Archive for Social Media
July 20, 2010 at 8:12 am · Filed under Social Media
Friendships are easier in the digital age. Instead of long letters to two or three people, I post an update and voila - all my friends know what’s happening. Ethan’s soccer team won on Saturday! We had a family reunion in Richmond on Sunday! Man do I hate cold Monday mornings! Too easy!
Friendships are harder in the digital age. My friend Jenny left Australia last month and she’s living now in Chicago. I see her postings and add witty retorts. She asked: “Need suggestions…..what type of car would be best for living in Chicago?” Numerous comments flowed - most of them practical and plain. I got creative:
Now it’s 24 hours later and Jenny hasn’t replied. She’s not been on Facebook and hasn’t added to the conversation. So immediately I feel a need to un-friend her. How am I to maintain a friendship thousands of miles apart?
That last question is extremely selfish. I myself have changed continents four or five times. I’ve left established friend networks to take up new jobs in new cities. And now that I am the one left behind, I feel the raw anger and disappointment that comes from losing a friend.
Friendships in the digital age are no easier and no harder. They require effort and upkeep. You lose people to new cities, new jobs, new opportunities. But you make new friends.
Perhaps the lesson is that you need to calibrate your expectations of friends. Jenny is busy settling into a new city. She has no network and is busy unpacking, finding a school for her twin boys, finding a new hairdresser - all the challenges I am intimately familiar with.
I’ll continue to send witty missives - and look forward to the day we can laugh over them together. What’s a good time of year to visit Chicago?
May 24, 2010 at 9:20 am · Filed under Social Media
How many of us have the tenacity and determination to leave Facebook? It’s like peaking over the neighbour’s fence. We see photos of the kids and who is in a relationship. We get a status update the moment that relationship ends. I’ve reconnected with high school students I hadn’t seen…well…since high school. And I’ve updated everyone in my network on the minutiae of my life (Ethan’s lost tooth, our holiday to the Gold Coast).
So why the growing movement? And why the global drive to deplete some of the 400 million users? Already the dedicated web site has 13,638 people willing to close down their accounts (see Quit Facebook Day). It all centres on privacy.
In a public forum like this blog, I expect all and sundry to visit. In fact when my FireStats show a decrease in readership I worry. Wasn’t I wry enough? Did I lack relevance? If it weren’t for the trawling public I’d be another lunatic speaking to himself in solitude. (Now I’m a lunatic surrounded by readers!) Same with Twitter. These are public forums.
The disappointment with Facebook is the public-private conundrum. My Facebook account is private. I don’t allow work colleagues in. For them, there’s Linked In. But Facebook allows me to select who I share information with - or so we thought.
In an attempt to monetise Facebook, leaders at the site have created trapdoors in each and every person’s profile. That allows Facebook to share your data with advertisers. They can then tailor their materials to your specific interests.
And more and more, Facbook makes it harder and harder to find these trapdoors and seal them shut. Just when you’ve navigated the maze of Options and User Settings, the list is changed and you’re required to re-enter the labyrinth. Amazingly people often give op - and leave their trap doors swinging in the breeze.
So the cutting edge of technorati have finally tired of the game. They’re unwilling to have their personal data sold and exchanged. And they’re leaving Facebook - if not in droves, then in dribbles.
For the public, it won’t take the protestations of the electrified elite. Instead one more blunder by Facebook and their site will become tomorrow’s MySpace. An erroneous advertiser shoots off a dating site offer to members of a religious site? Or Moms are urged to visit a swinger’s site? Or worse?
Sooner or later the hand that has fed Facebook will be bitten - and by then it will be too late. But for now the scurrilous behaviour of ever-evolving privacy settings is the clearest signal. Facebook cannot be trusted.
April 19, 2010 at 10:29 am · Filed under more on me, Social Media
Last weekend Leichhardt Council organised a community garage sale day. Households were encouraged to off-load old goods one day in advance of council clean-up day. The goal was to reduce landfill and nearly everything went. What didn’t sell was left kerbside for scavengers to review overnight. By morning little was left. Mission accomplished!
During the sale I was distracted by an old box filled with old correspondence. My friends Iva and Bill were married 24 years ago. Their wedding invitation was there as good as new. One letter made me sad - it was from my grandmother. She and I shared a special relationship. She’s been dead for ten years now. There were first anniversary cards from my partner of 19 years. And letters - lots and lots of letters.
In the interests of second hand commerce I closed the box but refused to sell the container - or ditch the contents. Perhaps I’ll re-open that box another ten years from now and really review the contents. Or perhaps my son will ditch it when I’m dead. Who knows.
What I enjoyed the most was the ability to reflect back on all that had happened. That’s where electronic media lets us down. Will I prop myself up in a retirement village and scan old blog posts on an iPad? Could I shuffle my Flickr photos on an eFrame? And what about all the correspondence that I receive? Just because I helped Ashton Kutchner get to one million doesn’t mean I want his Tweets in my memory book.
The Library of Congress in the USA announced it is cataloguing and saving every Twitter posting since 2006. As there are 300,000 new updates each day the investment in data storage technology is considerable. (Until we all get a 1TB USB free with a petrol fill.) It’s nice to read our micro-blogging conversations will be stored, catalogued and ready for retrieval.
Perhaps one day I will go back over all my postings (”G’Day old self - and you thought 48 was bad!”). Yesterday we took Ethan to the Powerhouse Museum and revelled over their exhibition, “The 80s Are Back.” There was an old mix tape - just like the ‘best of’ cassettes I loved. Those days you needed absolute quiet and precision timing with your record player to make sure the segues weren’t faulty. Now it’s a case of drag and drop with the click of options to ensure a smooth transition.
Hopefully the quick and efficient review of on-line correspondence and postings will be that simple in years to come. If not? Frankie Says Relax.
March 9, 2010 at 4:09 pm · Filed under Social Media
There are so many useful platforms in social media it’s hard to keep track of what to use when. For the marketing professional, you may want a site that optimises your search engine, or something else that gives you good brand exposure.
Making the social media rounds this week is a wonderful chart put together by CMO.com. This is a group for Chief Marketing Officers and is laden with useful information and tools. The chart below can be downloaded as a .pdf file by clicking here: Social Media Landscape
Now you know that Twitter is good for customer communication, and Linked In is awful for driving traffic to your site. Who knew? CMO knew!
March 8, 2010 at 7:19 pm · Filed under America, Social Media
The downside of living in Australia is the Oscars are held during our work day. While North Americans are snug in their TV rooms we’re in our cubicles hashing out assignments. It’s the nature of our time zone. Yes, one of the penalties of living in the world’s most livable city is we’re always a day ahead. Alas.
Yet on Oscar night the torment is all the worse. In the Age of Twitter, every update was available on the instant. Even Associated Press couldn’t post wire columns fast enough to keep up with the flow from Twitter. Charlize Theron’s dress?
: Just had my fix of the Oscars dresses- Rachel mcAdams looked fab in Elie Saab but what was Charlize Theron thinking?!
When some favourite films were overlooked?
: WHAT THE F**K?!?!?! HOW DID PRECIOUSNOT WIN?!?? Yo this s**t is fkn FIXED! Ugh! -____-
(Apologies She_Beautiful as I have corporate minders to watch so I asterisked your post!)
: Why Oscar chose “Hurt Locker” over “Avatar”
And of course the after-parties!
: I have 2 admit Grammy after partiesare awsome, but Oscar parties are fabulous. Vanity Fair party was breathtaking.
Now why did Vanity Fair misplace my invitation again? That’s 20 years in a row!
The Twitter posts came so fast and so furious it was hard to keep up. Near the conclusion I entered “Oscars” and a slew of postings came up. In under one minute and additional 28 posts were made on the same subject.
Of course it was hard to concentrate at work as colleagues screamed out “Jeff Bridges” or “Sandra Bullock” or “Up”! In the end the show has yet to start here in Sydney but I already know all the winners. I suppose getting a photo to go along will add the glamour to the clamour!
Or maybe not - Thanks E! Online for all the photos…
February 25, 2010 at 8:14 am · Filed under Australia, Social Media
I realised I was old when an invitation to a funeral via Facebook surprised me. I recognise the site’s appeal as I have friends and family in the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia. Facebook allows me to connect with these far-flung people. But never had I been alerted to a death and told of the funeral arrangements on-line. Welcome to 2010.
Notification of a death by Facebook isn’t uncommon. Teens build RIP and Memorial sites as soon as they learn of a friend’s death. This month in Sydney one family learned their son died via such a site. The police were challenged identifying the remains and couldn’t make a positive identification until five or six hours after the accident. In an SMS world, that’s equivalent to a week. By then RIP notices were popping up on the pages kept by the victim’s sisters.
The memorial site on Facebook is a perfect place for mourners to connect and share memories of the decedent. It is a safe and open site for all to gather - and memories to be shared.
Until recently.
Now Facebook memorial pages have become the targets of malice. In February 12 year old Elliot Fletcher was stabbed in the chest and killed during a schoolyard brawl. His assailant is incarcerated. That boy is 13.
If this tragedy weren’t sufficient, “opportunistic vandals” have degraded the memorial site for Elliot with notes of insult, hate and rage. Melbourne University’s Dr Lauren Rosewarne explains the attraction of international media and a high profile death attract people wanting attention. Hence they shock us all with their notes of hate on a site dedicated to a young victim.
The vast displays of mourning seemed to start after the death of Lady Diana. Stunned members of the public began leaving flowers at the gates of Buckingham Palace. Soon that delivery of flowers and stuffed animals and notes became the norm after a death. The short-lived tribute sites were usually at a victim’s home - or at the site where their body was discovered. It would be unthinkable to see these locations defaced.
Today police in the Queensland city of Bundaberg are monitoring Facebook sites devoted to eight year old murder victim Trinity Bates. While 3,900 people have joined one page, others have posted child pornography or messages in support of the apprehended murder suspect.
Perhaps technology is taking us too far. Perhaps there are some areas best left to face-to-face communication. After a death the natural place to gather is the victim’s home or funeral parlor. It allows a personal connection and sharing that on-line will never replicate. And if Drive Through Funeral Parlours open Down Under - like in America - you’ll be able to do so from the comfort of your car.
February 24, 2010 at 1:01 pm · Filed under Public Relations, Social Media
This morning I presented at a Dow Jones seminar here in Sydney at the up-market Hilton Hotel. Apparently they host a series of forums across Asia Pacific, and this was the first social media event in Australia this year. A similar event had been held in Singapore a few weeks back.
The audience of 150 people were predominantly from the client side, with fair representation from the major agencies. Leading banks, corporations, government departments and others attended.
The first speaker was Social Media Senior Advisor at Telstra – a real coal-face position. The last speaker was regional salesman for Dow Jones, Lars Voedisch (and former FH Singapore person!). In-between was yours truly!
Knowing many would focus on the tools and tips and case studies, I focused on the meta-trends (erosion of trust in institutions, explosion of publishing and thus the death of top-down communications). I said it would be a good deck for counsellors to use with their CEOs so they understood the framework for engaging in social media.
There was one reporter in attendance – Glen Frost from “The PR Report”. Also there was our new Account Director, Paris Brimo. I paired Glen and Paris so she’s now the “cover girl” for the next edition!
All in all a great way to spend the morning (and the better part of a day preparing the deck). If you need the slides they are here: http://www.slideshare.net/Wallyballoo
January 8, 2010 at 8:12 am · Filed under America, Social Media
Funny story making the rounds on-line today.
Young man hides 12 beers in his room. His sister reports it to their parents so he’s grounded. Beware – payback is a bitch!
With all this time on his hands, brother rummages through his sister’s room and finds her “Dream Boy” list. Ten minutes later that is up on Facebook with tags to all the boys mentioned. Pretty soon all of sister’s dream boys see exactly what she thinks of them.
How did she go to school the next day? And how did the boys of “Twighlight” respond to be tagged?
Read the story here…
January 5, 2010 at 8:46 am · Filed under Social Media
In 2009 social media became a part of our lives. We Tweeted updates and applauded Ashton Kutchner when he overtook CNN in the race to a million followers. We learned of the death of friends on Facebook - and even RSVP’d to funerals organised as a fan site. We became friends with people in Denmark and shared photos with Norwegians. On a mundane level, we alerted family when our kids lost their first tooth - with a YouTube video.
In all, 2009 was the year the genie left the bottle. We’ll never get it back in.
The blog “Capital Gig” has developed a list of the Top 20 Social Media Stories of 2010. I can’t find fault. Is there anything missing? US Airways crashes in Hudson? Got it! United breaks guitars? Already there! Michael Jackson’s death? Of course! And on and on and on - it is worth a careful review - click here.
Take a look. And if you haven’t see the dance entrance to Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz’ wedding, then take 5:09 minutes and watch this video. It will brighten your day. 39 million viewers on YouTube can’t be wrong!
November 17, 2009 at 3:23 pm · Filed under Social Media
How did I do it? For the past three years I’ve maintained an active blog. I worked to provide updates three or four times a week. My Twitter account (PercepCounsel) has a fair number of followers. On LinkedIn my network is extensive. And around the world I keep up with families and friends on Facebook.
At least I used to.
In October I started a new job. I went from running my own company to leading the Sydney office of Fleishman-Hillard, a global public relations and public relations consultancy.
And time disappeared!
I think it’s the thrill of a new, meaty role. There are so many areas for a dedicated communicator to get stuck into here. The business is solid but is primed to grow. There are fantastic consultants who are keen to continue their professional development. And the client list reads like a “Who’s Who” of multinationals and leading Australian enterprises.
Plus at heart I’m an energetic, dedicated person. So naturally if I need to give a lot to my job I give more.
My good mate Sarah Reed once told me it’s all about pace. She worries I try to take on too much and try too much – and risk burning out. And like a lot of people I listened and thought it insightful – and chose to ignore her advice. Aren’t people grand?
So forgive me if the latest on WallyDownUndy is a week old. Or my Tweets seem stale. Or I haven’t replied to your update on Linked In or seen your video on YouTube. Perhaps I’ll launch a new site – www.AmThereInSpirit.com…
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