The future of blogging

Frank Barnako, over at Market Watch last week talked about his friend Herb Greenberg, a fellow runner and blogger, who said, "There are simply too many blogs. There is going to be a huge shakeout."

Frank suggests that while a shakeout in business often means lost jobs, in blogs, it just means less to read. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

We'll know more about blogs next week, when Technorati publishes its quarterly review of the 'sphere. I suspect we'll see some shakeout in terms of bloggers who have begun posting less frequently.

Frank suggests that the novelty of blogging must be wearing off, if not for the writers, then for the readers.

Well I disagree.

There will be churn. There is a limit to the total number which will be limited by population/broadband penetration of the internet.

Mostly there will be new widgets (video on my blog - woweeee!), there will be more excitement in new areas of blogging - politics this week, economics next.

Most of all will be the realisation by organisations that they need digital footprint.

The loss of competitive edge for today's sales and long term sales growth will be tied to the number of comments and hyperlinks that add to the on-line property.

Its an asset, stupid!

It delivers people to your online store who will buy your fastest and slowest moving stock on-line and at minimal cost.

Companies need web pages that link to their site - economic fact.
Blogs are good at creating loads of such pages - Internet fact.

Shakeout, maybe, diminution? only if the facts of economic life pass organisations by.

Is PR ready for the video revolution?

This is getting to be boring. Every day, it seems, I tell of a new video news medium.

I wonder how the PR industry is coping?

Friday, it wasn't just Dow Jones who launched a bunch of online video channels (see "Dow Jones TV: Can Print Guys Do Video?), so did CNNMoney.com.

So did 60 local newspapers in the UK.....

So now we need to find the capabilities that turn us into video experts....

Eleven Years ago - The Internet and PR

Eleven Years ago this week Dr Reginald Watts, Dr Jon White, Tom Brannan and David Phillips explored the future in a Public Relations future gazing symposium.

This is how I introduced the Internet:

‘The new media will enfranchise the individual
with more one-to-one, one to many and many to many communication which will be
easy by personal ‘phones, E-mail and video conferencing. Person-to-person-to machine
and database communication will be more important, electronically managed
and more global. Increasingly this broth threatens brands and corporate reputation and
needs professionalism to immunise (our organisations) or doctor the effects of the
brew.
‘In its most perfect form, reputation management sustains relationships with publics
in a state of equilibrium during both evolution and in crisis. This enhances corporate
goodwill (a tradable asset).
‘The big change is that many-to-many global communication brings with it loss of
‘ownership’ of language, culture and knowledge and that there is a breakdown in
intellectual property rights, copyright and much plagiarism. This is already a major
problem.
‘News now travels further and faster and is mixed with history, fantasy and
technology. Reputation in crisis is even more vulnerable. At a growing rate, the new
media uses reputation as ‘merchandise’, stripped from the foundations which created
it, then traded for pieces of silver - and at a discount’. ...

(IPR symposium in 1995)

Internet corrupted by fraudsters, liars and cheats - suprise!

The creator of the world wide web told the Guardian that the internet is in danger of being corrupted by fraudsters, liars and cheats. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the Briton who founded the web in the early 1990s, says that if the internet is left to develop unchecked, "bad phenomena" will erode its usefulness. He warns that "there is a great danger that it becomes a place where untruths start to spread more than truths, or it becomes a place which becomes increasingly unfair in some way". He singles out the rise of blogging as one of the most difficult areas for the continuing development of the web, because of the risks associated with inaccurate, defamatory and uncheckable information.

In PR we have known for over a decade about its potential and the associated hazards have been well documented for nearly as long.

'Managing Your Reputation in Cyberspace' originally published by Thorogood and now available here, showed a wide array of potential threats. It was also one of the first publications (Shel Holtz was the other key author at the time) to seek solutions.

Viral Marketing speak catching a cold

Politic communication has just released this gem: Viral video marketing campaigns produce 750 percent more clickthroughs than traditional banner ads, according to preliminary figures released today by MarketingExperiments.com, an online marketing research laboratory. “Researchers and analysts speculated that viral videos would transform the way online marketers attract qualified customers,” said Jalali Hartman, director of strategy for MEC. “These preliminary research results are a clear indication that amateur viral videos not only effectively drive viewers to company sites, but also help convert viewers into customers and subscribers.”

Well, let look at what really happens.

Lets go to YouTube and look at an example:



There are a lot of things about this campaign and they are mostly about a public that is being entertained and, most important, is inviting Dove into its life.

Most people find advertising gets in the way of thier life. It is intrusive - it is scream marketing.

But, if the story and the process is part of a conversation, then advertsing can work. Advertsing is in this case, an element in the conversation.

Over 400,000 people have sought out what is a Dove advertisment. This is not an add pushed in the face of someTV demographic. This is an advertsisement that people WANT to see. Not everyone. Not all people in the cinema or watching a TV programme. Just people who WANT to see it.

They have emailed it to friends, embedded it in blogs, wiki's, email and spread the word as part of their conversation in their relationships. This is about shared values between people. Values that would be very arrogant of Dove to assume it owns (it only owns some of them).

Conversations are not viruses, they are conversations. This is not someone passing on a video like a common cold. This is people passing on fun and entertainment to create better relatonships. The relationships are not owned by Dove, they are owned by people.

Stuart Bruce has an excellent blog post about this too with some excellent comments.

This is Relationship Management, not relationship marketing.

And is it effective - you bet!

Its called Public Relations.

Kafuffle surrounds World Congress on Communication

Is it communication for development or is it public relations? Does it really matter what it is, as long as it is what it is? A fascinating, somewhat irritating, but truly rich chronicle of a passionate exchange on (what I would call..) stakeholder relationship practices.. Peter and Paul have a go..and..Ursula helps shed some light..

I thought I would comment:

Toni, we see here the break between old and new PR paradigm.

These concepts are significant to the constituencies involved. The exchange also demonstrates that we have a lot to lean about the nature of conversational relationships.

Historically, a person would provide a paper and circulate it for approval and comment – and that is what happened.

Now, there is a different way.

What if the paper is made available using any of the many forms of social media. It needs to be in one of the formats that can be progressively opened up for wider consultation, contribution and participation. It can be surrounded by debate and discussion (email, IM, Blog, wiki, Skype conference, meeting, congress etc), progressively it becomes the common property of all active, aware and latent participants.

This is not soft v hard, old v new it is just a way of creating a conversation. It is as old as mankind and as new as the Internet.

Well entrenched and robust views are still available in this model and progressively more evidence, research and resource can and should be added to enhance its value (peer reviewed knowledge added to any property enhances its value). Reasoned consideration can be in the hands of all participants – even the whole world.

The new way needs avail contribution to a conversation among active, aware and latent participants.

The nature of transparency, porosity and agency is the at the heart of this way of doing business.

As it turns out, you posting the papers, is a move in this direction but suppose the debate and discussion used modern communications tools. Would that not be more useful powerful and relevant?

The very fact that the initial paper is an old fashioned word processed document set the agenda.

The medium affected the message as much as the contribution by the participants.

One alternative might start like this: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhd98n6g_26f2twh2 and can then be moved to any number of channels for communication such as as a wiki, word document attachment by email, an email, a web page, a blog post, an instant message or even as (dead tree) paper.

Public Relations is changed but we have to walk the talk.
Ignorance, of course, is no defence when the participants are …… communicators?

You, your family, friends, your influences, us, long, long partnership

I always feel that David Meerman-Scot is good but just misses the mark.

This paragraph is an example:

If you agree with me about the importance of buyer personas in Web marketing, then the most important next step is you need to know what you want each of your buyer personas to believe about your organization.

Absolutely right. Here he is talking about the nexus of relationships called a person going about the days toils, or a blogger, or author or wiki manager or Digg presence (etc).


Well... no he isn't.

He is talking about what buyers should believe. Who is dictating to whom? The buyer, as if an when s/he get to that point in the conversation, will have a unique set of beliefs. They will be gained from a wide range of sources, views, friends, web sites, the guy at the end of the bar.... Oh... yes and perhaps a little bit from 'your organisation'.

It can't stop there. The buyer, is now potential gold in the The Long Tail and also an un exploded bomb - forever.

Can we use the word buyer anymore?

Only in marketing meetings.

Monitor for viral - then push

David has a good tip about viral marketing. Of course you will need to be monitoring your presence to do this. While many organizations plan viral marketing campaigns to spread the word about their products or services, don’t forget that something may go viral that you didn’t start like Mentos and Diet Coke, and it may show you or your products in either a positive or negative light. You need to be monitoring the Web for your organization and brand names so you are alerted quickly about what people are talking about. And if a positive viral explosion that you didn’t initiate begins, don’t just hang on for the ride—push it along!

Eight days to compete with television

A film highlighting how journalists in the UK have learned to deliver TV news in eight days has been nominated for an international award in Berlin.

The film 8 Days features eight regional journalists working on papers including the Hull Daily Mail, the Liverpool Echo and the Manchester Evening News, getting to grips with a murder case re-enacted by Cleveland Police.

We are now seeing local newspapers develop both video and sound capability in order that they can compete with, mostly, local television. Of course, local newspapers provide considerable feedstock to national press radio and TV and can charge good money for well produced stories.

For PR, this means that there is a need to be able to offer stories as audio and video fests aw well as text and photos.

The film, made by senior lecturer at the University of Westminster David Dunkley Gyimah, focused on journalists training at Press Association's video training course.

Intel sponsors music site

Press Gazette says that the Guardian is launching a new music site today which will be sponsored by computer firm Intel.

According Guardian digital boss Emily Bell, Intel will "integrate their brand" into the site, but she said it will retain editorial independence.

This is interesting because it is another way that a good media brand can generate revenue - sponsorship.

Sponsorship as a public relations practice is well established although it is worth remembering the cost of promoting sponsorship is not cheap.

Pathetic

Talking of pathetic Web 2.0 efforts here is another one:

With the launch last month of www.lphchat.com, Langham Place Hotel invites customers to build an online presence, posting thoughts on any topics close to their heart.

Internet Travel News - Langham Place opens blog - www.breakingtravelnews.com/..

Vanilla marketing just won't do

Andrew Warmsley says that

Corporate blogs have come in for a lot of stick in recent weeks - the latest being the efforts of Wal-Mart to persuade us that they are a nice bunch of people by sponsoring two bloggers to drive a camper van around the US, staying nights in the company's car parks.

What caused this one to come unstuck was its disingenuous nature. The blog neither revealed the backing of the firm (via a body called Working Families for Wal-Mart), nor the professional status of the participants, and in doing so broke one of the basic rules of blogging: don't hide the truth.

This rule has emerged not because of the high ethical standards of bloggers, but because they have learned that given the vast resources of the collective blogosphere, readers are going to find you out. So it is ultimately pragmatism that keeps bloggers on the straight and narrow, and while you will find inaccurate statements in blogs, you will almost always find them challenged and hotly debated.

While the experiences of the Wal-Mart bloggers were real, its credibility was fatally compromised. Eventually, the PR agency behind it, Edelman, apologised publicly amid derision online.

Most corporate blogs do not attempt to fake it on such a scale - but they are strangely unappetising nevertheless. They are one of those strange beasts that emerge from the internet from time to time - generally giving neither the personal views of a commentator nor the official corporate statement.

They exist in an odd limbo between these states, and it is this perhaps that makes them thoroughly unsatisfying.

In the UK, the marketing team behind one popular beer has maintained a blog for just over a year, talking about the brand and the events it sponsors. Full marks for effort, but as it attracts hardly any comment from real consumers, you find yourself asking why they bother. As a drinker of its brand, I am supremely uninterested in the fact that the marketing manager has 'had his head in spreadsheets' for the last few weeks - and as a marketer it looks like a clumsy attempt to put a human face to the brand.

And, yes, he's right. It seems hard for people to think beyond scream marketing, the integrated consistent message across all channels for communication and vanilla marketing.
It is going to take a long time for the change to take place.
This is where PR has to play a part. We have to think in terms of conversations not messages - tough call I guess.

Andrew Walmsley on digital: Clumsy attempt at being compelling - BR Bulletin - Advertising, Marketin - www.brandrepublic.com/...

'Blazing Netshine' ... the killer app

Dan Gillmore wrote this week.....

Some PR and marketing folks have, as you'd expect, taken word-of-mouth as just another great opportunity to sell stuff. Fine, if it's up-front and honest. But word-of-mouth marketing should not mean, as Procter & Gamble and other companies have been doing with such cynicism, getting people to talk up products without disclosing the corporate inducements behind them. "Beyond lame" was one typical reader response to a P&G site, made to look as if it was written by users of its Secret Sparkle Body Sprays. In reality, the site is filled with advertising copy. If any friend of mine did this to me, that person would have one less friend.

A world of conversational communications can be so unstructured at times that the people who once thought corporate messaging was a command-and-control operation can't abide the inexactitude of it all. Understandably so, because they came to their positions in a simpler time, when the message went through a stratified system to specific people.

But the complexities don't justify retreat. They do justify appropriate caution, especially in the kinds of enterprises where proverbial loose lips actually sink ships, such as the military. In the end, the conversation is about culture. If senior people don't believe in the value of conversational communications, they won't happen. But bloggers aren't going away, and younger employees, customers, et al, now think this kind of communication is natural. And it's worth remembering a simple demographic fact: They are the future.

Corporate Blogging: What Could Go Wrong? - www.cioinsight.com/...

Thank you Dan. In particular, the comment about culture.

Perhaps we have to spend more time looking at what we know about culture to help understanding of what I have called 'Blazing Netshine'. It seeks out cynicism, corporate messaging and command and control. It encourages porosity and uses Internet agency and is the killer app that will defeat scream marketing.

IBM as a Model

This is a valuable case study:

"Often credited as being a pioneer in investor relations podcasting, IBM is one of the few companies that has used podcasting with a strategic communications objective rather than just as a parallel distribution channel.

"Starting in August 2005, the company ran a series of interviews with company experts discussing future trends in particular industries. It called the series “IBM and the future of” and its primary objective was to educate investors and demonstrate the depth of expertise inside the company.

"IBM’s podcasting series, which was also available in transcript form, had the happy side benefit of producing significant positive press for the company in the mainstream media as well as on a wide range of smaller websites and blogs.

"That may help account for the fact that as of a couple weeks ago, IBM’s podcasts had been downloaded 186,000 times — a huge figure when compared with other companies’ podcasts."

IR Daily » The State of Podcasting in Investor Relations - www.irwebreport.com/...

Conversations have rules - so do blogs

Shel blogs:

Southwest Airlines‘ Paula Berg just wrapped up a talk on the ”Nuts About Southwest“ blog, one of the really excellent examples of a company blog. Paula noted that she and three other members of the blog team moderate comments; she listed a number of criteria for comments that don’t make it, including specific customer service issues and politically incorrect meanderings.
Wisely, Southwest lists those criteria under its ”User’s Guide.
That’s great, but I like the idea of putting these guidelines on the comment page itself, which is what GM does on its Fastlane blog. Many readers who opt to comment will never click to a discrete page containing your moderation policy, but it’s entirely likely they’ll see that policy if it appears right where they enter the comment. It can reduce the risk of somebody accusing you of censorship when their comment doesn’t appear and they don’t know why.

a shel of my former self - blog.holtz.com/...

Another MP blog

Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, yesterday celebrated the launch of his new MySpace by simultaneously posting his first blog on both http://blog.myspace.com/tombrake, and in the History Matters, 'A Day in History' archive.

The political landscape in the UK is following the US... a lot more social interaction. Political PR is getting interesting.

eGov monitor | - www.egovmonitor.com/...

Pod helps decision making

Pension customers at Legal & General have access to a three-minute podcast, which offers information and advice on their contracting out decision for the 2006-07 tax year.

Hey! Here is an interesting application for a podcast.

Legal & General offers pension podcast - www.qck.com/...

Sony shouts louder

Sony Pictures has launched an interactive campaign to promote the release of its latest film 'Marie Antoinette'.

The online campaign is targeting 16- to 25-year-olds with banner, MPUs and flash overlays, which will run across youth-orientated and social networking sites such as Piczo, Get Lippy and Refresh.

The sites will run interactive promotional activity including SMS and instant message campaigns in addition to competitions offering users prizes such as a trip to Paris and Sony Walkmans.

Natalie Wilkie, account director at Spinnaker, said: "Our challenge was to speak to our target audience, creating a strong campaign which encompassed the aspirational nature of today's youth culture and the decadency of the period in which Marie Antoinette is set.

I have some big worries about this sort of push promotion. Where is the conversation? Where is the interactivity? Where is the community? Why is Sony shouting?

In PR we can do much better.

Sony targets social networking sites for Marie Antoinette - Digital Bulletin - Digital news by Email - www.brandrepublic.com/...

Buckinghamshire has another journo blogger

So this is what it's come to. After years of scribbling in notebooks, using typewriters and mastering keyboards to produce stories on a screen for newspapers - I have been launched into the brave new world of online journalism. This is the first day of a Bucks Blogger's diary I hope you enjoy what will follow!

For all those PR's in Bucks... it's good to converse.
Bucks Free Press: Opinion: Bucks Blog - www.thisisbucks.co.uk/...

To scream or build a community

Research, carried out by DJG Marketing indicates that visitors to the OPA sites bought more frequently and spent more money across several major categories including, entertainment, financial services, travel and automotive.

On-line Publishing Association president Pam Horan believes her members’ sites offer value for advertisers because:

“This study demonstrates that branded original content sites deliver more valuable buyers than portal and search sites. OPA sites allow advertisers to be where consumers are eager to learn, more likely to buy, and more willing to spend."

Advertising executives may take a different view. Advertising on portal sites gets products and services seen by a larger audience and also allows them to target potential customers through paid search marketing.

This is a debate about how to capture attention and involvement. I can't help feeling that scream advertising wants the big buck campiagns in this debate. OPA might feel it has a 'community' and that counts.
It is in building relationship that site owners win. Its more PR than anything else.

Branded sites more valuable for advertisers - OPA survey | Internet Marketing News and Blog | E-cons - www.e-consultancy.com/...