While not as entertaining as Dowd’s piece, the article does offer some insights into the world of the entrepreneur, or “artist” as Stone says he would like to be remembered.

Stone is in the office from 7-7 or 8-8 but says he is “always on.” His iPhone is left on even when he sleeps, although he admits “I don’t always answer it.” Incredibly he says his guilty pleasure is watching TV and that he loves everything “from Gossip Girl to sci-fi.” I’m not sure when he has the time for that, or the painting of everyday objects he does in his “spare time.” At that point I started to wonder if Stone had developed some kind of time machine rather than a micro-blogging platform.

Other interesting tidbits include Stone’s stint as a caddy when he was 14. “I felt like a mule, carrying heavy golf clubs, for $12 a day. It was mind-numbing.” When asked about his most hated business expression Stone says “all of them” and “I always take “at the end of the day” literally, meaning at night.”

What really comes through is a that Stone is a nice guy who found himself at the helm of a social media juggernaut and had the brains to make the most of the opportunity. He says his best business decision was to give away as much data as possible and being open. There is the lesson for any budding internet entrepreneur. Be brave and open up to the collaborative input of the internet. As our recent webinar highlighted, it’s all about being ‘spreadable’.

By Michael Blankenship

An article on TechCrunch today compares and contrasts the October comScore estimates of Twitter (58.3 million unique visitors) and Wordpress (151.8 million unique visitors). Author Eric Schonfeld asks the question “…is blogging back, while microblogging is on the skids?”

The short answer, I think, is yes and no.  First, considering Wordpress experienced a growth of about 10 million unique visitors from September to October, blogging is indeed not dead. While Wordpress is only one of many blogging platforms, other platforms saw huge climbs in visitors as well. It is also worth noting that Wordpress is experiencing recent growth due to the acceptance of Wordpress as a valuable Web site CMS.  More people and companies are using Wordpress to manage their sites rather than as a blogging platform.

Second, microblogging is far from dead. While Twitter’s unique visitors are slightly down from September to October (about 100K), comScore does not track visits to Twitter via external applications and mobile platforms, such as TwitterBerry (now called OpenBeak), UberTwitter and HootSuite. Growth among Twitter users via the momentum of apps for iPhone and Blackberry is on the rise.

The correlation of microblogging to blogs is that microblogging has become the primary portal to the blogging world. Microblogging has permeated our lives as the leader in marketing news and blog headlines. I regularly find myself scanning my Twitter feed for article recommendations and trending topics to learn what’s going in the world. The number of blogs that exists makes it difficult to stay completely in the loop without the aide of microblogging. I rely on those I follow who make article recommendations via Twitter. In fact, I came across the TechCrunch article from a Tweet by @RobLongert.

As the media market dwindles, reporters are on the move, jumping jobs, changing beats and increasingly strapped for time and resources to do their due diligence when reporting. Moreover, there is stronger emphasis on speed versus accuracy. In fact, if you remember, Wall Street Journal’s managing editor issued a memo to staff in March saying that given revenue reality, all the Journal’s reporters will be judged by speed first, then everything else.

The result: sloppy journalism. - typos, misquotes, misattributes, and imbalanced reporting. With reporters focusing on being the first to report, the attitude is post now and adjust in real time as news unfolds. There is always time for getting the facts straight later, right? I’d say wrong, especially when a company’s reputation is involved.

So how do you hold journalists accountable, and how do clients who are misrepresented recover?

The Silicon Alley Insider wrote a story a couple weeks ago with a solution that caught my eye, “New PR: Beating Back Bad Press with Google AdWords.” The article talks about a PR practitioner that combats bad press from the New York Times in a non-traditional way - using Google Ad Words. 

Traditionally, when a company is the subject of a critical or unfavorable news story, we recommend a more strategic approach to mitigate damage. Typically, this involves writing a letter to the editor, issuing a press release, or maybe even demanding a correction when warranted.  In some cases, using social media to address the issue head on with activists is appropriate. At the end of the day though, none of these tactics are guaranteed.

One of these instances involves a New York Times front page story about hoki, a fish best known as the primary ingredient in the Filet-O-Fish, being at risk of depletion. Needless to say New Zealand companies that farm hoki weren’t pleased by the article because it implied irresponsible overfishing. 

When the Times refused to run a correction, the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council took a less  diplomatic and non-traditional approach by buying Google ads for keywords like “new Zealand hoki “ and “hoki new york times” in hope of clearing the air.

According to the article, “The ads sought to target people discussing or searching for more information about the story. They each linked to a page that purports to set the record straight about hoki fishing and includes emails exchanged with Times science editor Laura Chang.” The Silicon Alley Insider calls this move “Genius”!

Also, reported is that “Because the council’s hoki page was originally a straightforward description of the fish and its uses, the Times had linked to it in the third paragraph of the article, and 78,000 people clicked though, according to Sarah Crysell, a spokeswoman for the council. Taking advantage of that incoming traffic, the group transformed its hoki page into a rebuttal of the Times story.”

The PR firm involved coins this strategy “media accountability” – which I love. He claims it is his way of “holding the media accountable for their deliberate falsehoods” and dealing with “arrogant reporters who have a one-sided agenda.” 

The Silicon Alley Insider says the firm is representing their client’s interests like any other PR agency should and would.  And, doing it with Google AdWords is just a more novel and clever way of shedding like on the editor’s reprehensible behavior.

It’s hard to argue the effectiveness of this “hoki” tactic in terms of guerilla marketing within an overall communications strategy, however I do question its legitimacy as a stand-alone PR practice given that it’s no longer “earned media” but rather a “sponsored ad”. It’s like assuming the public perception of an advertorial and an article bylined by a reporter are the same.  It’s a rapid fire and easy to execute band aid to a problem, but not a long-term solution. The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council needs a more sustainable marketing approach to help them address this and other issues with those constituents that are central to their business. Tell us what you think.