Social Media New Business Com Landscape_whole

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape LEE HOPKINS

LEE HOPKINS

PUBLISHED BY

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape is published by Ark Group

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Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape LEE HOPKINS

PUBLISHED BY

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Contents Executive summary ............................................................................................................VII About the author................................................................................................................XI Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................XIII Chapter 1: The birth of social media .................................................................................. 1 Mitochondrial Eve ................................................................................................................. 1 Media versus medium ........................................................................................................... 2 Blogging .............................................................................................................................. 2 Podcasting............................................................................................................................ 3 Video ................................................................................................................................... 4 Keeping the conversation flowing around the web ................................................................... 4 Cross-linking (aka ‘link love’)................................................................................................. 4 Extract from the Cluetrain Manifesto ....................................................................................... 5 Case study: BT’s wiki............................................................................................................. 5 Wikis.................................................................................................................................... 6 Really Simple Syndication (RSS) .............................................................................................. 8 Micro-blogging (aka Twitter) .................................................................................................. 9 A web of monsters and aliens, as well as butterflies and angels .............................................. 10 Chapter 2: The virtual world ............................................................................................ 11 Being versus doing.............................................................................................................. 11 2.5-dimensional (2.5D) ....................................................................................................... 13 3-dimensional (3D) – Second Life ........................................................................................ 14 Case study: Accenture’s island ............................................................................................. 14 Case study: Second Life Association of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) – North America .... 15 CPA of Australia ................................................................................................................. 15 Educational uses of Second Life ........................................................................................... 17 Technical complexity of Second Life ...................................................................................... 19 Welcome to the dark side of Second Life’s sweet shop, Luke .................................................. 19 Rules of behaviour .............................................................................................................. 20 IBM social computing guidelines .......................................................................................... 22 Alternatives to Second Life ................................................................................................... 23 LiveWorld social media content guidelines ............................................................................ 23 Managing time wasting and virtual rabbit holes .................................................................... 24

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Contents

Demographics and inferred psychographics .......................................................................... 27 Policing kids’ worlds ............................................................................................................ 27 Adult worlds ....................................................................................................................... 27 Organisational leadership and World of Warcraft.................................................................. 30 Show me the money............................................................................................................ 30 Recent investments in virtual worlds ...................................................................................... 31 Chapter 3: Social marketing............................................................................................. 33 The difference between social networking and social marketing .............................................. 33 Johnson & Johnson and Motrin take social media into the mainstream ................................... 34 Staying on top of the mountain of social media tools ............................................................ 36 Monitoring the social sphere ................................................................................................ 37 Contributing to the social sphere.......................................................................................... 40 Examples of social media mishaps ....................................................................................... 43 Chapter 4: Social media strategy ..................................................................................... 47 Good communication is not the goal ................................................................................... 48 Culture, change and communication.................................................................................... 48 The strategic planning process – from the beginning ............................................................. 49 Pre-step A – establishing a vision ......................................................................................... 49 Pre-step B – a ‘where are we now’ analysis........................................................................... 49 Pre-step C – ‘your mission, should you choose to accept it’… ................................................ 50 The communicator’s four-step strategy process...................................................................... 50 Examples of some great (if often, overly verbose) mission statements ...................................... 51 Examples of some not-so-great mission statements ................................................................ 53 Social media is not a magic bullet ....................................................................................... 55 What social media cannot do .............................................................................................. 56 What social media can do................................................................................................... 57 Case study: Motrin .............................................................................................................. 57 Measuring and evaluating social media initiatives ................................................................. 59 How to effectively engage in the social media landscape – the MAIL method .......................... 60 Rinse and repeat… ............................................................................................................. 62 The dreaded ROI question and how to get the CFO on board ............................................... 62 Assessing the layout of the land ........................................................................................... 64 Chapter 5: The three social media tools and the seven social networking sites you need to know about...................................................................................................................... 67 Delicious ............................................................................................................................ 67 Digsby ............................................................................................................................... 68 Facebook ........................................................................................................................... 69 FeedDemon ....................................................................................................................... 73 LinkedIn ............................................................................................................................. 75 MySpace ............................................................................................................................ 76 MySpace user testimonials ................................................................................................... 77

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Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

The socio-economic divide between MySpace and Facebook ................................................. 77 Case study: Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net) – social media for non-profit organisations .....78 Ning .................................................................................................................................. 78 ShareThis ........................................................................................................................... 80 Twitter ................................................................................................................................ 80 YouTube ............................................................................................................................. 83 YouTube at work – do we or don’t we? ................................................................................. 84 Chapter 6: Everything old is new again ............................................................................ 85 The five psychological drivers of generations X and Y ............................................................ 85 So where does this leave us? ............................................................................................... 88 Appendix: Recommended resources and glossary ............................................................. 89 Blogs ................................................................................................................................. 89 Podcasts/vidcasts ................................................................................................................ 90 Books ................................................................................................................................ 90 Glossary ............................................................................................................................ 91 Index ............................................................................................................................... 95

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Executive summary THE TRADITIONAL means of communicating with audiences – such as employees, customers, investment communities – have relied heavily on print-based documents, e-mail or static internet websites. Today, these methods are rapidly giving way to a new generation of internet-based tools that enable far greater levels of two-way interaction, discussion and conversation. The media no longer own the audience. Text, audio and video are available to everyone. The internet is now the world’s most powerful publishing and broadcasting platform. The new web tools are cheap (often free) and easy-to-use, and content is now fast and easy to produce. Communicating can become seamlessly integrated with your ‘regular’ workload. Everyone can communicate, not just the corporate communications team. This immediacy and integration can energise your communications, creating a relationshipbuilding ethos in the organisation that has been absent from old-style corporate communication tools. Indeed, so fundamental has the shift been from ‘static’, ‘brochureware’ websites to the new ‘conversational’ ones that many pundits are calling the ‘old’ internet ‘Web 1.0’ and this new web world ‘Web 2.0’, reflecting dramatic improvement based, in large part, on improved software coding and functionality. A key pointer to this shift towards a ‘conversational web’ is the book

The Cluetrain Manifesto.1 This book was the first website to be made into a book and comprises the ’95 theses’, which the authors called the elements of the conversational web. The key underpinning element to the ‘95 theses’ is that markets are now ‘conversations’, and unless companies are willing to enter into that ‘conversation’, they are going to miss out. The conversation is happening anyway, the authors contend, thus it is better to join in and have a say, than risk having lies and distortions go unchallenged in the conversations that are happening every day around the proverbial water cooler and over coffee, as well as in phone calls, e-mails, forums and online meeting areas. The tools that enable companies to join in the conversations (happening in every industry and marketplace) have been named social media tools, because of the new social nature of the internet. Whereas mainstream media – such as newspapers, TV, radio and magazines – are traditionally one-way media devices (experts pontificate and readers have little opportunity to contribute or start any discussion with the author), social media enables players, protagonists, pundits and the public to interact, engage and build rapport more easily than ever before. The three biggest and most widely-used social media tools are blogging, podcasting and video. It is probably impossible to count the number of blogs in the world today.

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Executive summary

Technorati.com – the world’s biggest blog monitoring and searching service – now indexes nearly 113m blogs worldwide. One hundred and seventy five thousand new blogging websites are brought online every day and 1.6m blogposts (think of a blogpost as an article published by someone on his/ her own website) are published every 24 hours – working out to be 18 new posts each second. There are currently in excess of 100,000 podcasts and the number is growing fast, though not as fast as blogs. But Apple’s free software – iTunes – has done more to grow podcasting than any technical innovation other than the creation of the RSS code that allowed podcasting to exist. Podcasts are a powerful communication tool in any company’s communication distribution and public relations toolbox, and more and more are turning to podcasts to engage with jaded audiences who are turning away from traditional mainstream media outlets in ever greater numbers. Add to this the recent boom in online video through YouTube and the millions of photos uploaded through photo storage and sharing services like Flickr, and you can see how the internet is transforming into a broadcasting, as well as a text-based publishing platform. Micro-blogging services like Twitter and Jaiku are just the latest in a long and neverending line of improvements in the technical process of communication. Every month sees new innovations and services aiming to facilitate conversations, but keeping up with them is more than a full-time job. Without a personal network of informed, net-savvy peers, any communicator and leader would be hard-pressed to know what the right tools are in any given situation. Without a robust strategy, even the best tools can turn out to be useless.

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In this report the reader will be able to tap into the collective minds of some of the world’s sharpest thinkers in the areas of business and leadership communication. The reader will learn of the various communication challenges that affect and afflict all organisations, the strategies that overcome them and the tools needed to change the way your organisation communicates to the marketplace. The report is also punctuated with case studies, which enable the reader to learn and discover how other organisations have met the communication challenges associated with social media tools, and gain confidence to try out some of the many ideas captured in this report. The report is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces social media and looks at the evolution of communication. This chapter gives the reader a solid grounding in the major ‘players’ of the social media landscape and the underpinning technologies of blogs, podcasts, vidcasts (video podcasts) and wikis. Readers can come away with tips and hard-won secrets from the trenches of the social media front line, i.e those organisations which have long been experimenting with social media tools and have learned lessons from the pitfalls. Chapter 2 takes the reader through the virtual worlds journey, considering what kinds of virtual worlds and major players there are in each type, and their geographic, demographic and psychographic differences that exist within all of these various and varied properties. Chapter 3 offers expert advice on how to engage your social media audience and have them positively attend to your brand, product or service. You could, of course, visit every single social networking property and spend innumerable hours on each of them, or you could utilise SMART (Social

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Media Aggregation and Republishing Tools©) to better manage your valuable time. The principles of online marketing haven’t fundamentally changed, but they have been reshaped by the rules of engagement in this new communication landscape. The best tools in the world are useless without a plan and Chapter 4 examines the implementation of a social media strategy to inform internal cross-company communication, thought leadership, community brand raising, digital reputation, crisis communications and team working. This chapter also enables the reader to discover how others have solved the business communicator’s perennial challenge of how to ‘sell’ communication innovations to senior management and how others are measuring the impact of social media on their communications and digital reputation. Chapter 5 investigates some of the bleeding-edge tools available to business communicators and social media practitioners, and enables the reader to decipher the obscure language of the media gurus to gain a better understanding of what is on offer. Chapter 6 analyses where the new communication landscape is leading us and why having a sense of history is vital to avoid being accused by sceptics of ‘drinking the ‘Kool-aid’. There is no doubt that much of what is currently unfolding in the social media space is challenging to existing practitioners, but there are lessons to be learnt from both old technologies and old practices, and benefits to be gained from applying the relevant elements of old processes with the new technologies. I hope after reading this report you will be able to recognise a pothole from a mile away. In addition to the six chapters, there is a useful glossary of social media terms appended to the report, as well as

a list of additional resources should you wish to explore this new communication landscape further. It’s a really exciting time for business communicators at the moment and your own personal journey starts on the next page... Reference 1. Levine, F., Locke, C., Searls, D., and Weinberger, D., The Cluetrain Manifesto, Basic Books.

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About the author LEE HOPKINS is a management psychologist and business communicator with nearly 30 years of experience in helping businesses communicate better for improved results and financial returns. At the leading edge of online business communication in Australia, Lee understands the transformative nature of social media and he spends a considerable amount of time advising businesses, business communities and individual business communicators on the tectonic cultural shifts that new communications technology is facilitating, and how they can best position themselves to take advantage of them. In addition, he is currently undertaking doctoral research at the University of South Australia’s School of Communication, looking at how virtual worlds can impact on the effectiveness and profitability of small to medium-sized businesses. An internationally sought-after speaker, Lee combines his passion for employee and online business communication with his dynamic presentation skills to create ‘once seen, never forgotten’ live experiences. He has written over 200 articles on business communication available for reading at: http://www.LeeHopkins.com. Additionally, his blogs, podcasts and vidcasts can be found at: http://www. LeeHopkins.net

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Acknowledgements FIRSTLY, I wish to thank Laura Scully from the Ark Group in Sydney who first approached me out of the blue to write this report. It came as a most delightful surprise, thank you, Laura. I would also like to thank Anna Shaw, Ark Group’s London-based Commissioning editor who continued the great working relationship with me when Laura moved on to other challenges. Anna gently prodded, poked, encouraged, cajoled and supported me all the way through this endeavour – thank you, Anna. To Danielle Filardi and Stephanie Ramasamy, my thanks for making sure the images and layout, and more importantly, the words made sense; and especially Stephanie for helping the light shine through the detritus of words I collected haphazardly on each page. I wish to thank my friend and business communication colleague Trevor Cook for his initial inspiration and guidance, and who contributes exceptionally insightful commentary on Australian politics and public relations at: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/trevorcook I wish to thank all those who read my blog and watch my Twitter and Facebook streams, who put up with my absence and occasional acerbic status updates. But mostly, I would like to thank my wife for her grounded view of life, for an almost undying patience, for an occasional kick up the proverbial and for being so supportive of all of my online endeavours. Lastly, thanks to the glorious and autumnal Adelaide hills for inspiration. Lee Hopkins

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Chapter 1: The birth of social media THE ONLINE communication landscape that is social media didn’t arrive fully formed and ready-to-go – it has enjoyed many years of gestation and training. Many commentators point to the development of ArpaNet as the birth of social media’s underpinning technology, but I believe it stretches back further than that. James Harkin, in his book Cyburbia (published by Knopf Canada) argues convincingly that the online world as we know it has its roots buried deep behind the front lines of World War II, when British military minds were desperately attempting to find ways of accelerating the tracking and targeting of German bombers by those whose thankless task it was to manoeuvre slow and cumbersome anti-aircraft machinery. One could take the birth of social media back even further in time – to an era before computers (let’s call it BC), and a period when men and women with ideas could stand on boxes and proselytize their views to sometimes disparaging audiences. Consider, if you will, Judea two thousand years ago – soothsayers, prophets and political ‘wannabes’ would stand and deliver their views at the risk of boring any audience they could capture, or inciting them to some sort of action. It’s not hard to recall Monty Python’s movie The Life of Brian (1979) in such moments. But I believe that to find the birthing ground of social media, we need to look further back in human history, to a time when thoughts and ideas were unable to be

written down – something like 7.34pm on a mild Tuesday in mid-April, around 165,000 BCE (Before Common Era). Give or take 50,000 years.

Mitochondrial Eve Mitochondrial Eve, the mother of us all, lived on one of the many plains of Africa, and with her fellow clan members gathered and shared childcare duties while the men hunted. Come evening, they would all gather together and share the fruits of their labours. The men would recount how they combined forces to track and kill that night’s dinner, while Eve and her sisters would discuss local foraging opportunities. There was no formal language as we would recognise it, but because of a genetic mutation around 30,000 years prior, Eve and her clan did have the ability to communicate via speech, albeit with a vocabulary far smaller than ours, and with a slower delivery and simpler grammatical structure. Eve wasn’t quite ready to dictate Hamlet. Having progressed past the rockbanging and the jumping-up-and-down method of communication, Eve and her contemporaries were sophisticated enough in their communication to be able to manage moving out of Africa and across to Asia, then on to New Guinea, Australia and eventually into Europe. It is, therefore, not too big a leap of the imagination to envisage Eve and her fellow clan members discussing, arguing

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and negotiating about the big and small issues of each day; and thus was a social communication environment born. Their ‘medium’ was, of course, primarily speech, possibly augmented with sticks and lines drawn in the sand.

Media versus medium ‘Media’, according to Dictionary.com, is the plural of ‘medium’, which it also holds to be – amongst many things – “an instrument or means by which something is conveyed or accomplished” and “one of the means or channels of general communication, information, or entertainment in society”. My trusty and dog-eared New Collins Concise English Dictionary agrees that ‘media’ is the plural of ‘medium’, which it holds, inter alia, to be “an intervening substance or agency for transmitting or producing an effective vehicle” and “a means or agency for communicating or diffusing information, etc., to the public”, further noting that “careful writers and speakers do not use ‘media’ as a singular noun when referring to a medium of mass communication: ‘television’ is a valuable medium (not media) for advertising”. Thus, social media can arguably be various channels or instruments by which ideas can be expressed, shared, debated and/or negotiated. Looking at the development of human communication over the millennia, I believe that various channels or vehicles for expressing, sharing, discussing and negotiating have come about as homosapiens like Mitochondrial Eve progressed her tribe along the path of civilization. It is the developmental work of only a few hundred thousand years from speech-rendered proto-language to the sophisticated word and visual play of

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today’s digital multimedia artists – and note that we have five times more words to play with than Shakespeare had in his time. Let us hop in that handy time-machine over in the corner of the cave and fastforward to 2004 – arguably the year when everything started. (Actually, the technological seeds of 2004 are rooted further back, to 1999 and beyond, but for the sake of simplicity and illumination, let’s focus on 2004).

Blogging In 2004 blogging came to the world’s attention – personal online publishing moved out of the hitherto ‘IT geek’ domain and into the consciousness of the general public. Folks other than IT evangelists started using websites such as blogger.com, livejournal. com and typepad.com to publish their personal news and views on the issues that affected them. The Wall Street Journal ran an article on 15 August 2007 in which the author claimed that the blog, as a distinct life-form, started on 23 December 1997 with the publication by Jorn Barger of his site, ‘Robot Wisdom’. That claim was quickly shot down by the blogosphere (something that the blogosphere is exceptionally quick and able to do), which pointed out that Steve Jackson had been publishing a site called ‘The Daily Illuminator’ since December 1994. Such a heady claim was subsequently trumped by Electronic Frontier Foundation chairman Brad Templeton, who speculated that the blog has its origins pre ‘WorldWide Web’, residing in the moderated newsgroup mod.ber, run by founder Brian E. Redman (the ber) and friends. Templeton went on to claim that his own moderated newsgroup, rec.humor.funny/netfunny.com, may possibly be the longest still-running blog, being

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

nearly 22 years old (beginning life on 7 August 1987). What all of these sites allowed was a serial publishing schedule – like a journal – written as a series of new items on a semi-regular basis, with a coherent and personal editorial voice (whether that voice was the voice of one person or a small team), and the ability for readers to comment in some way.

Podcasting In 2004 the Apple iPod became the mp3 player of choice for the ‘digiliterati’ (digital literati) and the cashed-up. It seemed that everyone who had one gloated about it, and those who didn’t have one envied those who did. So iconic became the iPod that in some communities you weren’t taken seriously by your peers unless you had one. Various technologies already existed to enable the transfer of music from the PC to the iPod, but when online audio pioneer and former MTV presenter Adam Curry (aka ‘The Podfather’) and coding guru Dave Winer joined forces, things really accelerated. They wrote a small piece of code that enabled attachments to be sent via RSS feed to users’ computers, and thus, the era of podcasting began. Podcasting represents many uses to many people – ‘radio with a rewind button’ is my personal favourite – but no matter what one’s choice of material (music, voice, sound effects, experimental sound theatre, walking soundscapes and so on), the technology provided the individual yet another channel through which to broadcast his/her views, engage in inter-podcast discussions with other podcasters (broadcaster-to-broadcaster dialogue), provide thought leadership for the community and potentially find new audiences with which to engage.

For the business communicator, 4 January 2005 saw the first release of ‘For Immediate Release’, a twiceweekly conversation between two highlyexperienced business communicators – Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson – and their community. ‘For Immediate Release’ spawned a host of excellent business/PR/ marketing podcasts, but remains the king of them all (there is a list of useful podcasts at the end of this chapter.) When Apple upgraded an early version of its iPod music management and transfer program – iTunes – to enable the capture and transfer of podcasts, and at the same time enabled podcasters to list their podcasts as available for download via iTunes, the iPod-owning audience suddenly had their ears opened to a whole new range of material. From music bands giving away their music for free, to voice actors giving audio books away as a showcase for their voice talents, and from devotees rebroadcasting 1930s and 1940s radio shows, to universities rebroadcasting lectures, suddenly an iPod was no longer an expensive portable music player, but a portable university, radio station, gossip columnist and industry news provider, all in one sleek and desirable package. Overnight, iTunes became the leading music transfer software, putting quite a few others out of business, and the iPod continued to steamroll over any competition and completely dominate the portable music/ video player market. The term podcast continues to cause confusion, however. Contrary to initial public perception, you don’t need an iPod to listen to a podcast. In fact, you can use any mp3 player, including computer-based ones, to listen to or watch a podcast or vidcast (the term I have settled on for video podcasts).

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Video With the advent of cheap video production, either via webcam or digital camcorders (and digital cameras with movie capabilities), came the rise of YouTube and other videosharing sites. Accompanying this was the ability to subscribe to video podcasts via iTunes and watch them on a computer monitor, a video iPod or a mobile phone. Of course, such features have come with a plethora of new names, which can cause confusion. For example, no general consensus has yet been reached on what to call video podcasts – vodcasts, vidcasts, vidblogs, vlogs – have all been used to varying degrees in various geographic regions and with varying success. Video-sharing sites There are many video-sharing sites on the internet, the top 10 sites being: „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „

YouTube; MetaCafe; Break; Google Video; DailyMotion; Yahoo! Video; Revver; Vimeo; vidLife; and Stickam.

There are also peer-to-peer video conversation sites such as ooVoo and Seesmic that offer the ability to engage in video conferencing via simple webcam and microphone (usually a simple headset microphone will suffice in terms of quality). The Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service provider Skype also provides for video conferencing. These sorts of sites aren’t geared for (or even about) high-production values,

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but they are about using video to take multi-location audio conversations to the next level.

Keeping the conversation flowing around the web Whether the channel of communication is a blog, a podcast, a vidcast or even one of the newer tools such as a Wiki or Twitter (see Chapter 5), the fundamentals remain – online communication in a ‘human’ voice with the ability for others to respond – either directly or indirectly via their own preferred channel and with a clickable link back to the original communication. The clickable link back to the original communication is key to keeping the conversation flowing around the web. The ability for anyone to come along, pick up a conversation half-way through, and track it back to its antecedents, is a vital component of social media . In this way, it doesn’t matter whether a comment is left on, for example, the original blog post or the commenter’s own site. Indeed, it doesn’t even matter what channel is used to reply. One could, for example, leave a comment on a blog post in the form of a video or make an audio comment. Person B can comment about Person A on Person C’s website. Or Person B can leave an audio comment about Person A’s video to be played in Person D’s podcast. As long as a way is given for others to access the start of the conversation, then the conversational thread can be followed by others.

Cross-linking (aka ‘link love’) All of this cross-linking serves several purposes, some more altruistic than others.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Naturally, it is good manners to reference the source of the original material; that way, anyone reading, listening or watching a comment can quickly research and understand the context of the comment. In addition, it is handy for the originators of content to know when they have been talked about. Thankfully, there are several mechanisms by which an author can find out who is talking about them.

Extract from The Cluetrain Manifesto, p.123 A human voice “To have a conversation, you have to be comfortable being human – acknowledging you don’t have all the answers, being eager to learn from someone else and to build new ideas together. You can only have a conversation if you’re not afraid to be wrong. Otherwise, you’re not conversing, you’re just declaiming, speechifying, or reading what’s on the PowerPoints. To converse, you have to be willing to be wrong in front of another person. Conversations occur only between equals. The time your boss’s boss asked you at a meeting about your project’s deadline was not a conversation. The time you sat with your boss’s boss for an hour in the Polynesian-themed bar while on a business trip and you really talked, got past the corporate bullshit, told each other the truth about the dangers ahead, and ended up talking about your kids – that maybe was a conversation.”

Case study: BT’s wiki Three communication and IT-savvy folks at BT decided to work a small number of hours after work for a few days and knock together a wiki. Released unannounced and unpublicised, with just a small logo in the corner of BT’s default intranet as a link to it, ‘BTpedia: BT’s Collaborative Encyclopedia’ had a very slow beginning, and no training or instruction was given as to what it was there for and how employees were to use it. That was part of a deliberate strategy by the head of communication services at BT, Ross Chestney, who wanted to see what would happen next. Slowly at first, but with accelerating pace, ‘BTpedia’ took off to the point where it now has more visitors and content than BT’s traditional intranet. Chestney and BT internal programme manager Richard Dennison are also using projectbased wikis to enable greater crosscollaboration and build communities of interest, as well as continue to build the company’s shareable knowledge base. Chestney and Dennison have a great slideshow presentation that highlights all of BT’s various social media initiatives and the lessons they have learnt; this can be found at: http://www.slideshare.net/ whatidiscover/social-software-in-acorporate-context-presentation

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“There is only one thing worse than being talked about... and that’s NOT being talked about!” Oscar Wilde, according to Monty Python. The ability to see who is ‘talking’ about you is a fundamental part of managing one’s online, digital reputation. With every comment – be it brickbat or bouquet – now being captured digitally and stored forever, the need to monitor what is being said about a company, its products and services, and its key personnel is finally being understood by the business community. “Increasingly, your reputation is what Google says it is.” Allan Jenkins, communication analyst and consultant. We will discuss monitoring in further detail in Chapter 3, but in the meantime, don’t underestimate the importance of knowing what is being said by others. It can sometimes be dismissed as ‘ego-surfing’, but finding out who has linked back to what content, and who has mentioned it but not linked back, is vitally important to any corporate (and personal) social media success.

and tech-savvy project managers, but alas relatively unappreciated across the wider business community. The most well-known wiki is, of course, Wikipedia – the online reference site that is currently five times the size of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and, according to various academic and independent studies, equally as accurate. Wikis can have a tremendous impact on a company’s knowledge bank. For example, some employees at British Telecom (BT as it is known) launched a small wiki with no fanfare or publicity. Curiosity and word-ofmouth grew it in size and popularity to levels far in excess of the developers’ dreams, and at a speed that shocked them (see case study: BT’s wiki). A wiki is a content management system (CMS) that is open to alteration, addition and amendment by more than one person. Wikis bypass the traditional corporate roadblock – e-mail – to enable rapid collaboration and information sharing.1 In essence, a wiki enables a project team to agree a common set of documents, terms, details and so on, without the endless to-ing and fro-ing of e-mails, and without the rapidly confusing visual mess that a Word document descends into after more than two alterations by two different collaborators.

Wikis If the social media community is undecided about what to call video blogs, then the general business community is equally undecided about how to define what a wiki is and what use it might have ‘inside the firewall’. Ward Cunningham coined the term ‘wiki’ back in 1994, basing it on the Hawaiian word for ‘quick’. Since then, it has become a firm favourite in the toolbox of many knowledge management gurus

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Wikis solve office politics problems Wikis also help get office politics out in the open and dealt with, so that the real work can get done. For example, consider this scenario: your project entails input from a formally-titled business communicator, a lawyer, a project manager, a marketer, an inventory manager, a product manager and a financial gatekeeper. In my 25-plus years of business communication experience, I have yet to

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Document collator/editor

Lawyer

Sales

Accountant

Customer service/support Product manager

Marketer Manufacturing/ production manager

Inventory manager

!*!@!

Figure 1: How a wiki functions

meet a lawyer who didn’t think that his/her command of the spoken and/or written word was superior to most (if not all) of the other project team members. Thus, the belief that his/hers should be the final wording, as it is the clearest, most concise and logical, creates conflict with other teams. Equally, I have yet to meet any member of a team who didn’t believe that his/her principal concern was not worthy of being in the top three priority of concerns that the project must address. Every time a draft document was circulated for comment, back would come conflicting viewpoints and emphases. Having spent far too many years lost down the rabbit hole of piecing together paragraphs of conflicting information and

dealing with resultant upset egos, I can assure you that a wiki allows the egotists to ‘fight it out’ in public as documents and pages go through their various iterations. If one particular team member becomes too insistent on his/her point of view, despite comments and revisions from others, then the team can point this out to them – an action that usually very quickly modifies over-exuberant behaviour. Should the team member continue to insist on his/her dominant point of view, resulting in unnecessary delays to the project and increasing disharmony, the project manager can have a quiet word in his/her ear, or else escalate the issue higher up the management chain for adjudication.

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Irrespective of harmony or disharmony, the group always works from the one webpage to shape and agree on a final version. Each section or sub-section of a document, report or project can be its own standalone webpage, editable by only one person at a time (to avoid any data conflicts) and with a toolbar that offers the standard word-processing options such as bold, italic, heading and sub-heading, adding a link, adding an image and so on. When a page has been agreed and finalised, a simple copy-and-paste job can take it from the wiki into a more formal document created within a word processor or desktop publishing application. Any stylistic variations can be accommodated by the style sheet underpinning the word processor or document layout tool (Word, Illustrator, etc.). Wikis have taken off within the large enterprise, particularly amongst knowledge management teams, who leverage the power of the wiki, in order to shorten project design and delivery time.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) A tiny piece of computer code enables unparalleled knowledge sharing. That code has been called RSS, although exactly what RSS stands for is sometimes the subject of debate. Really Simple Syndication is arguably the most accepted definition, highlighting how content from one content provider can be syndicated or re-published on the web property of others. For example, anything I write on my blog can be automatically inserted into someone else’s webpage. This is how news sites like BBC.com and ABC.net.au are able to fill their home pages with constantly updating and changing headlines; rather than have a web team of sub-editors constantly re-writing and editing

8

webpages. RSS code pulls in data from the company’s servers, wherein the style sheet (a piece of computer code that web browsers read, in order to know how to display the content in your browser) formats the ‘look and feel’, and placement of the data. RSS allows for the separation of content from presentation, enabling a single piece of data to be delivered across multiple platforms and formats, and in multiple documents for multiple uses. The data itself can be shared and republished both in front of, and behind the company firewall, so that the public can access some of the data, perhaps with more in-depth content or companysensitive analysis.2 There has been a tremendous growth in the use of RSS behind the firewall. Fuelled by employees who routinely use this technology outside of work and often from their work computer, many organisations have introduced personalised employee home pages where the data presented to the employees once they have logged into the network is content delivered automatically from pre-determined content providers, deemed useful for that particular employee in their particular department or work environment. Additionally, many organisations also allow their employees to search, find and subscribe to content from other, not necessarily related content providers, both inside and outside of the organisation. In this way, employees can stay abreast of developments in their industry, movements by their competitors and keep in touch with thought leaders from their own and allied professions. Some of the earliest adopters of social media into the organisational communication matrix took particular care to ‘not scare the natives’ – they didn’t use the ‘buzzword’ terminology of social media,

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

such as RSS, feeds, blog, podcast, wiki and so on, but instead, chose to use neutral or old-fashioned terms for the new tools. They also offered multiple ways for employees to access or subscribe to these data sources, including good old e-mail. After all, it is not the tool itself that is transformative within an organisation, but how it is used. If employees are comfortable using e-mail technology, then there is little point forcing them to change their information-receiving style. The less resistance to change, the smoother the cultural transformation and the quicker the improved information process can start delivering its potential.

Micro-blogging (aka Twitter) If there is one technology which has taken off to the amazement of even us ‘wizened’ old social media salts, it is Twitter. Each month sees a growth of, at least, 33 per cent in users, month on month. Trying to explain in simple-to-understand terms what Twitter is... well, let’s just say that herding cats would be an easier task. At one extreme, it is akin to a textmessaging service, enabling anyone with a free Twitter account up to 140 characters at a time to ‘say something’. Every time a message is sent (a ‘tweet’ as the ‘Twitterati’ call it – don’t worry, the use or abuse of the English language with ‘twit’ as a prefix knows no bounds and shows no signs of stopping), it is stored in a database, wherein it can be searched by Google and other search robots, including Twitter’s own. Each person’s message stream is RSS-enabled, letting anyone subscribe to their feed. These RSS feeds can either be read in traditional RSS readers (such as Google Reader, FeedDemon, GreatNews, inter alia) or in a dedicated Twitter-centric tool such as TweetDeck or Twhirl (the two current favourites) for your desktop/laptop, or

Twitter list: „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „

„ „ „ „ „ „ „

„ „ „ „

Looking for a job; Complaining about a job; Networking for a job; Posting a job; Launching a business; Complaining about a business; Advertising a business; Personal branding; Getting feedback; Directing web traffic; Reading breaking news; Using it as a to-do list; Notifying customers; Taking notes; Updates/changes at events (e.g., speakers, venues); Live coverage; Setting up meetings; Physician to Physician communication for general medical questions, curbside consults; Crowdsourcing for resources; Emergency response team management; Disaster alerting and response; Exercise management and encouragement; Issuing alerts for missing nursing home residents; Hazardous materials communication; Environmental alerts: pollen counts, pollution levels, heat waves, severe weather alerts; Psychiatric ‘check-ins’ for patients; Tracking antibiotic resistance; Tracking disease-specific trends; and Issuing asthma alerts.

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ceTwit, Jitter, Hahlo or PocketTweets amongst many for your smart phone/iPhone. Why would anyone do that? Upon first seeing Twitter, I was not alone in asking why would anyone use that. However, it only took a short while to develop a full appreciation of it. The box ‘Twitter list’ contains some of the many uses to which Twitter can be put.

A web of monsters and aliens, as well as butterflies and angels We are just at the start of our journey discovering this new communication landscape, but already we have briefly met many of the most-used tools and platforms. But lest you think that the social media world is confined to the usual flat, twodimensional, toilet-roll type pages of the web as we have known it until now, be assured that there is a whole other web out there – a web full of colour, movement, interaction, people and places. It is a web run entirely by people like you and I, and you just need to turn the page to begin your labyrinth-like descent into 2.5D and 3D web worlds that reflect human creativity, ingenuity and madness back at us. See you there... References 1. My namesake, Lee LeFever and his wife Sachi have created a fabulous series of videos that explain much of the various elements of social media in very simple terms, including the wiki. This can be found at: http://www. commoncraft.com 2. There is more detail on RSS, including a plain-English definition of how RSS works on the BBC website at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ hi/help/3223484.stm

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Chapter 2: The virtual world THERE ARE some who say that the virtual world is the future of the internet. I happen to be one of them.

Being versus doing Going to the movies is great fun, but I get fidgety after a while. It’s not just the seating that causes it; quite often, it’s the immersive nature of the film itself. I may be overly suggestible, and I find it hard not

to flinch when the hero gets hit, or duck under bridges that race towards me on the screen. After a while, I feel a real need to get up, stretch and unclench the muscles in my legs and hands. I have a very real need to take some sort of action to release the tension I’ve built up in my body. I much prefer to ‘do’, rather than passively sit and watch someone else ‘doing’.

Figure 1: Some of the most popular virtual worlds

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Figure 2: Habbo Hotel room with friends

Figure 3: Habbo Hotel screenshot during its beta phase

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Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Service

Registered users

Revenue (2008) estimated US$

Valuation (2008) estimated US$

Habbo Hotel

125m

74m

1.25bn

Gaia Online

7m unique visitors per month

10m

?

Stardoll

20m

30m

450m

Club Penguin

12m

50-150m

350-700m

Yoville (via Facebook and MySpace)

6.6m unique visitors per month

?

?

Table 1: Most popular 2.5D worlds – Europe and North America

Service

Registered users

Revenue (2008) estimated US$

Valuation (2008) estimated US$

Cyworld

22m

200m

1.25bn

Mobile Game Town

12.6m

250m

1.4bn

Gree

8m

60m

1.2bn

Nicotto Town

100,000

?

?

Table 2: Most popular 2.5D worlds – Asia

Thankfully, there are places I can go to on the internet, where I can ‘do’. Not yet, unfortunately, where I can run around in order to release the tension in my legs, but places where I can actually interact with the environment around me – change the plot of the movie, if you like – rather than passively sitting and letting the story wash over me. These places are known as virtual worlds (or vw as they are often abbreviated to) and they mirror our real world in ways that are constantly surprising. Arguably, the most well-known virtual worlds in the business community is Second Life (also often abbreviated to SL), but it is by no means the only virtual world – indeed, in population terms, it is only a small fish in a rapidly-expanding sea.

Nor are virtual worlds built just for adult users; many of the most popular (and financially lucrative) virtual worlds are aimed at children and teenagers. Let’s start our journey through the virtual worlds labyrinth by considering what kinds of virtual worlds and major players there are in each type.

2.5-dimensional (2.5D) The 2.5D virtual world is, most often, a room or other environment as seen from the perspective of a camera at 45 degrees elevation. The most popular virtual worlds using a 2.5D perspective are (at the time of writing) in Europe and North America (see Table 1). In the Asia/Pacific region, however, other 2.5D worlds ‘come out to play’ (see Table

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2). It should be noted that figures around the most popular virtual worlds in China are hard to verify, but hopefully, future increased levels of transparency will make research and comparison easier.

3-dimensional (3D) – Second Life The true 3D world is a fully-immersive one – the user can walk and even fly around it, create 3D objects, and interact with those objects in ways that simulate the ‘real world’ laws of physics. Again, as with 2.5D worlds, some of these 3D worlds are designed for children and teenagers, some for adults, and some for both. Amongst the general public, the most well-known 3D world is, arguably, Second Life, and businesses have experimented with this virtual world the most (but many corporations are also investigating other virtual worlds and reality environments). The following is a list of some of the 170 brands that virtual worlds analysts KZero (http://www.kzero.co.uk) are tracking in Second Life:

„ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „

Lacoste; Nesquik; Yves Saint Laurent; Herman Miller; Ben & Jerry’s; ABN Amro; Playboy; Nissan; Pontiac; Orange; Autodesk; Electrolux; H&R Block; Kelly Services; Vodafone; Visa; Mercedes Benz; Ford; Colgate; Swedish Embassy; Sky News; BMW; and Save the Children.

Case study: Accenture’s island „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „

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Adidas; Reebok; Penguin books; Circuit City; Sears; Dell; IBM; Calvin Klein; Toyota; Coke; Kraft; Bruna; Wella; Cecile; Armani; Steelcase; Starfruit; 1-800 Flowers; L’Oreal;

The uses to which businesses have put Second Life are many and varied. For example, the global management consultancy Accenture has built its own island, which is used for recruitment purposes. As highly influential virtual world analyst Gary Hayes reports (see: http:// personalizemedia.com), Accenture’s investment in the island paid for itself after six recruitment fairs. Accenture carries out recruitment activities in 49 countries, therefore, by using one recruitment-oriented island – rather than each territory, country or region building their own – the savings start to quickly mount up. The global recruitment marketing team at Accenture hold meetings, calls and tours with recruiters from around the globe, and have even created a guide on how to sign up for a Second Life account.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Case study: Second Life Association of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) – North America The association uses its island as an information resource for the general public. More importantly, it runs regular training and information sessions for its members; and separate information evenings and informal social events.

her office in Brisbane and I from my office in Adelaide. Helen Mitchell, CPA Australia’s director of Knowledge Networks commented on the presentation on her blog:

CPA of Australia The CPA of Australia introduced its membership to Second Life and now works within a virtual world from within Second Life – at its own custom-built location. Lindy McKeown and I presented at their 2008 National Congress, which was run in Melbourne. But rather than travel to Melbourne, McKeown presented from

“Feedback to date shows they valued the event, content and experience – we had them logging in from all over Australia and the world, including the UK and USA. Broadband and other technicalities aside, they all experienced the same environment, no matter where they were logging in from. “And it was in real-time, 3D, where each person’s avatar provided a visual and spatial indication of them as a person; and the event as an occasion, where

Figure 4: Second Life Association of CPAs and some upcoming events

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interaction and Q&A were a natural part of proceedings. A much richer experience than if this was a webinar, videoconference or video recording of a session.” But it is not just industry bodies that are using Second Life and virtual worlds for meetings. The following is a list of corporate bodies which are using Second Life and virtual worlds: „ BP’s technology team have experimented with virtual worlds in a number of scenarios, such as IT strategy planning, training, collaboration, online events and consumer education; „ Recruitment marketing solution provider SmashFly Technologies has

„

„

„ „

„

opened an office in Second Life for its distributed workforce; New Business Horizons is opening a new office for the Institute of Travel Management in Second Life as a way to cut down on the need to travel for conferences; Johnson & Johnson and KPMG use virtual worlds to recruit globally, just as Accenture does; Cisco Systems uses Second Life for developing its sales force; IBM is heavily invested in 3D virtual worlds, including not only its own home-spun experiments, but also Second Life; and The Gizzard Communications Group runs meetings and conferences in Second Life on fundraising for non-profit organisations.

Figure 5: The CPA of Australia’s Second Life presence for the 2008 National Congress

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Linden Lab, the owners of the Second Life platform, and IBM recently released a case study1 in which IBM estimates that by using Second Life for two of its major events, it saved over US$320,000. “With an initial investment of roughly US$80,000, IBM estimates that it saved over US$250,000 in travel and venue costs, and more than US$150,000 in additional productivity gains (since participants were already at their computers and could dive back into work immediately). It saved a total of US$320,000 (when compared to the potential expense if the event had been held in the physical world),” the report said.

Educational uses of Second Life Many educational establishments use Second Life for both research and longdistance education purposes. The University of South Australia’s School of Communication, for example, runs some of its courses in Second Life, giving students the opportunity to investigate the nuances of communication in a 3D virtual world. The prestigious Harvard Law School was the first top tertiary institution to move into Second Life, running a module on ‘law within the virtual environment’. There was no ‘real-world’ way to take the course – all students had to take the module from within Second Life. Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) has brought its film and media undergraduate degree to Second Life. Even though most of the classes will be virtual, MMU is interested specifically in Second Life as a tool for training, including a game based around film editing, practical skills and simulation. “The course is the first to be delivered almost entirely in Second Life,” said Paul Booth, senior lecturer in film and

media at MMU. “The media collaboration syllabus is designed to be contained within the virtual world; all exercises use a combination of real-world skills, and in-world production and distribution. Only two lectures will be delivered in a real-world classroom as an introduction to Second Life and new media technology.” Third-year medical students at Imperial College London have found that Second Life provides a useful supplement to their normal studies. As part of a pilot test, students walk through the ins and outs of a realistic hospital – washing hands, diagnosing patients, ordering X-rays and more. And while they have noted that it’s not as helpful as actually walking around a real hospital’s halls, they’re finding – as paramedic students at St George’s, University of London and Kingston University similarly have – that the 24/7 availability of a virtual world is a convenient way to drive home other lessons. “The aim,” according to Maria Toro-Troconis, a senior learning technologist at Imperial College London, “Is to develop a more engaging learning environment, rather than just replicate what you have in real life. Game-based learning plays a very important role.” The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Iowa State University and Wright State University have partnered to teach over 100 part-time MBA students many key computing concepts based around IBM’s ‘Power Systems’ and infrastructure. Over five weeks, pairs of students spent about four hours per week in Second Life, researching server issues and IBM solutions to prepare for a Second Life-based presentation. The goal, noted Dr. Keng Siau, Professor of Management Information Systems (MIS) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was to keep business managers and executives abreast of technology (both IBM’s and

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Second Life’s), but also to use the virtual world to cement the lessons learned. “The process of doing the project is more important than the output,” Dr. Siau reported on Chris Maxcer’s SystemiNetwork blog. “By going through these phases of understanding, researching on the web and discussing with their partners... I bet that after five weeks, they’ll remember this for the rest of their lives – it’s not just another guest lecture for three hours.” The Nature Publishing Group (a division of Macmillan) uses its group of Second Life ‘islands’ to host an educational game tribute to Charles Darwin. “ ‘Notes from the Voyage’ is an interactive game that promotes engagement and knowledge,” explains Kristen French, Nature’s head of community business development. North Carolina State University received US$400,000 from the Ernst & Young Foundation to continue with the development of its distance learning programs within Second Life, particularly with regard to the department of accounting in the College of Management. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has run an exhibit in Second Life. The exhibit was inspired by a separate effort that asked a group of high-school students to conceive an interactive space around the Holocaust. The students produced a design document that has been brought to life. Users take the role of a journalist – investigating what happened on the ‘Night of Broken Glass’ (also known as Kristallnacht), listening to testimony from Holocaust survivors and examining artefacts in a ransacked section of a city. “I wanted something which gives visitors a reason for them to engage, not necessarily that they were a part of the history, but they have a reason to be there,” said David Klevan, education manager for technology and

18

distance learning initiatives at the Museum. “I wanted visitors to be asking questions as they went through.” The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation and the University of Texas are working together on the Carter Academic Service Entrepreneur (CASE) grant program for virtual worlds. It’s Second Life-focused, asking students to use the virtual world to serve real-world communities. One example given is using it to tutor local high-school students. The CASE grant offers US$1,000 to support the project and a US$500 scholarship upon its completion. “Our CASE grant model has proven extremely successful offline. This project will be a demonstration that community service can be a new horizon for online virtual worlds,” said foundation president Sue Sehgal. The University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance has moved the class on public health issues in physical activity and obesity into Second Life. “In discussions on how obesity impacts the heart, I can make a 3-D model of a healthy heart and a diseased heart, and allow the students to view the inside of the left ventricle to demonstrate how blood flow is altered by disease,” said Brian McFarlin, assistant professor of health and human performance. “I want to be mindful of what students want. It’s about them and trying to give them a better learning experience.” Social scientists around the world are using Second Life as a platform and environment from which they can monitor and map human interaction and learning, and identity formation and maintenance. Librarians across many campuses regularly meet in Second Life to swap ideas, share tips and see what benefits virtual worlds can offer their institutions, their academics, their students and themselves.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Figure 6: Various bodies and clothing for my Second Life avatar

Technical complexity of Second Life Second Life allows people to present PowerPoint-like slideshows, play movies and soundtracks, speak ‘live’ to their audience and colleagues, and offer information and additional resources to visitors, either in-world or via links that open up web pages in the visitor’s web browser. Of course, Second Life is not just for business use. Shopping for digital goods is, by far, the biggest activity in-world, with everything from shoes, underwear, suits, shirts, dresses and bikinis for sale, alongside furniture, houses, animals, plants and additional animations for your avatar (the in-world representation of yourself). You can buy different hairstyles and even different bodies if you don’t like the one you are given when you sign up.

You will see in Figure 6 the various bodies that I have bought for my own avatar, and you can see that they range from male to female, to alien to the robot from the classic 1960s TV show ‘Lost in Space’ (and yes, it even comes with appropriate sound effects such as ‘Danger! Danger!’).

Welcome to the dark side of Second Life’s sweet shop, Luke Just as in ‘real life’, there is a darker side to Second Life, too. These are designated areas where sex services are for sale, and there is no shortage of shops that sell clothing, body parts and avatar animations of a strictly R-rated nature. But despite the occasional mainstream media exposure about this dark side, the vast majority of Second Life is safe from such activity.

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Figure 7: Amsterdam buildings in Second Life ©image courtesy of Ashanti Leshelle (can be found at: http://www.flickr. com/photos/ashanti_leshelle/1070111266)

Much like a child in a sweet shop, many new residents of adult worlds like Second Life gorge on the sweet stuff until they are full, but that full feeling doesn’t take long to reach. Most new residents visit one or two sex-themed areas – usually just to see what the fuss is all about – and then go off in search of other entertainment. This includes searching for friends, companies they have heard are in Second Life and themed regions that have received mainstream press attention, such as goth-themed worlds, worlds of furry animals, battle war zones, replicas of real-world areas such as Amsterdam and so on.

Rules of behaviour Many companies which use virtual worlds such as Second Life for their business

20

meetings provide their employees with guidelines or rules of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in these and other social media environments. Such policies can include elements that remind employees that at all times they represent their employer and, therefore, they must not act in any way that could bring the company into disrepute; in other words, the same behaviours that are expected in the ‘real world’ are also expected in the virtual. Some companies also use open source software, such as OpenSim (http:// opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page ) and Project Wonderland on their own servers behind the firewall, thereby ensuring the ‘integrity’ of the environment. Others give their employees permission to visit any area, as long as their avatar

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Figure 8: Amsterdam in Second Life ©image courtesy of Zya Kraft (can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ zyakraft/1467037825/)

does not, in any way, suggest links back to the employer. While this can leave an employer open to the risk of an employee accessing an area that might cause offence if seen by another employee, most employees are sensible enough not to put their access to Second Life at risk. Microsoft reportedly has an effective informal policy regarding blogging and other social media activity: “Don’t do something stupid that will lose you your job.” Wise advice, indeed. As with social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube, some companies believe that providing access to virtual world’s like Second Life will only result in lost productivity as the employee ‘runs amok’, and wastes all of his/her time running

down endless virtual rabbit holes. However, this reflects a general distrust of employees and is a damning reflection of the company’s culture. If the company so distrusts its employees to ‘do the right thing’ that it gives them only partial access to the tools required by today’s knowledge workers to do their job, then no amount of ‘employees are our greatest asset’ rhetoric from the senior management team will convince employees to give any trust or loyalty to the company. But the company that shows respect to its employees, that recognises in them a fundamental curiosity and interest in exploring novelties, and that allows employees the freedom to explore and play (because it is through play that we most

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quickly and profitably learn), is more likely to reap greater rewards from its employees. These rewards include faster take-up of new working practices, faster adoption of new workplace cultures, quicker returns on the investment in infrastructure and training, and improved productivity and increased collegiality. Studies show that the increased collegiality that comes from the adoption of social

media tools and social networking strategies in the workplace brings with it increased loyalty, lower turnover and increased productivity. Not a bad outcome. Much like YouTube and Facebook, virtual worlds offer tremendous networking and learning opportunities – not just funny videos, inane self-congratulation or invitations to be a vampire. Project managers are showing their clients

IBM social computing guidelines 1. Know and follow IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines. 2. IBMers are personally responsible for the content they publish on blogs, wikis or any other form of user-generated media. Be mindful that what you publish will be public for a long time – protect your privacy. 3. Identify yourself – name and, when relevant, role at IBM – when you discuss IBM or IBMrelated matters. And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM. 4. If you publish content to any website outside of IBM and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.” 5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws. 6. Don’t provide IBM’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information. Ask permission to publish or report on conversations that are meant to be private or internal to IBM. 7. Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference, where possible link back to the source. 8. Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in IBM’s workplace. You should also show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory – such as politics and religion. 9. Find out who else is blogging or publishing on the topic, and cite them. 10. Be aware of your association with IBM in online social networks. If you identify yourself as an IBMer, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients. 11. Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so. 12. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. IBM’s brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on IBM’s brand. Source: http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html

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Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

what a new, yet-to-be-built customised component can look like; clients can walk around it or interact with it, and see how it fits in with their current office decor or plant machinery. Training institutions are using virtual worlds to train emergency department nurses in how to use new equipment by letting them ‘play’ with the various controls and see what effects they have on patient welfare and the other elements of patient management.

Alternatives to Second Life World of Warcraft Of course, Second Life is not the only 3D virtual world. The role-playing game World of Warcraft is an extremely successful 3D environment. It currently boasts 11.5m paid subscribers, generating some US$184m gross income per month, in comparison to Second Life’s approximately US$1.2m gross monthly income.

LiveWorld social media content guidelines My business communication and social media colleague Bryan Person recently based a set of guidelines both to, as he says, “support the talents and online freedom of expression of LiveWorlders and to reflect the best interests and reputation of the company. We think they’re easy to understand, straightforward, and free of corporate mumbo-jumbo or legalese.” Based on IBM’s own ‘gold standard’ guidelines, see if you agree. Be transparent If you’re writing or commenting about company business, always identify yourself and LiveWorld by name. If you contribute to, or maintain a personal blog or website that covers the company’s business space, make clear that your opinions are your own and not that of LiveWorld’s. Be respectful We encourage you to express your opinions, but we ask that you don’t resort to personal attacks, harassment, cultural insensitivity or discrimination in the process. Be yourself We value your personality and individual interests, including those that fall outside of your primary work responsibilities. Let that personality shine in your online content! Be smart Some company projects, lessons learned and success stories are fine to share; others aren’t. Don’t reveal company secrets or proprietary information, and make sure you have permission from our clients and partners before mentioning them by name. Your words and statements online are a reflection of LiveWorld. Use your best judgment when deciding whether content is appropriate to publish. If you have any doubts, ask your company executive. Source: http://bryanperson.com/2009/01/07/creating-social-media-guidelines-for-your-employees/

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Managing time wasting and virtual rabbit holes Employers worried that their employees will waste endless hours accessing non-work material already have access to two valuable tools to manage the risk: „ KPIs (Key Performance Indicators); and „ Shame. Individual productivity is still governed by agreed job performance requirements and KPIs. If employees are frequenting social networking sites at the expense of their performance, it usually only takes a quiet word in their ear from their manager to bring them back into line. If this fails, the usual disciplinary measures can be utilised. Additionally, nothing spreads around a company faster than gossip, and firing an employee for gross negligence, dereliction of duty or grossly-inappropriate behaviour, will generate a non-verbal message that will quickly rip through the hallways if unofficially allowed. Add to it a memo from HR to the whole company that explains why the unnamed employee was dismissed and you have introduced a prophylactic against further abuse. In this current business climate few can afford to lose their job, let alone their reputation and future employability owing to an act of extreme foolishness, and an attitude of ‘they’re not smart enough to catch me’ or ‘it will never happen to me’.

IMVU IMVU is a 3D chat environment that has 30m users, which is almost double Second Life’s 17m. IMVU is a very popular chat engine amongst teenagers. Home Sony has just launched Home, a 3D world for Playstation 3 owners, and with visual effects and appearance notably superior to Second Life – perhaps a similar offering is about to be announced for Microsoft’s XBox. Home captures its members for around 40 minutes per session, which is significantly longer than traditional web properties, making virtual worlds like Home very ‘sticky’ in marketing terms. In a ‘GamesIndustryBiz.com’ feature article, Jack Buser, director of Home at Sony Computer Entertainment, and Peter Edward, director of the Home Platform Group, commented that, in the first month of release, they brought in over US$1m of revenue. Home is now recognised by the publishers of computer and console games as a major platform and a hub for gamers. “Here you can speak directly to the PlayStation audience on the platform. It is unbelievably economical. And there are commerce opportunities for partners. You have publishers and brands coming into Home looking to engage with an audience, but they also have the opportunity to generate revenue. It’s a model that makes sense for everybody. It’s kind of a perfect storm,” says Buser. Nurien and HiPiHi Nurien (http://www.nurien.com) is exceptionally popular in South Korea and offers compelling visuals. In China, HiPiHi is the market leader. (Remember, obtaining accurate information from some Continued on Pg26

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Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Figure 9: Screenshot from World of Warcraft

Figure 10: Screenshot of IMVU sign-up process

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Figure 11: Screenshot of Sony’s Home for PS3

companies in the Asia Pacific region is proving temporarily challenging.) YoVille YoVille, the virtual world based within Facebook and MySpace, has garnered over 5m active users in under 12 months, which is an impressive growth by any standards and definitely one to watch. But before Second Life is written off (a meme in the popular press is to write off Second Life as a ‘has been’), facts to note from long-time Second Life residents and developers Timothy Allen and Jennifer Vatza are:2 „ The amount of active users has grown by 25 per cent since September 2008 and March 2009; „ The total number of avatars created since it came out of beta in June 2003 has eclipsed 16m;

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Figure 12: Screenshot from Nurien

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

„ Unlike some Web 2.0 companies that are still media darlings – like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter – Linden Lab and Second Life are profitable enterprises; „ The average number of concurrent users logged into Second Life at any given time is 70,000 (that includes ‘bot users’ – avatars that are programmed for various purposes. Linden Lab estimates 10-15 per cent of users are ‘bots’); „ Residents spent 41.5m hours in Second Life in January 2009, compared to 28.3m hours in January 2008; „ Over US$1.3m changes hands daily through Second Life’s micro-currency, the Linden dollar; „ A rich array of innovative educational programs exists in Second Life; and „ In February 2009, over 64,000 Second Life users made a profit during the month. Of that group, over 200 made a profit of over US$5,000, just under 1,000 made between US$1,000 and US$5,000, and just under 4,000 made between US$100 and US$1,000. These facts are impressive by anyone’s standards, and as Linden Lab points out, “With nearly US$35m traded between residents each month, the Second Life economy has grown to become one of the world’s largest usergenerated virtual economies.”

Demographics and inferred psychographics There is a myth that virtual worlds are populated by primarily two types: „ Middle-aged men pretending to be young, in order to lure the under-aged into predatory sexual relations; and „ Pimply and unwashed teenage boys who sit in darkened bedrooms.

Neither stereotype is particularly true. While it is true that roughly 31 per cent of virtual world inhabitants will probably take on a role or avatar of the opposite gender (based on Nick Yee’s research into text-based role-playing virtual worlds), the majority of those who enter virtual worlds will ‘stay true’ to their own gender.

Policing kids’ worlds In addition, virtual worlds whose target audiences are children and teenagers have very strict policies regarding inappropriate behaviour, and actively manage their environments. Not only are text comments moderated – usually by some sort of automated word-filtering system – but human intervention also plays a part. Some virtual worlds also have in-house ‘prefects’ – children who interact with their in-world peers and privately report any suspicious behaviour or character. I have it on very good authority that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) work with several teenagers to identify possible paedophiles. The strategy behind the program is that teenagers would be more likely than adults to recognise language that wouldn’t naturally belong to someone of their age. As teenagers cringe and roll their eyes when parents try to ‘talk the lingo’ in order to ‘connect’, the AFP-sponsored teens can very quickly spot an adult pretending to be a teenager. So sophisticated are these linguistic nuances that early teens can even spot when a late teen is trying to be younger than they are.

Adult worlds Virtual worlds, where the minimum age of residents is 18 are, understandably, less concerned with in-world language and behaviour, although it should be noted that when Linden Lab, the creator and owner of the Second Life platform, announced its intention of moving all sexual content to a specific region

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within the Second Life universe, there was, and still remains, a tremendous amount of discussion, both for and against, and as I write this, no final decision has been announced. Interesting statistics emerge when looking at the various types of users that make up adult-only virtual worlds. The following statistics and inferences are based on data released each month by Linden Lab: „ The average age of a resident of Second Life is 34, and the gender ratio is approximately 60 per cent male, 40 per cent female; „ Whereas the average time someone spends on Facebook is around 50 minutes per month, the average time spent in Second Life is around 40 hours; „ Although the vast majority of those involved in Second Life do not do so in order to generate any income, the number of individuals who have a positive cashflow is growing every month; and several individuals and businesses do generate enough to supplement or replace the typical income; and „ Reflecting the internet in general, the dominant language in Second Life is English, but it by no means holds a crushingly-imperialist position. Nonnative English-speaking countries are a major group within Second Life’s demographic, and there are several regions within Second Life where English is not spoken at all unless prompted. As can be seen from Table 3, European countries have taken to Second Life in the same way that the US has. Australia, too confirms its early adopter status with regard to new technology, which compares to its 52nd place spot on the ‘real world’ population table. However, a caveat needs inserting here – Australians as individuals are

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Country United States

Percentage of avatar count 36.9

Germany

8.6

United Kingdom

7.5

Japan

5.0

France

4.9

Brazil

4.5

Italy

4.3

Canada

3.3

Spain

3.3

Netherlands

3.1

Australia

2.3

Belgium

1.2

Table 3: Countries by active users – the top 12 Data supplied by Linden Lab, June 2008

early adopters, however, Australian business is, in the main, quite conservative when it comes to the use of new technology. Adult psychographics From the Linden Lab data we can make some interesting inferences about Second Life ‘residents’ (as those who regularly visit and inhabit Second Life are called), and I would argue, adult virtual worlds in general. The following are my inferences, followed by my rationale. Second Life residents are well-paid, time-rich individuals, who are intelligent, patient, persistent and interested in new technology. They are likely to be knowledgeable, curious, well-educated and socially connected. That’s probably the sort of individual that many companies would like to develop a conversational relationship with. Here is how I reached this conclusion: Second Life residents spend a considerable amount of time in-world, possibly at the expense of interacting with traditional media.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Both Neilsen-Online and Forrester Research have recently released figures showing that a growing number of online adults are choosing to spend their time participating in online social networking, rather than consuming traditional media such as radio, television and newspapers. Virtual worlds are very much part of the social media landscape. Second Life residents are spending an average of 40 hours per month in-world, reflecting their freedom from time-intensive responsibilities such as children. Virtual worlds are graphic-rich environments, requiring powerful computers and graphic cards. Such hardware comes at a price. So too does the broadband bandwidth required to interact meaningfully and with minimal ‘lag’ frustration (the amount of time between your keyboard key press and your avatar reflecting that action request). The learning curve to successfully navigate one’s avatar and interact with others, as well as tailor one’s appearance to one’s tastes, is steep; therefore, much patience and persistence are required to graduate from ‘beginner’ to ‘competent’ in-world resident. It can take many hours of practice to be able to proficiently engage in conversations with others. Steven Noble in Forrester’s November 2008 report ‘Australian Adult Social Technographics® Revealed’ (a PDF of which can be bought and downloaded at: http:// www.forrester.com/Research/Document/ Excerpt) highlighted that the average ‘social mediarist’ (or, as they classify them, ‘creators’, ‘critics’, ‘collectors’ and ‘joiners’) earn between AUS$75,787 and AUS$79,580 per annum. They are usually educated past high school and are more likely than the rest of the Australian online population to be at the forefront in the use of new technology. Academic research over many decades shows how innovation spreads through a community (the late Ev Rogers is the best

source for an overview of the baseline academic work3). ‘Innovators’, the testers of new technology, comprise 2.5 per cent of the population. They are the individuals who try out the new technology or innovative practice, both because of intellectual or sensual curiosity, and to see if it would benefit others in the innovator’s personal community. If they believe it would, they begin to embrace it and incorporate it into their daily life. The next tier of adopters – the early adopters (who comprise 13.5 per cent of the population) – see what the innovators are doing and talking about, and get hold of the technology and begin to play with it, in order to gain the personal benefit from the innovation and uncover ways to ‘translate’ the innovation and its benefits into a language that the community will more readily understand. This second tier (to which I arguably belong) is made up of highly-connected individuals who can have influence over considerable numbers of the population when they ‘evangelise’ an innovation. The third tier – the early majority which makes up 34 per cent of the population – notice what the second tier are evangelising, and so too seek to benefit both personally and reputationally amongst their peers by also taking on the role of an evangelist. Once the early majority start evangelising, then the product, service or process gets closer to the ‘tipping point’. The fourth tier – the late majority which makes up 34 per cent of the population, then take on the innovation, in order not to be ‘left behind’. By this stage, the innovation definitely moves into the mainstream and existing standards of process, design or production are raised to this new level, and the cycle of adoption starts again. A fifth tier – the ‘laggards’ which makes up 16 per cent of the population – usually pick

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up the innovation when it is nearing the end of its lifecycle, or when a newer innovation is already close to its own tipping point. In today’s lightening pace of innovation and change, where technical knowledge and innovation is doubling every year, the first tier ‘innovators’ are already playing with ‘innovation number two’ while the third tier ‘late adopters’ are taking up ‘innovation number one’. By the time the ‘laggards’ are taking up ‘innovation number one,’ the ‘innovators’ are probably already playing with ‘innovation number four’. Put all of these factors together and that is how I reached the conclusion that Second Life residents are well-paid, time-rich individuals, who are intelligent, patient, persistent and interested in new technology.

Organisational leadership and World of Warcraft When it comes to World of Warcraft, new rules around real-world recruitment need considering. The Royal Australian Air Force, for example, actively interacts with young World of Warcrafters for a very sound reason – the successful World of Warcrafters have proven their ability to survive and thrive in combat situations. In addition, they have grown into leaders. As one RAAF recruiter said to me, “Why would the typical World of Warcraft-playing school-leaver be happy in a white-collar job, where he/she has to start at the lowest, ‘know nothing’ rung of the ladder?” The recruiter claimed that they knew and interacted with many 15 and 16 year olds who successfully manage and lead squadrons of fighter planes and pilots. In some instances, that means successfully coordinating and leading hundreds and sometimes thousands of other World of Warcrafters, each of whom has their own particular personal agenda they want to get out of the game.

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“Some of them have more real managerial experience than even top-level corporate managers. They have had to learn cooperation and negotiation skills, motivational skills, and strategic and tactical planning skills. “These are the sorts of kids who we want as the next generation of leaders in the armed services,” he said. Massively multiple online role-playing games like World of Warcraft are proving to be valuable training grounds for managers and, at the elite level, leaders. How corporations and smaller organisations choose to recruit them may well turn out to be a key differentiator for recruiters in the near future – not just as an indicator of a business’ potential sustainability and longevity, but also as a company with an ‘employer of choice’ reputation, which goes out of its way to attract the brightest and the best talent.

Show me the money Naturally, in a difficult and challenging economic climate, it is only fair to ask if anyone is actually investing in virtual worlds. The box overleaf includes some of the investment highlights over the past two years. As Barry Gilbert, vice president and research director of strategy analytics reports,4 virtual world users are increasing as a percentage of total broadband users, suggesting a positive conversion sign for the virtual world industry. While advertising within virtual worlds will slow down during 2009, they are expected to recover and continue their growth curve in 2010. However, the growth of revenue from microtransactions for virtual goods and subscriber fees are expected to continue in their dramatic fashion in spite of any economic ‘hangover’. For example, in 2008 the total revenue generation of virtual worlds was US$1.26bn

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

(not including Second Life land purchases, maintenance, hosting and development fees, non in-world purchases of merchandise, and licensing fees). In 2009 total revenue (similarly not including the elements above) is predicted to reach US$2.16bn. China’s internet and mobile-based social network ‘TenCent’ announced unaudited annual revenues for 2008 exceeding US$1bn, an 87 per cent year-over-year increase from 2007 revenues. Of that figure,

Recent investments in virtual worlds „ US$408m invested in 40 virtual goods-related businesses in 2008; „ 200+ youth-oriented worlds live or are developing in January 2009; „ US$594m invested in 63 virtual worlds-related companies in 2008; „ US$101m invested in 13 virtual worlds-related companies in the fourth quarter of 2008; „ US$148.5m invested in 12 virtual worlds-related companies in the third quarter of 2008; „ US$161m invested in 16 virtual worlds-related companies in the fourth quarter of 2008 „ US$345m invested in 39 virtual worlds-related companies in the first 6 months of 2008; „ US$184m invested in 23 virtual worlds-related companies in the first quarter of 2008; „ US$425m invested in 15 virtual worlds-related companies in the fourth quarter of 2007; and „ US$1bn invested in 35 virtual worlds companies between October 2006 and October 2007.

US$719m was generated by sales of virtual goods to internet-based users of the service. Internet virtual goods sales for 2008 represent a 95.5 per cent year-over-year increase from 2007, while mobile virtual goods sales for the same period had increased 73 per cent. Only US$120m of TenCent’s 2008 revenue is accounted for by online advertising. TenCent lists its total 2008 gross profits as US$729m at a margin of about 70 per cent. Note that the revenues from internet virtual goods sales alone are only US$10m short of accounting for all of TenCent’s 2008 gross profits. In addition, Habbo Hotel’s developer, Sulake, recently released figures showing that 85 per cent of its 2008 revenue came from microtransactions for virtual goods5. While the hype led by the mass media has gone out of virtual worlds, their popularity continues to grow. Not only are more individuals choosing to spend time in-world at the expense of traditional activities, but organisations are also taking advantage of the benefits of virtual worlds to cut costs (including travel and the lost opportunity costs involved with that travel) and increase learning and development. One IBM employee reportedly claimed increased productivity gains through the use of virtual worlds. This was calculated by using the extra five minutes before and after formal in-world meetings as personal networking time, rather than the more traditional paper-shuffling down-time of traditional teleconferences. New contacts are made, ideas shared and possibilities generated. The gaming industry now generates more revenue than Hollywood,6 and all predictions are that the consolidation and integration of games and 3D virtual worlds will continue, as shown by the outstanding success thus far of Sony’s Home 3D environment. We witnessed an explosion

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of virtual worlds aimed at children and teenagers in 2008, and there is no reason to believe that the trend will slow down. There are over 250 virtual worlds already in existence or in development; naturally there will be a shake-out and consolidation of worlds over time, but just as there are hundreds of thousands of traditional websites that generate real-world returns on investment for their owners, so too will hundreds of virtual worlds serve us in similar ways. The integration of virtual worlds with mobile platforms is a major focus for virtual world owners, as the reach of smart phones and the iPhone continues at its rapid pace. As Apple showed the world when it allowed the integration of podcasts into its iTunes software that applications can sit in a mobile phone and one can seamlessly access his/her virtual world of choice, this will probably explode the membership numbers of virtual worlds. The future for virtual worlds is so bright, I have to wear shades. References 1. Can be found at: http://secondlifegrid.net.

Resources Metaverse Journal – a holistic look at virtual worlds from consumer, producer and enterprise perspectives (http://www.metaversejournal.com) Clever Zebra – enterprise-level virtual world intelligence (http://www.cleverzebra.com) Kzero – virtual worlds research company (http://www.kzero.co.uk) Gary Hayes – virtual worlds uber-guru (http://www.personalizemedia.com) Virtual Worlds Weekly – more traditional news and opinion site, focusing on the business side of virtual worlds (http://www.virtualworldsweekly.com) JoKay – an Australian freelance designer who is very involved with Second Life, particularly from an educational perspective (http://www.jokay.com.au)

s3.amazonaws.com/docs/Second_Life_Case_ IBM.pdf 2. Can be found at: http://www.peregrinesalon. com/2009/03/22/whats-with-the-second-life-

Lindy McKeown – a global facilitator of virtual world strategy and tactical planning (http://www.lindymckeown.com)

death-watch/ 3. See Wikipedia for an overview of Ev Rogers’ work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Everett_Rogers 4. See: http://www.engageexpo.com/

Wagner James Au – a full-time journalist in Second Life and virtual worlds in general (http://www.nwn.blogs.com/nwn)

presentations/Gilbert-StateOfTheVWMarket. pdf 5. See: http://www.sulake.com/press/ releases/2009-03-30-Sulake_reports_strong_

Metaverse Business – specialists in virtual world metrics (http://www.metaversebusiness.com)

growth_and_profits_for_2008.html 6. Figures from US Entertainment Merchants Association, 1 July 2008: US retail gaming US$ 18.85 bn; global box office US$ 9.6 bn; and US home DVD market US$ 16 bn.

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Second Life blog – the official Linden Lab blog about Second Life (http://www.blogs.secondlife.com)

Chapter 3: Social marketing “MARKETS ARE conversations. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice. To speak with a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities. But first, they must belong to a community.” Theses numbers 1, 2, 3, 34 and 35: The Cluetrain Manifesto Let us understand first the question I am often asked by marketers: ‘does social networking mean the same as social marketing?’ To which I reply unequivocally: ‘yes and no.’

The difference between social networking and social marketing To help explain and refine that somewhat unhelpful answer, let’s define what I mean by social networking and social marketing. Social networking Social networking is tapping into groups of friends and their friends – and even their friends’ friends – because there are shared, common interests. For example, within every major social networking site there are groups that focus on fishing, dining, scrapbooking, pets, movies, gossip... you name a particular hobby or topic of interest, it’s probably there. The members of these groups use the group as a ‘collection

point’ for the various ideas, suggestions and questions they have. This is nothing new. Before the ‘World Wide Web’ we had text-based newsgroups and bulletin boards performing exactly the same functions. In this new era we can now do this with video, still pictures, sound files and an infinite number of cross references to other relevant content. Additionally, others can share an idea with their own friends who may not be a part of one particular group, but who might benefit from it, creating a cross-pollination of ideas. Social marketing Social marketing, on the other hand, is the strategic use of tactics and tools to meet marketing plan objectives – such as increasing sales, gaining market share, improving market reach, tapping into new markets and territories, and so on. And unlike ‘traditional’ marketing activities, social marketing is focused entirely on generating results through the growth and maintenance of positive customer interactions that take place within the social media webspace. I advocate that social marketing should be part of any company’s daily activities, but unlike a traditional print campaign, it cannot be a ‘one-off’ exercise or something that a social media expert comes in and performs once a month. It requires every business to have a central point – be it a person or a team – that can engage knowledgeably with what usually turns out to

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be a very sophisticated audience. It requires an individual or team to engage with these knowledgeable audiences in multiple social networking sites and platforms, using the same social media tools that they use. Consider it to be ‘grass-roots’ marketing or ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing performed over electronic communication channels, and it can take many forms such as: „ ‘Friending’ someone on a social networking site; „ Commenting on someone else’s ideas, either on his/her’s own site or on a networking site; „ Joining a group that is relevant to one’s business, industry, or products and services; „ Asking questions of, and/or answering questions from, a knowledgeable audience (and always bearing in mind that they may be wrong, but they probably don’t think so); „ ‘Digg’ing a blog post, video or article that is relevant to a target audience, and so helping them find new material with which, perhaps, to answer their own questions, but certainly which adds value to their work and/ or life; and „ ‘Tweeting’ links to new material of relevance to an audience, such as when new products or services are released, or when new solutions to customer challenges are found. But as the quote at the beginning of the chapter makes clear, the language that any conversation takes place in must be the language of the audience, not that of the marketer. Nothing puts off a potential conversationalist in an audience than being ‘talked at’ by someone who

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values corporate jargon and companyspeak more than a relationship with a ‘real’ human being. Thankfully, there is a software which can be downloaded called Bullfighter (can be found at: http:// FightTheBull. com) to help find and eliminate jargon in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents. Bullfighter is a Windows-only product (i.e. it does not work with MacOS, Palm, Unix, Xenix, Linux, Spandex, Kleenex, etc.). The website comes with an additional feature – the ‘Mystery Matador’. This is how it works: copy and paste some baffling text you recently received, enter the e-mail address of the sender, and the ‘Mystery Matador’ will measure the jargon and verbosity, then e-mail the content’s creator anonymously with a link to his/her score. Indeed, it was a video that arguably pushed social media into the general public’s consciousness and out of the ‘geek-only, someone-with-no-life’ area they might previously had thought it belonged to. For that, we have Johnson & Johnson to thank.

Johnson & Johnson and Motrin take social media into the mainstream Saturday 15 November 2008 was a watershed day for social marketing, and highlighted the power of this new online channel. On this day Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil released a video on its website for its Motrin range of ibuprofenbased painkillers, and in one fell swoop, managed to incur the wrath of a whole cross section of its target audience – an audience who immediately started a storm online. Courtesy of Lisa Belkin, a journalist at the New York Times1, the following is the voice-over text to the video:

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

“Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion. I mean, in theory it’s a great idea. There’s the front baby carrier, sling, schwing, wrap, pouch. And who knows what else they’ve come up with. Wear your baby on your side, your front, go hands free. Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience. They say that babies carried close to the body tend to cry less than others. But what about me? Do moms that wear their babies cry more than those who don’t. I sure do! These things put a ton of strain on your back, your neck, your shoulders. Did I mention your back? I mean, I’ll put up with the pain because it’s a good kind of pain; it’s for my kid. Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom. And so if I look tired and crazy, people will understand why.” As Belkin goes on to note: “Online Moms did not respond to the ad by racing out for Motrin. They were offended by the suggestion that they carry their babies to be ‘fashionable‘. They were outraged at the idea that they look ‘crazy‘. They vehemently disagreed with the phrasing that ‘in theory‘ carrying your baby around is a good idea. By Saturday evening they were the most tweeted subject on Twitter. By Sunday there was a nine minute video on YouTube, to the tune of Danny Boy, showing screen shots of the outraged twitter posts interspersed with photos of Moms carrying babies in slings. Bloggers began calling for boycotts. Bloggers asked their readers to alert the mainstream press. By Sunday afternoon a few bloggers and tweeters had gotten the ad agency

that created the ad on the phone, to find they didn’t know a lot about Twitter and didn’t seem to have a clue that there was so much anger piling up online.” Equally damaging for the company was the realisation that not only had it upset a large group of its target market who spent some of their precious time interacting with others online, but it was also going to have to deal with the firestorm for at least the next month or so, because, as Kathy Widmer, the vice president of marketing at McNeil Consumer Healthcare pointed out in an e-mail she sent out to everyone who had posted comments across the blogosphere that weekend about their displeasure: “Please know that we take your feedback seriously and will take swift action with regard to this ad. We are in the process of removing it from our website. It will take longer, unfortunately, for it to be removed from magazine print as it is currently on newstands and in distribution.” Google the phrase ‘motrin backlash’ and you’ll get an idea of the scale of the PR disaster. It was covered by a large number of online-only publications – including TechWorld in Australia2 – to highlight how far and how quickly an idea can now spread. It was even picked up by the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American and Computerworld. Someone calling themselves ‘BZ’ commented on influential commentator Jeremiah Owyang’s blogpost3 on the disaster: “Oh it POed the wrong crowd of moms alright. And they are the vocal ones. Attachment parenting, nursing, co sleeping, SAHM vs WM, these are

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all touch points for moms. I cover this industry and I wish they would have run that by me or my team beforehand. I could have told them the fashionable thing and the tone would have gotten them in trouble. The women that would agree with that are the type that would let things roll or are too busy to make a stink. The ones that don’t like it have the time and the inclination to be the squeeky wheel. So that’s the part they didn’t understand about who they are marketing to. Sensitive issues are not to be taken lightly when rolling out large campaigns for exactly this reason.” Courtesy of Motrin, social media came of age in the mainstream media. It was by no means the first example of social media outrage – known in social media circles as a ‘blogstorm’ and ‘twitterstorm’ – but it was the first to impact a company so rapidly and dramatically, and be covered so quickly by the mainstream press. I very much doubt that it will be the last. The influential website ‘Social Media Influence’ points out that4 it found six distinct ‘waves’ of blogger activity about a controversial topic in a five-week period, each wave being stronger than the previous (its research suggests a sixfold increase between the first and last wave). It comments: “The commotion begins to simmer down over time, but it’s unlikely this story will ever truly go away. That’s the incredibly resilient nature of blog storms. They are capable of building tremendous momentum for a story and resurrecting the debate long after the mainstream press have moved

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on to the next story. It’s a bad-news phenomenon we call the half-life of social media – stories that impact a company’s reputation may eventually run their course, but they never really die. In this index-able/searchable/ Google-able newscycle we live in, a related development can reignite the controversy at any point.” Laura Fitton of Pistachio Consulting notes5: “Even if your brand or agency isn’t ready to engage formally and integrate the business applications of Twitter throughout your campaigns, community building and other market engagement efforts, you need to get clued in – fast – to the reasons, times and ways that you can listen. Maybe you’re not even ready for full-time social media monitoring. That’s your call. But not tuning in while you launch a new tactic borders on gross negligence, in this day and age.” Even if you are not ready to engage directly via any of the social media channels, you really do need to be paying attention to them. All of which raises the very important question – how?

Staying on top of the mountain of social media tools The social media world moves a lot faster than anyone could possibly keep up with. Not only are there new software updates and upgrades released on most of the major sites, but even ‘hard core’ evangelists (who make it their job to stay on top of these things) find it impossible to keep up with the plethora of tools and platforms that are released on a weekly basis.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Therefore to try and count the number of sites that enable anyone to ‘manage’ or attempt to ‘stay on top’ of the tsunami of information that can arrive from the internet is just about impossible. The last time I looked there were: Over 300 blogging platforms; Over 80 calendar services; Twenty microblogging platforms; Two hundred news feed services; Numerous web conferencing solutions; Multiple instant messaging services; Over three hundred variations on RSS feeders; „ Over 20 web-based sales automation and CRM solutions; „ Over one thousand CMS solutions to manage your content; and „ Fourteen teleconference solutions. „ „ „ „ „ „ „

In other words, we’re not exactly short of Web 2.0 and social media applications with which to manage our online lives. This has implications for not only us as consumers, but also for us when we are actively (or inactively) engaged in marketing activities. Taking a marketing perspective for a moment, we need to be able to not only monitor what is being said about us, our company, our brand or our top people, but we also need to input into the various conversations that are taking place. This falls neatly into two different activities – monitoring and contributing, or as I prefer to think of it, withdrawing from or depositing into your social media goodwill bank account – and thankfully there are both online and desktop tools that enable us to do this. Let’s delve into each separately and then wrap up by looking at some tools that let us do both in the one package.

Monitoring the social sphere The ability to monitor what is being said online about the things which concerns us is key to keeping up with the current zeitgeist. There are many case studies where we see companies either failed to pay attention to a conversation or dismissed it as irrelevant. Some of those cases are highlighted in the ‘Social media mishaps’ section of this chapter. It is only by monitoring what is being said about you or your organisation can you react appropriately and engage fruitfully. There are far too many examples of companies, or their PR and marketing agencies, which have barged their way into conversations (often by setting up a conversational tool such as a blog or Facebook page), and were less than enthralled with the response they received. Many times they received no response at all; ignored by the populace at large, they finally got the message. While there exist many tools that enable you to monitor the online conversation, it needs to be noted that there are two distinct ways of monitoring – qualitatively and quantitatively. Quantitative versus qualitative monitoring Of course we can measure how many times our brand, product or CEO has been mentioned online; but nowadays, this is about as helpful as clinging to the notion that all that matters in PR is column inches. What is far more important is what is being said, who is saying it and how many are listening/paying attention. We cannot escape the fact that such qualitative measurement comes at a cost greater than mere quantitative measurement. It takes ‘someone’ to analyse the content of what is being said online and to discern how influential the speakers are. And while

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there is no magic bullet to instantly produce answers to the questions of ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘why’, there are, at least, tools to help determine answers to some of these questions. Let us investigate some of the major tools social media analysts use to help them trace the relevant information. Google News Alerts Google allows us to set up alerts that can be sent to our e-mail inbox (or RSS reader) when any mention is made of us, our company, our brand, our people, our competitors, our industry or any other area of interest to us. If we bear in mind that in just about every major country, half the number of top 20 websites are Web 2.0/social media sites, this unfortunately means that Google News Alerts can miss many of the large conversations that take place outside of the mainstream media. But it is still invaluable as a way of monitoring coverage. Technorati Technorati (http://www.Technorati.com) is a useful tool that allows you to monitor what is being said across not only the blogosphere, but also across sites such as YouTube. Live Web is a total web space that currently tracks over 133m different websites which produce something in the order of 900,000 posts every 24 hours. Technorati sometimes struggles with the amount of data it processes, and is slowly building a ‘once was great’ reputation amongst the alpha-users of social media analysts. Google often reflects more up-to-date results in its searches; but Technorati is still extremely useful because of its blog relevance and ranking system, which they call ‘Authority’ and ‘Rank’ respectively.

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‘Technorati Authority’ is the number of blogs linking to a website in the past six months. The higher the number, the more ‘Technorati Authority’ the blog has. It is important to note that Technorati measures the number of blogs, rather than the number of links. Thus, if Blog A links to Blog B many times, it still only counts as +1 towards Blog A’s authority. ‘Technorati Rank’ is calculated based on how far a blog is from the top of the popularity tree. The blog with the highest ‘Technorati Authority’ is the ‘No. 1’ ranked blog. The smaller a ‘Technorati Rank’, the closer that blog is to the top. Thus, and confusingly for some at first, most bloggers would prefer to have a large ‘Authority’ number and a small ‘Rank’ number. Being SMART – staying in touch with the thought leaders The astute amongst you will notice that both Google News Alerts and Technorati are more ‘general’ search and monitoring tools; that is, they help you get a snapshot of what is being said at that moment, or has been said recently, but they don’t allow you to stay in touch with those thought leaders outside of the mainstream media who might be of importance. Having said that, Technorati allows a greater degree of identification of who might be important, but it is only when we purposefully monitor those key influencers, as well as the mainstream media, that we begin to gain value from social media analysts tools. This is where the next generation of monitoring tools comes in – a set of tools that is constantly being refined as the needs of marketers and analysts become more distinct.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

These are the tools I call SMART: Social Media Aggregation and Rebroadcasting Tools. Every analyst I know uses a combination of the ‘traditional’ tools such as Google News Alerts with one or more applications from the SMART kit, which monitors content that exists outside of the mainstream media. One of the principle SMART applications used by analysts for monitoring the key influencers is FriendFeed. FriendFeed FriendFeed (http://www.friendfeed.com) is a true aggregation service, in that it pulls in data from a variety of the most popular online services, and presents it in a ‘stream’ that allows for additional content analysis and conversation monitoring. Just a few short years ago the only place one would need to monitor was the ‘blogosphere’, the various blogs and bloggers who were creating content and, occasionally, controversy (such as when, for example, they were called ‘pajamahudeen’ as they relentlessly ‘outed’ the lies of politicians, in particular US politicians). Some bloggers were and remain, more influential and have more readers than mainstream media giants such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. Sites such as Instapundit.com – run by Glenn Reynolds, Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee and Hugh Hewitt (http://www.HughHewitt.com) Professor of Law at Chapman University Law School – spring immediately to mind in this category. However, as we have seen earlier, today’s digital influencers can be found across multiple channels: blogs, podcasts, videos, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, iMeem, Last.fm, Ning, Windows Live Spaces, to name but a few.

Once a decision has been reached as to ‘who’ to ‘follow’, the next step would be to set up a FriendFeed profile to keep up with their output across the 40 websites that FriendFeed monitors. Not only can their own blog (if they have one) be monitored, but also their activities across a swathe of sites such as Twitter, Flickr, Last.fm, Delicious, and so on. The only inconvenience or risk in such a tool is that you may have to expose that you are monitoring them – you can only ‘follow’ people who have already signed up with FriendFeed, and if they set their content feed to ‘private’, you will have to ask for their permission to ‘follow’ them. However, this is not really of major concern – most, if not all, social mediarists want their words read by others. I have yet to find any feed of any analyst or blogger that is not fully open to the public. FriendFeed allows for the splitting of data into several streams – ‘personal’ and ‘professional’ are two of the default options, but it is easy to add more – which makes managing monitoring activities a whole lot easier. In addition, influencers who don’t yet use FriendFeed can still be followed, through the creation of ‘imaginary friends’. For example, if an influencer’s Flickr username or their Twitter username is known, one can create an ‘imaginary friend’ with that Flickr or Twitter account, and be notified every time he/she publishes a photo. Naturally, one can ‘pull’ all of this monitoring activity into an RSS feedreader (‘Google Reader’ and ‘FeedDemon’ are my two recommended readers; see the Appendix for a list of recommended software, reading material and online commentators worth following). But lest you think that FriendFeed is the only game in town, be assured that

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there are a plethora of other sites out there with not-dissimilar, yet also complementary offerings. Tweetdeck Many of the leading alpha users and commentators are using Twitter as a way of capturing the zeitgeist and staying on top of breaking news. For example, news about the Asian Tsunami, the London bombings and the Mumbai hotel massacres were whizzing around the ‘Twittersphere’ long before mainstream media could even get anyone to the scene, let alone report these tragic events. Most of the major news organisations now have presences on Twitter, and despite many independent bloggers finding that it took away their focus from blogging (which is the best way of generating ‘Google Juice’ and showcasing one’s personal communication and thought leadership abilities), they came to realise that even just monitoring what was being said by the hard core ‘Twitterers’ was invaluable in keeping abreast of current affairs. Tweetdeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com) is a desktop application that enables the user to break down the massive amount of data that comes ‘down the twitter pipe’, into more manageable chunks. For example, one could keep one’s entire list of fellow ‘twitterers’ in one column, a list of ‘twitterers’ who tweet primarily about topic A in another, a further column for ‘twitterers’ who tweet about topic B, and so on. The search facility in Tweetdeck dovetails into Twitter’s own search engine, and the continually updating results are stored as separate columns; allowing for columns dedicated to tweets that contain, for example, the word ‘FTSE’ or ‘second life’, or who reply to, or mention a particular twitterer.

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Many analysts have found that running Tweetdeck full-screen on a second monitor is especially helpful in keeping track of the zeitgeist without intruding on their day-today computer activities, and as Tweetdeck stores the updates overnight, it is easy in the morning to quickly scan through the columns to see if anything relevant needs urgent attention. And this is where we enter the realm of contributing to the social sphere.

Contributing to the social sphere Once the key influencers have been identified and monitored, it becomes useful to move to the ‘interact’ phase of a social media strategy (for more on this, see Chapter 4). The ‘interact’ phase is where alreadyexisting conversations are purposefully added to by a business communicator. As we shall see later, just barging in and ‘selling’ is a sure-fire way of generating a massive backlash, hence it is important to choose the conversation and the tone of voice one uses correctly. Obviously, there are so many possible platforms (websites, forums, Facebook, MySpace, twitter, inter alia) that spending time crafting a message for each and every one can be time consuming. One needs to choose which conversation to enter into and which will deliver the most value; that’s a decision that can only be made on a caseby-case basis, and is dependent upon who the conversation is between, how many are ‘listening’ but not directly engaging (also called ‘lurking’), and how much time is available to spend conversing. But when it comes to broadcasting a message, rather than engaging in an already-existing conversation, there are several SMART ways of going about this. There are instances where letting a network or platform know that a business

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

is releasing a new product or service, or is seeking ideas from outside of its own walls, is valuable. Creating a traditional ‘media release’ style of message will definitely not reflect well. The template-approach of ‘fill in the blanks’ does little to enhance the credibility of any company; the “[insert person or product name] recently [joined/catapulted] the [industry] with the [promotion/release] of ...” type of release will only infuriate the social media community, and quite probably, stir up a mini-backlash. But shaping short messages “written by humans for humans” will definitely win friends. Remember the quote from The Cluetrain Manifesto. ShareThis An add-on to your existing website or blog is the ShareThis plugin, which enables others to share your content on Reddit, Facebook, Delicious, Technorati, Yahoo! Bookmarks, Windows Live, SlashDot, N4G, Blinklist, ma.gnolia, Digg, MySpace, StumbleUpon, Google Bookmarks, MyWeb, Propeller, Newsvine, Mixx, Furl, Mister Wong, Faves, Simpy, Yigg, Fresqui, Care2, Kirtsy and more... AddThis In much the same manner as ShareThis, AddThis enables readers to share your content on Google Bookmarks, Delicious, Digg, MySpace, Facebook, Furl, Yahoo!, MyWeb, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Newsvine, Live, Technorati, Twitter, Yahoo Bookmarks, myAOL, Ask, Fark, Slashdot, Propeller, Mixx, Multiply, Simpy, Blogmarks, Diigo, Faves (Bluedot), Spurl, Link-a-Gogo, Mister Wong, FeedMeLinks, Backflip, Magnolia, Seganlo, Netvouz, Tailrank, Blinklist and more... I have saved the best until last. Without doubt, my two favourite applications for

online contribution (apart from my blog) are Hellotxt and Digsby. Hellotxt Hellotxt (http://www.hellotxt.com) is a highly-valued website that enables one to rebroadcast and cross-pollinate a message across multiple channels at the same time (thus saving valuable time visiting each channel and pasting the same message over and over). The same 140-character message can be delivered, for example, to social networks, such as Facebook, Blinko, LinkedIn, hi5, Plaxo and Bebo, as well as micro-blogging platforms such as Twitter, Friendfeed, Identi.ca, Plurk, Rejaw, Meemi, Brightkite, Youare.com and so on. As I write this, Hellotxt covers 35 different social networks and micro-blogging platforms, making it a comprehensive way of rapidly getting a message out. In addition, Hellotxt allows the crossdissemination of YouTube and Seesmic videos, music, and Flickr photos. If the receiving application cannot directly view the videos or listen to the music, a url is instead provided, so that the end-user can visit the material in his/her own browser. Digsby Digsby is not a website, but rather a downloadable desktop application. Digsby (http://www.digsby.com) pulls various online and Web 2.0 activities into one ‘place’. Wakoopa.com, a social network centred around the software ‘real’ people use, named Digsby as the ‘Best New Application of 2008’. Digsby enables the aggregation of many of the leading social networks (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, for example), as well as various different

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e-mail accounts (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL/AIM Mail, IMAP and POP accounts). Not an essential feature, but a nice one nonetheless. The beauty of a desktop application like Digsby is that, because it ties in a user’s personal data with a central web-database, even if the user changes computers, it will keep his/her settings and, once the application has been installed on the new computer, duplicate them. However, the downside of an application like Digsby is that it is a ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ type of application – it notifies the user of new activity across various platforms/channels, but doesn’t store any records of those activities. In addition, if the user clicks on, for example, a Facebook link, it will open up a new tab in his/her default web browser, and he/she may need to log into the site – a nuisance. But it is an otherwise handy way of keeping a ‘stream of consciousness’ overview of the various activities across some of the main channels. Another huge downside is its ‘spammy’ installer that asks you to install a whole bunch of trial software and advertising nonsense. While it’s relatively easy to uninstall them, or not even install them in the first place, I hope that they receive more venture capital funding, so that they can jettison such an unfriendly approach. The ‘spam-filled’ installer aside, Digbsy is revolutionary (and the only one of its kind as I type this, but no doubt by the time this report goes to press, that situation would have changed), because Digsby is similar to all other instant messaging. It enables anyone to chat on all the major networks, as well as monitor and update their e-mail and social network sites (yes, one can use Digsby’s built-in very basic e-mail client to send/reply to e-mails).

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Instead of segregating each service to its own area, like the other tools do, Digsby mixes them together, removing barriers. It is easy to tell who is on which network by a symbol added to their picture, but they are all listed in one large contact group. It is, therefore, easy to start chatting with people on multiple networks by double-clicking their name, with no need to change windows or panes. Furthermore, if a targeted influencer is on multiple networks or channels, the Digsby user can combine all of his/her different profiles and points of contact into one clickable profile. Clicking that will allow engagement and ongoing messaging on whatever network(s) users are currently online with. Using Hellotxt to ‘seed’ out information and Digsby to interact with those who respond, can represent a time-efficient way of contributing to the social media space. Social media marketing is different from social networking – it taps into the networks in a way that doesn’t scream of traditional marketing approaches. Social media marketing deliberately uses the language of the target market, not the marketers. As explained previously, it uses human language instead of corporate-speak. Social media marketing involves companies realising that they no longer ‘control the message’ (in fact, they never did), but that the audience can now ridicule, lambast, criticise, and send brickbats and bouquets far quicker, and with more power and reach, than organisations ever could, no matter how large their advertising and marketing budgets. Therefore, it is imperative that companies learn to communicate openly with their audiences – and communicate in the language of those audiences. Luckily, there are plenty of tools to help them do just that in a time-efficient manner.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Examples of social media mishaps “Motrin places ‘witty’ video on its website, outraged mothers create angry backlash” Seemingly not testing its consumer market first, Motrin places a video advert on its website that angers a very vocal, networked group of mothers. The anger first swamps the ‘Twittersphere’, and then the video and spoofs of it show up quickly on YouTube and across various blogs. Motrin has hopefully learned to test its campaigns first, to listen to the discussions that take place online directly as a result of the campaign, and to never launch any initiative on a weekend when there are no support or PR folks available. “CNN falls for rumour, Apple stock sinks as a result” A rumour created by community-created news site iReport had CEO Steve Jobs having a heart attack. It spread to mainstream media website CNN and caused a dip in Apple’s stock price. User-generated content will always have the risk of falsified content. “Exxon Mobil brand-jacked in Twitter” The twitter community was eager to embrace Janet, a no-holds-barred, upfront, in-your-face corporate representative who was ready to tackle the hard issues – sometimes without grace. Unfortunately, to both Exxon and the Twittersphere’s surprise, Janet was not the official company representative she claimed to be. “JC Penney brand-jacked by fake ‘sex’ ad” We’re seeing more and more brand-jacking ads being created. In this case, a third-party vendor (possibly an ad agency) created one and submitted it to Cannes. JC Penney wasn’t happy and had it removed from YouTube. Unfortunately, blogs picked it up and now it will never go away. “Louis Vuitton (LV) gets brand-jacked in anti-genocide campaign” An artist creates and sells t-shirts demonstrating how the media turns a deaf ear to real-world tragedies such as genocide in Dafur, infringing on the LV logo. LV fires back with a lawsuit, and a groundswell begins. “Burger King VP Steven Grover ‘trash talks’ a union using his daughter’s e-mail account” Allegations aired by Grover at a Senate enquiry were eventually repeated on blog posts, but not in Grover’s own name. The posts were traced to the online user name of Grover’s daughter. The girl, who is in middle school, later confirmed her father had used her online screen name. In a post still available on YouTube, an individual with the girl’s screen name wrote: “The CIW is an attack organization lining the leaders pockets by attacking restaurant companies. They make up issues and collect money from dupes that believe their story.” Messages left for Grover at work and at home by The Associated Press were not immediately returned. We are not sure why he didn’t just create a new e-mail address, which would have been a lot safer.

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“Anonymous unmasks Church of Scientology” The Church of Scientology has long been criticized by many, including an anonymous group that has created videos, staged marches and protests, and is out to subvert the Church from within the internet. “Marvel nearly cuts off bloggers from Iron Man screening” The powerful website ‘Techcrunch’ (700,000 + subscribers) intended to host a screening for loyal readers (perhaps the movie and genre’s perfect audience – tech bloggers). Alas, the screening was denied by Marvel. ‘Techcrunch’ is well-known for copy and pasting legal notes right onto its blog, so any ‘cease and desist’ approaches to them are aired for all to see, with commentary usually to the detriment of the letter writer. Fortunately, in this case, matters were quickly resolved. “Target-ed by bloggers” A blogger’s four-year old daughter asked a pertinent, yet embarrassing question about a billboard ad from Target that was potentially demeaning to women. The blogger eventually found a ‘spokesperson’ at Target and complained, and was unceremoniously shoved off by someone who “only spoke to ‘real’ journalists, not bloggers”. The story very quickly made it to the New York Times. As in life, little things can become big. “Target’s ‘Rounders’ program” Target encouraged its premier members in the ‘Rounders’ program to pump up its brand in a Facebook group. The covert operation ended up on blogs and then mainstream media. Ooops. “HD DVD decoded by Digg, unDugg, then Dugg again” Digg.com users ‘promote’ and re-publish ‘top secret’ unlocking code. The entertainment industry understandably goes into PR overdrive, worried that too many users will use the code to ‘crack’ their protection software. But Digg.com maintains its stance and the story remains high on its ‘promoted’ pages to this day. “Whole Foods CEO caught being a troll” John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, spent a lot of time on Yahoo message boards, bashing the value of (competitor) Wild Oats stock – just before bidding to take over Wild Oats. For about eight years until last August, the company confirms, Mr Mackey posted numerous messages on Yahoo Finance stock forums as Rahodeb. It’s an anagram of Deborah, Mr Mackey’s wife’s name. Rahodeb cheered Whole Foods’ financial results, trumpeted his gains on the stock and bashed Wild Oats. Rahodeb even defended Mr Mackey’s haircut when another user poked fun at a photo in the annual report. “I like Mackey’s haircut,” Rahodeb said. “I think he looks cute!” “Delta holds customers hostage” What’s worse than being held prisoner on a dirty aeroplane? The answer is quite possibly watching the crew getting off the plane while you are still stuck on it. Oh, and having no food

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and quite a few crying babies. One talented videographer in the passenger list wasted no time in spreading Delta Airline’s faux-pas around the internet. “Taco Bell’s infestation crawls into YouTube” A rat with a penchant for Tex-Mexican food found its way onto YouTube, spreading faster and farther than expected – a total of more than one million views for all of the different videos about it. “Data storage blogger posts industry price lists, sales reps cry foul!” Robin Harris, one of the most well known of the data storage bloggers, posts price lists that were received from various industry suppliers and customers. On the internet, it seems, there are no secrets, or at least not for long. “Dell laptop explodes, news at 11 on YouTube” Dell laptops explode in Japan, videos of which became very popular on YouTube. “Comcast suffers from Narcolepsy” A sleepy technician is caught napping on the job. The video is posted on YouTube. Comcast’s already dusty reputation gets a further beating, and the employee is fired. See also the ‘Comcast must die’ blog at: http://www.comcastmustdie.com as an example of how disgruntled customers can make Google’s visitors see the ‘bad’ stuff before the ‘good’ stuff. “The naked NOKA chocolate uncovered” A premium chocolatier (Noka) had a tremendous mark-up (US$309- US$2,080 per pound) of its secretly re-packaged chocolate. Unfortunately, for them, this mark-up was exposed, as was the secret of its chocolate being a re-packaged fraud, and the deception spread in the blogosphere. Noka’s Google results are still really painful – results 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the first 10 results for the search term ‘noka chocolate’ are negative. “How to get on our nerves – AOL account gets cancelled (eventually)” A customer rings AOL to cancel his account. Unfortunately, he ends up dealing with someone from the customer retention team who becomes increasingly annoying as he attempts to hold the customer hostage and keep the account. The blogger recorded the conversation because he had heard many tales of similar frustration. These are some of the damaging statistics: customer spends four minutes navigating through the automated voice prompts, then 11 minutes on hold waiting to speak to a customer service representative. He then spends five minutes being hassled by the customer service rep, and a further one minute listening to an automated ‘goodbye’ message. The story ended with the blogger being interviewed and the story receiving prime airtime on US breakfast television. “Starbucks brand-jacked by YouTube video” Who wants a tasty frappuccino when there are kids starving? This was one of the first cases of

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brand-jacking seen, and Starbucks at that time had no way of responding. ‘No comment’ means the same as ‘guilty’ and ‘I am clueless’ in the social media webspace. “Dell hell” Influential blogger Jeff Jarvis launches a blog post that sends a flurry of PR negativity at Dell North America’s poor service. Since then they have improved enormously. Interestingly, many Dell fans across Asia Pacific and Europe come to Dell’s aid and sung their praises in reply to Jarvis’ (and others’) tales of woe. “Kryptonite unlocked” The bike locks of the bike courier world, the Rolls Royce of bike locks, were proclaimed by their manufacturer as unbreakable, and a US$10,000 reward was offered to anyone who could break one. Unfortunately, for them, one bored cyclist with a video camera and a spare five minutes disabled one using the cap from a simple bic biro. The video and the news spread on forums and blogs, and became one of the earliest examples of social media news that received mainstream attention. “Apple’s dirty little secret plastered over New York City” Apparently, 18 months is all the iPod will run before you’ll need to buy a new one, says one popular video that was aired on YouTube and quickly spread around the blogosphere. Links to these stories and more courtesy of Jeremiah Owyang6

References 1. See: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes. com/2008/11/17/moms-and-motrin/ 2. See: http://www.techworld.com.au/ article/267694/motrin_maker_feels_pain_ from_social_media_backlash?pp=1 3. See:http://www.web-strategist.com/ blog/2008/11/17/motrin-mothersgroundswell-by-the-numbers/ 4. See: http://socialmediainfluence. com/2008/11/09/case-study-the-anatomy-ofa-blog-storm/ 5. See: http://pistachioconsulting.com/motrinstwitter-moment/ 6. See: http://www.web-strategist.com/ blog/2008/05/02/a-chonology-of-brandsthat-got-punkd-by-social-media/

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Chapter 4: Social media strategy FRUSTRATED INDIVIDUALS realise that they can vent their feelings to create an impact via social media: “My tax dollars are being used to bailout companies that made bad business decisions? Screw them, let them go bankrupt.” “Do we really want to bail out General Motors, which mocked global warming and stubbornly cranked out SUVs? Darwinism should prevail: adapt or die.” “I’m sick and tired of these CEOs getting millions of dollars to ruin companies. It’s greed pure and simple.” “Dear Valued Verizon Investor: There’s something you should know. Verizon executive compensation is out of control while performance has been mediocre. Shareholders can make their opinions known on compensation and on the Board members responsible for such high pay. Learn more...”1 ‘Strategy’ is one of the most misunderstood and, therefore, abused words in organisations today. Consultants, managers and the mainstream media are guilty of misusing the term. It comes as no surprise that the band of social media gurus and experts that have recently emerged, are equally comfortable in confusing ‘strategy’ with ‘tactics’.

The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘strategy’ as: “A plan designed to achieve a particular long-term aim; [or] the art of planning and directing military activity in a war or battle. Often contrasted with ‘tactics’”. Contrastingly, the definition of ‘tactics’ is: “The art of disposing armed forces, in order of battle and of organising operations. Often contrasted with ‘strategy’”; further noting that its origin is Greek, from words “taktike teckne art of tactics, from taktos ordered, arranged”. Therefore, it becomes very important for us to separate the goal from what tools we deploy to achieve that goal. But my all-time favourite definition of ‘strategy’ comes from the world’s most successful online marketer, Mark Joyner. In his book Integration Marketing (can be downloaded for free at: http://www.sboacademy.com/ free-report/mark-joyner-free-integrationmarketing-book), he defines strategy, thus: “To see the battlefield.” Or, to put it more comprehensively: “Strategy: a long-term plan for achieving an aim that allows one to see the battlefield (no matter how complex it becomes) and make consistently correct decisions quickly (even when a correct move is seemingly impossible to find), no matter what may arise.” Drawing on the ideas of one of the world’s best business communicators, Shel Holtz (http://blog.holtz.com), I have narrowed

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down the plethora of terms, stages and steps that different consultants and organisations promote in their own definitions of a ‘good strategy’ to four key elements that help achieve Joyner’s powerful definition: „ Goal – what is the desired end result the organisation wants to achieve? „ Plan(s) – any goal will require more than one plan to bring it about, therefore, strategic plans can work to achieve the overall goal from different directions; „ Steps – the measurable steps an organisation can take to achieve a plan, including the choice of tools and their phased roll-out; and „ Evaluation – did the steps meet the needs of the particular plan? Did the plans achieve the goal? Most people equate strategy with planning, but they are not the same thing. As the Prussian military philosopher Carl von Clausewitz once said, “No campaign plan survives the first contact with the enemy.” A plan is rigid, a strategy fluid. A plan either hits its target or it doesn’t; a strategy allows you to use several plans, changing them on the fly as required, in order to hit the target.

Good communication is not the goal All communication must be aimed at meeting a specific business objective. If it does not support a business goal, then it has no place for its existence. That is not to say that fluffy pieces about the ‘3 Bs’ (Brides, Births and Barbecues) don’t belong in a corporate communication vehicle; depending on what the communication piece is designed to achieve, it may well be the perfect place for non-financial and non-workspecific material.

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But communication itself is not the goal – the goal should always be a business goal – the meeting of which will help C-level executives (CEO, CFO, CIO, COO, inter alia) sleep better at night. It is from that business-driven goal that a communication strategy must be formed and informed. The goal-setting and subsequent communication-strategy-setting process is covered in this report, but there are equally many good resources available to business communicators from professional organisations like the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC – see: http://www.iabc. com) and the many national public relations bodies around the world.

Culture, change and communication In my humble opinion, communication is all about culture change. Communication practices should either be supporting the introduction of cultural changes in the way ‘things are done around here’, or else supporting the embedding of recent change initiatives – all under the umbrella of supporting a business goal. As management and business consultant Tom Lambert says:2 “Cultural change is designed and created at the highest levels of the organisation. It is communicated from the highest levels clearly and unambiguously to those who have to make it work.” He also remarks:3 “Nothing should be done in a business unless: There is a good business reason for doing it; it will pay for itself in a reasonable time; It can be explained in simple language to those who will have to make it work.”

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Therefore, all communication should either be: „ Preparing the ground and introducing and explaining a new cultural requirement (bearing in mind that ‘culture’ is nothing more than ‘how we do things around here’); and „ Supporting and helping embed these cultural requirements and existing current ‘best practices’ (and bearing in mind that ‘best practices’ are constantly moving targets). I will explain further how communication, change and culture relate to social media, but for now, the four steps of a communication strategy – or more accurately – the three pre-steps before you start the four-step strategy-setting process, should take place, thus giving a seven-step company-wide holistic process, with the emphasis for corporate communicators on the last four.

The strategic planning process – from the beginning While strategic direction must, from the outset, come from the top-most level of the organisation, every department and every constituent part of the organisation, right down to the individual employee, must know and have the clearest understanding of: „ Its purpose; „ Its stakeholders – both principal and minor, internal and external to the organisation, and immediate and longer-term; „ Its policies; „ Its procedures; „ The ethical considerations on which all business decisions should be based;

„ Its resource needs – human, time, inventory, fiscal, inter alia; and „ Where it is going. Thus, it becomes necessary to create or use a pre-existing model that takes the organisation, each department, each team and each employee from where they are right now to where they need or desire to be.

Pre-step A – establishing a vision The sole reason for creating a vision is to design the future and decide where the department, team or individual wants to end up. After all, if they don’t know where they are going, that’s where they’ll end up. The purpose of the vision is not, at this stage, to constrain it with ‘reality-based thinking’ (also known as the pull-down ideas of the ‘naysayers’), but to establish a future that is compelling and exciting enough, that will bring others onto the journey.

Pre-step B – a ‘where are we now’ analysis The idea of Concerns, Opportunities, Strengths and Threats (COST) comes from Lambert4 and is, I feel, a more effective variant of the traditional Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. Concerns Concerns describe the weak areas of the department, team or individual, and provide evidence that these occur periodically. Score on a scale of one to five (low to high) the seriousness, urgency (in the need to address and resolve) and growth (how quickly it might worsen if not addressed) of these weaknesses. Focus on the causes, rather than the symptoms of these weaknesses and determine what actions need to be taken to address them.

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Opportunities What opportunities are there to add revenue, reduce cost and maximise resources? Is the team, or anyone in it, qualified to exploit them right away? If so, should they be exploited now or left until later, or not exploited at all? If no one is qualified, what additional resources are required to ‘skill up’ and take advantage of the opportunity? Is it worth skilling up or hiring that resource now, later or never? Strengths What strengths are there – no matter how trivial or similar to other departments, teams, individuals or competitors they might seem? Are any of those strengths marketable? Would any of them make a ‘unique’ feature/benefit worth exploiting? If so, what action should be taken next? Threats What could possibly go wrong in the near future? What impact might government legislation, environmental events, competitor activity, or technological innovation or collapse have on the organisation or the department, team or individual? What could be done to avoid it? If it happens anyway, what can be done to fix the negative effects upon the organisation?

Pre-step C – ‘your mission, should you choose to accept it...’ With all of the blue-sky dreaming of prestep A and the more down-to-earth realities of pre-step B under one’s belt, it is time to lay down concrete, easily understood, easily quantified and measurable sentences about what the organisation, department, team or individual is going to do. There is no room for ‘wishy-washy’ corporate nonsense in the mission statement – those ‘best in class, synergy-seeking,

paradigm-shifting’ phrases have only one place: the corporate waste bin. In the words of Guy Kawasaki:5 “The ultimate test for a mission statement is if your telephone operators (Trixie and Biff) can tell you what it is. If they can, then you’re onto something meaningful and memorable. If they can’t, then, well, it sucks.” Personally, I hold to the view that the mission statement should be no longer than 25 words. Management guru Peter Drucker suggests that it should be able to fit on a t-shirt. Take the example of Enron’s mission statement: “Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence.”

The communicator’s four-step strategy process The following is the shorter four-step strategy setting process that is part of the seven-step holistic system. Step one – the goal As discussed previously, the goal is the business objective that any communication must be supporting. For example, let’s say that a business goal is to increase the ‘share of wallet’ in existing customers. That, as simple and concise as it is, is a very good goal. A goal doesn’t need to take four paragraphs to espouse – indeed, if it does take four paragraphs to explain – it’s not a goal, it’s an unfinished thought. Like the best elevator speeches and positioning statements, if it takes more than one short sentence to explain, then it’s too long and convoluted. A goal should be measurable, concise, with just one idea and easily understood by everyone likely to come across it. After having clearly defined your goal, we can now move to the next stage – creating one or several strategies to achieve that goal. Continued on page 53

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Examples of some great (if often, overly verbose) mission statements The Jeremiah Program: “A broad-based collaborative community initiative, assists low-income mothers and their children to help themselves complete their education and achieve economic selfsufficiency through empowerment skills, access to affordable housing, child development services, healthcare, support services and meaningful employment. The Jeremiah Program’s mothers and children develop positive self-esteem and clarify their values on which to build a successful life.” Coca Cola: “Everything we do is inspired by our enduring mission: To Refresh the World… in body, mind and spirit. To Inspire Moments of Optimism… through our brands and our actions. To Create Value and Make a Difference… everywhere we engage.” Toyota: “To sustain profitable growth by providing the best customer experience and dealer support.” The Bradford Group: “We are an affinity marketing company which specialises in the development and the direct marketing of collectibles and other products. We strive to build a long-term relationship with each customer as an individual. We relentlessly pursue breakthrough ideas for our products and direct marketing approaches. We serve niche markets and try to be the leader in every market we serve. Our employees are the most important assets; we will develop the highest quality workforce in our industry. We seek to engage each employee in the continuous improvement of our business by recognizing their success and by rewarding them with increased responsibility and authority. We have dual core competencies: product development and marketing.” Lisa Ekus Public Relations Company: “In the crowded marketplace of cookbooks, food and foodrelated products, it is crucial to have a savvy, well-seasoned team strategizing, coordinating and implementing your public relations efforts. All of our nationally recognized promotions at Lisa Ekus Public Relations Company, LLC are built on the same foundation: innovative campaign strategies; meticulous attention to client needs; and creative networking across the food, media and publishing industries. Lisa Ekus Public Relations Company, LLC strives: to create and implement innovative public relations campaigns for culinary professionals including cookbook authors, chefs, restaurants, food products; to be a leading food media resource of culinary information for print, radio, television, Internet; to be a leading food industry resource for partnering culinary professionals with opportunities ranging from spokesperson placements to publishing ventures.” Advance Auto Parts: “To provide personal vehicle owners and enthusiasts with the vehicle related products and knowledge that fulfil their wants and needs at the right price. Our friendly, knowledgeable and professional staff will help inspire, educate and problem-solve for our customers.” Ameren: “To generate electricity, deliver electricity and distribute natural gas in a safe, reliable, efficient and environmentally sound manner. Our vision is to be the recognized performance leader of the U.S. electric and gas utility industry. Being a performance leader means we will achieve operational excellence, industry-leading customer satisfaction and superior financial performance.”

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MBNA Corporation: “To provide you with an outstanding member/customer benefit that helps you meet your organization’s objectives. We work very hard to understand your objectives, then create a program that can help you meet them. Whether you want to attract new members, retain existing ones, drive incremental sales, or reinforce member or brand loyalty, we will work with you to help you achieve those goals.” Brannigans Restaurant: “To ensure that each guest receives prompt, professional, friendly and courteous service. To maintain clean, comfortable and well maintained premises for our guests and staff. To provide at a fair price – nutritional, well-prepared meals – using only quality ingredients. To ensure that all guests and staff are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. To thank each guest for the opportunity to serve them. By maintaining these objectives we shall be assured of a fair profit that will allow us to contribute to the community we serve.” Yoshinoya: “To create the structure and systems needed to allow our customers access to the majority of their away-from-home daily meal requirements on a one-stop-shop basis. All our products shall be of the highest quality and value, be healthy, nutritious and provided with outstanding personal services at the lowest possible prices consistent with a fair return on investment for our shareholders, job enhancement/security for our employees and a level of community involvement by everyone connected with our business. All of our products and services shall be delivered consistently and measured by one satisfied customer at a time, whether by company-owned or franchised operations, in superior, clean, convenient, fun and friendly neighborhood environments. We pledge to make Yoshinoya the best place to eat and the best place to work.” McDonalds: “To be the world’s best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.” J. Sainsbury: “To be the consumer’s first choice for food, delivering products of outstanding quality and great service at a competitive cost through working faster, simpler, and together.” Big Binoculars: “To simply offer our customers the most binocular aperture, at the highest quality, for the lowest price.” Levi-Strauss: “We will market the most appealing and widely-worn casual clothing in the world. We will clothe the world.” Microsoft (pre 2002): “To empower people through great software – any time, any place, and on any device.” Lee Hopkins (my own mission statement): “Helping businesses communicate better for better business results.”

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Examples of some not-so-great mission statements Wendy’s: “To deliver superior quality products and services for our customers and communities through leadership, innovation, and partnerships.” Levenson Public Relations: “To help clients achieve their most ambitious marketing goals and strategic communications objectives. To deliver the highest levels of professionalism and experience. To provide strategic counsel, creative solutions and timely, responsive services.” Aztec Marketing Solutions: “To approach all client projects with competitive creativity and flair, and to service our clients to the highest professional level.” Publishers International Marketing: “To achieve the highest possible standards in all that we do. Our number one priority and commitment is therefore to offer, at all times, a world class service which enables our publishers and customers to increase their business and reach sales targets.” Ford: “We are a global, diverse family with a proud heritage, passionately committed to providing outstanding products and services.” Success Networks: “To inform, inspire, and empower people and organizations to be their best – both personally and professionally.” Ninety Nine Restaurant: “A Passion to Serve.”

Step two – setting a strategy As Shel Holtz says, “Strategies are general directions you take to meet the goal.” Any business goal will require several strategies in order to achieve it – no one strategy or plan will represent the ‘magic bullet’. Let’s return to the goal of increasing ‘share of wallet’ in our customers. Some of the strategies or directions won’t involve us as communicators – for example, pricing decisions, product and process re-engineering, customer service and support initiatives, and so on. However, we, as communicators can certainly add value to support the achievement of this

goal. We could, for example, come up with a strategy that requires good communication – show existing customers the benefits of spending more of their hard-earned cash with us. The communication will need to offer compelling reasons without ramming these reasons down their throat like an over-zealous sales trainee (nothing is more off-putting). It needs to grab their attention – with their permission – if it is to be attended to in a positive way. It needs to be highly relevant to their wants, needs and emotion-led drivers. It needs to be specifically relevant to their own

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circumstances at the moment they receive the communication. It needs to clearly state what they can get out of it and what they risk if they don’t spend more with us. And if all that wasn’t enough, it should have, at least, drawn them closer to the company, not further away. It needs to do all of this in a way that brings them closer to a purchasing action, and does not repel them to a less-pushy competitor. We are now starting to see how social media might have a place in the business communicator’s toolbag. Step three – establishing the steps If steps one and two are about setting the ‘Generalissimo’-level priorities, step three is where the battle-ready officers and senior non-commissioned officers decide on which tactics will most efficiently and effectively meet the strategic direction, and how best to use which infantry, battalion and armoury. (Okay, so I’m overdoing the military motif, but hopefully you get my point.) Steps one and two have looked at the ‘whys’, and now, steps three and four look at the ‘hows’. In step three the aim is to decide on the measurable steps to be taken to support the plan to meet the goal. Why measurable? Because, if it’s not measured, it cannot be improved. Sticking with our business goal of achieving a greater ‘share of wallet’ for our existing customers, and our need to create compelling, concise, attentiongaining, relevant, respectful and affirming communications aimed at our existing customers, our tactics could possibly include the following: „ Pages on the corporate website that articulate these desirables;

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„ Print brochures aimed at conveying these same desirables, perhaps encouraging deeper engagement and information at a special section of the company website; „ A spreadsheet or worksheet that allows customers to calculate the fiscal benefits of increasing their spend with us; „ An ongoing relationship-building communication programme aimed at encouraging and supporting level ‘A’ customers to become level ‘B’ – higher spending customers; „ A communication programme that encourages existing customers to feel ‘closer’ to the company, perhaps through invitation to customer-only events, or the receipt of ‘special customer/friend of the company/ brand’ merchandise; „ A communication programme that encourages new product/service ideas from customers. The computer company Dell do this particularly well with its blogs, garnering great ideas on what products to make next, and at the same time, turning keen customers into brand evangelists when these ideas are recognised and turned into real product/service innovations; and „ A consideration of the cost of a programme compared to the results it garners (after all, there’s no point in spending US$100 to gain only US$20). This last point needs further exploration. Cost is a vital factor to be considered when settling on a tactic, but cost alone should not preclude a tactic from being used.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Step four – measure and evaluate We now have our various steps – some using social media tools and some not – which we are rolling out, in order to meet a particular strategy that supports a business goal. We of course must measure each of our tactical operations to see how effective they are, what outcomes they are generating and what adjustments need to be made in order to improve the outcomes. Measurement is not, therefore, a task to be done at the end of the campaign, but it should be part-and-parcel of the operation. Thus, we could use any tools available in order to measure ‘effectiveness’, and these could be: „ A survey; „ A reward of some sort in exchange for information (a bribe, in other words); „ Focus groups; „ Face-to-face meetings; „ ‘Town hall’ meetings; „ Visits to, and time spent on a particular webpage (although beware of any results given to you by web consultants that mention ‘hits’; these are useless numbers that are best considered to mean ‘how idiots track success’); „ The number of comments generated or requests for further information left; and „ The number of calls into a dedicated call centre. These are, of course, not the only measurement tools available, and I would strongly advise those interested in this topic to visit the websites of KD Paine (http://www.kdpaine.blogs.com and http://www.measureofsuccess.com)6

and Angela Sinickas (http://www.sinicom. com); arguably two of the smartest and savviest communication measurement experts around. Irrespective of which measurement tool you use, you must ensure that the tool matches the measurement objective. Obviously, it’s pointless using a quantitative tool if you are trying to measure qualitative data – and very often, social media data is qualitative. After all, measuring just the number of visitors or comments to a blog post is not as ‘rich’ a data source as examining if the comments are positive or negative in number.

Social media is not a magic bullet There exists a perception that social media means communicators can do away with all of the other communication vehicles and it will solve all of a company’s communication challenges. Nothing could be further from the truth. Television advertising is expensive, but it still remains the best way of reaching a mass audience through the modalities of sight and sound, and using humour or shock to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. While the number of hours spent watching TV is reducing and the number of hours spent engaging in social media and social networking is increasing, no one is seriously contemplating the sudden demise of the giant plasma TV. Similarly, no one seriously expects radio or newspapers to disappear. TV didn’t kill off radio, the internet didn’t kill off TV, and social media won’t kill off newspapers. All that happens when a revolutionary technology arrives is that the previous technologies take an ‘audience hit’, redefine what their core strengths are, and refocus

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their energies on delivering those strengths to new audiences. About a decade ago, there was a widespread perception that companies could do away with expensive-to-print and expensive-to-post annual reports, and instead, make downloadable PDF digital copies freely available on the company website. The cost of printing, it was argued, could be shifted from the company to the end consumer, and the cost of returned reports, due to incorrect or outdated postal addresses, reduced to zero. But a digital representation cannot replicate the tactical, non-verbal statements made about the company by the choice of paper stock, the packaging, the binding and so on. There are certain non-verbal values that are still clearly communicated better by print than by an on-screen representation. It is sometimes worth the risk of the end consumer printing off the report on the back of cheap, pre-used paper with poor-quality printers and inks, and thus, gaining a subtle, unconscious, but powerful impression about the value the company places in non-verbal communication. iTunes may be the world’s biggest music store, but it doesn’t have any of the Beatles’ songs on its digital shelves. EMI and Apple Corps have finished digitally remastering the entire Beatles catalogue and will shortly release them on CD – a technology platform many have thought long-made redundant by the dominance of the digital MP3 file and the digital music download store such as iTunes and others of its ilk. Perhaps EMI and Apple Corps will eventually allow Beatles songs to be sold for instant download via online resellers, but the only way to get a digitally remastered masterpiece from

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arguably the world’s most successful musical band (over 300m albums sold) for now will be to get a tangible disk in a holdable, caressable plastic disk case that comes complete with a full-colour booklet – old-tech, maybe, but certainly not redundant. And there’s surely something more romantic in saying, ‘come up and see my CD collection’ than ‘come up and look at my MP3 collection on my hard drive’. If nothing else, it’s easier to let one’s fingers do the walking and rummage through a bunch of physical

What social media cannot do Social media will not: „ Solve all communication headaches; „ Help slash department budgets by $000s; „ Allow for the sacking of expensive senior communicators and then replacing them with inexpensive and gullible school-leavers; „ Have the world beat a path to one’s door just because one has set up a Twitter account; „ Elevate its chief in-house evangelist to a seat on the board and a seven-figure quarterly salary; and „ See the blogging CEO featured on the front page of the Financial Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times, or on the cover of Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Wired, GQ, Maxim... all in the same month. (Sorry to burst some bubbles.)

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

What social media can do Having quite rightly pointed out that social media is not a magic bullet, it is only fair to point out the results experienced already. Social media tools can:

CDs, than it is to mentally grasp the size and scope of a music collection by scrolling down a long toilet roll of a list, or flicking through endless tiny pictures of album covers on a computer monitor. But I digress...

Case study: Motrin „ Foster an ongoing dialogue between and amongst a company and its varied and various stakeholders; „ Help a company find new markets for its message; „ Help innovate its products, services and processes by tapping into the wisdom of its customers and end users; „ Find evangelists amongst the greater population; „ Arm those evangelists with information that enables them to continue evangelising and draw in other potential evangelists, all at little or no cost to the company; „ Make company information more easily ‘findable’ on Google; „ Make that information more end-user focused, informative, relevant, interesting, appealing and simple to understand; „ Help a company engage with the nearly 70 per cent of internet users who are already engaging with each other via social media; „ Help a company engage with the largest online demographic group – the 35-44 year olds; „ Help a company tap into the higher productivity that comes from accessing social networks; „ Help employees be seven per cent more productive at work; and „ Help a company’s key information and messages be found on Google quicker.

On 15 November (a Saturday) Johnson & Johnson posted a short video on YouTube7 as the leading edge of a multi-channel ad campaign for Motrin (a headache tablet) that was aimed at young mothers. Unexpectedly, the video drew a fast and furious backlash from its intended audience (the very powerful ‘mommy bloggers’ group), and the company decided to ‘kill’ the entire campaign in its infancy. The Motrin ad used an irreverent tone to identify with young mums and the back pain associated with lugging infants in baby carriers. But it struck the wrong chord with some and drew fire on Twitter and in the blogosphere. As Wired Magazine pointed out in an article following the debacle, brands are delicate things. Social media tools exist not only to hear bad news, but more importantly, to engage with that part of the crowd. “These tools allow advertisers to listen to what people are saying – and can provide free, instant feedback before they buy marketing efforts in traditional media,” said Jeremiah Owyang, senior analyst at Forrester Research. “But brands have to make sure they understand the medium and how it’s different. The consumers are in charge here. And as much as brands are doing the talking, they have to do as much listening.” “If [Motrin] better understood the nature of social networking, this could have been a different story,” said Dan Gould, senior editor at trends and innovation agency PSFK.

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Had Motrin joined the debate, or allowed offended mothers to offer suggestions on how to rectify the problem, it could have likely moved on quickly, without wasting all of the time and money already sunk into the campaign. “They pulled into their shell instead of redirecting their energy,” says Owyang. “But they could have leveraged the weight of the negative energy into something that would have benefited the brand.” Motrin tried to adapt its reaction to the audience it had engaged, but the company wasn’t prepared to react in real time. They had no Twitter presence when it happened and took a typical ‘nuclear’ corporate approach. Seemingly unable to remove the advert, the company allegedly took the decision Sunday evening to pull down its entire brand website, motrin.com. On Monday morning (presumably when it finally had someone around who could actually make the content changes required to its website), they re-opened the website and posted a statement: “We have taken immediate action to respond to these concerns and have removed the advertisement from our Website... Unfortunately it will take longer for us to remove this advertisement from magazines, as several are currently on newsstands and in distribution.” By Thursday 20 November, the brand’s response on the site had shifted to better address its audience. Kathy Widmer, vice president of marketing at McNeil Consumer Healthcare penned a new apology that began: “So…it’s been almost 4 days since I apologized here for our Motrin advertising. What an unbelievable 4 days

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it’s been. Believe me when I say we’ve been taking our own headache medicine here lately!” Jessica Gottlieb, one of the original bloggers who took offence to the ad, didn’t even think it should have been pulled. She wrote on her blog: “Did Motrin really need to take the ad down? No, I don’t think so. Yes, I really did say that. Much has been written about how the company (and every brand and every person) ought to monitor their reputation online.” Upset bloggers may be a vocal bunch, but they are often easily appeased (with attention, or as Gottlieb notes on her blog, free stuff). If Motrin had been less scared of the ‘mommy bloggers’ and their angry backlash, and instead had been willing to talk it out online (preferably in advance of the campaign launch), they might have received a better campaign as a result, instead of no campaign at all.” As experienced Canadian PR practitioner David Jones from Hill & Knowlton noted: “Your corporate and product image is at risk every day and you better be listening at the very least and ready to respond if you know what’s good for you. “It’s getting through to PR people that they need to have the ability to update websites themselves at a moment’s notice. It’s the front door of the company to pretty much everyone and the traffic will skyrocket when your image is under attack.” Later in this chapter I’ll be using a great plan of Jones’s that leads a company

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

through the steps to be able to effectively contribute and engage with the online communities of interest. Motrin is just one of the latest in a growing line-up of examples of companies which received a sudden wake-up call that this ‘social media thing’ is very real and powerful. As communication analysts, we are seeing more and more examples of real consequences of mistakes. If social networks and social media didn’t matter, we wouldn’t see this type of reaction from Johnson & Johnson.

Measuring and evaluating social media initiatives Of course, as business communicators, we can preach the benefits of engaging in the social media space until we are blue in the face. But the ultimate decision of whether we get to go into it usually rests with the CFO or other financial managers. Their interest and decisions are historically determined by the return on investment (ROI). Not one presentation I give on social media ends without, at least, one person in the audience asking me about the ROI. There are several areas that you can look at when measuring the success (or otherwise) of your social media marketing efforts; and of course, it depends entirely on what your overall goal is. Is it to push sales, drive engagement or increase awareness? Whatever your success metrics are, the following are some others to consider as well. Content consumption If the company has a blog – and at least one person in the organisation should – a good way to measure engagement is to monitor who is reading that blog, where they are coming from and what content they are reading. Running web analytic reports will show the most popular content

on the company website and/or blog – but beware, just looking at ‘hits’ is how idiots track success. Hits are merely how much data is requested; if you have a webpage with six images and one paragraph of text, that page will generate seven ‘hits’ – in other words, meaningless data. Web analytic data will also show how long visitors were on that particular page, where they came from and also the bounce rate (percentage of visitors who left the site after visiting a particular page). Content contribution Assuming that a company has a blog/wiki and allows for comments, a quick and easy metric would be to monitor the number of visitors who are actually interacting with your content. But, as always, be very wary of equating high numbers with ‘success’. As we saw with Motrin, high numbers do not always mean that your content is being viewed positively. Social bookmarking Now that social bookmarking sites like Delicious.com, Reddit.com and Stumbleupon.com are popular, finding out who is actually adding a site/article/blog post for both themselves to find later and for others to find out about is even easier: use a web analytic tool to run a click map report and see how many web visitors are clicking on the social bookmarking icons. Or, simply, create profiles in each of the bookmarking sites and search for specific urls. Subscribing to an RSS feed Free services like FeedBurner.com measure how many readers are actually subscribing to RSS feeds. By setting up an account and running a website/blog’s RSS feed through FeedBurner.com (now owned by Google), not only can reader numbers be obtained,

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but useful cross-marketing information and tools accessed. FeedBurner is one of the early Web 2.0 services that very quickly grew into a ‘must use’ tool-of-choice for online content syndication. E-mailing posts Assuming that the company blog allows for blog postings to be e-mailed to others, blog platforms such as Wordpress and suitable (usually free) ‘plug-in’ applications offer simple ways to see how many e-mails are actually being sent. Who is talking about you? Again, with WordPress, there is functionality built into the platform for the administrator and other password-authorised users to allow you to see which other site(s) are linking to the blog. One can also go to blog search engine Technorati.com and search for the company’s domain. Lastly, one can always use the old search engine optimisation trick by searching for a domain in Google, Yahoo! and MSN with the following link: http://www.yourwebsite.com. This data is unlikely to completely match up, because different search engines capture data at different times, but it serves as a good indicator to see who is talking about a site (or, at least, linking to the site and its content). Profile engagement Although the company may not yet have a blog – but once again, I strongly suggest that at least one blog is set up – it may well have a profile for a company or brand on MySpace, Facebook or Mybloglog. One can always apply the same metrics already mentioned, as well as monitor the number of friends that the profile has, total profile visits, etc. Each social networking site offers some type of

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‘vitality’ metric to see what’s going on in the various communities. All of the above services are free, but there is good reason to consider ‘paid’ services, too. Radian6 (http://www.radian6.com) is but one of a number of services that offers to monitor the social media environment for mentions of a brand or company (or particular term). The monitoring occurs not just across the typical text-based sites, but also within audio podcasts and videos, photo sharing sites like Flickr and Picasa, and of course, Twitter. One might reasonably ask why anyone would pay for services that are already freely and abundantly available. The answer lies in the integration that occurs in paid services which isn’t offered in the free tools. For example, Radian6 offers a secure web-based platform that allows companies the opportunity to not only monitor what is being said, but discuss and understand what to do with that intelligence. Having a secure dashboard allows all relevant participants within the company access to the data and each other’s insights, and thus more easily discuss and decide what to do next. Which brings up the question, how do we effectively engage in the social media landscape?

How to effectively engage in the social media landscape – the MAIL method David Jones is a business communicator at Hill & Knowlton in Toronto, where he is the VP of Digital Communication. He devised a four-step method of engagement that starts at a baseline of ‘the company is brand new to social media’ and ends with ‘the company is fully engaged in the social media landscape’. He calls the method ‘MAIL’, which stands for:

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

„ „ „ „

Monitor; Analyse; Interact; and Lead.

No doubt, it is apparent how such a process works, but Figure 1 is the process in visual form. Monitor The social media landscape is not a closed system, but a vibrant, dynamic and transparent one that buzzes with conversations 24 hours a day, seven days a week. One of the principle mistakes companies make in engaging and utilising social media and social networking tools is to use the new channels in traditional ways – that is, use the new channels for one-way message delivery vehicles. This is fatal. The social media landscape has time and time again shown itself to be extremely unhappy with companies that engage in such practices and has created online backlashes. The social media landscape is one built upon conversation, therefore, the company new to social media must first ‘listen’ to what is being said about them, their brands, their products and services, their key personnel and so forth, before they begin to send messages out along these channels. Only by monitoring what is being said and utilising the tools previously mentioned, can a company hope to eventually engage meaningfully and positively in the landscape. Analyse Of course, as mentioned previously, noting that a company or brand is mentioned many times does not necessarily mean the company or brand is ‘successful’. As the Motrin example earlier proved, plenty of the online conversation can be negative and result in a backlash against the company.

Monitor

Analyse

Lead

Interact

Figure 1: How the process of MAIL works

It is important to content analyse what is being said – not just giving the individual contributions to the conversation a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ quantitative score, but actually taking into account the content and conversation around the contribution. For example, a sarcastic ‘Company X is wonderful and I love them to death’ does not mean what the words say. Only content analysis and a time-consuming quantitative approach can give a richer, more accurate picture of what the market is saying. Interact Once analysis has taken place, it becomes easier to interact with the conversationalists. In the first instance, this can be done on the conversationalists’ ‘home turf’ – their own blog or YouTube video, or Flickr photo, or Twitter. Once the conversation has progressed and the company is more comfortable using social media tools in a ‘to-and-fro’ way – rather than the traditional ‘command-andcontrol’ approach to message dissemination – then they are likely ready for the final stage of the process – leading conversations. Lead After a while, a company brand new to the social media landscape will have earned

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enough experience from engaging with others in their conversations to be able to launch ‘conversation starters’ from their own web properties, such as their own blog(s) or Twitter accounts, Facebook profiles and so on. The company can lead conversations more easily on its own properties than on the properties of others, simply because it can set the ground rules. For example, the RSPCA in South Australia8 has a very clear policy regarding comments left on its blog, quoting in full: “1. This is a family-friendly site. Whilst you take all legal responsibility for the comments that you make and indemnify the RSPCA of SA from any legal liability that may result from your comments, we reserve the right to edit or withdraw your comment should it contain defamatory content or inappropriate language. 2. If you are a first-time commenter your comments will be held in a moderation queue and not published. Once someone has had a chance to review your comment, and assuming that your comment meets the guidelines above, it will then be published. We don’t sit by our computer and wait for someone to comment – we all are very busy, so it may be a little while before your comment is published. 3. Whilst you may use this site to further your own personal agendas, please be aware that should a comment stray ‘off-topic’ and away from the main thread of the article at the top of this page, your comment may be removed. 4. If your comment repeats previous comments (either by yourself or others) and adds nothing to the conversation it stands a good chance of being deleted.”

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Rinse and repeat... Of course, the MAIL cycle is not just completed once; it should be an ongoing process conducted at least weekly, and more appropriately, daily. Just because a company has its own blog, for example, it should not stop leaving comments on other blogs that have posts about them or topics of interest to the company. In this way, those in the social media landscape can see that the company is genuine about engaging with its audience/marketplace. Such ‘goodwill’ becomes important for when the inevitable crisis occurs – a company is more likely to find itself surprised by the number of ‘social mediarists’ who rise up out of nowhere to lend support.

The dreaded ROI question and how to get the CFO on board If there is one question that is asked at presentations, it is the ROI question: ‘This is all well and good, and we like the idea of social media, but how do we get senior management’s buy-in? How do we convince them of the ROI?’ It’s not an easy question to answer, and it very much depends on what purpose a company has for entering into the social media landscape in the first place. Here follows some questions any communication team should consider asking themselves before submitting a proposal up to the senior management: „ What is investment? Is it just financial, does it include time? Is social media an extension of business ethics? If so, should there even be a return? „ What do we want to measure to judge the return? For example, is ‘success’ the number of people who fill in the ‘get more info’ form or the number of influential people who Twitter about the

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

company? Is it an increase in Google’s page rank? Is it the number of influential blogs that link to the company or the number of features suggested by users that we actually implement? and „ Are sales directly attributable to a particular channel – Twitter, the company blog or a particular friendly blogger outside of the company (aka ‘an evangelist’)? From the answers to these questions can come specific, measurable steps that can be taken and tracked; but equally important to track is the correlational data. For example, if a social network campaign launches and does not specifically drive traffic to the main website (or call centre), see if any rise in sales also occurs around the time of the campaign launch. The social media campaign may not be driving specific traffic, but it may be generating ‘top of mind’ presence in consumers and influencing their purchasing behaviour. Analytics guru Avinash Kaushik9 has eight rules for entering Key Performance Indicator (KPI) heaven, as he calls it (KPI being “measures that help you understand how you are doing against your objectives”, according to Kaushik). The eight rules are: „ One – start simple, start direct and please start with outcomes; „ Two – leverage metrics that identify success for areas where you spend the largest efforts; „ Three – wean your marketers off the ‘one-night-stand’ mentality, do pan session analysis; „ Four – if you can’t segment a KPI, you have picked the wrong one; „ Five – even ‘brand’ and ‘site usage’ can be measured, loyalty rocks;

„ Six – if your shortlist of KPIs doesn’t include those that report customer voice directly, then you will never be as successful as you should be; „ Seven – use KPIs that can tie back to the ‘old world’ and traditional metrics to help you bring people to the current age; and „ Eight – not using competitive intelligence KPIs can be considered a crime against humanity. Dennis R. Mortensen, director of Data Insights at Yahoo! and author of the book, Yahoo Web Analytics: Tracking, Reporting and Analysing for Data-Driven Insights10 suggests that KPIs should: Echo organisational goals; Be decided by management; Provide context; Create meaning on all organisational levels; „ Be based on legitimate data; „ Be easy to understand; and „ Lead to action. „ „ „ „

By having the CFO or equivalent help determine the KPIs, ROI can be more easily measured in a trial, and approval sought for a major rollout/campaign.11 In today’s culture there is a very strong trend towards truth, accountability, transparency and clear communication, which many organisations align with their own values. Opening up the organisation with social media tools helps show those outside the organisation that the company is serious about being a 21st century employer and a winner in the war for talent. Additionally, the hype about organisational collapse and combustion because of the amount of time wasted on social media activities by employees is

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not a reflection of the reality, and usually promoted by companies that sell software to help you monitor employee activity. As Dilbert’s creator, Scott Adams mentioned many years ago in The Dilbert Principle (published by HarperBusiness in 1996), the internet is the latest in a long line of timewasting opportunities – as in, if an employee wants to waste time, he/she will find a way. Of course, no one wasted time at work before the arrival of the internet, did they? Similarly, before social media, no one ever worried about industrial espionage, did they? And before e-mail no one ever thought the company photocopier would be used to copy confidential documents either. Social media and social networking have replaced e-mail as a means by which the average person communicates; and threequarters of adults online now use social media technologies. Lastly, social media initiatives aren’t expensive to try out, and most new applications come with security settings that enable companies to try them out away from the public gaze, thereby not setting any expectations in their audience. Low cost, quick to install/roll out, easy to measure and track, and flexible... they all sound like CFO-friendly words to me.

Assessing the layout of the land In order to successfully engage in conversation with any marketplace, a company or organisation must first study the ‘layout of the land’ to see how rocky it is, what traps there might be, where the best paths are and whether the natives are friendly. Engaging a set of measurable tactics based around a strategy that allows that business or organisation to ‘see the battlefield’ for what it really is (not what the planners think it is) is key to successful engagement in this new online

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communication landscape, where the lonevoice customer sometimes has more power than the New York Times to shape opinion. It is a new communication landscape that eats ‘dinosaur’ companies for breakfast, yet it is a landscape easily traversed and mapped. Many have gone before and successfully reached the other side – the land where more and more customers actually want to give us their hard-earned cash.

Useful resources Blogs to read Avinash Kaushik: http://www.kaushik. net/avinash KD Paine: http://www.kdpaine.blogs.com Jason Falls: http://www. socialmediaexplorer.com Axel Schultze: http://www. socialmediatoday.com Useful websites Angela Sinickas: http://www.sinicom.com Social Media Statistics: http://www. socialmediastatistics.wikidot.com Constructing Social: http://www. constructingsocial.com Slideshare presentations on social media strategy: http://www.slideshare. net/search/slideshow?q=social+media +strategy Slideshare presentations on social media measurement: http://www. slideshare.net/search/slideshow?q=soci al+media+measurement

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References 1. Meyer, R., ‘Social Media: What you’re afraid to admit you don’t know’, powerpoint presentation can be found at: http://www. worldofdtmarketing.com 2. Lambert, T., Key Management Solutions: 50 leading-edge solutions to executive problems, Pitman Publishing, 1996, London, p. 234 3. Ibid; p. 269 4. Ibid; pp.19-25 5. See: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/ mantras_versus_.html 6. Paine has a useful slide presentation, ‘Measuring Naked Conversations: How to Measure Social Media Connect’ over on slideshare, which can be found at: http:// www.slideshare.net/ugaconnect/katiedelahaye-paine 7. Can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Mztymu72l7c 8. See: http://blog1.rspcasa.asn.au/ 9. See: http://www.kaushik.net/ avinash/2008/09/rules-choosing-webanalytics-key-performance-indicators.html 10. See: http://visualrevenue.com/blog/yahooanalytics-book 11. Consider what Alex Manchester, in a Melcrum report, Transforming Your Intranet suggests any CFO might want to think about; this can be found at: http://www.melcrum.com/store/ products/product.shtml?id=300000283

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Chapter 5: The three social media tools and the seven social networking sites you need to know about THERE ARE a million social media tools. Well, perhaps, that’s a slight exaggeration, but I’m sure the day won’t be too far away when that number is correct. I could waste a whole heap of time by detailing every single tool out there at the moment, but this would be a full-time, ongoing research project and you would never finish this chapter because the research and discovery would never end. As discussed in Chapter 3, there are currently: Over 300 blogging platforms; Over 80 calendar services; Twenty microblogging platforms; Two hundred + news feed services; Numerous web conferencing solutions; Multiple instant messaging services; Three hundred + variations on RSS feeders; „ Over 20 web-based sales automation and CRM solutions; „ One thousand + CMS solutions to manage your content; and „ Fourteen teleconference solutions. „ „ „ „ „ „ „

From this list, it is evident that we are not exactly short of Web 2.0 and social media applications with which to manage our online lives. In this chapter, I focus on the key social media tools and social networking sites that every business communicator needs to know about at the first hurdle, before they or their social media consultants start getting carried away:

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Delicious; Digsby; Facebook; FeedDemon; LinkedIn; MySpace; Ning; ShareThis; Twitter; and YouTube.

We have already had a look at some of these tools and sites in Chapter 3, but we will analyse, in detail, the others which have not been addressed.

Delicious Delicious (http://www.delicious.com) is a social bookmarking service that enables users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralised source. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the internet. The following summarises what you can do with such as tool as Delicious. Bookmark any site on the internet and get to it from anywhere Instead of having different bookmarks on every computer, Delicious makes it easy to have a single set of bookmarks kept in sync between all of your computers. Even if you’re not on a computer you own, you can still get to your bookmarks on the Delicious website.

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Figure 1: Delicious.com logo

Figure 2: Digsby logo

Share your bookmarks and get bookmarks in return If your friends use Delicious, you can send them interesting bookmarks that they can check out the next time they log in. Of course, they can do the same for you. As you explore the site and find interesting users, you can use the ‘Subscriptions’ and ‘Network’ features to keep track of the Delicious tags and users you find most interesting.

Digsby aggregates many of the leading social networks (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, for example), as well as various different e-mail accounts (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL/AIM Mail, IMAP and POP accounts). Not an essential feature, but a nice one, nonetheless. The beauty of a desktop application like Digsby is that because it ties in a user’s personal data with a central web database, even if the user changes computers, it will keep his/her settings and, once the application has been installed on the new computer, duplicate them. However, the downside of an application like Digsby is that it is a ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ type of application – it notifies the user of new activity across various platforms/channels, but doesn’t store any records of those activities. In addition, if the user clicks on, for example, a Facebook link, it will open up a new tab in his/her default web browser, and he/she may need to log into the site (which can be a nuisance). Otherwise, it is a handy way of keeping a ‘stream of consciousness’ overview of the various activities across some of the main channels. Another downside discussed earlier in Chapter 3 is its very ‘spammy’ installer that asks you to install a whole bunch of trial software and advertising nonsense.

Discover the most useful and interesting bookmarks on the web See what’s hot with Delicious users by checking out its most popular recent tags. By looking at popular bookmarks for a tag, you’ll be able to discover the most interesting bookmarks on the topics in which you’re most interested. Browse bookmarks on just about anything from the best programming tips to the most popular travel sites, all in an easy-to-read format.

Digsby Not a website, but rather a downloadable desktop application, Digsby (http://www. digsby.com) pulls various online and Web 2.0 activities into one place. ‘Wakoopa. com’, a social network centred around the software people use, named Digsby the ‘Best New Application of 2008’.

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most time examining in this chapter – a reflection of its importance in the social media/social networking universe.

Figure 3: Screenshot of Digsby’s pop-up messages in action

With Digby, however, it is easy to start chats with people on multiple networks by double-clicking their name, with no need to change windows or panes (see Chapter 3 for more on the upsides and downsides of using Digby).

Facebook The current ‘big hitter’ of the social networking world is Facebook, and it is the place (along with Twitter) to be seen and have a profile. More than just a place to send friends a digital cocktail, become a vampire or look at the photos of your friend’s new baby, Facebook is now the recipient of more site traffic than any other social media site in the world. According to Nielson Online’s report, ‘Global Places for Global Faces’ for the year December 2007 to December 2008 (available at: http://www.Nielsononline.com), while the time spent on the internet, in general, increased by 18 per cent, the time spent on Facebook increased by a whopping 566 per cent. For this reason, Facebook should be of primary consideration for any company’s communication activities, either for itself or for one or more of its brands. It is the social networking site on which I shall spend the

A brief history of Facebook Launched in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, then a student at Harvard University, Facebook took its name from the printed directories known as ‘face books’ that students were given to help match their classmates’ names with their faces. Zuckerberg thought that having an online version, where students could create, personalise and update their own profiles, and interact with each other, would be a ‘cool’ concept. He was right. A guiding principle behind the site was that members would be forced to use their real names, and their identities would be verified by their profiles being linked to their school-issued e-mail address. Unlike MySpace and other sites, no pseudonyms, aliases or fake names would be allowed on Facebook, thus engendering a high level of accountability to how each member behaved. Originally launched in Harvard for just Harvard students, the service became so popular that it was soon expanded to other universities and colleges, then caught on to high schools, and then workplaces. But it really exploded when, in September 2006, Facebook dropped the requirement for a school or work-based e-mail account, effectively opening the doors to anyone older than 13 years of age with a working e-mail address. By July 2007 nearly half of Facebook’s users were 35 years of age and older. As Nielson Online’s report states: “Facebook started out as a service for university students, but now, almost one third of its global audience is aged 35-49 years and almost one quarter is over 50 years old.

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In the UK, for example, if the average month-on-month audience-changes were to continue; by mid-June 2009 there would be as many 35-49 year olds on Facebook as 18-34 year olds.” How business communicators can effectively use Facebook In March of this year (2009) Facebook changed the layout of its ‘Page’ offerings for brands and companies, making them far closer in appearance and functionality to the traditional ‘Profile’ offerings for individuals. At last, companies and brands can have a ‘lifestream’ (a chronological update of the brand or company’s activities in Facebook) in the same way that individuals already enjoy. As with individuals, brands and companies can now have that lifestream as the first thing that ‘Fans’ see when they visit the brand’s or company’s page. Each brand-landing page (the first page you see when you visit it) has, running across its top, up to six tabs: Wall, Info, Photos, Video, Events and Boxes. We will briefly address each. Wall This is the default landing page and the equivalent of a ‘home’ page on a traditional website. It is here that the ‘lifestream’ is published, acting as the primary visual focus. Thankfully, Facebook has given brands and companies the opportunity to have two ‘Wall’ default landing pages – one for fans, and one for non-fans and non-facebookers. An essential part of any strategy, therefore, is to figure out and clearly articulate why someone should become a fan (obviously from the brand or company’s perspective, it is because those fans become unpaid evangelists). Perhaps, providing fans with special offers, early notification of upcoming events, discounts

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and so on will incentivise the non-fan to opt-in and become one. Info This is always the second tab (as ‘Wall’ is always the first), and someone from the communications team needs to complete this as much as possible for maximum effect, the reasons being self-evident once they start, and don’t forget to link off to any other web property where the company or brand may be found online – YouTube videos, Flickr profiles, other websites, Twitter accounts, MySpace profiles, individual company leaders’ public profiles, evangelist sites, etc. Photos Consider this an ideal place to house photos of your latest product launch, or ‘meet the design team’ function or user-generated content. Facebook is the world’s largest photo-sharing platform and there is no limit to the amount of content that can be put up – think about collections of old advertising and posters and collections that show how a product has changed in appearance over the years. Most powerfully, think about including photos of fans – as a psychologist and as a hard-core Facebooker myself, I can assure you that once fans recognise themselves in event photos they will tag themselves and will tell all of their friends, bringing more and more Facebookers to the page. Tagging is a subset of ‘Photos’. Tagging is how other Facebookers can be identified in images. Consider this: when someone is tagged (his/her name added to the names of the people in the photo or video) they are notified of the action, the tagged item appears in his/her own newsfeed/lifestream for friends to see, and most importantly, he/ she or any of his/her friends can comment

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

or share it with their own friends. This is also known as ‘going viral’. Fans can add the names of their own friends to images and so fill in the missing names, thus spreading the images and the brand/company further. Videos As with ‘Photos’, this is an ideal place for videos of your latest product launch. Never underestimate the pulling power of the moving image. As with static photos, consider having a number of people at events whose job is to take digital imagery (and hopefully, also attach the names of fans to the shots). Imagery is the number one tool for obtaining the most comments, interaction and viral activity, so the more imagery is allowed to be captured (yes, especially by fans) and posted up in Facebook, the bigger the reward the brand will reap.

In addition to those six tabs, you can replace any but ‘Wall’ and ‘Info’ with other tabs, such as ‘Discussions’, ‘Reviews’, ‘Notes’, ‘Links’, and customised tabs built to specification, housing content such as physical store addresses, contact details, case studies, client portfolios, inter alia.

Events This is the perfect place to announce your upcoming events, whether fans can visit them or not. Not everyone can visit a Milan Fashion show, but fans would, no doubt, love to know that the company is going to be there. Similarly, fans would love to know about events that they might be able to attend – new product launches, competition winner cocktail evenings, parties, concerts, new store openings, etc.

Setting up a Facebook page When first setting up a ‘Page’, Facebook asks for a category to be selected. Currently those categories are: ‘Local’ (bookstore, cafe, club, grocery store, pet store, professional service provider, etc.), ‘Brand’, ‘Product’, or ‘Organisation’ (consumer, film, fashion, travel, website, inter alia), and ‘Artist’, ‘Band’, or ‘Public Figure’ (actor, athlete, comedian, critic, model, politician, writer, and more besides). Many of these categories have applications already built-in to the ‘Page’; for example, the ‘Musician’ category comes with a music player and a ‘Discography’ application, designed to display a listing of all the recordings the artist/band has released so far. Indeed, such is the range of options available on what tab or information to place that a lot of thought needs to go into designing a Facebook business profile – a company or brand Facebook presence is not something to design and shove up on a wet Friday afternoon.

Boxes It is on this page that custom text, graphics and self-chosen third-party applications can be displayed. A powerful page full of opportunities to engage and become ‘social’ with the brand’s or company’s fans, and where the clever company or brand places custom-built specialist scripts allowing fans to, for example, subscribe to an e-mail newsletter, submit a job application form, enter a competition and so on.

To status update or to spam update, that is the question Where once it was only individual Facebookers who could provide status updates, now companies and brands have the same powerful functionality. It allows for the broadcasting of short messages that will appear on everyone’s homepage, in the same style as Twitter status updates (Twitter asks, ‘What are you doing?’, whereas Facebook asks, ‘What are you doing right now?’).

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Facebook used to insert a mandatory, non-removable ‘is’ into the answer for status updates, so that any answer would have to be in the present tense: “Lee Hopkins is considering how to write a book about social media.” However, listening to its (very) vocal community, Facebook removed the ‘is’ and now we can draw on the whole glorious range of verbs in the English language – past, present and future: “Lee Hopkins has now finished his report for Ark Group on social media” is now an equally viable answer. But irrespective of the verb tense, nothing gets fans more irritated than seeing an irrelevant, obvious sales message in their lifestream from a company or brand. Few activities the company gets involved in will cause fans to de-register themselves quickly, therefore, be very careful about what sort of message is put into the ‘Status Update’ box. Use the update box as a conversation starter, remembering that the status update can be commented upon by others. Or else use it to ask a targeted question of the fanbase, or to publicly thank a fan who gave a great review (which they can do on the fan ‘Review’ tabbed page) and provide a link to the review. Companies and brands should also take into consideration that status updates can be targeted to specific sub-groups of fans, including by location, age and gender, enabling a greater targeting of message to their audience. Gaining valuable insights Pages have a very distinct advantage over individual profiles – the ‘Insights’ page (which is viewable only by administrators). It gives a very robust set of data regarding page traffic, numbers of new fans per day, which content is proving effective at engaging fans and

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which content isn’t, including enabling the demographic breakdown of fans by age and gender. Thankfully, it also allows for the exporting of the data as either an Excel (XLS) or comma-separated (CSV) file. This is exceptionally handy for building an ROI case for the roll-out of more brand pages on Facebook. What gender am I? Unlike individual profiles which have a choice between ‘male’ and ‘female’, ‘Pages’ can be set up to reflect the correct pronoun. Thus, if the ‘Page’ is for a female writer, then stories can be in the feminine: “Diedre Van Popolov updated ‘her’ profile”; brands can be in the neuter: “The Twisted Lemons updated ‘their’ profile”, or in the case of movies, TV shows, inter alia, “The ‘That Guy’ Show updated ‘its’ profile”. Seeking advice My own advice would be to utilise the services of specialist communication consultants and consultancies – be they of a marketing or a PR philosophy. My personal recommendations, based on following their work for a number of years and being impressed by both their successes on behalf of their clients and their own personal ethics, are Laurel Papworth (http:// www.laurelpapworth.com) and The Advance Guard (http://www.TheAdvanceGuard.com) for multi-consultant advice. To end this discussion on Facebook, I echo the thoughts of The Advance Guard as found in their must-read Facebook primer, About Face (freely available at: http://aboutface.theadvanceguard.com): “Remember most of all: social marketing – especially on Facebook – is the art of interacting with people and contributing to a Community rather than just broadcasting

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

promotional messages. This, more than any design or functionality strategy, is the key to growing a successful Fanbase of enthusiastic and engaged consumers.”

FeedDemon There was a time, early in the life of the internet, when one spent time visiting each and every website of interest to see if anything had changed, new content had been added and so on. Hours and hours of productivity were lost by doing this. Then along came RSS technology and suddenly the world came to one’s own computer, not the other way around, saving countless hours and server bandwidth (the latter which the IT and finance folk seemingly consider a precious resource). RSS enables the accumulation of content of interest into one area (usually either the desktop or a dedicated profile-managed website). FeedDemon was one of the earliest RSS readers. FeedDemon (http://www.feeddemon. com) is a wonder-tool, as simple as that. It used to be a paid-for product and service, but is now freely offered by its parent company, Newsgator Technologies (http:// www.newsgator.com). A Windows desktop application, FeedDemon also synchronises with an online profile application to keep your reading up to date – read something in the desktop application and it is marked as ‘read’ on your browserviewable profile as well. The Mac version is called NetNewsWire and is equally as impressive. NetNewsWire is also available as an iPhone application. Now that FeedDemon comes with the ability to synchronise itself from within Outlook (using a product called NewsGator Inbox), you can keep Outlook as your primary information message delivery

Figure 4: The ubiquitous radar button: it signifies that the website offers RSS feeds that can be subscribed to

channel and still be able to view your key content sources and favourite authors’ latest blogposts when away from your desk. FeedDemon is the most lauded desktop RSS reader, eliciting praise from such quarters as the Wall Street Journal (Walt Mossberg: “FeedDemon.is especially powerful, with extensive options for customizing the way news feeds appear on your screen”), CNet (Elsa Wenzel: “RSS reader that can handle hundreds of subscriptions faster and better than the many free Web-based readers available”) and my personal technology guru, Amit Agarwal,1 who believes that FeedDemon is better than Google Reader and Bloglines, the two other ‘big’ online RSS readers (meaning one has to be online to read them – the desktop application allows one to go online, download reading material, then go offline and still be able to read it later). FeedDemon integrates tightly into the leading browsers, Internet Explorer and Firefox. Thus, when an orange ‘radar’ button (see Figure 4) is pressed in either browser, the RSS feed of the visited site is stored in the FeedDemon application, which is also recorded on one’s web profile.

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Reading feeds When you select a channel (a grouped collection of feeds that is based around, for example, your industry, your friends and so on), FeedDemon’s tabbed browser displays the channel’s news items in a newspaper for easy reading. FeedDemon displays a newspaper of news items for an entire folder and you can view one feed at a time. You can also watch embedded video from within the newspaper view, so that any RSS feeds that include embedded video can be seen in context, rather than the video playing separately away from the words that surround it on the content’s original website. FeedDemon enables you to store news items in a central location, and provides a handy way to collect items from different channels. If you find an interesting item that you might want to read again, just store it in a ‘News Bin’ for future reference. ‘News Bins’ are synchronised through the NewsGator Online platform, so you can read these items from FeedDemon on other computers, as well as other NewsGator readers. FeedDemon provides a shared experience, letting you see what news is popular with other NewsGator users and find out who is linking to the news you’re reading. Most handily, FeedDemon offers a ‘Panic Button’. Ever gone on holiday and got a little behind on your RSS feed reading? The very large red ‘Panic Button’ solves this and many other problems by quickly marking all older items read. Suddenly faced with an inbox of a thousandplus unread e-mails? Alas, FeedDemon can’t help you there, but my personal recommendation is, in Windows Outlook, to Ctrl+A, then Ctrl+Q: the first action selects all of the messages in your inbox and the second marks them all as ‘read’. Suddenly you have a lot less stress.

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Finding Feeds Watches Look for keywords in news items as they’re downloaded. After you create a watch, it examines every incoming news item whenever any channel is updated. ‘News Comes To You’ Subscribe to feeds from all over the web, or choose some of the dozens of default feeds. Search Search outside of FeedDemon’s subscriptions by selecting a feed search engine, then enter your keyword and FeedDemon will subscribe to a dynamic channel containing the search results for that keyword. Can FeedDemon replace iTunes on my computer? The answer to this question is yes, you can download audio files and automatically copy them to your iPod or other media player. The bundled FeedStation utility enables you to schedule downloads, so that they occur overnight while everyone is asleep, or the office is empty and the desktop computers unused. FeedDemon works inside and outside the company firewall FeedDemon works not only outside of the company firewall, but also seamlessly with RSS feeds generated behind it. Any enterprise 2.0 initiatives that have been set up inside the company can be captured by the reader, enabling employees to keep abreast of not only industry news, but also internal news and information, such as upcoming product launches, fiscal and sales results, and so on. FeedDemon is an essential tool for every business communicator. Download it, install it on every team member’s desktop, let him/ her set up his/her own profile, and let him/ her begin subscribing to the sources of data

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most important to them – other business communicators, industry news websites and commentators, competitor websites, internal subject matter experts, and external podcasts and vidcasts (very often used as training videos; Adobe has a wonderful vidcast series for its ‘Creative Suite’ design tools, for example2).

LinkedIn If Facebook is fast becoming a great resource for brands and companies, then LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com) is equally fast becoming the ‘go to’ place for individuals looking to network and companies looking to hire skilled, highly-networked individuals. There are two principle parts to LinkedIn: the individual profile and the corporate profile. Having a corporate profile on LinkedIn makes good sense – it shows that your company is fluent in the language of social media, and it enables highlyleveraged information workers to view job opportunities in your company and better understand the types of roles your company hires for. It also provides the latest news on people that have recently joined the company. Simply put, it is the place to connect with professionals in your industry, or as LinkedIn defines: “LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals.” Using LinkedIn for the individual’s benefit As a business communicator, you can use LinkedIn for your own means to: „ Reconnect with a host of current and prior associates across most of the

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companies you have worked for. The best way to get this done is to use the ‘Import Contacts’ feature. This will let you securely download the contents of your Gmail, Yahoo, AOL or Outlook address book into LinkedIn. From there, you can automatically see who, in your contacts, is already part of the LinkedIn network; Search for connections via your college affiliation and former employers; Join ‘Groups’ to connect with others who share your interests or past employers. For instance, I belong to the Fans of Digsby, adtech-Sydney, Association of Virtual Worlds, Melcrum’s Communicators Network, Social Media Marketing and vBusiness Expo groups. These groups enable members to have discussions, share news and receive updates of relevant interest; Receive testimonials about your work. The single best way to receive more recommendations is to write them. Alternatively, there is a ‘Can you endorse me?’ request feature that you can use to request a recommendation from a specific contact; and Ask questions of your contacts, or post answers to questions in your area of expertise. Either way, you are able to demonstrate knowledge and increase your exposure.

Using LinkedIn for the company’s benefit To further the social media ends of your employer, you can also use LinkedIn to: „ Gain more business – as soon as the company begins networking on LinkedIn, it increases its chances of reaching new customers. After all, individuals are consumers, too. However, be prepared and be willing to work at it;

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„ Gain priceless competitive intelligence – within LinkedIn you can see your competitors’ teams, clients, references and plenty of other information not readily available otherwise. You may also catch a glimpse of what they’ve been up to recently, or who they’ve let go of that may be an invaluable addition to your team; „ Obtain greater visibility – LinkedIn provides options that will enable a profile to be indexed by search engines such as Google. Making use of these options allows for greater visibility on the web. Links from high-traffic websites like LinkedIn provide what is known as ‘Google Juice’ – a high-level recommendation that helps promote the corporate or brand website further up the search results; „ Conduct market research – if considering designing a new product or service offering, see what type of demand there is for that type of product or service. Do research on what other companies inside and outside of the company’s own are offering. Additionally, one can make great use of the Q&A feature to post questions. I’ve never failed to be amazed at the incredible high quality of the answers that come back; „ Facilitate introductions – LinkedIn offers the opportunity to ask the people you already know to introduce you to someone you’d like to know. This gives you or a member of your team greater credibility, and improves the chances of actually getting that meeting you want, in turn leading to a greater opportunity to ‘make that sale’; and „ Show recommendations – we are very often judged by the company we keep. Encouraging those with whom your company has done business to recommend its products or services is a powerful marketing tool of which to take full advantage.

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The website Linked Intelligence (“the unofficial source of all things LinkedIn” as it brands itself) offers a post3 on 100+ smart ways to use LinkedIn, linking off to articles focused on: „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „

Business development; Marketing and sales; Career management; Personal branding and resumes; Job search and recruitment; Growing one’s network; Keeping in touch; Meeting face-to-face; and Organising and extending groups, inter alia.

Facebook or MySpace may not be the best place to promote your brand or company (I’d use a skilled consultancy or consultant, such as those mentioned previously, to help you in reaching an informed decision). LinkedIn is the social networking site of choice if you wish to promote your business and services, and build business relationships that will prove profitable to everyone involved. All 500 of the Fortune 500 companies are represented on LinkedIn – the previously-mentioned benefits are the reasons why.

MySpace Once the 5th largest population on the planet (were it to be a real, geo-physically locatable population), it has been overtaken in popularity by Facebook. But that doesn’t mean that less attention should be paid to it – it is still a relevant social network for those close to ‘street culture’ and those who want to connect with it. For example, I twittered the question, ‘Is MySpace still relevant?’ and received a score of affirmative answers from fellow business communicators, which have been recorded and commented on in the following box.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

MySpace user testimonials Graham White (@GWhiteOz): “Lee, my teenagers are hooked on MySpace, it is very relevant. They think Facebook is for old folk!” He followed this up with, “I think they like the user interface, the music option, their friends’ network, privacy control and ease of use.” Monica Wales (@iChild): “I think MySpace still has its place, connecting musicians to their audience, that’s the only reason I log on.” Prue Robson (@pruerobson): “I think it still has a lot of relevance in the music industry. When was the last time you looked up a band on Facebook?” Yet, there are more and more bands, perhaps appealing to a non-teen audience, appearing on Facebook pages. Robson continued on tweet: “MySpace will fade over time, but it is carving out a music/entertainment niche and is more profitable at this stage”, which is very true. Mandy (@mab397): “Facebook is very locked up, whereas MySpace gives exhibitionists a better chance of being found. It’s what they want. I think you’ll find that MySpace and Facebook are like Holden and Ford, and you can almost stereotype by the user differences”, which is, in part, a reflection of the controversial research conducted by Dana Boyd4 that found a very real socio-economic divide between Facebook and MySpace users. Facebook, she argued, drew a collegeeducated user, whereas the typical MySpace user was less-educated.

The socio-economic divide between MySpace and Facebook users To quote Dana: “The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes or other ‘good’ kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasise education and going to college. They are part of what we’d call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by afterschool activities. “MySpace is still home for Latino/ Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, ‘burnouts’, ‘alternative kids’, ‘art fags’, punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids and other kids who didn’t play into the dominant high-school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn’t go to college and who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. These are the teens who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who are really into music or in a band are also on MySpace.” On a lighter note, performer, Molly (aka Sweetafton23) published a video on YouTube of her singing one of her compositions, MyHope.5 A song about what might happen when the MySpace generation grows old, it includes the classic chorus: “How I hope that you forget your MySpace I hope it slips completely from your mind And I hope it stays up long enough for the next generation to find And I hope that it embarrasses your children I hope their bratty friends all forward it around And I hope that you forget your password So you cannot take it down” Like Facebook, MySpace is for:

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„ Friends who want to talk online; „ Single people who want to meet other singles; „ Matchmakers who want to connect their friends with other friends; „ Families who want to keep in touch – there’s even a ‘Family Tree’; „ Business people and co-workers interested in networking; „ Classmates and study partners; and „ Anyone looking for long-lost friends. More interestingly, and giving us a vital clue as to what sort of ‘business’ might be interested in branding themselves in MySpace, the site offers members the chance to discover new bands, filmmakers and comedians. This seems to align with Robson’s earlier-quoted insight into the niche that MySpace has aimed for and in which it is profitable.

Case study: Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net) – social media for non-profit organisations The same sort of rules for engaging with audiences in Facebook apply with MySpace, and both can prove very powerful tools for non-profit organisations. For example, Ivan Boothe, the creative director of ‘Rootwork. org’, was a co-founder of the GI-Net and served as its director of communications and internet strategy coordinator for four years. At the Democracy in Action Community Conference in June 2008, he talked about some of the successful approaches for nonprofits in using social networks like Facebook and MySpace for membership development, advocacy and fundraising, and gave the following results:

Network raised more than US$500,000 in three years of annual events; 2007 saw participation from 450 high schools and 300 colleges; „ With a view to raising an issue’s profile and engaging members, GI-Net’s student division created ‘Picture a World Without Genocide’ campaign, which encouraged high-school students to submit photos on Facebook and MySpace of their activism on Darfur. Hundreds of pictures were collected and compiled into a large poster spelling out ‘DARFUR’; and „ A bill with bipartisan support was being held up by the Senate Committee’s Chair. Using Facebook, the GI-Net identified and reached out to students in the senator’s home state. Facilitated by the identification by students of the senator’s top donors, using OpenSecrets. org, the senator was put under pressure and eventually passed the bill. As Boothe says in his slidedeck6, successfully using social networks from a business perspective is a long-term proposition, not something that arrives in the short-term. It takes considerable effort over the long-term to work with the people you wish to communicate with and, as mentioned previously in this report, the conversation needs to take place in the audience’s language – which is a human language – not the language of ‘corporatese’ with its mission and vision statements, ‘best in class’ synergies, four and five syllable nonsense jargon, and the ‘verbifying’ of nouns.

Ning „ Through a set of coordinated activities on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and LiveJournal, the Genocide Intervention

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If ever a business wanted to create its own social network – Ning (http://www.ning. com) – is the perfect place to do it. As it says

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

on its website: “Ning empowers people to create and discover new social experiences. “Ning was started with a simple premise: when people have the freedom to create a new social experience online, uniquely customized for the most important people and interests in their lives with no effort, no cost, and infinite choice, the world is a better, more colorful and certainly more interesting place in which to live.” The range and number of user-created communities in Ning is staggering, and like Facebook and MySpace, each community supports the usual tools: video, message boards, comment walls, lists of friends’ friends, auto-importing of RSS feeds and so on. The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies rates Ning as “one of the 25 free tools every learning professional should have in their toolbox”.7 However, there are some conveniences and inconveniences involved with Ning. On the plus side, creating a community (for example, around a brand) in Ning offers less distractions than Facebook pages and MySpace profiles do – they are captive in the Ning community and are presented with less opportunities to wander off to other areas. Building on the privacy aspects of other community sites such as Facebook and MySpace, Ning allows for a higher level of privacy than even MySpace, which itself has higher privacy options than Facebook (although, of course, all that could change in a day). Further, adding other Web 2.0 tools is easier, in my opinion, within Ning than it is within Facebook and MySpace, but no doubt that is a contestable point of view and plenty of other communicators and ‘hard core’ users of those services would dispute that. On the negative side, it can take longer to set up a brand or company community on Ning than it does in MySpace (but at

least it is quicker than setting up a page on Facebook if you are going to use Facebook to your best advantage). Additionally, the free version of Ning slots Google ads into your community pages; for US$24.95 a month, those adverts can be removed. If you are willing to spend a little more money on Ning, you can: „ Receive specialist help in growing and customising your social network, starting at US$10 per month; „ Point your domain name to the community for US$4.95 per month; „ Add additional units of 10GB of storage and 100GB of bandwidth for US$9.95 per month, per unit; „ Run your own adverts, with all of the revenue going to you, or else not run any adverts at all for US$24.95 per month; and „ Remove the links that offer community members the opportunity to create their own network on Ning, although the references to the Ning ID and the Ningbar at the top of one’s social network must remain. This can be done for US$24.95 per month. Why would you use Ning? Ning was one of the early build-your-owncommunity sites, but now that Facebook has greatly increased its offering to companies with its pages, the reasons to use Ning as against any other service begin to become less relevant. However, what Facebook doesn’t offer nor does MySpace, is a totallybranded environment. As Ning points out on its website, the social network ‘TuDiabetes’ uses its premium services to own and promote the ‘tudiabetes.com’ domain name to position its own ads in the desired location.

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ShareThis ShareThis (http://www.sharethis.com) is a free one-step sharing tool that saves time and makes sharing online fairly hassle free. Anything on the web can be shared to a choice of social bookmarking options, post-to-profile and blog choices, e-mail, instant messaging services, or even as a text message to a mobile phone. The ‘ShareThis’ button is now on tens of thousands of different websites, and in addition, individuals can download ShareThis’ toolbar buttons for FireFox and Internet Explorer. By putting the ‘ShareThis’ button on web pages, communicators can enable viewers to pass along the company’s or brand’s fabulous content to their friends via e-mail, instant messaging, MySpace and Facebook, as well as post it to a large number of social websites, effectively providing fans with a way to spread your content all over the web. If you normally market to your viewers, then you’ll be happy to know they’ll now be marketing for you. If you don’t, you’re viewers will be spreading your reputation regardless. Of course, the more links to your site that appear on the web, the higher your search engine rankings may be. By using the ShareThis button, you can reclaim valuable screen real-estate, since you will be able to place just one button on your site and remove all the more traditional, space-hogging web buttons for social networking sites such as Delicious, Digg, Reddit, Technorati, Stumbleupon, Blinklist, Furl, Google Bookmarks, Windows Live, Blogmarks, Tailrank, ma.gnolia and Newsvine. Don’t panic if few or none of those names mean anything to you. They are for when you have progressed past the primary sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Ning, and are ready to expand your market reach.

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Reports and analytics for businesses/ content producers ShareThis captures a considerable amount of data and offers it for free. For examples, see the screenshots in Figures 5, 6 and 7 overleaf. Through this level of detail, the savvy business communicator can see which aspects of their content are being ‘shared around’ the most, how it is being shared, and where that content is ending up. For this reason alone, ShareThis should be a tool embedded into every page on every brand and company web properties. On top of that, all of this data and sharing service are provided for free. That makes it cost-efficient in terms of ROI.

Twitter If one platform or social network has generated the most media attention in 2009, then Twitter is it. But many people quite rightly ask, ‘what is Twitter?’ The answer is as diverse as there are users of Twitter, because everyone has a different reason for using it and how they use it. We will discuss this more in detail further in this chapter. The growth of Twitter and ‘tweeting’ Nielsen Online recently reported8 that Twitter’s year-on-year growth was nothing short of astounding – from 475,000 unique visitors to the site in February 2008 to seven million in February 2009. Many analysts consider that final number to be vastly under-reported, citing for evidence that calls from Twitter-focused software clients like Twhirl (http://www.twhirl. com) and TweetDeck (http://www.tweetdeck. com) are seemingly not reported as unique site visits. Most of the engaged and prolific so-called ‘power tweeters’ use applications like those just mentioned, plus dedicated applications on their mobile phones to access and post to Twitter.

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Figure 5: Button views and clicks, as reported by ShareThis (on 23/04/09)

Figure 6: Traffic sources, as reported by ShareThis

Figure 7: Most popular content, as reported by ShareThis

Twitter’s user demographic Intuitively, one would think that Twitter’s main demographic would be teens and tertiary-level students. But just as with Second Life, Nielson Online found that the primary

user group appears to be the 35-49 age group, which comprises almost 42 per cent of the site’s audience. Additionally, twothirds of Twitterers tweet from work, rather than from home.

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Uses of Twitter Twitter is a phenomenon that is resisting being ‘put in a box’ by analysts, because it can be used in so many different ways by companies. The following highlights some examples: „ Comcast, Network Solutions, JetBlue, H&R Block and Zappos use Twitter as a way of creating and sustaining customer loyalty and satisfaction; „ Dell uses it as an ‘early warning radar’ for customer service issues that need attending to, before the customer gets ‘heated’; „ A local public radio station in Melbourne, Australia used Twitter to keep the public aware of what was happening during the disastrous Victorian bushfires; „ Californians are kept similarly informed during their own fire seasons; „ Mzinga uses Twitter to offer user promotions and to enter into real conversations with its customers; „ British Telecom, recently having purchased two major businesses in the security industry, uses Twitter to engage with the security industry about future trends; „ Evernote used Twitter to invite people into a private beta of their software, continuing to use Twitter as a bug reporting and feedback channel; „ General Motors (GM) uses Twitter to connect with its customers: “We usually try to Tweet some sort of question for our followers every day. These questions can be vehicle-related (i.e. what’s your favourite convertible?) or just for fun (i.e. what’s your favourite roadside diner). This two-way approach continues to work well for us and we’ve seen a number of people tweeting more about GM because of our presence there,” says Adam Denison, GM social media communications; „ EMC uses Twitter to not only push out press releases about new products and services

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(not something I personally recommend), but has also created a separate Twitter profile, in order to communicate to participants at their conferences. EMC uses it to send people to different on-site podcasts, blog posts by attendees and Flickr photos, as well as direct people to contest areas, keynote speeches and so on; The Home Depot uses Twitter to promote the ‘out-of-store’ lives of their employees, helping create a family feel to the store; and Baskin-Robbins uses Twitter to promote feel-good offers such as: “Join us for 31 Cent Scoop Night at Baskin-Robbins and help us honor America’s firefighters. Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice cream scoops to 31 cents.”; Publishers John Wiley & Sons have several employees who use Twitter to find new authors, talk with existing authors and customers, and use it for market research. For example: ‘would you buy a book on X?’ and ‘what cover would make you more likely to buy this book?’; FreshBooks uses Twitter to handle small support issues, update friends and fans of new developments, and listen to its customers; and Plaxo uses Twitter to engage with its members and potential members, as well as use Twitter’s search capabilities to see what is being said about Plaxo in the Twittersphere. That way, says John McCrea, Plaxo’s head of marketing, he can reach out to answer questions, help solve problems and correct any misperceptions.

The uses, as you can see, are only limited to one’s imagination (see Chapter 1 for more uses). Chris Brogan offers 50 ideas on using Twitter for business9 and is an ideal aide-

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

de-memoire for those rainy days when inspiration is finding it hard to break through the brain’s fog. Just remember, as Steven Covey reminds us to “seek first to understand, before seeking to be understood”, which translates to listen first, then enter into the conversation with something valid to add.

YouTube Not just the home of pirated television shows and funny as well as not so funny user-generated videos, YouTube is an entertainment phenomenon. Each minute, over eight hours of entertainment is uploaded to the site, making it impossible to keep up with what sort of material is up on its servers. While most YouTube visitors don’t think of the site as a natural ‘fit’ for business marketing, many companies use YouTube as an important part of their online communication mix. YouTube enables companies to spread their messages out in ways that can entertain, as well as inform, and useful ‘how to’ videos can often be more easily and efficiently spread via YouTube, than if they are posted on the corporate website. As communications agency DHCommunications points out in its report on the blocking or otherwise of YouTube at North American businesses,10 video campaigns for B2B and B2C seem like a natural fit: companies can demonstrate their products, produce commercials at less cost and inject humour into their messaging that might not otherwise fare well on television. Video that resides on a corporate website can also be aimed at a narrowlydefined audience, and clips can be longer than 30-second TV spots. Combine B2B video with YouTube, the phenomenally popular social media site, and a company’s message can potentially be seen and heard

by tens of thousands of people who wouldn’t otherwise come across it. YouTube is the world’s largest focus group – the audience is so diverse that the developers have created targeting tools that allow advertisers to pinpoint their reach as deep, wide, thin or precise as they wish. This gives businesses the opportunity to reach virtually any particular target audience they wish, and show entertaining content that encourages the audiences to engage back. Not only can companies create and promote their own video material, but also niche-advertise over other video content. Businesses that either have video assets or are able to create them can place video ads on YouTube’s home page, create a promotional channel, use YouTube’s sponsored videos space on the home page to drive traffic to their content, use their ‘annotations’ tool to make interactive ads and so on. But it’s not just advertising and marketing folks who get excited about YouTube. YouTube videos can save valuable server space behind the firewall, so that highresolution in-house training videos don’t have to clog up server space and internal bandwidth. The Google team created a video and placed it on YouTube11, showing how they use ‘Google Video for Business’ for executive communication, training sessions and some fun, quirky, employee-generated content as well. ‘Google Video for Business’ is a paid-for extension of the YouTube platform that enables secure, private video sharing behind the firewall. Video sharing makes important communications like internal trainings and corporate announcements more personal, engaging and effective. Employees can securely share videos with select co-workers or everyone at the company, without making confidential information public. Google itself

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YouTube at work – do we or don’t we? DHCommunications conducted research into the use of YouTube at work, concluding: “For companies considering whether video is a viable marketing tactic, the answer is ‘yes’. Clearly, people access YouTube for both business and pleasure during and after work hours. “However, B2B marketers need to ensure that they don’t rely only on video to get their messages out. And relying solely on video as a method of lead generation will not work. Research by Enquiro Search Solutions, Inc., a search engine marketing firm, has shown that B2B technology buyers prefer ‘lots of information in an easily accessible, text-based format that can be passed from individual to individual within the organization’. “In addition, marketers should work to develop integrated campaigns to help drive offline ‘eyeballs’ to online media. Research conducted by iProspect, another search engine marketing firm, showed that over ‘two-thirds of online search users are driven to perform searches as a result of exposure to some offline channel’. “Developing an integrated campaign that takes into account how B2B buyers consume information is key in terms of generating leads that turn into future sales. “And finally, marketers within companies who do block access to YouTube should present a case that YouTube is a viable B2B marketing vehicle. Blocking access only hinders a company’s ability to successfully use social media to present messages in the places where people congregate online.” Source: http://www.dhcommunications.com/youtubesurvey.pdf

securely hosts and streams the videos, so employees don’t need to share videos over e-mail or burden IT for a video solution. Finally, employees can share videos instantly. Viewing and annotating do not require any special software, just a standard browser. Companies using YouTube to host marketing, customer service, training, corporate executive communications and other video material range all the way from Fortune 500 members to mom-and-pop enterprises.

4. Boyd, D., Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace, Apophenia Blog Essay, June 24, 2007, can be found at: http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ ClassDivisions.html 5. Can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=avxpn_MsPYs 6. See: http://www.slideshare.net/rootwork/ using-social-networks-for-social-changefacebook-myspace-and-more-presentation 7. See: http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/Top100Tools/ ning.html 8. See:http://www.nielsen-online.com/

References 1. See: http://www.labnol.org/software/tutorials/ feeddemon-rss-feeds-reader-softwarereview/2058/ 2. See: http://www.Creativesuitepodcast.com/ 3. See: http://www.linkedintelligence.com/smartways-to-use-linkedin/

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blog/2009/03/20/keep-on-tweetn/ 9. See:http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideason-using-twitter-for-business/ 10. See: http://www.dhcommunications.com/ youtubesurvey.pdf 11. See:http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=iWzwLGJ0BIo

Chapter 6: Everything old is new again IF SOCIAL media is the ‘how’, then social networking is the ‘why’. The human need to ‘connect’ with others is every bit as relevant today as it was when Mitochondrial Eve and her clan relaxed around the evening campfire and shared stories of past tragedies, current triumphs and future tribulations.

The five psychological drivers of generations X and Y The highly-respected researcher Mark McCrindle considers there to be five main drivers of online behaviour of generations X and Y. I would argue that the following four of his conclusions apply not just to generations X and Y. Driver one – a love of technical innovation Today’s 20 and 30 somethings like their grown-up toys to do more and more in a smaller form. The iPhone is the revolutionary tool that kick-started a new wave of mobile phone development, this time centred on user-friendliness, as well as technical ability. The so-called ‘Smart Phones’ have been around for a while – the O2 being an early stand-out of the hybrid PDA (personal digital assistant) and mobile phone for the non-corporate user, while the Blackberry (or ‘Crackberry’ as they are also known by users because of their alleged addictiveness) has long been the corporate mobile warrior’s tool of choice. But before the smart phone and the Blackberry, back when mobile phones were

only mobile phones, Bluetooth wireless technology filtered down from the innovators to the early and late adopters, and it became easier to find a phone number on one’s PDA and auto-dial it from one’s mobile. The smart phone and the Blackberry arrived in all their clumsiness, hefty in weight, and thus take-up was slow. Apple’s iPhone completely changed the nature of our interaction with the mobile phone – from clunky, clicky and tortuous menus, it became simple to tap on an icon, use our finger to scroll through a list of contacts or map our destination, and zoom in to see Google map details. The increasing complexity of our communication technology is unparalleled in pace. Previous technologies seemed to be around forever – it took decades for the transistor radio to be usurped by the Walkman; it took decades for the film camera to be usurped by the digital camera; and it took decades for the in-car cassette player to be usurped by the CD player. But in the space of a mere few years, the mp3playing mobile phone has replaced the radio, the tiny digital camera has disposed of even disposable film cameras, and the iPod and iPhone have replaced ‘traditional’ DVD players (you can now connect your iPod/iPhone to your TV for high-definition playback, and similarly connect them to your in-car media player for high-quality audio and video playback). Second-hand cars are now considered ‘lacking’ if their in-car entertainment system

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doesn’t allow for connection to, and control of an iPod. At an increasing pace, the power of the computer has grown whilst its size has shrunk to the size of a ‘traditional’ mobile phone. The iPhone and the various windowsbased smart phones now hitting the market provide a mobile road warrior with a complete office – just add a Bluetoothenabled fold-up keyboard, a Bluetooth mouse and hook up a monitor if the phone has a connection port, and the warrior can truly work anywhere. But this increasingly smaller and powerful technology is not enough. Today’s X and Y generations want each new tool to do more in less space. There are always tasks and processes that can be added to even the leading-edge tools. For example, I adore my iPod but I have long wished for the ability to add to, and remove tracks from playlists on it, rather than wait until I get back to my office desktop and perform these tasks in iTunes – very often I’ve forgotten what songs I wanted to add or remove. Even as one piece of technology is released, development teams are working on what additional features will be added to not the next version (which is probably already in production), but the version after that. The lifecycle of mass-market communication technologies is now measured in single-digit years, rather than decades. Last year’s ‘cool’ mobile phone is next year’s paperweight. Driver two – ‘fully sick’ is the new ‘cool’, the new ‘hot’ and the new black Each twelve-month period seems to bring a new piece of must-know jargon to cool-chasing teenagers. Twenty and thirty somethings, on the other hand, replace their buzzwords less frequently, perhaps

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reflecting that they have priorities other than being completely up to date with this week’s terminology. But this propensity to replace buzzwords less frequently is also a reflection of their increased loyalty to whatever they do adopt. For example, Facebook has become a global phenomenon, seemingly sweeping all in its path. Twenty and thirty somethings make up the majority of its membership, although the fastest growing demographic is the 45+, as parents and grandparents join to stay in touch with their geographicallydispersed extended families.1 Facebook has become a ‘cool’ place to hang out online and the early adopters have been joined by the masses. Naturally, to the early adopters and the innovators before them, this very mass popularity is a source of frustration. There is no longer any significant differentiation between them and the ‘great unwashed public’; no one would know they were part of the ‘ultra-cool’ set. They have largely left Facebook, keeping their profiles, but rarely visiting. They have moved to newer ‘cool’ places such as Twitter, but as Twitter rapidly becomes the new water cooler, they are already moving away from Twitter to find new digital watering holes, where only the ‘coolest of the cool’ ‘hang out’ in relative peace and seclusion. As the country rock band The Eagles sang many years ago: “You call some place Paradise, you kiss it goodbye.” Once word leaks out of the location of the next digital oasis, as it always does and at an increasing pace courtesy of the internet, it will become flooded with visitors and the peace and tranquillity destroyed. The 3D virtual world Second Life was one such oasis – and then the mass media and large corporations blindly rushed in. Second Life’s ‘hype cycle’ has seemingly peaked, the mass media and many of the

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

corporations have left, and it has arguably returned to its former state, the sound of its digital wind only broken by the occasional party or the fevered scratching of academics and librarians penning great treatises on social psychology, sociological technology, and how to file and find information in a 3D environment. But the ‘ultra-cool’ have probably already moved on. What is ‘ultra cool’ at the moment? What new oasis should you focus your marketing and PR activities on? Well, as the late great Satchmo once allegedly replied to someone who asked him how to know whether the jazz they were listening to was ‘cool’, “If you have to ask, you’ll never know.” Like those kids in high school and university who somehow managed to glide through life and ooze ‘cool’ from their pores without trying – those ‘cool’ kids that everyone gravitated around and tried to imitate – ‘coolness’ is not something that can be manufactured nor ‘marketed’ into life. There are far better instant messaging platforms than Twitter, but it is Twitter that has captured the ‘cool’ elite and not better and more robust, fully-featured competitors like Jaiku. Trying to predict what the next ‘cool’ thing will be is like trying to predict which one of a million flies will land on a sugar cube first; the odds are stacked pretty high against you. Additionally, recent history has shown us nothing if not that giant killers very often come from ‘left-field’, the so-called experts and pundits more often than not caught flat-footed by some new arrival that came not from the back of the visible pack, but seemingly out of nowhere. For example, YouTube owns the online video space and has done so since January 2006. In October 2005, of the 470 sites in

the online video category, YouTube ranked 39th, with only 0.17 per cent of visits to the category. It came out of beta in November 2005. The move from obscurity to ubiquity took just 35 days.2 Driver three – show me the funny If hearts and minds of generation X and Y are to be captured, the surest ways to do so will include strong elements of fun and entertainment. Consider just some of the YouTube videos that have gone massively viral: „ The lipdub of ‘Flagpole Sitta’ at Connected Ventures, probably the best recruitment video ever made, and all it cost was an idea and a few beers after work (http://www.vimeo.com/173714); „ Fritz Grobe and Stephan Voltz, the ‘Diet Coke and Mentos’ guys (http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM); „ The gym running machine dancers (http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI&NR); „ The indie rock band Weezer’s promotional video for their song ‘Pork and Beans’, which deliberately referenced, at least, 20 other ‘cool’ viral videos, and thus automatically creating an in-group/out-group effect: the more videos you recognised in the clip, the ‘cooler’ you were. Judge for yourself your ‘cool’ factor – watch the video and count how many other videos you have seen – and then for bonus points see how many you can name (http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI); and „ The ‘Free Hugs Campaign’, the real-life controversial story of Juan Mann, a man whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger and put a smile on their face (http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4).

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Although generations X and Y are not afraid to confront the ‘bigger’ issues – indeed, they are bringing in a new age of environmental awareness and online political protest – according to Mark McCrindle, they prefer their insights into the workings of the world to be delivered with style, respect for the intelligence of the audience and a sense of perspective. They also want it served with a dash of humour where appropriate. Driver four – the search for higher meaning Reflecting a move away from postmodernism, today’s younger web workers are showing increasing interest in spiritual matters. There isn’t a return to the old sanctity, safety, security and spiritual guidance of the Church (of whatever flavour), but there is a rejection of the 1980s-style Gordon Gecko greed in favour of a greater work-life balance. Job title, income, car and clothing are no longer the only ways by which today’s knowledge workers define themselves. Whether this rejection of the previous generation’s main focus is sustainable in light of recent financial circumstances, remains to be seen.

So where does this leave us? The tools of communication have changed; the pace of communication has changed – instant messaging systems like Twitter mean that both truth and lies can be spread in an instant. The personal publishing revolution means that everyone has a voice, whether they choose to use it or not, and whether what they might say is deemed by others to be valuable or not. What hasn’t changed is the need to communicate. From Mitochondrial Eve through to today’s iPhone-toting geek girl (or ‘GeekGrrrl’ as she often prefers

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to be known), our very human need to connect with others is the rope that ties the eras, millennia, centuries, decades and generations together. We no longer bang rocks together, or bang jungle drums, or bang the Morse code key, but we still bang. It’s just that these days we bang plastic keys on plastic keyboards, or touch-sensitive fingers on touch-sensitive screens. But we are still banging – to be heard, to warn others, to inform others, to teach ourselves about ourselves, and to amuse others and ourselves. Bang on I say. References 1. My own mother reads my blog as a way of keeping up with what I’m up to, even though we live in the same city (yes, I am a naughty son who doesn’t ring his mother enough!) 2. Tancer, B., Click, HarperCollins, 2009, London, pp. 243-245.

Appendix: Recommended resources and glossary TO COMPILE a list of recommended sources is to attempt to circumnavigate the universe; just when you think you’ve got it all mapped, along comes another shooting star. However, what follows is a list of the people and resources that have greatly helped me understand this new communication environment. It is not exhaustive of all who are influential in this landscape, but by visiting the websites or reading the books of those who come below, you will find links off to others who will also help you in your journey of discovery.

Blogs Blogs come in countless varieties, including news journalism, personal journals and musings on topical or industry themes. 43 Folders

http://www.43folders.com

Allan Jenkins

http://www.allanjenkins.typepad.com

Amit Agarwal

http://www.labnol.org

CC Chapman and The Advance

http://www.theadvanceguard.com

Chris Brogan

http://www.chrisbrogan.com

Dan York

http://www.disruptiveconversations.com

Darren Rowse

http://www.problogger.com

David Jones

http://www.twitter.com/doctorjones

Donna Papacosta

http://www.trafcom.com

Gary Hayes

http://www.personalizemedia.com

Gerry McCusker

http://www.prdisasters.com

Heidi Miller

http://talkitup.typepad.com

Jeremiah Owyang

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog

Joseph Jaffe

http://www.jaffejuice.com

Laurel Papworth

http://www.laurelpapworth.com

Leesa Barnes

http://www.marketingfit.com

Mark Joyner

http://www.markjoyner.name

Martin Waxman

http://martinspalette.blogspot.com

Metaverse Journal

http://www.metaversejournal.com

Michael Bellina

http://www.theadvertisinglunatic.com

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Mitch Joel

http://www.twistimage.com/blog

Neville Hobson

http://www.nevillehobson.com

Occam’s Razr

http://www.occamsrazr.com

Official Second Life blog

http://blog.secondlife.com

Paull Young

http://youngie.prblogs.org

Presentation Zen

http://www.presentationzen.com

ReadWriteWeb

http://www.readwriteweb.com

Seth Godin

http://www.sethgodin.com

Shel Holtz

http://blog.holtz.com

Stephen Collins

http://www.acidlabs.org

Terry Fallis

http://www.terryfallis.com

Trevor Cook

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/trevorcook

Wagner James Au

http://www.nwn.blogs.com

Web Worker

http://www.Dailywebworkerdaily.com

Podcasts/vidcasts Financial Aid Podcast – http://www.financialaidpodcast.com For Immediate Release – http://www.forimmediaterelease.biz Inside PR – http://www.insidepr.ca JaffeJuiceTV – http://www.jaffejuice.com/jaffejuicetv Marketing Over Coffee – http://www.marketingovercoffee.com MarketingFit – http://www.marketingfit.tv OnTheRecord – http://www.ontherecordpodcast.com Six Pixels of Separation – http://www.twistimage.com/blog The M Show – http://www.theMshow.com Trafcom News – http://www.trafcomnewspodcast.com

Books Reynolds, G., An Army of Davids Wright, J., Blog Marketing, Nelson (Thomas) Publishers, US Hewitt, H., Blog: understanding the information reformation that’s changing your world, Nelson (Thomas) Publishers, US Holtz, S., and Demopolos, T., Blogging for Business, Kaplan Publishing Lindstrom, M., Buy.ology, Doubleday Publishing, New York Tancer, B., Click, Hyperion Boellstorff, T., and Kim, J. A., Coming of Age in Second Life: an anthropologist explores the virtually human – Community Building On The Web Holtz, S., Corporate Conversations, AMACOM Harkin, J., Cyburbia, Knopf, Canada Awl, D., Facebook me!,Peachpit Press, CA

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Holtz , S., and Hobson, N., How to Do Everything with Podcasting, McGraw Hill books Meadows, M. M., I, Avatar: the culture and consequences of having a second life, New Riders Godin, S., Permission Marketing, Simon & Schuster Van Orden, J., Promoting Your Podcast, Larstan Publishing Rymaszewski, M., Wagner, J. A., Ondrejka, C., et al., Second Life: the official guide Holtz,S., and Havens, C. J., Tactical Transparency Levine, R., Locke, C., Searls, D., Weinberger, D., The Cluetrain Manifesto: the end of business as we know it, Perseus Publishing Tasler, N., The Impulse Factor, Fireside Friedman, L. T., The World is Flat, Douglas and McIntyre Ltd Demopoulos, T., What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting, Kaplan Business Tapscott, D., and Williams, D. A., Wikinomics, Portfolio Mader, S., Wikipatterns, Wiley Publishing Inc.

Glossary Blog: A website that features regular, dated entries (as in a journal) using text, graphics, video and/ or audio posted by an individual or small group of authors. Blogs come in countless varieties, including news journalism, personal journals and musings on topical themes. Blogosphere: Blogosphere is the term used to describe the totality of blogs on the internet, and the conversations taking place within that sphere. Blogroll: A blogroll is a list of sites displayed in the sidebar of a blog, showing who the blogger reads regularly. Bookmarking: Bookmarking is saving the address of a website or item of content, either in your browser or on a social bookmarking site like delicious.com. If you add tags, others can easily use your research too, and the social bookmarking site becomes an enormous public library. If groups agree on the tags they will use, it makes collaborative research much easier. Control: Social networking is difficult to control because if people can’t say something in one place, they can blog or comment elsewhere. That can be challenging for hierarchical organisations used to centrally-managed websites. Conversation: Conversation through blogging, commenting or contributing to forums is the currency of social networking. Culture: Social media only works well in a culture of openness, where people are prepared to share. For that reason, commitment and attitude are as important as tools. Creative two-way communication and collaboration is unlikely to flourish in an organisation where the norm is top-down control. When people in that sort of culture talk about networking, they may have a ‘hub and spokes’ model in mind, with some kind of centralised control. Listening: In the blogosphere, ‘listening’ is the art of skimming RSS feeds to see what topics are bubbling up, and also setting up searches that monitor when you or your organisation is mentioned. Lurkers: Lurkers are people who read, but don’t contribute or add comments to discussions. The ‘10 percent’ rule-of-thumb suggests that about 10 per cent of people contribute new content to an online community, another 10 per cent comment, and the rest lurk. However, this may not be a passive role because content read may spark interaction elsewhere. Mashup: A media product that combines and/or manipulates video, audio, text, images and/ or designs from two or more sources to create a new work. For example, a political mashup video

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might combine news footage of candidate speeches with a pop song and some other video to create new commentary. Podcast: A podcast is a digital media file, usually audio or video, that can be played on a computer or portable media players (MP3 players, mobile phones) and is delivered by RSS subscription. Podcasters can post their creations to their blog or website, or have it re-purposed (aka ‘re-syndicated’) on other websites. Post: A post is an item on a blog or forum. Presence: Presence online has (at least) two aspects. One is whether you show up when someone does a search on your name. If not, it is no good pretending to be an online guru, for example. The second is whether you use tools that show you are available for contact by instant messaging, voiceover-IP or other synchronous methods of communication. Profiles: Profiles are the information that you provide about yourself when signing up for a social networking site. As well as a picture and basic information, this may include your personal and business interests, a ‘blurb’ about yourself, and tags to help people search for like-minded people. RSS: RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way to feed websites that publish frequently (such as blogs, news, podcasts) into one’s computer, website or portable media player (MP3 player, mobile phone). RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favourite websites in an automated manner that is easier than checking them manually. An RSS document, which is called a ‘feed’, ‘web feed’ or ‘channel’, contains either a summary of content from an associated website or the full text. Sharing: Sharing is offering other people the use of your text, images, video, bookmarks or other content by adding tags and applying copyright licences that encourage use of content. Social media: Social media integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of shared meanings and experiences from many different users. Social media users create content, share various perspectives, swap favourites, tell stories and make comments using words, pictures, video and audio. Unlike traditional media that use technologies as conduits to deliver meanings and experiences, social media focus on people’s interactions with each other and with media texts as shared experiences. Social media also provide people with venues for asserting and developing their identities, tastes and values through their media messages and interactions. Social networking sites: A social networking site allows users to join communities of people who share interests and activities, or to explore the interests and activities of others. Most sites allow users to create profiles or self-description pages, which often include pictures, video, music, text and a variety of design elements. Some educators encourage students to build profiles that include academic interests, achievements, representations and discussions, and help students connect with groups interested in course content. Tag: A tag is a keyword that attaches to a text or media file on a website, which can be used to organise and find. Many websites feature a list of tags or a ‘tag cloud’, a graphical representation that emphasises by word size and bolding, which are the most-used keywords to organise the content. Trackback: Some blogs provide a facility for other bloggers to leave a calling card automatically, instead of commenting. ‘Blogger A’ may write on ‘blog A’ about an item on ‘blogger B’s’ site, and through the trackback facility leave a link on B’s site back to A. The collection of comments and trackbacks on a site facilitates conversations. Troll: A hurtful but possibly valuable individual who, for whatever reason, is both obsessed by and constantly annoyed with, and/or deeply offended by everything you write on your blog. You may be able to stop them commenting on your blog, but you can’t ban them from commenting on other sites

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and pointing back to your blog, and you can’t ban them from posting things on their own blog that point back to your site. User-generated content: User-generated content (UGC) refers to text, audio, video and applications created by users who post their work to internet sites produced by others. Virtual worlds (VWs): VWs are online places like Second Life, where you can create a representation of yourself (an avatar) and socialise with other residents. Basic activity is free, but you can buy currency (using real money), in order to purchase land and trade with other residents. Second Life is being used by many voluntary, government and corporate organisations to run discussions, virtual events and fundraising. Web 2.0: Web 2.0 refers to internet sites and applications that facilitate creativity, interaction, collaboration, participation and data-sharing between users and producers (as opposed to websites that simply display information). Web 2.0 emphasises community by incorporating wikis, social networking, tagging, RSS and other tools. Widget: A widget is any tool or piece of code that can be embedded within a web page. It allows, for example, a user to display content from someone else’s website on his/her site. Wiki: A wiki is a web page – or set of pages – that can be edited collaboratively. The best known example is Wikipedia, an encyclopaedia created by thousands of contributors across the world. Once people have appropriate permissions – set by the wiki owner – they can create pages and/ or add to and alter existing pages. Wikis are a good way for people to write a document together, instead of e-mailing files to and fro. You don’t have to use wikis for collaborative working; they can just be a quick and easy way of creating a website. Although wikis are easy to use, that doesn’t mean everyone in a group will commit to their use with similar enthusiasm.

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Index

A ABN Amro ............................................................................................................................... 14 ABSs ..................................................................................................................................... 111 Accenture .......................................................................................................................... 14, 16 Accessibility............................................................................................................................ 111 Accountants ..................................................................................................................... 15, 111 Accounts........................................................................................................42, 62, 68, 70, 111 Action .........................................................1, 7, 11, 29, 35, 50, 54, 58, 63, 69-70, 74, 78, 111 Action Community Conference .................................................................................................. 78 AddThis ................................................................................................................................... 41 Adidas ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Adobe ..................................................................................................................................... 75 Adult ......................................................................................................................13, 20, 27-29 Advance Auto Parts................................................................................................................... 51 Advertising ............................................................................. 2, 9, 30-31, 42, 55, 58, 68, 70, 83 AFP ......................................................................................................................................... 27 AIM Mail ........................................................................................................................... 42, 68 Allegations ............................................................................................................................... 43 AMACOM ............................................................................................................................... 92 Ameren ................................................................................................................................... 51 America .................................................................................................................13, 15, 46, 82 Amsterdam ......................................................................................................................... 20-21 Analytics ...................................................................................................................... 30, 63, 80 AOL ......................................................................................................................42, 45, 68, 75 Apple ......................................................................................................... 3, 32, 43, 46, 56, 85 Apple Corps ............................................................................................................................ 56 Armani .................................................................................................................................... 14 ArpaNet .................................................................................................................................... 1 Artist.................................................................................................................................. 43, 71 Asia ........................................................................................................................1, 13, 26, 46 Asia Pacific .................................................................................................................. 13, 26, 46 Asian Tsunami .......................................................................................................................... 40 Associated Press, The................................................................................................................ 43 Association of Virtual Worlds ..................................................................................................... 75 Australia .............................................................................................................1, 15-17, 28, 82

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Index

Australian Adult Social Technographics ...................................................................................... 29 Australian Federal Police ........................................................................................................... 27 Australians ............................................................................................................................... 28 Authority ...................................................................................................................... 27, 38, 51 Autodesk ................................................................................................................................. 14 Avatar .................................................................................................. 15, 19-20, 27-29, 93, 95 Aztec Marketing Solutions ......................................................................................................... 53 B B2B .................................................................................................................................... 83-84 B2C ........................................................................................................................................ 83 Band ..........................................................................................................47, 56, 71, 77, 86-87 Baskin-Robbins......................................................................................................................... 82 BBC .................................................................................................................................... 8, 10 Beatles .................................................................................................................................... 56 Bebo ................................................................................................................................. 39, 41 Before Common Era ................................................................................................................... 1 Belgium ................................................................................................................................... 28 Best New Application .......................................................................................................... 41, 68 Biff .......................................................................................................................................... 50 Births ....................................................................................................................................... 48 Blackberry................................................................................................................................ 85 Blinklist .............................................................................................................................. 41, 80 Blog ........ 2, 4, 8-9, 15, 18, 23, 32, 34, 36-39, 41, 43-47, 55, 58-63, 65, 80, 82, 84, 88, 91-95 Blog Marketing ........................................................................................................................ 92 Bloggers .......................................................................................... 35, 38-40, 44-45, 57-58, 94 Bloglines.................................................................................................................................. 73 Blogmarks ......................................................................................................................... 41, 80 Blogosphere...................................................................................... 2, 35, 38-39, 45-46, 57, 93 Blogroll ................................................................................................................................... 93 Blogs ....................................................... 6, 22, 32, 38-39, 43-44, 46, 54-55, 62-64, 91, 93-94 Bluedot.................................................................................................................................... 41 Bluetooth ............................................................................................................................ 85-86 BMW....................................................................................................................................... 14 Board .......................................................................................................................... 47, 56, 62 Bookmark ................................................................................................................................ 67 Bookmarks........................................................................................................41, 67-68, 80, 94 Books .................................................................................................................3, 14, 69, 91-93 Booth, Paul .............................................................................................................................. 17 Boothe, Ivan ............................................................................................................................ 78 Boyd, Dana ............................................................................................................................ 77 BP ........................................................................................................................................... 16 Bradford Group ....................................................................................................................... 51 Brand .................................................... 22, 36-38, 44, 52, 54, 58, 60-61, 63, 70-72, 76, 79-80

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Brannigans Restaurant .............................................................................................................. 52 Brazil ....................................................................................................................................... 28 Brides ...................................................................................................................................... 48 Broadband ...................................................................................................................15, 29-30 Brogan, Chris .................................................................................................................... 82, 91 BT .......................................................................................................................................... 5-6 BTpedia ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Building .....................................................................................................14, 36, 38, 72, 79, 92 Bullfighter ................................................................................................................................ 34 Business .................................................. 3, 5-6, 9, 13, 16-20, 22-24, 28-34, 36, 40-41, 43, 45, 47-56, 59-65, 67, 70-71, 73-76, 78, 80, 83-84, 92-94 Business Conduct Guidelines .................................................................................................... 22 Businesses ........................................................................................... 14, 28, 31, 52, 80, 82-83 C C-level .................................................................................................................................... 48 CA .................................................................................................................................... 41, 92 Californians ............................................................................................................................. 82 Calvin Klein ............................................................................................................................. 14 Canada ......................................................................................................................... 1, 28, 92 Canadian PR ........................................................................................................................... 58 Cannes.................................................................................................................................... 43 Career..................................................................................................................................... 76 Carter Academic Service Entrepreneur ....................................................................................... 18 Case ..................................................... 5-6, 14-15, 17-18, 32, 37, 43-44, 56-57, 71-72, 78, 84 CD.................................................................................................................................... 56, 85 CDs ........................................................................................................................................ 57 CEO ................................................................................................................37, 43-44, 48, 56 CEO of Whole Foods ............................................................................................................... 44 CFO ................................................................................................................48, 59, 62-63, 65 Chapman University Law School ................................................................................................ 39 Chestney, Ross ........................................................................................................................... 5 Children .............................................................................................. 13-14, 27, 29, 32, 51, 77 China .......................................................................................................................... 14, 24, 31 Church .............................................................................................................................. 44, 88 Church of Scientology .............................................................................................................. 44 CIO ........................................................................................................................................ 48 Circuit City .............................................................................................................................. 14 Cisco Systems .......................................................................................................................... 16 CIW ........................................................................................................................................ 43 Classmates ........................................................................................................................ 69, 78 Click ........................................................................................................................... 59, 88, 92 Client ....................................................................................................................42, 51, 53, 71 Club Penguin ........................................................................................................................... 13

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Index

Cluetrain Manifesto, The ...........................................................................................5, 33, 41, 93 CMS ............................................................................................................................. 6, 37, 67 CNet ....................................................................................................................................... 73 CNN ....................................................................................................................................... 43 Coca Cola .............................................................................................................................. 51 Colgate ................................................................................................................................... 14 College of Management ........................................................................................................... 18 Comcast ............................................................................................................................ 45, 82 Communication ................................. 2, 4-6, 8-10, 13, 17, 23, 29, 31, 34, 40-41,43, 45, 48-51, 53-56, 59-65, 69, 72-73, 83, 85-86, 88, 91, 93-94 Communicators Network .......................................................................................................... 75 Community ............................. 3, 6, 13, 18, 29, 33, 36, 41, 43, 51-52, 67, 72, 78-79, 92-93, 95 Compact Oxford English Dictionary ........................................................................................... 47 Companies .......... 20-21, 26-28, 31, 33, 37, 42-43, 47, 56, 59-61, 64, 70-72, 75-76, 79, 82-84 Computerworld ........................................................................................................................ 35 Concerns ...........................................................................................................7, 33, 37, 49, 58 Connected Ventures.................................................................................................................. 87 Consultants.......................................................................................................47-48, 55, 67, 72 Control............................................................................................................42, 47, 77, 86, 93 Conversation ...................................................3-5, 34, 37, 39-40, 45, 61-62, 64, 72, 78, 83, 93 Conversations .................................................. 4-5, 22, 29, 33, 37-38, 40, 61-62, 65, 82, 92-94 COO ...................................................................................................................................... 48 Covey, Steven ......................................................................................................................... 83 CPA of Australia .................................................................................................................. 15-16 Crackberry ............................................................................................................................... 85 Creative Suite .......................................................................................................................... 75 CRM ................................................................................................................................. 37, 67 CSV ........................................................................................................................................ 72 Culture .......................................................................................................21, 48-49, 63, 76, 93 Curry, Adam .............................................................................................................................. 3 Cyburbia ............................................................................................................................. 1, 92 Cyworld ................................................................................................................................... 13 D Dafur ...................................................................................................................................... 43 Daily Illuminator, The .................................................................................................................. 2 DailyMotion ............................................................................................................................... 4 Darfur ..................................................................................................................................... 78 Darwin, Charles ....................................................................................................................... 18 Darwinism ............................................................................................................................... 47 Data......................................................... 8-9, 28, 38-40, 42, 45, 55, 59-60, 63, 68, 72, 74, 80 Data Insights ............................................................................................................................ 63 Dell ..................................................................................................................14, 45-46, 54, 82 Dell North America .................................................................................................................. 46

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Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Delta .................................................................................................................................. 44-45 Delta Airline ............................................................................................................................. 45 Dennison, Richard ...................................................................................................................... 5 Democracy .............................................................................................................................. 78 Demographics ......................................................................................................................... 27 Denison, Adam ........................................................................................................................ 82 DHCommunications ............................................................................................................ 83-84 Dictionary ............................................................................................................................ 2, 47 Diet Coke ................................................................................................................................ 87 Digbsy ..................................................................................................................................... 42 Digg......................................................................................................................34, 41, 44, 80 Dilbert Principle, The ................................................................................................................ 64 Disaster ............................................................................................................................... 9, 35 Discography............................................................................................................................. 71 Discussions ............................................................................................ 3, 18, 43, 71, 75, 93-95 Document....................................................................................................... 6-8, 18, 29, 94-95 Doubleday Publishing ............................................................................................................... 92 DVD ............................................................................................................................ 32, 44, 85 E Eagles, The .............................................................................................................................. 86 Echo ................................................................................................................................. 63, 72 Electrolux ................................................................................................................................. 14 Electronic Frontier Foundation ..................................................................................................... 2 EMC ....................................................................................................................................... 82 Emergency ........................................................................................................................... 9, 23 EMI ......................................................................................................................................... 56 Employees ............................................................ 5-6, 8-9, 20-22, 24, 51-52, 57, 63, 74, 82-84 Employers .......................................................................................................................... 24, 75 Encyclopaedia Britannica ............................................................................................................ 6 Enquiro Search Solutions .......................................................................................................... 84 Enron ...................................................................................................................................... 50 Europe .......................................................................................................................... 1, 13, 46 Evaluation ............................................................................................................................... 48 Events................................................................................... 9, 15-17, 40, 50, 54, 70-71, 78, 95 Excel ....................................................................................................................................... 72 Extract ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Exxon Mobil ............................................................................................................................. 43 F Facebooker.............................................................................................................................. 70 Facebookers ....................................................................................................................... 70-71 Families ........................................................................................................................77-78, 86 Family Tree .............................................................................................................................. 78

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Index

Fanbase ............................................................................................................................. 72-73 Fans ...........................................................................................................46, 70-72, 75, 80, 82 Feedback ...........................................................................................................9, 15, 35, 57, 82 FeedBurner ......................................................................................................................... 59-60 FeedMeLinks ............................................................................................................................ 41 FeedStation .............................................................................................................................. 74 FightTheBull ............................................................................................................................. 34 Financial Times......................................................................................................................... 56 Firefox ............................................................................................................................... 73, 80 Fireside.................................................................................................................................... 93 Flickr ............................................................................................. 20-21, 39, 41, 60-61, 70, 82 Flowers .................................................................................................................................... 14 Folders .................................................................................................................................... 91 Folks .........................................................................................................................2, 5, 43, 83 Ford ............................................................................................................................ 14, 53, 77 Forrester ............................................................................................................................ 29, 57 Forrester Research .............................................................................................................. 29, 57 Fortune .............................................................................................................................. 76, 84 France ..................................................................................................................................... 28 Free Hugs Campaign ............................................................................................................... 87 FreshBooks .............................................................................................................................. 82 FriendFeed ......................................................................................................................... 39, 41 Friends ...............................................................2, 12, 20, 33, 39, 41, 60, 68-71, 74, 77-80, 82 Fritz Grobe .............................................................................................................................. 87 FTSE........................................................................................................................................ 40 G GamesIndustryBiz ..................................................................................................................... 24 GeekGrrrl ................................................................................................................................ 88 General Motors.................................................................................................................. 47, 82 Genocide Intervention Network ................................................................................................. 78 Germany ................................................................................................................................. 28 GI-Net .................................................................................................................................... 78 Gilbert, Barry ........................................................................................................................... 30 Gizzard Communications Group ............................................................................................... 16 Gmail ......................................................................................................................... 42, 68, 75 Google Bookmarks ............................................................................................................ 41, 80 Google Juice ..................................................................................................................... 40, 76 Google News Alerts ............................................................................................................ 38-39 Google Reader .............................................................................................................. 9, 39, 73 Google Video ...................................................................................................................... 4, 83 Gottlieb, Jessica ....................................................................................................................... 58 Gould, Dan ............................................................................................................................. 57 GQ ......................................................................................................................................... 56

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Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

GreatNews ................................................................................................................................ 9 Greek...................................................................................................................................... 47 Groups....................................................................................................... 33, 55, 75-76, 93-94 H Habbo Hotel .................................................................................................................12-13, 31 Hamlet ...................................................................................................................................... 1 HarperBusiness ........................................................................................................................ 64 HarperCollins........................................................................................................................... 88 Harvard ....................................................................................................................... 17, 56, 69 Harvard Business Review ........................................................................................................... 56 Harvard Law School ................................................................................................................. 17 Harvard University .................................................................................................................... 69 HD DVD .................................................................................................................................. 44 Hellotxt ............................................................................................................................... 41-42 Hewitt, Hugh............................................................................................................................ 39 Hits ............................................................................................................................. 48, 55, 59 Hollywood ............................................................................................................................... 31 Holocaust ................................................................................................................................ 18 Holtz, Shel ..................................................................................................................... 3, 47, 53 Home .............................................................. 8-9, 17, 24, 26, 31-32, 43, 61, 70, 77-78, 81-83 Home Depot ............................................................................................................................ 82 Home Platform Group .............................................................................................................. 24 Hotmail ............................................................................................................................. 42, 68 Hours ........................................................................5, 17-18, 24, 27-29, 38, 55, 61, 73, 83-84 HR .......................................................................................................................................... 24 Human Performance ................................................................................................................. 18 Hyperion ................................................................................................................................. 92 I IABC ....................................................................................................................................... 48 Illustrator ................................................................................................................................... 8 Imagery ................................................................................................................................... 71 IMAP ................................................................................................................................. 42, 68 Imperial College London .......................................................................................................... 17 IMVU ................................................................................................................................. 24-25 Innovators................................................................................................................29-30, 85-86 Insights ..................................................................................................................60, 63, 72, 88 Institute of Travel Management .................................................................................................. 16 Integration Marketing ............................................................................................................... 47 Integrity ............................................................................................................................. 20, 50 International Association of Business Communicators .................................................................. 48 Internet ................... 4, 11, 13, 28, 31, 37, 44-45, 51, 55, 57, 64, 67, 69, 73, 78, 80, 86, 93, 95 Internet Explorer ................................................................................................................. 73, 80

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Index

Iowa State University ................................................................................................................. 17 Iron Man ................................................................................................................................. 44 IT ................................ 11, 13-19, 21-24, 26-30, 32-45, 47-51, 53-64, 67-80, 82-88, 91, 93-95 Italy ......................................................................................................................................... 28 J J. Sainsbury.............................................................................................................................. 52 JaffeJuiceTV ............................................................................................................................. 92 Jaiku ....................................................................................................................................... 87 Japan ................................................................................................................................ 28, 45 Jarvis, Jeff ................................................................................................................................ 46 Jenkins, Allan ....................................................................................................................... 6, 91 Jeremiah Program .................................................................................................................... 51 Jitter ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Job ............................................................................8-9, 21, 24, 30, 36, 45, 52, 71, 75-77, 88 Jones, David ................................................................................................................ 58, 60, 91 Joyner, Mark ...................................................................................................................... 47, 91 Judge ................................................................................................................................ 62, 87 K Kaplan Business ....................................................................................................................... 93 Kaplan Publishing ..................................................................................................................... 92 Kaushik, Avinash ...................................................................................................................... 64 Kawasaki, Guy ......................................................................................................................... 50 Kelly Services ........................................................................................................................... 14 Key .............................................. 4, 6, 17, 24, 29-30, 37-40, 48, 57, 61, 63-65, 67, 73, 84, 88 Key Management Solutions ....................................................................................................... 65 Key Performance Indicator......................................................................................................... 63 Key Performance Indicators ....................................................................................................... 24 Kingston University ................................................................................................................... 17 Kleenex ................................................................................................................................... 34 Knowledge Networks ................................................................................................................ 15 KPIs................................................................................................................................... 24, 63 KPMG ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Kraft .................................................................................................................................. 14, 21 Kryptonite ................................................................................................................................ 46 L Lacoste .................................................................................................................................... 14 Lambert, Tom ........................................................................................................................... 48 Larstan Publishing ..................................................................................................................... 93 Leshelle, Ashanti....................................................................................................................... 20 Levenson Public Relations .......................................................................................................... 53 Levi-Strauss .............................................................................................................................. 52

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Librarians........................................................................................................................... 18, 87 Linden Lab ..............................................................................................................17, 27-28, 32 Linked Intelligence .................................................................................................................... 76 Links.................................................................................. 19, 21, 34, 38, 46, 71, 76, 79-80, 91 Linux ....................................................................................................................................... 34 Lisa Ekus Public Relations Company ........................................................................................... 51 Live Web ................................................................................................................................. 38 LiveJournal .......................................................................................................................... 2, 78 LiveWorld ................................................................................................................................ 23 LiveWorlders ............................................................................................................................ 23 London ..................................................................................................................17, 40, 65, 88 Louis Vuitton ............................................................................................................................ 43 Lurkers..................................................................................................................................... 93 M Macmillan ............................................................................................................................... 18 MacOS ................................................................................................................................... 34 Magnolia ................................................................................................................................. 41 MAIL ......................................................................................................................42, 60-62, 68 Management ................................................... 3, 6-9, 14, 16-18, 21, 23, 48, 50, 62-63, 65, 76 Manchester, Alex ..................................................................................................................... 65 Manchester Metropolitan University ........................................................................................... 17 Marketing .............3, 14, 16, 24, 33-37, 42, 47, 51, 53, 57-59, 72, 75-76, 80, 82-84, 87, 92-93 MarketingFit ........................................................................................................................ 91-92 Markets ....................................................................................................................... 33, 51, 57 Marvel ..................................................................................................................................... 44 Mashup ................................................................................................................................... 93 Matchmakers ........................................................................................................................... 78 Maxcer, Chris ........................................................................................................................... 18 Maxim ..................................................................................................................................... 56 MBA ........................................................................................................................................ 17 MBNA Corporation .................................................................................................................. 52 McCrindle, Mark ................................................................................................................ 85, 88 McCusker, Gerry ..................................................................................................................... 91 McDonalds .............................................................................................................................. 52 McGraw Hill ............................................................................................................................ 93 McIntyre Ltd ............................................................................................................................. 93 McKeown, Lindy ................................................................................................................. 15, 32 McNeil Consumer Healthcare ............................................................................................. 35, 58 Measurement ............................................................................................................... 37, 55, 64 Media ...................................................... 2, 4-6, 8-10, 13, 17, 19-23, 27-29, 31, 33-34, 36-47, 49, 51, 54-57, 59-65, 67, 69, 72-75, 78, 80, 82-86, 93-94 Meeting ............................................................................................................................. 48, 76 Melbourne ......................................................................................................................... 15, 82

103

Index

Melcrum ............................................................................................................................ 65, 75 Mercedes Benz ......................................................................................................................... 14 Messages ................................................................41, 43-44, 57, 61, 69, 71, 73-74, 83-84, 94 MetaCafe .................................................................................................................................. 4 Metaverse Business ................................................................................................................... 32 Metaverse Journal .............................................................................................................. 32, 91 Micro-blogging .................................................................................................................... 9, 41 Microsoft ...............................................................................................................21, 24, 34, 52 Microsoft Word ........................................................................................................................ 34 Miller, Heidi ............................................................................................................................ 91 MIS ......................................................................................................................................... 17 Mitochondrial Eve .......................................................................................................1-2, 85, 88 Mixx ........................................................................................................................................ 41 MMU ...................................................................................................................................... 17 Monitor ............................................................................ 4, 6, 18, 37-40, 42, 57-61, 64, 86, 93 Monty Python ......................................................................................................................... 1, 6 Mortensen, R., Dennis .............................................................................................................. 63 MP3 .............................................................................................................................. 3, 56, 94 MSN ....................................................................................................................................... 60 MTV .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Mumbai................................................................................................................................... 40 Museum .................................................................................................................................. 18 Musician.................................................................................................................................. 71 Mybloglog ............................................................................................................................... 60 MySpace ................................................................................................................................. 77 Mystery Matador ...................................................................................................................... 34 MyWeb .................................................................................................................................... 41 N Narcolepsy .............................................................................................................................. 45 National Congress .............................................................................................................. 15-16 Nature Publishing Group .......................................................................................................... 18 Nesquik ................................................................................................................................... 14 Netherlands ............................................................................................................................. 28 NetNewsWire ........................................................................................................................... 73 Netvouz ................................................................................................................................... 41 Network ..................................................................................... 8, 31, 40-42, 63, 68, 75-80, 82 Network Solutions .................................................................................................................... 82 New Collins Concise English Dictionary ....................................................................................... 2 New Riders .............................................................................................................................. 93 New York City .......................................................................................................................... 46 New York Times ......................................................................................................39, 44, 56, 64 News Bin ................................................................................................................................. 74 News Comes To You................................................................................................................. 74

104

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

NewsGator ......................................................................................................................... 73-74 NewsGator Inbox ..................................................................................................................... 73 NewsGator Online ................................................................................................................... 74 Newsgator Technologies ........................................................................................................... 73 Newsvine ........................................................................................................................... 41, 80 Nicotto Town............................................................................................................................ 13 Nielson Online .................................................................................................................. 69, 81 Ninety Nine Restaurant ............................................................................................................. 53 Ning ID ................................................................................................................................... 79 Ningbar................................................................................................................................... 79 Nissan ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Noble, Steven .......................................................................................................................... 29 NOKA ..................................................................................................................................... 45 North America ............................................................................................................. 13, 15, 46 North Carolina State University.................................................................................................. 18 Nurien ............................................................................................................................... 24, 26 O O2 ......................................................................................................................................... 85 OpenSecrets ............................................................................................................................ 78 OpenSim ................................................................................................................................. 20 Opportunities ............................................................................. 1, 22, 24, 49-51, 64, 71, 75, 79 Orange ............................................................................................................................. 14, 73 Outlook.............................................................................................................................. 73-75 Owyang, Jeremiah ..................................................................................................35, 57-58, 91 P Pacific ......................................................................................................................... 13, 26, 46 Page..............................................................8, 10, 20, 37, 56, 59, 62-63, 70-72, 79-80, 83, 95 Pages ..............................................................7-8, 10, 19, 44, 54, 67, 70, 72, 77, 79-80, 94-95 Paine, KD .....................................................................................................................55, 64-65 Papworth, Laurel ................................................................................................................ 72, 91 Paradise .................................................................................................................................. 86 Passion ................................................................................................................................... 53 PC ............................................................................................................................................ 3 PDA ........................................................................................................................................ 85 PDF.......................................................................................................................29, 32, 56, 84 Peachpit Press .......................................................................................................................... 92 Penguin .............................................................................................................................. 13-14 Percentage ................................................................................................................... 28, 30, 59 Performance Technologies ......................................................................................................... 79 Permission Marketing ................................................................................................................ 93 Perseus Publishing .................................................................................................................... 93 Photos ............................................................................................ 20-21, 35, 41, 69-71, 78, 82

105

Index

Physician ................................................................................................................................... 9 Picasa ..................................................................................................................................... 60 Picture ...................................................................................................................42, 61, 78, 94 Pitman Publishing ..................................................................................................................... 65 Plan ..................................................................................................... 33, 47-48, 53-54, 58, 77 Plaxo ................................................................................................................................. 41, 82 Playboy.................................................................................................................................... 14 Playstation ............................................................................................................................... 24 PocketTweets ............................................................................................................................ 10 Podcast....................................................................................................................3-4, 9, 92-94 Podcasters ........................................................................................................................... 3, 94 Podcasts ...................................................................................... 3-4, 32, 39, 60, 75, 82, 92, 94 POP ............................................................................................................................ 42, 68, 94 Portfolio ................................................................................................................................... 93 Power Systems .......................................................................................................................... 17 PowerPoint ......................................................................................................................... 34, 65 PowerPoints ................................................................................................................................ 5 PR ....................................................................................... 3, 35, 37, 43-44, 46, 58, 72, 87, 92 Presentation .................................................................................................. 5, 8, 15, 17, 59, 65 Print ................................................................................................................33, 35, 51, 54, 56 Product ............................................ 6, 29, 34, 37, 41, 51, 53-54, 58, 65, 70-71, 73-74, 76, 93 Project ............................................................................................................5-8, 18, 20, 22, 67 Project Wonderland .................................................................................................................. 20 PS3 ......................................................................................................................................... 26 PSFK ....................................................................................................................................... 57 Publishers International Marketing.............................................................................................. 53 R RAAF ....................................................................................................................................... 30 Rahodeb .................................................................................................................................. 44 Rank ................................................................................................................................. 38, 63 Readers ....................................................................................... 3, 9, 35, 39, 41, 44, 59, 73-74 Really Simple Syndication ...................................................................................................... 8, 94 Rebroadcasting Tools ................................................................................................................ 39 Recruitment ......................................................................................................14, 16, 30, 76, 87 Reddit.......................................................................................................................... 41, 59, 80 Redman, E., Brian ...................................................................................................................... 2 Reebok .................................................................................................................................... 14 Reports ......................................................................................................14, 30, 32, 56, 59, 80 Research.................................................5, 14, 17, 27, 29-30, 32, 36, 57, 67, 76-77, 82, 84, 93 Residents ............................................................................................................9, 20, 26-30, 95 Resources ..............................................................................................9, 19, 32, 48, 50, 64, 91 Respect .............................................................................................................21-22, 50, 52, 88 Revenue .....................................................................................................13, 24, 30-31, 50, 79

106

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

Review ......................................................................................................................... 56, 62, 72 Reviews ................................................................................................................................... 71 Robot Wisdom ........................................................................................................................... 2 ROI ..................................................................................................................59, 62-63, 72, 80 Rolls Royce .............................................................................................................................. 46 Rootwork ........................................................................................................................... 78, 84 Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation ..................................................................................... 18 Royal Australian Air Force ......................................................................................................... 30 RSPCA ..................................................................................................................................... 62 S Satchmo .................................................................................................................................. 87 School of Communication......................................................................................................... 17 Schultze, Axel ........................................................................................................................... 64 Search ................................................ 8-9, 20, 38, 40, 45, 59-60, 64, 74-76, 80, 82, 84, 88, 94 Second Life Association of Certified Public Accountants ............................................................... 15 Second Life Association of CPAs ................................................................................................ 15 Senate Committee .................................................................................................................... 78 Service ............4, 9, 13, 18, 29, 31, 39, 41-42, 45-46, 52-54, 67, 69, 71, 73, 76, 79-80, 82, 84 Setting ................................................................................. 9, 37, 50, 53-54, 59, 64, 71, 79, 93 Shakespeare .............................................................................................................................. 2 Shareholders ...................................................................................................................... 47, 52 Shopping ................................................................................................................................. 19 Siau, Keng, Dr. ........................................................................................................................ 17 Sinickas, Angela ................................................................................................................. 55, 64 Sites ............................................3-4, 8, 21, 24, 34, 36-40, 42, 59-60, 67-70, 79-80, 87, 93-95 Sky News ................................................................................................................................. 14 Skype ........................................................................................................................................ 4 SlashDot .................................................................................................................................. 41 Slideshare .................................................................................................................5, 64-65, 84 SMART ...................................................................................... 10, 23-24, 32, 38-40, 76, 85-86 Smart Phones ................................................................................................................32, 85-86 SmashFly Technologies ............................................................................................................. 16 Social Media Aggregation......................................................................................................... 39 Social Media Influence ............................................................................................................. 36 Social Media Marketing ................................................................................................ 42, 59, 75 Social Media Statistics .............................................................................................................. 64 Sony ............................................................................................................................ 24, 26, 31 Sony Computer Entertainment ................................................................................................... 24 Source................................................................................. 5, 20, 22-23, 29, 55, 67, 76, 84, 86 South Australia ..................................................................................................................... 8, 62 South Korea ............................................................................................................................. 24 Space ....................................................................................... 18-19, 23, 38, 42, 59, 83, 85-87 Spain ...................................................................................................................................... 28

107

Index

Spandex .................................................................................................................................. 34 Starbucks ............................................................................................................................ 45-46 Stardoll.................................................................................................................................... 13 Starfruit ................................................................................................................................... 14 Status Update ..................................................................................................................... 71-72 Strategies ................................................................................................................22, 50-51, 53 Strategy .......................................................5, 16, 27, 30, 32, 40, 47-50, 53, 55, 64, 70, 73, 78 Studies ............................................................................................................. 6, 17, 22, 37, 71 Subscriptions .................................................................................................................68, 73-74 Success Networks ..................................................................................................................... 53 SUVs ....................................................................................................................................... 47 Swedish Embassy...................................................................................................................... 14 SWOT ..................................................................................................................................... 49 SystemiNetwork ........................................................................................................................ 18 T Taco Bell ................................................................................................................................. 45 Tag ........................................................................................................................67-68, 70, 94 Target .................................................................................................. 27, 34-35, 42, 44, 48, 83 Technorati Authority .................................................................................................................. 38 Technorati Rank........................................................................................................................ 38 TechWorld ......................................................................................................................... 35, 46 Teens........................................................................................................................... 27, 77, 81 Television .....................................................................................................2, 29, 45, 51, 55, 83 Threats ............................................................................................................................... 49-50 Toyota ............................................................................................................................... 14, 51 Trafcom News .......................................................................................................................... 92 Traffic ....................................................................................................9, 58, 63, 69, 72, 81, 83 Training ................................................................................... 1, 5, 15-17, 22-23, 30, 75, 83-84 Troll................................................................................................................................... 44, 94 Tweet ..................................................................................................................9, 40, 77, 81-82 TweetDeck ..................................................................................................................... 9, 40, 80 Twitterati .................................................................................................................................... 9 Twitterers ........................................................................................................................... 40, 81 Twittersphere ................................................................................................................ 40, 43, 82 U UK .............................................................................................................10, 14-15, 32, 70, 84 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ............................................................................... 18 University of Houston Department of Health ............................................................................... 18 University of London ................................................................................................................. 17 University of Nebraska-Lincoln .................................................................................................. 17 University of South Australia ..................................................................................................... 17 University of Tennessee ............................................................................................................. 39

108

Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape

University of Texas .................................................................................................................... 18 Updates........................................................................................................9, 36, 40, 71-72, 75 US Entertainment Merchants Association .................................................................................... 32 Users .............................................................3, 9, 13, 18, 24, 26-28, 30-31, 40, 42, 44, 57, 60, 63, 67-69, 74, 77, 79-80, 84-85, 94-95 V Valuation ................................................................................................................................. 13 Verizon .................................................................................................................................... 47 Video .............................3-4, 6, 16, 33-35, 43, 45-46, 57, 61, 70, 74, 77, 79, 83-85, 87, 93-95 Videos ...............................................................10, 22, 39, 41, 44-45, 60, 70-71, 75, 83-84, 87 Vimeo ................................................................................................................................. 4, 87 Visa......................................................................................................................................... 14 Visits......................................................................................................................55, 60, 80, 87 Vodafone ................................................................................................................................. 14 Voice Over Internet Protocol ........................................................................................................ 4 VOIP ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Voyage .................................................................................................................................... 18 VP of Digital Communication .................................................................................................... 60 VWs ........................................................................................................................................ 95 W Walkman ................................................................................................................................. 85 Wall Street Journal.......................................................................................................... 2, 35, 73 Washington Post .................................................................................................................... 39, 56 Watches .................................................................................................................................. 74 Website ........................................................ 4, 10, 22-23, 34-36, 38, 41, 43-44, 54, 56, 58-59, 63, 67-68, 70-71, 73-74, 76, 79, 83, 93-95 Wenzel, Elsa ........................................................................................................................... 73 White, Graham ........................................................................................................................ 77 Whole Foods ........................................................................................................................... 44 Widget .................................................................................................................................... 95 Wilde, Oscar ............................................................................................................................ 6 Widmer, Kathy.................................................................................................................... 35, 58 Wiki .............................................................................................................4-10, 20, 32, 59, 95 Wikinomics .............................................................................................................................. 93 Wikipatterns ............................................................................................................................. 93 Wikipedia ...................................................................................................................... 6, 32, 95 Wikis ..................................................................................................................... 5-6, 8, 22, 95 Wild Oats ................................................................................................................................ 44 Wiley Publishing Inc .................................................................................................................. 93 Windows .............................................................................................. 39, 41-42, 69, 73-74, 80 Windows Live ............................................................................................................... 39, 41, 80 Windows Outlook .................................................................................................................... 74

109

Index

Winer, Dave ............................................................................................................................... 3 Wired Magazine ....................................................................................................................... 57 WM......................................................................................................................................... 35 Wordpress ............................................................................................................................... 60 World of Warcraft ......................................................................................................... 23, 25, 30 World Wide Web ...................................................................................................................... 33 Wright State University .............................................................................................................. 17 X XBox........................................................................................................................................ 24 Xenix ....................................................................................................................................... 34 XLS 72 Y Yahoo ............................................................................................. 4, 41-42, 44, 60, 63, 68, 75 Yahoo Bookmarks .................................................................................................................... 41 Yahoo Finance ......................................................................................................................... 44 Yahoo Mail ........................................................................................................................ 42, 68 Yahoo Web Analytics ................................................................................................................ 63 Yoshinoya ................................................................................................................................ 52 Young Foundation .................................................................................................................... 18 YouTube .................................................................................................................................. 83 YoVille ............................................................................................................................... 13, 26 Yves Saint Laurent .................................................................................................................... 14 Z Zuckerberg, Mark ..................................................................................................................... 69

110