Opinion Archive
Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
Return to the blog index.
The full title should probably be, "In our own minds, we all think what we blog is relevant to other people." That's one of the major appeals of blogging, it's self publishing. We get to say what we want and then other people read and respond (hopefully). There is a scary truth though and that is the 'importance' of what we say may not be that important.
As an experiment, a few months ago I unsubscribed from a number of 'influential' blogs....some might call them the dreaded A-list term, or in today's political climate 'agents of change'. Would I miss their commentary, would I miss out on the latest trends or topics?
Well a funny thing happened. Many of the folks I unsubscribed from were not missed at all. In fact I also never heard their names mentioned on other related blogs, or were directed there via links. Maybe this is a function of the blogging they're doing, less conversation, more talking at. Perhaps the real conversation has moved to Twitter?
The people I did miss though were what I would call friends or colleagues. I found myself missing their blogs not because of what they wrote about, I just missed them.
I'm still chewing through what this means in the evolution of social interactions online, but it does point back to the relationship aspect of things.
How many of the blogs you follow religiously are from 'industry leaders' and how many are from friends? In my experience my top folder in NetNewsWire is my friends folder.
Jake has some good points and there of course is interesting discussion going on in the commentary in his post about 'expertise'. There are those that talk and those that do.
I think some of it has to do with the work/blogging balance that many professionals have to face. When you're not busy with 'work' you have plenty of time to blog and participate in conversations. When work gets busy, the extra stuff tends to drop off. But then again that's not following our own advice, we always tell clients to make time for blogging, so we should as well :-)
I think it was last year that Tom Biro said something to like, "the reason I'm not blogging is because I"m busy doing actual client work." I chuckled at that statement and now with the full-time gig I understand what he means.
Should people follow the example one leads on a blog, or the example they provide via the work they do with their clients?
This post has been simmering for a while, but I just can't take it anymore. I was driven over the edge by a few things:
1. Todd's post of the state of 'practices' by some firms.
2. David's follow-up to that
3. Recent conference statements/events
Rant start//
Many times recently I've been sitting in conferences listening to 'experts' talk about various subjects. I've always said my definition of expert, especially when it comes to social media, is loosely defined as 'a few years ahead of you on the learning curve'. It's funny though that these experts were asking 'what is social media?' just a short time ago.
I sit in these conference session and I try not to be a Dave Winer and call out all the bullshit and look like an ass, but it has to stop. Some of us have been using Twitter to make our snarky comments, but the rest of the audience just sits and soaks up this knowledge. They don't know any better.
The other day at Executing Social Media conference in Atlanta, Paull Young reports that a speaker advocated that corporations edit their Wikipedia entries and insert links. Nice.
At the same conference a speaker used most of their time to pitch their product and subscriptions to their newsletter. Classy.
I've joked about making up simple little 'Bullshit' signs that we can hold up as a silent protest. Perhaps the speakers would see these and change course.
What to do? Ask your next social media 'expert' for some recent client projects they've developed. They don't have any? They've just been 'consulting' Nice.
Yes, you can still provide clients with a baseline of education without having much of a project base to draw from, but until you've actually run a social media campaign/project you just don't know it all. I'm not saying I know it all, it's a relative scale. If I say something you think is BS in a speech, call me on it, question it. Let's talk about it.
In the end the level of 'expert' and 'conference speaker/keynote' needs to be examined.
Rant over//
So what do we do? Start to publicly name the folks spewing BS and blatantly pitching audiences under the veil of an 'expert speaking'?
Interest in a recent Euro RSCG Magnet survey on journalists' use of blogs for reporting has picked up again. Shel Holtz, Editors Weblog, the Blog Herald and Brian Oberkirch all blogged about it recently. The study states that their research:
shows that more than half (51%) of journalists use Weblogs regularly—with 28% relying on them for day-to-day reporting
I will repeat what I said back in June when the report was first announced. I don't believe it. At least when it comes to regional and local newspapers. Yes, as Nick Wingfield says a majority of tech journalists probably use them and political reporters in DC do, but not in Florida.
I say, "who are they talking to?" The overwhelming number of journalists I talk to don't use them. I have had a number of interactions with large newsrooms in Florida and in almost every case the number of reporters using blogs is little to none.
After the initial announcement of the report I asked my contacts at PRNewswire and BusinessWire who interact with newsrooms about their thoughts. Their impressions echoed mine. The majority of journalists they talk to know very little about blogs, let alone use them for reporting.
Kaye Trammell and I traded some e-mails over this study back in June. Her comment:
Do I believe it? Ehhhhh .... I need to look more in to who their sample was first. I can't tell you how many journalists still call me to say, "I've been assigned to write this story about blogs & I don't know what one is ... can you help."
I have requested a complete copy of the report to see if it details the methodology of the sample. The PDF from the announcement does not provide those details. If the survey was web-based I think that would automatically skew their results to more tech-savvy reporters. Does anybody have the specifics of the survey they can share before I receive my copy?
Transparency is a big buzzword among PR bloggers. The gist is that you leave no secrets about your intentions or how you arrived at a conclusion. To borrow a bad pun, you lay all your cards on the table. But how far do we need to (or should) go to achieve transparency?
Transparency is a favorite topic of Neville Hobson. Doing a quick search on his site shows 152 occurences of 'transparency' alone. In the name of tranparency sites like Boing Boing allow anyone to look at their web server stats. Back in March Steve Rubel posted a link to his stats because of, "my interest in transparency." In another step, Steve also asked to receive any pitches via del.icio.us.
I am doing this not only to cut down my mail but to make the PR pitching process transparent so that everyone can see what I blog/don't blog.
He picked up the idea from Nick Denton of Gawker Media.
These are all great steps, but is it real transparency?
Continue reading "Transparency, How Far Do We Go?" »
Barry Bonds says he is out for the season following knee surgery last week. Sorry to be so skeptical, but how convenient. I am not sure of all the facts here, but if Barry is placed on injured reserve for the season does he avoid drug testing? This period of time will give him a few months to flush everything out of his system (if he is indeed doping, as per his grand jury testimony).
When he returns people will say, "Barry you've lost some muscle mass." His response can be, we'll I've been on injured reserve. But of course he'll be clean :-)
I guess one of the benefits of being sick in bed is that you can watch TV all day. Today's must see TV is the House hearing on steroids in baseball. If I was Bud Selig, after I saw the first panel, including Senator Jim Bunning, I would not be looking forward to my time in the hot seat.
The big bombshell to come out this morning is that the policy that new 'tougher' MLB announced recently is not as tough as it sounds. From CNN:
Baseball has said a first-time steroid offense would result in an immediate 10-day suspension without pay and that the player's name would be released to the public; a second offense would result in a 30-day suspension; a third offense would get a 60-day suspension; and a fourth offense would lead to a full year's suspension.
This is what we had all heard was the new policy from MLB. Of course anybody who follows cycling or other Olympic sports realizes that even that policy is a joke. So what's the real policy?
But the lawmakers say a draft of the policy provided to the committee is worded differently. They say the rule states that under a first offense a player would face either "a 10-day suspension or up to a $10,000 fine," and those who were fined would not be publicly identified. In essence, they say, one could pay the fine and avoid public ridicule and media scrutiny.
The policy continues along those lines for repeat offenders, according to the lawmakers. It says a second violation can be settled by either a "30-day suspension or up to a $25,000 fine." A third violation may be settled by either "a 60-day suspension or up to a $50,000 fine." The fourth violation could be settled by either "a one-year suspension or up to a $100,000 fine." The lawmakers noted that some star players make more than $100,000 per game.
So as one House Rep said, the fine is 10 days or 'up to $10,000', so under those guidelines I could be fined only $1.00. Yep that's right.
The word is that most of the players will take the fifth today. That will not play well in the court of public opinion.
I can't wait to hear Bud testify.
I have been sick since Saturday started with the flu, then moved on to a very bad sore throat. By Monday night my throat was so bad I could not sleep it was so painful. Time to go to the doctor.
Begin Rant
I arrive at 1:45 for my 2:00 appointment at Bond Clinic. I quickly check-in downstairs with insurance then head up to the fourth floor. Exiting the elevator there is a sign that says my doctor is to the left along with two other doctors. I proceed left and there is the standard check-in window, except it does not have my doctors name above it, the only names are the other two doctors. My doctor must be further down...no wait there are not more offices, I ask the girl at the first desk, "Is this Dr. Witter's office?" She gives me the stupid question look and says "Yes." I mention that there is no sign, she doesn't respond. The time is now shortly before 2:00.
I wait and wait. Luckily I had my iPod with me. 2:30, 2:45...I was able to listen to an entire George Carlin comedy special in the time I waited.
Back to the lack of a sign for a second. During the time I waited, two other people did the same thing I did, that is walk past the first window only to return and ask, "Is this Dr. Witter's office?" You think they need better signage?
Finally shortly after 3:00 I am called back. Of course the whole time I am waiting I am sweating and am in so much pain that I can't swallow without severe distress. In the exam room, the second wait begins. The doctor walks in at 3:15. A quick lookover and at 3:20 I am out the door. Including travel time, two hours of my day gone.
There is another major clinic in my city, Gessler Clinic, are their wait times just as bad? The one time I went there to see a specialist my wait time was less than 20 minutes. Is that indicative of their average wait time? I don't know.
All I know is that I have been going to Bond Clinic for years and always have a long wait. Bond Clinic needs to dramatically improve their customer experience and interior signage. Perhaps it's time to go somewhere else.
End Rant
During my time in Atlanta I listened to the radio while in the car, and remembered just how bad FM radio has become. (If you want to go anywhere around Atlanta by car, you will be in it for a while.) Specifically, I listened to 95.5 the Beat. Normally, I listen to CD's in the car, but I was in the 'big city' so I figured I'd give the local stations a try.
In the course of my various trips (mostly shopping) before Christmas I figure I was in the car approx. 20 times for various lengths of time, anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour.
I heard the same group of 5-10 songs over and over again. It would seem they played the same set every hour. Yep, all the latest from Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Lil Jon....over and over.
It got to be somewhat of a joke. Whenever I would go somewhere in the car, I would try to guess which song would probably be on. Of course my odds were good since I had a 1-in-5 chance.
During my recent vacation, I spent some time at my mother's in Duluth, GA (just a bit outside Atlanta). In Duluth they have an interesting solution for paying for trash disposal.
All trash must be placed in special 'Duluth City' trash bags in order to be collected. The bags are purple and have the city logo on them. You may purchase the bags at many of the major grocery stores in the Duluth area. The bags costs a few dollars each (I am not sure of the exact cost, but it's more then $1 each). The bags are somewhat large and can hold about 4 or 5 of your standard white, 15 gal. kitchen trash bags.
With the system, it's pay-per-use. Don't create much garbage? Then you don't pay as much. When my mom travels a bit for work, she may only have one bag per month.
Each resident is allowed a number or 'special pick-ups' each year. These would be for large items that may not fit in one of the bags.
I think the system is great. It also looks great to see a street lined with matching trash bags.
The latest 'grand idea' from Richard Branson and his Virgin empire is to start up a commercial space flight company. Virgin Galactic is a technology licensing deal with Mojave Aerospace Ventures - the US company behind SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne is tabbed to be the most likely winner of the X Prize.
Continue reading "Branson's Latest Idea and His Legacy" »
With my recent talk about blogs and their influence on the media and public relations, the Rathergate scandal could not have come at a better time. Sites like Instapundit have done a great job of following the downward spiral of CBS News.
Over at Mouse Planet they have an interesting article about how 60 Minutes looked for a story about safety and Disneyland. From the article: This reporter didn't seem to be investigating anything. It was as if she'd already written the program in her head and was casting actors to play The Informants.
6803 http://www.texas-hold-em-i.com play texas hold em online here.
What does is say when I look forward to reading Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback and Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quaterback more than watching the actual games?
I guess with the trend towards the fast-paced ESPN-style highlights on TV, reading a good column balances things out.
For the record I prefer Peter King to Gregg Easterbrook. I often find myselft skipping over sections of Gregg's column.
Two interesting stories in the past few days, both Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery fail to qualify in the 100M for US Olympic team.
Perhaps it was all the pressure related to the doping allegations they have been fighting? Or perhaps they're no longer on THG and can't repeat the performances they had before? Of course this does spare the USOC from having to remove Jones and Montgomery from the team had they qualified.
A recent CNNSI.com poll had 64% of people saying they did not believe Marion Jones when she said she had never taken any doping substances.
