the lessons learned before the disintegration of trust in advertising follows the demise of the news media.

Word of mouth (WOM) and “linky-ness” have replaced “sticky-ness.” Engagement is the 21st century measure of brand loyalty. These days a company builds communities by interacting with their consumers. Like an old fashioned fan club where writing a letter to a celebrity was rewarded with a signed 8×10 glossy, the 21st century consumer wants to be rewarded with insider-tips, the chance to test market products before their release to the general public, or having one of their own videos featured on a corporation’s website.

Power of the Individual

In this brave new world of Web 2.0, the individual rules supreme. In 1993, New Yorker cartoonist Peter Steiner quipped, “On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog.” Today the intelligence of the aggregate public is able to sniff out a poser: Corporations cannot simply create a viral marketing phenomenon. Only an authentic voice can succeed on the grass roots level, in the weeds as it were.

The “Dell Hell” story described by McConnell and Hubba in their book Citizen Marketers shows what can go wrong when an individual is mistreated by a multi-billion dollar corporation. In this case, the individual was a popular blogger. So when citizen Jeff Jarvis revealed his huge unhappiness online, a goliath was forced to its knees. One man’s campaign resulted in $100 million dollar upgrade to the Dell customer service division. Now that’s a pretty loud bark.

Hello world!

This is a new blog devoted to sharing knowledge about what’s going on in the world of digital public relations and online community building. I hope you check back often!