The Cluetrain Manifesto

I feel like everyone has read this book but me. I had heard quite a bit about it, but never actually read it. I felt like the one who needed to get on the Cluetrain, so I’m glad to say that I have finally read the book.

The Cluetrain Manifesto written by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searis, and David Weinberger identifies the “95 theses for the people of the Earth.” The authors write that corporations are not keeping pace with the global conversation that is taking place on the Internet. Real, genuine conversations are taking place between active participants and markets (as the authors call them), yet many companies are not responding by jumping into the conversations and providing the same genuine conversation in return. The book focuses on “the new marketplace” – that is, one that is taking place online. 

As a public relations professional, #62 frankly scares me. “Markets do not want to talk to flacks and hucksters. They want to particpate in the conversations going on behind the corporate firewall.” As I said, this scares me, but I also understand it. Most reporters don’t want to talk to me. They want to get through me to our lobbyists, or our economists, etc. And now that our Chief Ecnomist is on Twitter, reporters can reach him directly there. Why would they need to go through me? But let’s not completely discount my profession. Public relations professionals are necessary and invaluable to an organization. But that’s an argument for another time.

The authors vision for the Internet is interesting. The new realities of this digital age must be handled appropriately. Yes, the reaction to “the new marketplace” has been slow,  Slowly though, I think corporations are finding solutions. Through engagement on Facebook and Twitter, and through corporate blogging – some really seem to get it. But an open dialogue between a company and its’ customers or between a politician and a supporter can only go so far. There needs to be a balance between sharing and telling too much.

Congress.org

I received a call last week from a reporter with Roll Call. During our conversation about the article she was writing, she mentioned that it was actually for Congress.org. I had heard of this website, but looked much further into it after talking with this reporter.

Congress.org is a relativiely new project of the CQ-Roll Call Group. Congress.org is powered by CQ-Roll Call affiliates Capitol Advantage and Knowlegis — private, nonpartisan companies that specialize in facilitating civic involvement.

A nonpartisan news and information website, Congress.org encourages civic participation. From Congress.org: “Our mission is to provide information about public policy issues of the day and tips on effective advocacy so that citizens can make their voices heard. The heart of Congress.org is an award-winning software program that makes it easy for citizens to write their elected officials. Our software assures that your letter will be delivered directly to the decision-makers whose opinions you hope to influence.”

Congress.org is currently offering a $5 Starbucks gift card just for becoming a fan of Congress.org on Facebook. Not a bad idea.

The website provides news and information, as well as alters from various groups and organizations pleading for people to get involved and support their cause. Users can become members and establish a profile on the site.

Congress.org seems like a great idea. It’s free and easy to “join the conversation” and “engage other citizens.” Who wouldn’t want to do this? I wonder if it will be a success? If people will go to Congree.org for their news and information, and then to reach out to their member of Congress. Or will they stick with Facebook, Twitter, and blogs as seems to be the current trend.

Best Practices for Political Advertising Online

Best Practices for Political Advertising Online is a collection of best practices for paid online advertising. Gathering the ideas and expertise of several major players in this arena and putting them in one document helps to illustrate the how and why behind online political advertising.Julie Barko Germany is the editor of the publication and director of George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet.

In today’s political landscape, online advertising is no longer an option – it is mandatory. Any successful candidate in the past few cycles has utlitized online advertising. Developing a strategy that incorporates paid online advertising with the more traditional mediums (radio, print, television) is the new norm in political campaigns.Will Feltus from National Media  was a recent guest speaker in another course I am taking this semester. Feltus spoke about media buying and placement. He focused his discussion on television advertising, only briefly mentioning online advertising. He said that television is still the number one market for political advertising. It is true that a political campaign must advertise on television. It’s essential and there is no way around it. But television alone will not work. Television advertising must be part of a broader plan that includes online advertising.  

I particularly enjoyed reading ”The Political Corner” a conversation with a former colleague of mine, Mindy Finn. Mindy and I worked together on the Santorum re-election campaign in 2006. I learned a lot working with Mindy throughout the course of the campaign and I have enjoyed watching her career grow as it has over the past few years. As the director of online strategy for Mitt Romney’s Presidential campaign and the former deputy director of the RNC’s eCampaign and deputy webmaster for Bush-Cheney 04, Mindy knows a great deal about the importance on political advertising. Mindy provides great advice to newcomers: don’t get overwhelmed. She says, “Take it one step at a time and don’t be turned off out of simply not understanding. Start with a simple search marketing campaign, especially to access terms that are rightfully yours.”

I have to admit that some of the information was a little foreign to me. Having no real experience working with online advertising, I am pretty green on this topic. This guidebook certainly helped improve my knowledge base, but I have a long way to go (particulary in the areas of SEO CPC, etc.

I came across an interesting Twitter conversation last week between MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer and blogger Brian Stroup. While discussing last week’s vote on gay marriage in Maine on-air, Brewer used the words “traditional marriage.” The response from pro-gay marriage advocates was a barrage of anger to what they perceive as an anti-gay sentiment. Most of this took place over Twitter. The worst comment came from Stroup…

BS: @contessabrewer I always had an inkling you were a secret cunt. But really? http://bit.ly/9ULOD (thanks @AlterNet)

Instead of ignoring it, Brewer responded:

CB: @brianstroup Your mother should wash your mouth out with soap. What a filthy, misogynistic word to use!

At which point, Stroup was foreced to apologize for his inappropriate and immature behavior:

BS: @contessabrewer I apologize for the nasty word I directed at you. You are not the enemy, only an accomplice. We both must watch our language

Brewer was the clear winner in this case. Stroup looked like a jerk who had to resort to degrading name calling to get his point across. Brewer did the right thing by calling Stroup out. Yes, she risked bringing way more attention to his comment by addressing it – but she simply couldn’t ignore it.

Many people, companies, newsmakers, journalists, etc. face a tough call like this one. Respond or ignore? Engage or not? In my opinon, it should be done on a case-by-case basis. There isn’t a one size fits all answer to this. The call should be made based on the situation.

techPresident.com

techPresident  is a website full of information, resources and news related to technology and politics. Entries are well-written, concise and informative – drawing a reader’s attention to perhaps something they would have otherwise missed.

One post that caught my attention was “House GOP’s WhipCast: Mobilizing the Minority” on October 29, 2009 written by Nancy Scola. The post was inspired by Mike Allen’s Politico article on a new BlackBerry application for House Republicans to stay updated with news on the House floor, track legislation, have mobile access to congressional reports.

Scola indicates that WhipCast has a lot of potential, mostly because it allows busy Members of Congress to keep up to speed with information and the ongoings of the House.

Scolar writes, ”If WhipCast can get the kinks worked out — and if folks in and out of the House actually find it useful and intuitive enough to actually use it — the app could prove itself a useful tool for House Republicans as they attempt to organize their minority.”

The ability to have this information at the fingertips of a busy House Republican is certianly an advantage. As another techPresident post from June 2008 indicates, many Members of Congress are “CrackBerry” addicts so WhipCast will likely be a welcomed app to their BlackBerry.

Follow me!

Lately (with a heavy influence from this class), I have been obsessed with Twitter. I am tweeting more than ever. And, through what I have learned in this class and through watching others, I think I’m doing a pretty fine job at it. So where are all my followers?

As I discussed in a recent post, I was/am having trouble finding my Twitter voice…but I decided to not worry so much about that and just tweet when and what I want to. I’m not going to tweet about only restaurant industry specific topics (for work) or Republican politics or any other topic that I follow…rather, I am focusing on quality tweets that are interesting to others.

Apparently, I’m failing.

Right now, I have 238 followers. What gives? I thought I was doing everything right, but my following has slowed a great deal. I had more people following me when I was tweeting less. Are my tweets crap? Am I fooling myself into thinking I’m doing everything right? (well, at least most of the time). What can I do to increase followers? Is it because I don’t focus on one topic? I don’t know…lots of questions, seeking answers.

Follow me www.twitter.com/maureenryandc.

 

Are you really that busy?

Everyday we hear our friends, family members and co-workers say how busy they are. Either they are “super busy” or “pressed for time.” People wishing there were more hours in the day. My personal favorite is “I’m swamped.” Ugh.

So if everyone is really as busy as they say they are…then how do we all have time for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, blogging, YouTube, etc.?

A former colleague of mine recently posted this message on his Facebook page at 12:15pm on a weekday: “Sabbatical over, back to work.” After working as a consultant for several months, he was now starting a new full-time job as a CEO of a trade association. Not even five minutes later a “friend” of his thought it would be funny (I guess that’s what he was going for?) to comment “Then why are you on Facebook.” To which my friend wrote “Lunchbreak.”

A co-worker of mine is constantly complaining about how busy he is and his to do list just keeps getting longer. Yet, he is on Facebook countless hours of the day. Taking quizzes, playing games, chatting with friends. Makes me wonder a) If he’s busy, why is he on Facebook? and b) Is he that busy because he’s always on Facebook?

Has our society become obsessed with being busy? Is being busy the equivalent of being important? I think to some people, it is. If I’m busy at work and in my everyday life, then I am important.

The problem with this logic is that – well, it’s just not true. The other problem with this is that now your friends/followers are able to check up on you and see how busy you really are. Busted! We see you playing Farmville and tweeting about your lunch. If you are tweeting and Facebooking your way through a work day, then are you really “swamped”? No.

Sure, these technologies take minutes, seconds even. A tweet takes a moment, a mere 160 characters. But monitoring twitter, stalking people on Facebook, and reading/commenting takes hours. It ends up being a big chunk of your day.

For most PR professionals, it’s all part of a day’s work. It must be done. Keeping up with digital media is a job responsibility for (most of) us. But for others? It’s a hobby. It’s an activity. It’s fun.

So…next time you complain about how busy you are – just minutes after several lively hours playing Mafia wars…spare me, and everyone else. We see what you’re doing. You’re not that busy.