• MediaPost Publications Ford Revs Up Social Media Efforts 09/10/2009
  This has been an interesting initiative to watch. This isn't necessarily the type of content that I would recommend Ford produce (it isn't close enough to the brand or product story) – but their approach is sound, i.e. not placing restrictions on what the memebers of the Fiesta Movement can say. It is an example of how to do branded content in social media. It is interesting to note that US motor manfacturers have been at the forefront of adopting social media (GM another example) – probably as a result of the trauma they have been going through. Lets hope that others can follow their example without having to be traumatised first.
  (tags: ford strategy)

• FREEFALL: Newspaper Revenues Crash By 29%
  Startling figures from the newspaper Association of America. Og course it is the recession as well as the rise of social media that is driving this, but none-the-less this is quite dramatic and proves, probably conclusively, that the game is up for the newspaper industry as we know it. The US is at the forefront simply because adoption of social media is higher.
  (tags: newspapers future)

• Pampers' New Reality: 'A Parent Is Born'
  An interesting experimebnt by P&G. But ulitmately this is not the way to 'do' content in social media. P&G are doing this because it looks cost effective since they are paying only for production not distribution. However, it is still a 'one-to-many' piece of mass communication – a sponsored message, rather than content that is genuinely relevant to the brand. Pampas has no right to talk to parents about the whole of parenting, because the only bit of parenting that is relevant to Pampas is the bit dealing with the messy stuff that comes out of babies and toddlers. Unnapealing as this may seem to P&G, any content they produce should focus on this and their product – all the rest is just sponsored blah blah.
  (tags: p&g content video)
• MediaPost Publications Real Estate Developer Seeks To Unmask Anonymous Commenters 08/25/2009
  The bloggers unmasked controversy continues. The law has a big problem here. In the old world the simple act of publication had a sitgnificance and status. It certainly had a legal status. But this staus was based on the Gutenberg definition of publication – i.e. information designed for mass circulation and issued from an institutional source. This definition no longer applies now that publication is available to all. Publication is now the same as conversation – and reaching for the legal recourse that was designed for traditional publication when addressing on-line individuals is likely to prove about as effective as catching water with a sieve.
  (tags: blogging media lawyers law)

• Vogue model Liskula Cohen wins right to unmask offensive blogger – Times Online
  The Times cites this as a case with far-reaching repercussions. In its dreams. This judgement will have no repurcussions because social media doesn't operate like traditional media. Within social media influence is attached to the ability to establish the credibility of the author. Anonymous = no credibility. Unmasking and prosecuting anonymous authors will prove no more useful than prosecuting someone who hurls an insult at you across the street and then runs away. (Sorry lawyers).
  (tags: libel blogging)

• Tweeting First: The New Way Mainstream Media Breaks News
  Its official – Twitter is now MSM (mainstream media).
  (tags: twitter news)
• BBC – Digital Revolution Blog: what is Digital Revolution (working title) all about?
  Here is a glimpse of the future. In "the old days" TV producers used to make small, condensed, bits of one-to many, mass appeal bits of content (TV programmes as we know them). Here, the BBC is moving beyond that and actually creating what you could call a content experience. It is a shame that the only reason they are doing this is because of the subject matter (i.e. 20 years of The Web) – because it is relevant for every documentary they produce. At this stage they are only seeking a level of interaction / input – trying to use the connected crowd to do their research for them. What they should do is create more content around and behind what will become the finished article. We should be able to see the meetings in production office on YouTube for example, we should see behind the scenes in real time. Also – the BBC should supply much of the raw footage to us, and let us do our version of the edits. Now that would be exciting – but probably a step too far, even for the BBC.
  (tags: bbc content future)

• Statistics Show Social Media Is Bigger Than You Think « Socialnomics – Social Media Blog
  The latest "why social media is important" video and stats. These stats don't actually tell the real story – its not a revolution because it is big – but they do help when trying to convince those that need convincing that it should not be ignored
  (tags: video trends)

Pear Analytics has recently released a report that claims that 40% of tweets are “pointless babble”.  This study is reviewed here by Mashable who cite this as not being “favourable to those of us with lofty views of Twitter.”

How disappointing.  Only 40 per cent?  I would have hoped for rather more.  How disappointing also that Mashable chooses to take the view (along with Pear Analytics) that Twitter’s value and importance lies only when “something more intellectual is going on” rather than in tweets that fall into “I’m eating a sandwich now category”. Continue reading →

Today I was giving a presentation on social media to a group from the PRCA – the UK’s professional body for PR companies.  It was a new presentation because I had become bored with my old “What is Social Media” presentation.

I was at the stage in the presentation where I talk about the basic principles of Content, Conversation and Community.  I had talked through how to “do” content (using the analogy of Newton’s Law of Gravity and the importance understanding gravitational ‘always on’ content as distinct from here today, gone tomorrow, mass message content), had covered off the ‘listening’ part of conversation and had got to the ‘what do you say when you want to respond’ bit.  Now there are two missunderstandings I always  deal with here.    First the fact that the conversation most organisations want to have with their consumers are not the conversations consumers want to have with them.  Second, the mistaken belief that if you have millions of consumers you therefore need to have millions of conversations.  I usually cover this by saying that if you listen to your consumers you will find out what conversations they want to have that involve you – and that you will be surprised how few these actually are.  This time around I had done a bit more thinking on this and threw out the slightly contentious claim that there are actually only four conversations consumers ever want to have:

The “your product or service is good” conversation

The “your product or service  is bad” conversation

The “how does it work, who makes it, what colours does it come in, where can I get it etc. etc.” conversation

The “how you could make it better” conversation.

As I was talking this through, almost as a throw-away, I said that this actually tells you more than just what conversations you need to have, it actually tells you everything you need to do in social media: say thanks in the “good” conversation, respond to the issues raised in the “bad” conversation, make content that supports the “how does” conversation and convene a space to take on board and encourage the “make it better” conversation.  Only as I was saying this did it dawn on me that this ACTUALLY IS ALL YOU NEED TO DO IN SOCIAL MEDIA.  End of story.  Job done.  Can it really be that simple?