Case in point, the protests which continue in Egypt following the events of this past year’s Arab Spring. Video of the « Girl in the Blue Bra » has ignited reactions from around the world, including comments by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, as quoted by The Daily Telegraph:

Recent events in Egypt have been particularly shocking. Women are being beaten and humiliated in the same streets where they risked their lives for the revolution only a few short months ago (…) This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people.

Shot by an amateur videographer from a rooftop, this footage is only one of the thousands of videos which have emerged from what has been dubbed the Arab Spring. In a country like Egypt, where mobile phone penetration is at 91%, a camera phone is a powerful communications tool which becomes a weapon in the protester’s arsenal.

While, according to YouTube’s own year-end top 10 list, most Canadians were watching videos of cats, babies and Rebecca Black in 2011, hundreds of protesters were documenting events in their cities and sharing them online. While most are viewed only by a small number, lost in the sea of YouTube videos, some, like that of the Girl in the Blue Bra, touch a particular cord and spread, much as the video of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan had during the Iranian protests of 2009.The moving image remains a powerful thing. It’s even more powerful when coupled with a platform like Facebook and its network of « friends ». Simply by clicking on a share button, we can express our outrage on our Facebook profile. And our 130 Facebook friends can hear about it.

Arab spring. The Occupy Movement. Each now with their iconic videos.

The whole world is watching.

In Japan, the term aware (pron. a-wa-ray) speaks to a reverence for the « transient beauty and mortality of all things ». Mono no aware is often translated as « the ‘ahh-ness’ of things », life, and love. Awareness of the transience of all things heightens appreciation of their beauty, and evokes a gentle sadness at their passing.

And so it is for me, with Jack. A time to reflect upon the contribution of a great Canadian. «Ce bon Jack» as we say in Quebec, when talking about Jack Layton. And he carried his name well.

In the hours following news of his passing, my mother compared Jack Layton to my father. That’s the highest of compliments .. to Mr. Layton. But she was right. Both were honest, compassionate men of integrity whose true « religion » was love for their fellow man. The outpouring of affection for Jack from Canadians and the urge felt from coast to coast to mourn collectively is deeply touching. When we mourned my father, we were comforted by words of kindness and shared memories from family, friends and acquaintances about the man we’d loved and had lost.  Eleven years later, the passing of a much more public figure shows how far technology and the Internet have brought us in our ability to grieve collectively.

• Facebook allowed me to hear about and participate in a candelight vigil in Montreal
  
• Facebook told me about a movement to inspire Canadians to light a candle in their windows in his memory
• Facebook was used to organize The People’s Procession
• Twitter told me that the CN Tower and Niagara Falls would be lit up in orange lights to honour him
• Flickr brought me stunning photos of the chalk messages at Nathan Philips Square
• Websites allowed me to sign a book of condolences and donate to the Canadian Cancer Society .. and social networks allowed me to encourage my networks to do the same.
• The online sites of traditional media allowed me to follow live streaming of the vigil on Parliament Hill and of the funeral procession and ceremony at Roy Thompson Hall.

And all these online spaces and social networking sites allowed me and thousands of others to share our thoughts about Jack’s passing and legacy with one another in real time.

My father passed away in September of 2000 and friends and family from across Canada and as far away as Ireland gathered for the interment of his ashes a month later. Not being there to receive the condolences of our community in the days following his death was a difficult thing for those who were far away in those first weeks. It is a key stage in the grieving process. Eleven years later, it is clear that developments in technology in general, and of social networking in particular, make physical distance almost inconsequential. We can come together to comfort one another in our grief, and we can collectively share in those all important rituals that accompany death, as they happen.

The social media space is composed of tribes. Tribes with common interests, overcoming physical distances to come together in sharing. Since Jack Layton left us on Monday, Canadians have been gathering online as a tribe of millions, to pay tribute to one of their own, and to comfort one another in their collective grief.

Who said technology alienates us from one another?

Now if you’ll excuse me, now that Jack’s funeral is over I’m going to turn off my laptop and grab my bike for a ride through the Laurentian woods. Time to reflect and quietly pay tribute to this great Canadian.

RIP Jack. You will be sorely missed.

And give my love to my Dad for me. He’ll be the guy welcoming you to the eternal-club-of-good-guys with a golf bag on his shoulder and a warm smile, hand outstretched.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing.
— Arundhati Roy as quoted by Stephen Lewis, during his eulogy for Jack Layton

KD Lang sings Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic

Croire de Martin Deschamps

Lorraine Segato sings Rise Up

The Youngbloods – Get Together

MAJ: Footage from the various ceremonies, including musical tributes, have been circulating online since Jack Layton’s death. Below, I’ve updated the musical list presented above with footage from the funeral ceremony, hosted on YouTube.

Steven Page sings Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Richard Underhill plays Van Morrisson’s Into the Mystic

Croire de Martin Deschamps

Lorraine Segato sings Rise Up

Pourquoi l’évoquer sur ce blogue?

Parce que la disparition de ce blogueur nous rappelle que dernière chaque blogueur que nous identifions comme étant un « influenceur », il existe un individu qui vit, qui aime, qui souffre et qui connaît des moments de grand bonheur. Un être mortel, qui compte pour la communauté qu’il a tissé autour de lui.

Lorsqu’une entreprise décide de se lancer dans l’aventure des médias sociaux en menant une campagne de relations auprès des blogueurs, les responsables des communications ne doivent jamais perdre de vue que les blogueurs ne sont pas des journalistes.  Ils ne sont pas des professionnels embauchés par une entreprise médiatique pour produire du contenu qui sera vendu à côté de publicités dans un grand quotidien ou à la télévision. Ils sont motivés uniquement par leur passion. Leur œuvre est forcément intime. Forcément personnel. Et ces passionnés forment des communautés – des tribus – caractérisées par des liens serrés et tissées avec chaque commentaire. Avec chaque hyperlien.

Dans les séances d’introduction aux médias sociaux que j’offre à mes clients existants et potentiels, je parle immanquablement  de la notion de tribu. Je considère qu’il est essentiel de comprendre que les médias sociaux permettent à des tribus de se former selon des champs d’intérêt, et ce indépendamment de distances et de frontières. Nous ne devons jamais oublier que derrière chaque blogueur que nous approchons dans l’espoir d’obtenir de la visibilité pour les entreprises et marques de nos clients, il existe un être passionné qui s’investit souvent corps et âme dans la production de contenu qui l’intéresse et qui intéresse les membres de sa tribu.

Collègues: Mettons de côté nos listes et engageons nous pleinement dans la conversation en ligne ainsi que les rencontres hors-ligne. Entrons en dialogue avec le blogueur en tant qu’individu. Prenons le temps de le connaître. Tissons des liens avec lui. Démontrons du respect pour son temps, son investissement personnel et sa passion. Gagnons sa confiance. Faisons nos preuves et démontrons-lui que nous méritons d’être un membre à part entière de sa communauté. De sa tribu.

Et lorsqu’un membre de notre tribu signe son dernier billet, pleurons-le ensemble.

Derek K. Miller, repose en paix.

The world, indeed the whole universe, is a beautiful, astonishing, wondrous place. There is always more to find out. I don’t look back and regret anything, and I hope my family can find a way to do the same. – Derek K. Miller

Let’s calm down a little. It’s not because one CAN do something that one SHOULD do it. How about hitting pause on this self-centered age we live in, to think about this a minute. Around the world, in Libya, in Egypt, in Iran, in Tunisia, in Irak, in Afghanistan, people are killing one another in pro-democratic movements.

And what do we do? We get indignant when faced with a law that seeks to protect our democracy and we gear up to defy it on Twitter. To what end?

Yes, the law should be changed to better reflect our new communicational reality. No, we should not sacrifice democracy on the altar of Twitter. Let’s respect our democratic institutions and the right of Western Canadians to express themselves through the vote, free of all external influence.

Bottom line? Grow up.

On election day, until the last polls close in all electoral districts, the Canada Elections Act prohibits the dissemination of:

election advertising

results of election opinion surveys not previously released

election results from other electoral districts

Note to my readers: For the first time since launching this blog over 4 years ago, I’m translating a post. The challenge of having a bilingual blog is that you know that no post can be read by 100% of the people who follow you. I chose a bilingual blog format because I wanted to engage with two communities. It happened that those communities were separated by language. A bilingual blog is a truly Canadian compromise to a truly Canadian dilemna. The problem is that, this time, I want to be read by both anglo and franco Canadians. For those of you who master the language of Molière as well as the language of Shakespeare, my apologies for the redundancy.

Du calme. Ce n’est pas parce qu’on PEUT faire quelque chose qu’on DEVRAIT le faire. Cessons un instant ce nombrilisme collectif qui caractérise trop bien notre époque moderne, pour réfléchir un peu. Partout dans le monde, en Libye, en Egypte, en Iran, en Tunisie, en Irak, en Afghanistan, la population s’entretue dans des luttes pro-démocratiques.

Et nous? On s’indigne face à une loi qui vise à protéger la démocratie et on se prépare à la défier sur Twitter. À quelle fin au juste?

Oui, la loi devrait être changée pour mieux refléter notre nouvelle réalité communicationnelle. Non, on ne devrait pas sacrifier la démocratie sur l’autel de Twitter. Respectons nos institutions démocratiques et le droit de nos concitoyens dans l’Ouest de s’exprimer par la voie électorale, libres de toute influence externe.

Comme ils disent en anglais, Grow Up.

Jusqu’à la fermeture des derniers bureaux de scrutin dans toutes les circonscriptions le jour de l’élection, la Loi électorale du Canada y interdit la diffusion :

de publicité électorale;

des résultats de sondages électoraux non publiés auparavant;

des résultats du vote dans d’autres circonscriptions.

La preuve que les Québécois prennent leurs vacances d’été au mois d’août: l’utilisation d’Internet au Québec a connu une chute durant ce mois estival en 2010 (73,2%). C’est au mois d’octobre que les Québécois ont été branchés en plus grand nombre (79,9%). Pourquoi? Je ne pourrais dire … phénomène Wikileaks, peut-être?

Avis aux intéressés: si vous cherchez des photos libres de droits pour votre blogue ou autres publications, consultez Wikimedia Commons.

Leur photo du jour:

File:Ardea alba; 3 chicks, Morro Bay Heron Rookery 2 - by Mike Baird.jpg

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

You are free:

* to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work

* to remix – to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

* attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

Things that caught my eye:

- Banking (3rd) outranked traditional media (4th)

- Pharma ranked a surprising (from a Canadian perspective) 25th – the medical industry didn’t make the top 50

- The tobacco industry isn’t big on Twitter. Neither are funeral homes. They’re more a Facebook industry, apparently.

- Toys & Games = at the top in the consumer category

- CFOs are only slightly more social than admin assistants, payroll and maintenance … meaning not very

- The study ranks companies with the most social employees. HR staff have the most number of “friends”

- B2B employees are social. Non tech B2B businesses aren’t leveraging social media.

- Highest blue collar industry ranked = the trucking, moving and storage industry

… Marketers are more social than HR, which is more social than PR.

The NetProspex Social Index (NPSI) doesn’t include blogging/podcasting. I bet funeral homes would have ranked better if they had

Hat tip to Michelle Blanc for the heads up on this study.

(photo: Wenn.com)

Pas nécessaire d’être un Perez Hilton ou un Kanye West pour voir les ressemblances entre Mlle Gaga et La Madone. Si on s’en tient au concept de l’évolution de la marque personnelle (the personal brand), ces deux phénomènes du pop ont pleinement tiré profit des outils marketing à leur disposition. Madonna s’est réinventée ad vitam aeternam et a dominé MTV. Elle était de son époque. Normal, donc, que la machine Lady Gaga carbure plutôt au 2.0.

Cette vidéo intitulée « Brand Romance », de nos amis chez Newcast,  démontre à quel point Lady Gaga est la poster-girl du marketing 2.0

Brand Romance par Newcast de Newcast VivaKi sur Vimeo.

De la part d’une fille de lycée catho à deux autres, bravo mesdames!

Tom Foremski is someone I invariably cite in my « Media relations in the digital age » presentation, because of his (in)famous 2006 « Die Press Release, Die! Die!Die! » article.

Social media not only helped me discover Tom, but also allowed me to connect to him on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s nice to be able to exchange ideas with someone like Tom. The following exchange between us on Facebook is typical of how social media can help everyone (not only PR professionals) connect with people of interest:

Tom Foremski Protestors with « Deathpads. »
The Wrong Kind Of Killer Marketing: SF Vigil For Dead iPad Workers Thursday Eve At Apple Store – SVW
www.siliconvalleywatcher.com

Michelle Sullivan
Well, my mother refused the gift of an iPad I offered her for her birthday because of these reports. One less client, at least. Sad state of affairs.

Tom Foremski
Wow. Interesting to hear that people are making a choice.

Cool. Social media. What’s not to love?