We’re recording the world around us. The cameras in our iPhones (et al.) make it easy.
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.
This blog is shifting gears.
When Jack Layton passed away, I decided to postpone publication of this blog post to pay tribute to him. The positive reaction that my 500th blog post garnered reinforced the notion that social media in general and blogs in particular are a wonderful way for me, as an individual, to connect in meaningful ways with other members of my tribe. Thank you for everyone who took the time to write and speak to me about what I’d written.
In that 500th blog post, I alluded to the fact that I was going to change the direction this blog has been taking for the past 4 years. When I first launched this social-media-for-PR blog in January of 2007, there were only 2 other PR bloggers in Quebec. I had been excited about the possibilities social media opened up for our industry and our clients for a few years by then, and was eager to share and discuss my discoveries with my PR tribe.
Mission accomplished. Far from single-handedly, mind you! Along with many other early adopters and social media zealots, I’ve managed to convince a colleague or two to take a look at social media for PR and I’m pleased with the inroads that have been made. We’ve been joined by the industry mainstream and social media is taking root in the Quebec PR landscape. There now are dozens of Quebec-based blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, Google+ profiles and LinkedIn Groups – not to mention Third Tuesdays, Camps and other events – available to Quebec PR types hungry to stay abreast of the latest developments in social media.
I’ve written hundreds of blog posts presenting social media case studies, tools and best practices for PR professionals. Now, many more voices have joined and there’s a wealth of information out there. It’s fantastic.
And it’s why I’m now able to shift gears.
I’m going to start concentrating less on the tools and innovations, and more on the impact social media and the Internet in general is having on society, on tribes, on individuals. You’ll see less of this and more of this and of this. And you’ll probably hear more about tribes than you ever thought possible. I may just have to rename this blog …
I also intend to focus more on the public affairs side of PR, moving away from where social media seems to have found an easy and natural fit – marketing communications. So no more brand name case studies. There are other great blogs for that kind of thing. I want to take a look at how lobby groups – whether corporate or grassroots – are leveraging social media to effect political and social change.
Fifth gear: Lowest power, highest speed. Used for high speed cruising on dual carriageways, motorways and other such open roads.
Third gear: Used for driving uphill, through a hazard at speed and where a greater degree of power is needed than fourth will allow.
This blog is shifting into third gear. The hazards are greater in number, the stakes are higher. We’re talking about people’s lives and how they use social media to change the world around them.
It’s going to be a fascinating ride. And yes, I pick up hitchhikers.
This is my 500th blog post. I’d been saving it for something special : an article about the change in direction this blog will be taking, including the unveiling of my newest project. But that can wait. Right now, I’d rather dedicate this personal landmark to Jack Layton.
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.
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
Is Twitter dangerous? Should agencies ban their reps … particularly their junior reps … from using it? Or at least stay awake nights fretting about risk? Lately, there have been a slew of Twitter-related PR gaffes by unlucky (or irresponsible or unenlightened) PR types that have made senior agency and in-house executives particularly uneasy. But is their fear misplaced?
Let’s recap:
1. The creators of video game Duke Nukem fired their PR firm The Redner Group after their rep tweeted the following threat to reviewers: « Too many went too far with their reviews … we are reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn’t based on today’s venom. »
2. A PR rep manning Chrysler’s Twitter account likely misapplied the following Tweet to his client’s corporate account rather than his own personal account (either way, it’s bad) : « I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f**king drive. »
3. Similarly, an internal social media resource at the Red Cross, made the following Twitter gaffe: « Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch beer…. when we drink we do it right #gettngslizzerd. » The Red Cross apparently has a sense of humour, posting the following after deleting the tweet: « We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys. » The incident actually turned into a fundraising opportunity, thanks to the good people at Dogfish Head.
4. If you’re a fan of the classics, you’ll appreciate this flashback to 2009, when a Ketchum exec tweeted his distaste for the city of Memphis a few short hours after teaching FedEx employees all about Twitter at their Memphis head office: « True confession but i’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say I would die if I had to live here! » FedEx was not amused.
While I’m of the mind that these incidents speak more to very poor judgement than to the perils of Twitter, and that instilling solid values is what agencies should do to ensure their employees communicate professionally no matter the communications channel, there are a few things you can do to ensure this kind of slip up doesn’t happen at your PR agency:
1. Don’t mix business with pleasure: Tools like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite have features that let you manage multiple accounts. Choosing one for client accounts and another for your personal account means that there’s little risk of mistweeting.
2. Be transparent: While it’s not best practice, many brands turn a portion … if not all … of their tweeting responsibility over to their PR agencies. They should do so transparently, ensuring tweets are identified; using initials is standard practice. At least this way followers can identify the actual source and not necessarily link it to the brand (in an ideal world, anyway). It might help if accidents happen.
3. Remember crisis management 101: Own up to the error and, if possible and appropriate, keep a sense of humour about it. Social media is fluid and moves quickly. A well placed mea culpa and a bit of self-effacing humour can go a long way to quickly cooling off a heated crisis.
4. Think twice before hitting submit, share or reply: do you really want to spew venom through social media channels when you’re managing accounts that aren’t your own? Don’t let momentary rage or frustration get in the way of good client relations and a reputation you’ve cultivated over time.
5. Be prepared: Maintaining an active Twitter presence, becoming part of the community and ensuring your brand’s account always has a human face is the best way to ensure your Twitter account isn’t seen as the impersonal mouthpiece of a faceless corporation. The community understands that to err is human, so be human.
As for the Duke Nukem example, threatening people, online or off, usually isn’t the best course of action. Just saying.
A quick look at my Pearltrees account tells me that I’ve accumulated a nice collection of Twitter-related applications. Have you heard of some of my favourites?
1. Formulists – I use this one to develop niche networks for myself and my clients. Choose the « Find Tweeps like someone else » option and Formulists will lead you discover some great profiles. Add them to your Twitter list, and start developing relationships from there!
2. Follower Wonk – This app is great for searching Twitter bios for keywords (ex: your brand or industry). It also draws comparisons between Twitter users, with venn diagrams showing overlaps in followers and influencers and charts tracking Twitter activity.
3. DoesFollow – This is a nice, simple tool that lets you know if Person A is following Person B. Handy if you want to be doubly sure your DM will reach your favourite journalist or blogger, or if you want to get a sense of the impact a tweet or retweet can have. Twitter can be like a cocktail party. Sometimes it’s nice when someone can introduce you to that fetching creature across the room.
4. TweetPsych – This app gives you the « psychological » profile of any Twitter user. Far from wanting to play armchair therapist, I use this to get a sense of who any given Twitter user is – what he or she is interested in etc. Bios are one thing. An analysis of tweets to build a profile is another. In case you’re curious, I tweet about media 47% more often than the average user and about learning 8% more. If you’re looking for someone who tweets about leisure, I’m apparently not your girl. I tweet about leisure activities 70% less than the average user. Hrm .. I’m not sure that’s a good sign. On the other hand, @pmharper tweets about money, work and leisure 276%, 210% and 126% more often than the average user and reflects anxiety 86% less than the average user. No comment.
5. Foller – If you want to get an idea of what the influencers you’ve identified are interested in these days, Foller is the one-stop shop for you. Particularly interesting for hashtags. It also displays a map showing geographical influence. I’m popular in Canada, the US, Europe .. and India! (Hi Rajesh!)
6. TweetReach – I’ll often use a special hashtag or trackable URL like budurl or bit.ly on Twitter. When I want to have an idea of how far those tweets might have reached, I plug the unique identifier URL into TweetReach. The free version of this app has its limitations, but it’s a nice start.
7. TweetEffect – Curious to know what kinds of tweets make people start or stop following you? Tweet Effect your last 170 or so updates and highlights those where you gained and lost. I suppose making a second #rapture joke on Saturday was too much for some. I lost 7 followers with what I thought was a link to a cute video. Strangely enough, a link to a photo I took of my tonkinese earned me a new follower. Proof that, online at least, cute cats win over zombies everytime.
8. Nearby Tweets – Hyperlocal is trendy for a reason. Find out what tweets are originating near you or in cities around the world using this Twitter app. When an important story hits — the Mumbai terrorist attacks for example — you can target the city (Mumbai) and keywords (Taj, terrorist etc) that are of particular interest.
9. Keepstream – I’m always on the look out for good ways to present Twitter content to clients. Keepstream lets you curate tweets, get a glimpse of hyperlinked content, add commentary and then share the content on Twitter or Facebook. There’s an embed code so the content can be published on a website or blog. This app has potential. I’d like to see a premium version that would allow me to share content only with specified users, like my clients and colleagues. This would make the comment field that much more useful. Still, it’s not a bad start.
10. The Archivist – Tweets are fleeting. Twitter search only goes back so far and no third party application I know of guarantees it can deliver the full archive of Twitter search results going back the 5 or so years Twitter has been around. Cue The Archivist. Sure, it’s no time traveller, and no, it doesn’t have access to Twitter’s pipeline, but it does get you started and gives you some insight into the identity of the top users chatting about your brand, top related keywords and top URLs. I depend on platforms like Sysomos’ MAP, but it’s nice to be able to complement a paid service like that with a free service like this.
What are your favourite Twitter apps?
