Lessons and learnings from the pros – George Oates talks about how Flickr has grown into the consummate community it is today. As Jake mentioned, a must-read.
Can’t wait for the new season of Mad Men to start up again? Calm your nerves with this great report on the characters coming to life on Twitter.
Not the first and certainly not the last (but maybe the one w/ the most promise so far?): snaps to MTV for picking up/developing a show w/ the crew from CollegeHumor.
Recently, Jamin Brophy-Warren of the WSJ took a deep look at the simmering trend of people sharing the minutae of their daily lives online. This goes far past pictures of their kids or love songs written about cats and more towards the average mean of pepperoni slices consumed throughout the calendar year.
Everyone creates data — every smile, conversation and car ride is a potential datapoint. These quotidan aggregators believe that the compilation of our daily activities can reveal the secret patterns that govern the way we live. For students of personal informatics, the practice is liberating because it shows that our lives aren’t random, and are more orderly than some might expect.
Along with a host of data-centric social applications (DOPPLR, Last.fm, Brightkite/Fire Eagle), the Nick Felton-created Daytum and M.I.T.-incubated Mycrocosm are both sites that help aggregate this personal data. The more social applications, like DOPPLR, aim to connect people in ways that weren’t possible previously while Daytum and Mycrocosm are focused on “collecton of the self.”
In an age where we have CEOs on Twitter, telling a great story means making it as believable as possible for your audience. What better proof points than straight, sometimes raw, data? Showing that you actually did someting or are in the process of doing something as opposed to just talking about it. That is the power behind not only this trend but greater social technology as a whole.
Do you think this matters for PR? Can a company or brand use these tools to represent/humanize themselves online?
Nota bene – Before moving your entire sales operation to the big blue whale in the sky, Joe Lazarus notes that that “$1M is about 1/1000th a percent of total sales ($60B+ last year) and that they are selling mostly low margin, clearance items through the service.”
Need some good books to start 2009 with? Lee Odden put together a great list of some standards in the social media marketing world (via thilk’s shared).
Consumer Reports Buzzword Feature – breaking down the “what” and “why” about oft-used buzzwords with many of today’s consumer products.
Virginia Heffernan takes a close look at the type of content today’s media world is generating and, quite frankly, why a lot of it isn’t working (see also – Kevin Kelly discussing the generative value of content):
Then there’s the troublesome third argument, the one we know is true. This is the one that admits that the content that thrives in the new distribution-and-display systems is suspiciously different from the American popular culture we used to love even 10 years ago. Thrillers, it seems, don’t flourish on Hulu. No one is reading a six-part investigative series about mayoral malfeasance on Twitter. And if it’s the afterthought message boards — the ones moderated by interns — that draw all the traffic, why are we in old media pouring so much money and time into “main event” programming that goes unread and unviewed?
Frank Gruber calls us to action, asking via video, to define what social media means to each of us:
I hope that this video thread can become the most comprehensive definition of social media we have seen to date so join the conversation and post your video response today.
The comments, so far, have been pretty focused on the basic sea change and personal benefits social media technologies have brought to the web. Rightfully so, a lot of end-user focused definitions. How we communicate, how we consume, etc.
What does social media mean for public relations though? Is it turning us into content creators? Conversation arbiters? Or maybe even dinosaurs? A quickglance around shows that it’s still a pretty good coin toss. Jason Falls says it best:
Social media is a method of communications. Social media tools facilitate these communications. To be effective in social media, whether as a marketer or just an ordinary participant, you must, first and foremost, communicate well.
So there is where the line in the sand is drawn: the message. Social media breaks down the traditional walls of publishing and anyone’s voice can be heard louder, quicker and (sometimes) clearer. PR can use these tools but gone are the days of strict amplification and one-way broadcast. Participation, honesty, transparency and immediacy are all the new pillars for brands to stand on.
This morning’s 3 Minute Ad Age video comes via our colleague of the same name. In it, NBC’s Brian Williams says his peace about the hype of digital media: offering up some pretty solid points about early adopters often looking past the common sense solutions that more traditional media channels provide.
Currently trying to dig-up full video or audio of his remarks, I’d love to know if he presents a fuller argument about how today’s newest digital technology and media channels are actually changing – for the better – how we can consume media and content. Regardless, definitely a worthy watch.
