And surprisingly, as noted in NPR post, BP has been good about sharing information using social media, however their messages and tactics have not stood the test of time.  Meaning (strike number one) BP rushed out information using social media channels that turned out not to be accurate and (strike number two) they put out the same information using social media channels as they released through more traditional PR channels like news releases.

Broadcasting the same information over both social media and traditional channels is a completely viable strategy and messages should be integrated, but social media (especially in a crisis situation) requires a little something extra: conversation.  BP is just talking at people, which is okay for an ad campaign, but not very effective on Facebook where people want and expect interaction and conversation.  No one likes being ignored, especially over such an emotional and serious issue like the oil spill.  And with their anger building, many people are flocking to satirical, negative Facebook and Twitter pages like Boycott BP and @BPGlobalPR to vent their anger and avoid a lot of the inaccurate spin that BP’s PR team is pushing out.

So BP, in addition to washing pelicans and hermit crabs and stopping the bajillion gallons of oil shooting into the Gulf every second, needs to revisit their social media strategy or risk #failure in yet another aspect of this tragedy.

This is my outlet to communicate about communication – social media, advocacy and politics in particular – as assigned by my professor in COMM 551.

http://commfessions.tumblr.com/

Well, sort of.  Unfortunately anything having to do with Facebook cannot be explained in less than 1000 words and at least 100 million angry users.  But I’ll do my best.

Facebook recently launched a new feature called Community Pages that are a new breed of topical pages tied to users’ stated profile interests.  These pages are owned collectively by the community and show a Wikipedia entry for the topic, as well as comments from others that mention the brand, candidate, topic etc.

Brands, as you can imagine, are slightly miffed by this uncontrolled presentation of their brand content. This feature has the potential to confuse users who are connected to the Community Page rather than (or in addition to) a company or candidate’s official page. It seems to me that these pages will just get in the way and these pages may just be more brand clutter on Facebook.

But Facebook’s development mantra has pretty much been “shoot first, apologize later” and it seems they’ve done it again with the community pages.  Either they really want to better connect their users (BS) or these pages are really meant to pressure more brands into creating their official pages and buying millions worth of advertising.

Nestlé’s decision comes after a tumultuous 8-weeks in which Greenpeace released a provocative video on YouTube to raise awareness of Nestlé’s questionable methods for acquiring palm oil.  The video, which likens eating a Kit Kat to eating an orangutan, was subsequently removed by Nestlé; an action that spurred an even greater backlash from the Greenpeace community who bombarded Nestlé with calls, emails and Facebook page comments. Now enter social media “meltdown” as Nestlé representatives responded to Facebook comments with mild requests for users to stop using altered versions of the Nestlé logo as their Facebook profile picture or risk their comments being taken down.  Needless to say, users were not happy with this restriction of their right to publicly protest on an open forum like a company’s Facebook page and the comment threads were shared on blogs and news articles across the Internet – directing even more negative attention toward Nestlé.

As a result of the targeted Greenpeace campaign and the added headache of a social media crisis, Nestlé was forced to pay attention and had to address the problems with the palm oil it buys. Hopefully, Nestlé’s new policies will help save some orangutans and make some of us feel better about eating Kit Kats.

Cha’s study discredits the notion that increasing followers increases influence.  And while counting followers is not necessarily a bad metric, it is not sufficient to capture influence.  Cha suggests that businesses should try to increase audience responsiveness, in the form of retweets and mentions, rather than just increasing the number of followers. I think influence is driven by trustworthiness, consistency, reciprocation, and technical expertise, not just by numbers as Cha suggests.  However, reach can be considered an important feature of influence as it enables the sender of information to have their message at least seen by a large number of people, and probably internalized and acted upon by some.

However, messages passed on within more strongly connected trusted networks have greater impact than those circulated through more dispersed communities.  So it’s give and take.  With a million followers, you have more people seeing your message, but have fewer guarantees they find value in it and be motivated to action.  But with 50 followers who you’ve shared a non-Internet based conversation with in your lifetime, you don’t have as many people seeing your message, but they are probably way more likely to trust and act on your recommendation or solicitation.

I’m torn on this debate.  How important is increasing Twitter followers to increasing influence?  Thoughts?

Gaining New Skills

My first assignment on my first day on the job was to write a blog entry introducing myself on Marketing Conversation.  Having never written a blog before, I was not completely confident just putting myself out there for everyone to read about – especially to an audience consisting of my new boss and work colleagues at Abraham Harrison as well as complete strangers who probably had years of experience in public relations on me.  I worked on my first post for hours – making sure I was funny, authentic, yet professional at the same time.  It was tough!  However, as I continued to write subsequent posts I began to find my own voice.  I did not have to be seen as a social media expert, but rather as someone who was learning about something new, and sharing my journey with readers.  I was also encouraged to be as authentic and opinionated as possible.  I was not to be writing a new story, but reflecting on the latest social media headlines and giving my opinion about it – just as a blog should be.  This experience inspired me to start Daily Social to continue to develop my voice and personal brand.

I also learned to channel that authenticity into the social media marketing campaigns Abraham Harrison creates for clients.  Blogger outreach, I learned, is not about email blasts to every blogger listed on Technorati, but is about providing targeted information to interested individuals in a personal and honest way.  Interaction with the public through other social media channels  should be approached in the same way –  to learn, listen and build honest relationships within social networks, no matter if you are representing yourself, your company or your client.

Future Career Plans

One of the main reasons I decided to come to American University and pursue my master’s in public communication was because I wanted to do something new.  Most early twenty-somethings coming from my previous job in international health and development go on to get their master’s in public health; but I wanted something different.  Because of this, I came to school with a desire to take advantage of any opportunities that came my way, even if they weren’t related to public health (especially if they weren’t related to public health).  So I arrived at American without any true 5-year plan, but a commitment to do my best to figure it out as I went.

Because of my internship with Abraham Harrison, I am excited (and even a bit qualified) to pursue job opportunities specifically related to social media.  More and more we are seeing positions open up called “community manager” or “social media specialist” and these are the positions that I am currently applying to.  I see social media and digital PR as really the cutting edge and future of communication as we know it, and I want to be marketable within that changing environment.

So thank you to everyone at Abraham Harrison who has patiently answered my 10,000 questions, given me challenging and worthwhile assignments, read countless drafts on my graduate capstone paper and offered me your professional advice, and most importantly, friendship.

Here’s a little excerpt from Humor Can Create Engagements by Aaron Perult at Forbes.com

Mistakenly, most PR execs are convinced the world lives and dies on the pages of media such as The Wall Street Journal, and lean toward using speakisms such as “strategic,” “results-oriented,” and “synergies,” words that have little meaning to actual human beings.

As a result, the companies and brands represented by these boredom ambassadors become further detached from consumers. They lose opportunities to endear themselves to audiences new and old, and instead reaffirm the stigma that they are managed by out-of-touch corporate drones just looking to turn a buck.

Consumers are, in fact, willing to engage with companies and brands in today’s online social forums. The trick is that people are looking for authentic, self-deprecating voices willing to not take themselves too seriously. Consider whether the PR staff for Hormel’s bacon brands could better spend their time creating an online, regional and national event vehicle like the World Bacon Games–where they hand out medals made of delicious bacon–as opposed to pleading with food reporters to write glowing reviews about their products. Since there are hundreds of bacon enthusiast websites and blogs online, and statistics such as between June 2008 and June 2009 there were more Web searches for “bacon” than “Barack Obama,” that would be a good bet, yes.

Now I can understand why people are getting all up in arms about privacy.  Facebook has the potential to collect the motherload of data about user preferences, interests an buying habits and channel this information to advertisers or the CIA.  However, during the F8 conference, Facebook did not make any official ad announcement, only that they didn’t have plans to change their current policy which allows developers to apply user data to target ads on their own site.

Phillip Rhoades wrote a great post earlier this week explaining why he thought these changes were “just some new toys, not the death of privacy,” and I agree. People are worried about Facebook becoming Big Brother and when the media uses phrases like “Facebook extended its tentacles across the internet today” and “its claws for pulling in outside content are now razor-sharp,” the privacy nervousness gets a little more acute.  But users should remember that if they agree to make something public by clicking a like button – it’s public.  And as Christina Warren says over at Mashable, “public no longer means ‘public on Facebook,’ public means ‘public in the Facebook ecosystem.’”

Just learn how to properly use Facebook’s privacy settings and educate yourself about how the personalized feeds work, and you’ll avoid the slimy tentacles and razor-sharp claws of the Facebook monster. And maybe, just maybe you’ll start to like the personalized playlist Pandora has put together for you based on what bands you have liked elsewhere on the web.  I think that might be pretty cool.

I was recently asked in an interview (top secret – no word on the outcome yet) why I started my blog. Although I had not rehearsed this answer like I did for 50 other Frequently Asked Interview Questions (just go ahead and ask me what my biggest weakness is), it was easy for me to find the right words. I started this blog with the intention of learning 1) how to post a blog, 2) about social media. You learn best by teaching, and I hope I’ve taught at least some of you a thing or two about Facebook, or Twitter or going on safari.

I’m working on a post right now for Marketing Conversation about this whole Facebook “like” button/taking over the Internet phenomenon and because when I learn, you learn, here is a bit of light reading for you:

What you should know about Facebook’s changes – CNN
What Facebook’s Latest Means for the Web – CNET
Facebook Open Graph: What it Means For Privacy – Mashable

Many thanks to the brilliant Shelli Silverstein for the design.  I’ll be breaking these babies out as soon as we print them later this week (I hope!).  So now that I’m professional, please offer me a job. okaythanksbye.