Introducing MicroPR, A PR Resource for Journalists, Analysts and Bloggers on Twitter

In the era of the Social Web, transparency, engagement, and a commitment to authentically connect people to your story are essential principles for practicing successful and meaningful Public Relations.

Concurrently, the socialization of media is creating new communities and communications channels that are empowering journalists, bloggers, analysts, as well as everyday people, to actively and passionately contribute, share, and discover the stories around us. It's changing the information ecosystem.

Media and communications professionals must stay connected and work together now more than ever to compete against the amplifying volume and frequency of information.

Stowe Boyd and I, in development with Christopher Peri, are contributing to the improvement of communications and relationships between media and PR.

PR + Media + Twitter = @MicroPR

If you don't have time to read the entire post, here's a quickstart guide:

• Journalists, bloggers, and analysts, send a tweet to @micropr (www.twitter.com/micropr) with what you need help with. The PR subscribers will read it and only those who can help will respond. Always start your message with @micropr.

• PR, follow @micropr to monitor the inbound reqests from the media and to determine how you can help. This is a listening and response service for you, not a broadcast channel. Do not send a message to @micropr unless you need the assistance of the PR community.

• If you want to refer to micropr on Twtter please use the hashtag, #micropr.

Remember, this is BETA, so if something goes wrong or if you have suggestions, please send me a message via @ or DM.

For those who wish to learn more about MicroPR, please continue...
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PR

As PR professionals, we’re driven to proactively identify relevant editorial and publicity opportunities to link our respective companies to the stories currently in progress. Today, we most likely use a combination of direct editorial calendars and services such as MyEdCals.com, Profnet, HARO (HelpaReporterOut.com), Vocus, among maintaining day-to-day relations with our contacts to stay in sync.

Media

Journalists, analysts, and bloggers face constant deadlines and experience practically impossible tasks of managing expansive networks of PR representatives, experts, and spokespeople who represent particular industries.

Twitter

Twitter is nothing short of phenomenal and it only continues to experience incredible growth in both traffic and users – currently at six million registered people. It has created a dedicated, vibrant community that will fundamentally change and improve the communications channel between media and PR.

@MicroPR

Introducing MicroPR (@micropr on twitter) a new, free service on Twitter that advocates the shift from Public Relations’ traditional broadcast pitch methodology to one of listening and individual response.

Through Twitter, MicroPR connects journalists and bloggers to qualified, targeted PR professionals who can help you with the stories you’re currently writing.

How MicroPR Works



MicroPR is an automated, solution designed for simplicity.

For Bloggers, journalists, analysts, when you need help with a story:

1. Send a public message on twitter to @MicroPR.

2. Your tweet will automatically retweet from the MicroPR account to the PR and communications professionals monitoring the stream or the feed.

3. A knowledgeable PR person following the #MicroPR feed will see your individual request and respond directly via your preferred channel.

Basically, you’re inviting the community to help crowdsource elements of your story to streamline the process of story development, reducing research time and improving its quality and accuracy.

Tip: try to keep your request under 140 characters as the Twitter community may also retweet your request through their personal accounts.

Tip #2: Share @micropr with your entire editorial department and community. The process will only improve the more you use it.

For Public Relations Professionals, either follow MicroPR or subscribe to the RSS feed on Twitter. You can also run active searches for “@MicroPR” on Search.Twitter.com or TweetScan.

Examples for Journalist, Bloggers, Analysts:

- Writers looking for help with on story development can send a tweet, “@micropr Need startup recommendations for story on new micromedia tools. Reply via public tweet to @reportername” (112 characters).

- Journalists, analysts and bloggers can share that they do or do not want to be pitched via Twitter and other micromedia tools. They can also announce their specific preferences for contact.

- They could declare what sorts of microPR they want (or don't want) to receive, and in what mode -- @public messages or direct/private.

- A writer can share relevant beats @micropr beats = #social #web #networks #automotive #environment #politics.

- Conference and awards organizers can call for speakers or submissions.

- Media can also block certain PR people who are doing it wrong.

- Other services could include scheduling calls and or meetings, etc.

Examples for PR and Marketing Professionals:

- This is mostly a tool for media to reach out to you, so please don’t abuse the @micropr channel.

- If you’re looking for strategic partners or information from the PR community, feel free to send a tweet to @micropr.

- Do not use MicroPR to proactively pitch media on Twitter. Stowe Boyd and I will be introducing TwitPitch shortly.

Tip: if you want to talk about MicroPR on Twitter and don’t wish for it to appear in the stream, use the Hash Tag, #MicroPR. For example, “I really love #MicroPR because it helps me build new relationships.”

M1cr0PR.com - A Wiki to Support the Refinement of @MicroPR

First, bookmark www.m1cr0pr.com.

M1cr0PR.com is a central resource for communications professionals to learn more about the principles, methodologies, and tools to enhance your relationships through brevity, fidelity, and clarity.

It is a community-powered wiki that features:
- A list of journalists, bloggers, and analysts on Twitter and their Twitter IDs
- A directory of Micromedia Tools for PR
- Links to helpful discussions on improving PR
- In the future, we’ll also feature an FAQ page (feel free to start one)

A Draft List of Media Currently on Twitter v2.0

Hopefully, this list triggered a Google Alert. This is your invitation to use @micropr to help you source information from the PR community without getting inundated with irrelevant pitches and responses.

Please note that this list is in the process of being updated and corrected over at www.m1cr0pr.com.

Adam Boulton, Sky News UK,
Allen Stern, CenterNetworks
Amanda Congdon, AmandaCongdon.com
Ana Marie Cox, Time.com
Anthony Ha, VentureBeat
Arthur Germain , Brand Telling
Bicyclemark, Citizen Reporter
Brent Terrazas, Brentter.com
Brian Morrissey, Adweek
C Kirkham, Times-Picayune
Carlo Longino, MobHappy
Caroline McCarthy, News.com
Chris Shipley
Chris Ziegler, Engadget
D Sarno, L.A. Times
Dan Farber, CNET
Dan Kaplan, VentureBeat
Dan Thomas, WSJ
Daniel Terdiman, Cnet
Darren Waters, BBC News
Dave Slusher, Evil Genius Chronicles
Dave Winer, Media Hacker
David Griner, Luckie.com
David Kirkpatric, Fortune
David Lidsky, Fast Company
David Wescott, Its Not A Lecture Blog
Dawn Foster, Fast Wonder
Dean Takahashi, Venture Beat
Doc Searls,
Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle
Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle
Dylan Tweeny, Wired.com
Elisabeth Lewin, PodcastingNews
Eric Schonfeld, TechCrunch
Eric Zeman, PhoneScoop
Etan Horowitz, Orlando Sentinel
Ginny Skal, NBC 17 Raleigh
Graeme Thickins, Tech~Surf~Blog
Harry McCracken, Technologizer
Heather Green, BusinessWeek
Henry Blodget, Silicon Alley Insider
Houston Chronicle, Houston Chronicle
Hugh MacLeod, Gaping Void
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Jason Calacanis, Mahalo
Jeff Pulver, Pulver Blog
Jemima Kiss, JemimaKiss.com + The Gaurdian
Jim Long, NBC
Jim Louderback, Revision3
Joel Johnson, BoingBoing
John Dickerson, Slate
John Dvorak, Dvorak Blog
John Markoff, NYT Bits Blog
John Paczkowski, AllThingsD
Jonathan Fingas, Electronista
Justin Beck, SF Chronicle
Justine Ezerik, Tasty Blog Snack
Kara Andrade, Maynard Institute
Kara Swisher, AllThingsD.com
Katie Fehrenbacher, Earth 2 Tech
Kevin Allison, Financial Times
Kristen Nicole, VentureBeat
Laura Lorek, My San Antonio Blog
Leo Laporte, Leoville.com
Lisa Picarille, Revenue Magazine
Liz Gannes, GigaOm
Loren Steffy, HoustonChronicle
Louis Gray, LouisGray.com
Marc Canter,
Mark Glaser, PBS
Mark Hopkins, Mashable
Mark Krynsky, Lifestream Blog
Marshall Kirkpatrick, Read Write Web
Mathew Ingram, MathewIngramBlog
Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo
MG Siegler, Paris Lemon + VentureBeat
Michael Banovsky, Banovsky Blog
Michael Singer, InformationWeek
Mike Arrington, TechCrunch
Mike Butcher, TechCrunch UK
Mike Cassidy, SJ MercNews
Molly Wood, CNET
Natali del Conte, CNET
Om Malik, GigaOM
Owen Thomas, Valleywag
Pete Cashmore, Mashable
Peter Ha, CrunchGear
Peter Rojas, Engadget
Rafe Needleman, Webware
Richard MacManus, ReadWriteWeb
Robert Hof, BusinessWeek
Robert Scoble, Fast Company
Robert W. Anderson, Expert Texture
Ryan Block
Saleem Kahn, tech journalist
Sam Whitmore, Media Survey
Sarah Lacy, BusinessWeek
Sarah Perez, Read Write Web
Saul Hansell, NY Times
Steve Baker, BusinessWeek
Steve Gillmor,
Steve Spaulding, How to Split an Atom
Stewart Alsop, StewartAlsop.com
Stowe Boyd, /Message
Tannette Elie, Milwaukee Journal
The Guy Report, ESPN &Playboy
Tod Maffin, CBC
Tom Foremski, Silicon Valley Watcher
Tom Merritt, CNET
Tricia Dureyee, MoCoNews
Veronica Belmont, Revision3
Walt Mossberg, AllThingsD/WJS
Wayne Sutton, NBC 17 Raleigh

Warning to PR: Only contact reporters and bloggers using their preferred methods and channels. Do not send spam. Doing so will not only get you blacklisted, but will also get you blocked on Twitter.

Stowe says it best, "On Twitter, I will simply block people that abuse my willingness to have an open dialog about products with PR folks, or basically anyone else, for that matter."

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Special thanks to Brad Mays and Evan Solomon for their priceless participation and advice.
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MicroPR on Twitter by Brian Solis
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Facebook's Attempt to Acquire Twitter = Fail Whale

Mark Zuckerberg at Web 2.0 Expo


Evan Williams at TechCrunch50

Kara Swisher has written a tremendous post on Facebook's quiet attempt at acquiring Twitter. It inspired me to share my thoughts on the subject.

During the Web 2.0 Summit, John Batelle interviewed Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, and if you listened closely enough, it was clear that Batelle was prodding Zuckerberg to validate the rumors that Facebook was exploring the possibility of acquiring Twitter.

With a teasing smile, Zuckerberg described Twitter an “elegant model” and professed that he was “ impressed by what they’ve done.”

Following the session, attendees poured into the hallways dissecting the dialogue to support or discount the prospect of such a bold acquisition.

Kara Swisher has confirmed the rumors, however, an acquisition is not imminent - at least not yet.

For the record, I had heard the rumors and was pretty confident that the discussions were taking place. What I couldn't fathom was how Facebook would leverage Twitter's unique model and culture as its community is radically more liberal and protective than that of Facebook. And, with Facebook Connect looming, it seems that Twitter, which is already appearing as an opt-in service in the Facebook News Feed, is only one of the many distributed communities that can collectively position Facebook as your central dashboard for managing the relationships that define your social graph and the information, content, and insight that defines, strengthens, and elevates it.


Mark Zuckerberg at F8 announcing Facebook Connect

For those who aren't yet familiar with Facebook Connect, it is a technical bridge that links your Facebook profile with other online identities and associated activity back to Facebook. It enables seamless integration between Web sites, pages, communities, and networks and the Facebook identity system. For example, if you’re commenting on a blog hosted on the Moveable Type platform, you can now login with your Facebook details and not only will your comment and link to your Facebook profile appear on the blog, the activity of commenting is also linked back into your activity feed for your friends and colleagues to see. Digg will also allow Diggers to log on using their centralized Facebook ID and for each story they digg, the activity is documented back on their profile. Facebook Connect partners already number in the hundreds.

Did I mention that Twitter is one of the original Facebook Connect partners?



Twitter has grown by over 600% in one year. From a business perspective, I can understand why Facebook would consider engaging in negotiations. Twitter is currently reporting six million registered users and last month, the micro community experienced its greatest traffic to date - bolstered by the 2008 Election.

The deal was close to finalization, but (thankfully) fell apart for very valid reasons.

According to Kara Swisher's post, Facebook was attempting to acquire Twitter for $500 million in a pure stock deal based on Facebook's heavily disputed $15 billion valuation. Analysts peg the true estimate of Facebook's market value closer to $5 billion, which would have positioned Twitter's sale price at roughly $150 million - a number that investors, the board, and the company's founders believe is far too low. Just for the record, Twitter's investments total ~$20 million with a valuation of $98 million.

Twitter preferred a cash deal, perhaps with stock, and that's understandable in this market. And there's a pervasive sentiment that the company might just have a successful run at generating revenue while continuing to grow the community and redefine how its users communicate with each other in the process.

From Facebook's perspective, the stock offer was a conservative approach that reflects the business state of Twitter. The company is not only generating $0 revenue, but its basically a substantial cost centert. Among salaries and other expenses with innovating and managing the service, Twitter pays for SMS fees associated with each text-based update. Facebook estimates that this could cost the company upwards of $75 million annually if Twitter was rolled out to its 120 million users.



While this deal might equal a Fail Whale for the moment, it potentially could have equated to a Fail Whale had it closed. I'm not privy to the integration strategies the companies discussed had the acquisition completed, but I can attest to the Twitter pushback that would have immediately surmounted. In simply tweeting Kara's post this morning, I was confronted with an overwhelming sense of relief that the deal fell apart. This isn't to say that Facebook won't eventually acquire Twitter or perhaps one of its eco-dependent services that also enhance and centralize the distributed micromedia experience, something like FriendFeed perhaps.

When Facebook Connect rolls out Web-wide, the terms of any acquisition discussion will dramatically change as personal Facebook News Feeds will only increase in value as they connect disparate services from across the web, your updates and the updates of your friends, to a centralized social dashboard.

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Barack Obama, The Social Web, and the Future of User-Generated Governance

What follows is the unedited version of my latest post for TechCrunch, "Is Obama Ready To Be a Two-Way President."


Source: Barack Obama's flickr stream

Where there’s victory, there’s also opportunity…

America voted while the entire world watched and listened. Whether you supported Obama or McCain, we equally shared the hope for positive change and a new beginning towards a brighter future. This Presidential election was the first in 50 years, in which there was no incumbent President or Vice President from either party competing for the Presidential nomination. On Tuesday November 4th, 2008, history was made and America is now poised to break new ground as it continues to define and document unwritten history as we work together over the next four years.

Close to 65% of the American population voted in this election, its highest turnout since the election of 1908.

By all means, this election was profound in its results. While I’m not an avid proponent of the Electoral College system for electing our President, the numbers were absolute and decisive. Obama won both the Electoral College vote 364 to 163 and the popular vote 53% to 46% with roughly 127,000,000 votes cast.


Credit: CNN

With Obama’s wins in key “swing states” including Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, this election is considered a monumental victory that fundamentally redrew America's political dynamics. A Democrat had not won Virginia and Indiana in a generation.

Obama’s victory is deeply symbolic. It is a justifying, magnificent, and powerful testament and redemption to those who have struggled for national and personal freedom throughout the history of the United States.

Congratulations is the very least I can send to Mr. Obama and his campaign team.

For the sake of this discussion, let’s examine the election another way, one that may bring to life a different picture of how Obama earned his place in history, and in doing so, his campaign both redrew political lines and also forever changed the political ecosystem.

Over 46% of American voters and 22 states sided with John McCain. Either way you look at it, it’s still a significant portion of America who didn’t believe #change or #hope were attributes of the Obama campaign. These voters believed their future lay with another candidate.

Politics aside, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Independent or member of the Green Party, we can not overlook the power of real world community relations combined with the reach and engagement of online social communities and networks.

Again, almost half the country was split with a noteworthy percentage heading into the election undecided.

Online tools such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter contributed to the netting of record-breaking campaign funding and the staggering galvanization of a younger generation of first-time voters who truly made an impact and a difference. The Obama campaign, for example, outspent McCain nearly three-to-one on TV ads toward the tail end of the campaign, which many credit the technology and the corresponding impact of sociology in of itself. The Obama campaign leveraged multiple technology platforms, social immersion strategies and good old fashioned door-to-door relationship building to engage constituents directly, raising an astounding $600 million in campaign contributions.

They went directly to the people online and in the real world.

The Obama team, for example befriended almost 130,000 friends on Twitter with an almost equal amount following him.



On Facebook, the Obama page boasted over three million fans compared to McCain’s 618,000.



YouTube also swayed towards Obama with a network of 358,000 to 191,000 with the Obama camp posting over 1,800 videos compared to McCain’s 330. These videos accounted for millions of views.

If you compare the other social networks and communities from FriendFeed to MySpace to Flickr, the stats are asymmetrical in Obama’s partiality.

Many of these two-way tools however, were simply used as broadcast mechanisms to send updates, solicit contributions, provide updates, and to also rally and unite supporters, albeit successfully.

Reaching the Other 46%

My question is, what if these same social media tools where deployed to not only communicate “to” constituents, but also to listen and interact with supporters as well as those who don’t currently endorse the President-elect?

I argue that if Obama dedicates a team aside from the outbound crew that "pushed" content through social channels in order to strategically reach, listen to, and embrace the 46 % that voted against him, he might be able to run a truly democratic term and head into the next election with a record-breaking approval rating – curtailing the necessity to campaign while in office in order to focus on the issues we elected him to fix – while also cultivating the country for greater future prosperity.

Winning over, conservatively estimating, 5% of voters who were on the fence but ultimately voted for McCain, accounts for almost three million votes.

Since 1954, the approval rating of each President has been actively tracked and published as a reflection of sentiment among the American people:

Among those Presidents with the worst all-time approval rating, our current President holds the dubious honor of ranking at the top:

- George W. Bush – 76% (in a report published 11/10)
- Truman – 67%
- Nixon – 66%
- George Bush – 60%

Perhaps even most concerning is that each President has historically disregarded these numbers so that they could focus on the issues at hand. If the Whitehouse were a business, many of these Presidents would have filed for political bankruptcy.

All signs and words emanating from the Obama camp and Mr. Obama himself, point to a strategy of leveraging today’s powerful, two-way bridges of communication.

In a text message sent to supporters on the eve of the election, he reaffirmed that they will be part of Presidency moving forward, “We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.”

But perhaps the most revealing promise that revealed Mr. Obama will run his office for the “people” of the United States, not just those who voted for him, was shared through his inspirational words on November 4th:

I will listen to you, especially when we disagree…and to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

His first step to bring the vision of running a cross party campaign is the launch of Change.gov, a portal for transparency and interaction during, and hopefully post the transition.

In a sense, Change.gov is a simple and engaging site, but also highly intricate in its goals to give voters a voice. It is resource center for sharing information, updates, jobs, and also provides a channel for people who share their vision, concern, and ideas with the President and his advisors through text, an uploaded image or video.

Mr. Obama offers a message to visitors:

I ask you to believe - not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours. I know this change is possible…because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America.



Change.gov is the first step in a long road of reshaping the dynamics of politics and communication with voters.

They’re on the right track however.

Obama’s history-making campaign that fused community relations with social sciences, after all, carried him to the Democratic nomination and also the Oval Office. Mr. Obama and his team have cultivated and collaborated with a database of millions of people that spans a sophisticated contact relationship management infrastructure that spans across the real world to all popular social networks.

With an elaborate and revolutionary channel that will only grow with his Presidency, Obama takes office with a powerful new medium that may eclipse the reach and drive of traditional broadcast media.

Transforming Voters into Customers, While Potentially Erasing Party Lines

But, what about those who voted against him?

What’s the channel for Obama to ask, “Why didn’t I get your vote?” Is it Change.gov or is it through the combination of inbound and outbound engagement that will unearth the concerns that offer genuine potential for not just listening, also but response and earned support?

Most successful businesses around the world place customers at the center of everything. Before the Web, Nordstrom built its engendering foundation on world-class, and now world famous, customer care. In today’s Social Web, Zappos is growing its business by engaging with customers and creating a public and transparent customer-focused culture that is quickly building the company into a global brand that will make it easy for the company to extend its business beyond shoes.

There’s an extraordinary opportunity here for the Whitehouse to leverage these new and influential channels of conversation to embrace and cultivate voters as if they were customers, winning market share, one person at a time.

This is era where information was and is democratized. It is also a live and unfiltered looking glass into the office of the Presidency and also the thoughts, insights, support, satisfaction, and grievances of the American People.

It’s a Two Way Street

This isn’t just about broadcasting content through new channels or merely soliciting feedback, participating in popular networks or actively listening, it’s the ability to identify and internalize themes to precipitate change and earn support through action – not just words.

For the first time, the U.S. President can simultaneously cultivate communities through traditional door-to-door interaction and also directly where people create, discover, and share information online.

Shortly after completing the first draft of this post, the Washington Post ran an article announcing that Mr. Obama will record the weekly Democratic address on the radio and also on Youtube. The videos will be hosted on Change.gov and the official YouTube video channel, with the first one already recorded.

Other opportunities include:

- Launch a social network at Change.gov and/or whitehouse.gov

- Create a citizen feedback and collaboration page at GetSatisfaction

- Solicit policy proposals that people can vote up or down on Change For Us.

- Open the blog to comments on Change.gov (with community moderation).

- Address the country on YouTube and all other video networks with updates, polls, and also address issues in between official State of the Union broadcasts.

- Capture behind-the-scenes footage of the inner workings of the White House and share across all video networks.

- Create a user-generated channel on Magnify.net that features content from constituents.

-Create an @obamacares or @whitehousecares account on Twitter and other micro-blogging communities to listen and respond directly within each network.

- Complement the Presidential radio show with a regular podcast or livecast on uStream.tv or BlogTalkRadio and also interact with the people online, in real time.

- Publish speeches and important policy documents on document networks such as Scribd and Docstoc to be shared and disseminated throughout blogs and personal social profile pages.

- Create a portable and evolving Obama Widget using a SproutBuilder.

(What other ideas do you have? Add them to comments).

This is how a President, or any politician or business for that matter, can authentically connect with the people formerly known as the audience - in the real world.

It creates the foundation for people to participate in a crowd-sourced Government that doesn’t need Congressmen to share discontent or new ideas. The Web cuts through political tape to spotlight real time threats and issues to expedite support and response.

It’s through this collaboration that any public official, particularly the President, can continually maintain a real-time pulse of the country to learn from the human effects and responses to actions to run a more in-tune and effective campaign.

It’s the art and science of stripping down the politics to reveal truth. This is a political ecology rooted in sociology and conversations. People shouldn’t only have a voice during an election time; listening and responding should be an ongoing practice and process of any office.

The President can't satisfy everyone, that’s just the reality. It’s human nature to disagree. This President-elect is not purporting to be perfect, but it seems he’s honestly willing to learn. With a national CTO in place combined with an informed engagement team versed in social sciences and psychology, we can use technology and two-way channels to not only increase economic efficiencies and boost education and media literacy, but also "listen" to those influential beacons in order to continue to redraw, or potentially erase, party lines.

My hope is that these incredible networks remain a constant source of conversation to extend beyond campaigning, but also collaborative governance that unite people across party lines.

It's not about being Republican or a Democrat, it's about representing the majority of the people, their views, passions, ambitions and struggles, in order to be a representative of the people for the people. This is Obama's opportunity to use the tools and channels of today's emerging voter demographics to rewrite the future of politics, while serving the best interests of the American People in the process.

Sometimes the best advisors and cabinet members are the very people who elected that person into office, and maybe, just maybe, also those who voted against him in the first place.

If the Obama camp reads this, I’m more than happy to release @obamacares and @whitehousecares on Twitter. I held them for you.

Special thanks to Drew Olanoff.
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Recommended Reading on PR 2.0:

- Al Gore on the Social Revolution for Change
- Reinventing Crisis Communications for the Social Web
- The State of Social Media 2008
- In the Social Web, We Are All Brand Managers
- The Social Revolution is Our Industrial Revolution
- The Essential Guide to Social Media
- The Social Media Manifesto
- PR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
- Introducing The Conversation Prism
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View or Download as a PDF or Word Doc: Barack Obama and the Future of Web-Based Politics

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: social media

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Now is Gone Celebrates First Anniversary

On November 13th, 2008, Geoff Livingston and I quietly celebrated the bookversary of Now is Gone, one of the first books that tackled the subject of social media and new PR strategies for corporate marketers and communicators.



As Geoff pointed over out at LivingstonBuzz, the book has earned tremendous milestones:

- Thousands of people have read the book

- We’ve received hundreds of thank yous from folks who said it changed their business life

- Now Is Gone received more than 50 positive reviews

- Thanks to Scott Monty, it was cited by the Wall Street Journal as a resource for small businesses

- The book took the silver medal in the Axiom Business Book Awards

Now Is Gone helps businesses embrace Social Media realistically, intelligently, and authentically as an extension to their corporate marketing initiatives. Readers learn how to participate in social media from how to listen, how to learn and adapt, and to how to engage over time. In addition to sharing best practices, the book also features case studies that demonstrate corporate successes.

If you haven't read the book yet, Now is Gone is available on Amazon for ~$10.

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Al Gore on the Social Revolution for Change

While several posts have emerged recently crediting Social Networks (Social Media) with Obama's victory, I'd like to inject another element into the discussion - people, sociology, and the communities and tools that bind them, us, together.

Smart people intelligently and genuinely connected with other people to further a cause and a greater hope supreme. Social Media provided the channels to create, discover, inspire and share together...nothing less, nothing more.

I attended the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco and we were treated to something truly special. Al Gore closed the conference with a powerful, inspiring, and uniting keynote that earned two standing ovations and honorary residence in the hearts and minds of Silicon Valley's catalysts for innovation and change.

The "recovering politician" is now a champion for climate change and the further democratization of information. He was as passionate as he was convincing.



He opened the session in response to the first of two standing ovations with a sense of humor, but also a reaffirmation of what brought us together dating back to his Presidential bid in 2000, "Wow, what a week,” he shared.

The room erupted into applause.“It couldn’t have happened without the world wide web, without the Internet,” Gore emphasized.

He's right.

The Internet and more accurately, the Social Web, provided direct channels between a hopeful candidate with the hope and conviction for change and the people who so desperately needed it. The socialized mechanisms for collaboration and unity nurtured a dedicated coalition whose mission not only successfully elected the next President of the United States of America, but also engendered a global community that is bonding a world around #hope and #change.



Gore, Obama, these are men whom are incredibly and inherently visionary, passionate, and refreshingly human. They are also mirrors that reflect our ideas, beliefs, faith, optimism, and dreams. When Obama said that this was "our" victory, not his, during his now historical speech in Grant Park he recognized that we are one.

Al Gore captured this succinctly and brilliantly when he described the power of the Social Web as delivering and enabling, "the electrifying redemption of America's revolutionary declaration that all human beings are created equal."

Amen.

"It would not have been possible without the additional empowerment of individuals to use knowledge as a source of power that has come with the Internet," he proclaimed.

This election, as well as Gore's passion for change, is the manifestation of decades of technological evolution. After all, this is about people. We witnessed the amalgamation of people, ideas, and the social technology that connected them and amplified their cause. This is an evolution, Gore believes, as do many of us, which was christened with the introduction of Gutenberg's printing press.



It is arguably, the onset of the true democratization of information. The Social Web is simply the advancement of a paramount foundation that synthesizes an individual voice with an interconnected distribution platform where it's heard, shared and fused with like-minded people and the idea-driven and passion-fueled collectives they represent.

His vision for the Web is its sense of "purpose," which is how we can take the evolution of not only the technology that defines it, but also the people who use it to communicate with one another.

“I believe Web 2.0 has to have a purpose,” Gore observed.

I agree, but would simply say that "The Web," socially rooted, must have a purpose. It's not just about promoting brands, marketing at people, raising money, or electing politicians using new mediums and shiny new objects.

The Social Revolution is Our Industrial Revolution.

It is our chance to contribute to our history and our future by investing a piece of ourselves into what we create, embrace, and release to the world.

Our work and purpose is far from realized however.

The fact that the "Web's candidate of choice won this time is no reason to rest easy," Gore reminded us.

The democratization of media requires constant innovation and cultivation. Only through education and experience can we create a more literate society that bonds through knowledge.

"Just as Barack Obama's election would've been impossible without the new dialogue and new ways of interacting--the Web--the only way (climate change) is going to be solved is by addressing the democracy crisis, and the country hit a great blow for victory this week, but we have to take this issue and raise it in the awareness of everyone," Gore emphatically stated.

When asked by conference organizers Tim O'Reilly and John Batelle if the new democracy of information was in danger of losing steam, Gore confidently responded, "I think that it is very much in its infancy, barely beginning, and I think that we are not many years away from television sort of sinking into the digital world and becoming a part of it."

While still in its infancy, the Web is empowering us to contribute to the transformation and maturation of our society, civilization, and everything that governs the dynamics, rules, and relationships that weave them together.

Through socially connected platforms and communities, we now have access to our very own Gutenberg presses to publish, distribute, and bond our thoughts, ideas, facts, stories, and information with people all over the world. We no longer have to wait for the world to change, we are now part of the new democracy that defines its present and its future.

For more pictures from Al Gore's presentation at Web 2.0 Summit, please visit my album on flickr.
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Recommended Reading on PR 2.0:

- The State of Social Media 2008
- Reinventing Crisis Communications for the Social Web
- In the Social Web, We Are All Brand Managers
- The Essential Guide to Social Media
- The Social Media Manifesto
- PR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
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Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku, Social Median, or Facebook
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Reinventing Crisis Communications for the Social Web

Source

Businesses, individuals, and organizations will, from time to time, make honest mistakes or in some unfortunate cases, intentionally support unethical decisions to dissuade or conceal something significant from its public.

Whether it's an oversight or a matter of deception, savvy companies usually employ and deploy a crises response team to prepare for, manage and attempt to positively spin the potential backlash from customers, partners, and employees related to almost anything.

Crisis communications is a branch of PR that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization, usually from a reactive response, facing a swelling public challenge to its reputation, brand, and community.

Throughout the course of history, we've learned that all that's required to ignite a negative firestorm is a spark from a single voice or an organized congregation.

If a conversation takes place on the Web and you're not there to hear or see it, did it really happen?

More often than not, we miss the very things that provide insight into a future response simply because we're not conditioned or trained to proactively discover and diffuse threats or negative experiences.

Our weakness, however, is also our opportunity to manage and also respond to any potentially damaging or menacing public groundswell.

Conversations related to your brand, company, executives, products, and competitors take place each and every day, without our knowledge and perhaps worse, without our participation.

In the era of the Social Web, a story, and the ensuing public recruitment, rallying, and support, can rapidly spread unlike any crisis wildfire witnessed or experienced in previous generations.

Social Media is pervasive. At the very least, it is transforming how we communicate with each other and also how we discover and share information. As the adoption of Social Tools and applications progresses from the left to the right of the bell curve, Social Media will simply coalesce back to "the Web." But, its migration, exploration, experimentation, and education will only contribute to its significance and resilience and ultimately change behavior and expand the infrastructure for corporate communications in the process. Regardless of genre, the sum of all social channels today equate to a powerful, influential, and revolutionary archetype for exposing and diffusing public opinion.



Perception is formed through the unique, individually-filtered experiences we each bring to the table. In that regard, our brand, and more specifically, our actions are open to public interpretation, support, and dissection. It’s what you say about you, what they hear, how they share that story, and how you weave that insight into future product and service iterations, communications, corporate infrastructure, and public conversations.

The tools and platforms available today are sophisticated, evolved, and designed for social distribution and redistribution. The Social Web forces a new level of understanding and participation in order for all communications professionals, in addition to crises response and reputation management teams, to understand its dynamics and the prevalence of information, positive, neutral, and especially negative.

To date, crisis communications and reputation management were relegated as a reactive response, while the groundwork for a potential predicament and the development of strategic communique is among the best practices for proactive crisis planning.

The traditional crisis communications planning and response workflow:

> Crisis Planning
> Negative Groundswell
> Crisis Response
> Public Relations
> Assessment/Monitoring



In the Social Web, I propose that many, if not a majority of potential crises are now avoidable through proactive listening, engagement, response, conversation, humbleness, and transparency (repeat).

I'd like to introduce you to an old, but new again, dynamic process to integrate into the existing corporate communications and marketing workflow. Today's social tools and communities that can work against us, can also work with us, when proactively managed and embraced with an open mind, sincere intent, and genuine participation.

> Active
> Listening
> Observation
> Conversation
> Learning
> Planning
> Continued Adaptation and Engagement



The art and science of proactive listening, observation, and participation will not only inspire the creation of in touch, relevant, and poignant PR and marketing strategies, but will also dramatically reduce the potential for reactive response and crisis communications programs. Crisis communications teams can also partner with those responsible for monitoring online brand reputations (ORM - online reputation management) or vice versa, to jointly listen, respond, and incite change from within. This creates a more effective "public relations" organization.

The point is that this is about proactively diffusing visible, but not yet large-scale predicaments before they're full-blown public crises. And, also through direct listening, engagement, and actively addressing concerns both inside and out of the organization, we're diverting the momentum from tropical storms before they have an opportunity to form unforeseen and unanticipated hurricanes. It's the ability to avoid a storm without knowing a storm was brewing by identifying weaknesses and opportunities as they emerge.

This is community-driven communications in its purest form which begets a community-focused and customer-centric organization.

Everything starts with openness and the ability to learn and adapt. It's the acceptance that it doesn't matter if the customer is always right. After all, a happy customer will share their good fortune with a group of friends and peers, but an unhappy customer will tell everybody.

Perception is everything.

For communicators, it's our role to actively listen and translate conversations into actionable next steps. It's not an automated process. It requires dedication and empowerment. Much of this responsibility is falling upon community managers and the new role of research librarians who are quickly acclimating to online conversations and how and where they apply to the internal decision makers, traffic coordinators, and metrics analysts. By partnering with these new, socially adept resources, Public Relations can can more accurately and genuinely participate with influencers, whether they're media, analysts, bloggers, or tastemakers. When we step back and assess our markets, we just may find that they're collectively one in the same.

What if you don't yet have these roles or resources to help you listen and follow meaningful conversations? It's not impossible for you to proactively monitor conversations and the cultures and behavior associated within each digital society in order to identify and prioritize opportunities for engagement, reform, and evolution.

Start with using free search blog search tools such as:

- blogsearch.google.com (set up Google Alerts via RSS or email)
- Technorati
- Blogpulse

As we all know, or should know, the social web extends far beyond blogs, relevant online conversations are pervasive and rampant in social networks and microforums as well. In that regard, be sure that your initial waves of search include:

- search.twitter.com
- Ning
- Facebook
- Google and Yahoo Groups
- Uservoice
- Getsatisfaction

For those with a moderate budget to evaluate dedicated SRM (social media relationship management) or ORM tools, consider:

- Trackur
- BuzzGain
- Radian6
- BuzzLogic
- BrandsEye

Search for keywords related to your business, such as the company and product name, key executives, as well as scouting discussions for the "suck" or "die" factor. This includes adding a combination of the following criteria in your search process:

- "product+sucks"
- "company+sucks"
- "die+company"
- "i+hate+company"

As the Web itself grew in pervasiveness, it also paved the way for customers to easily launch sites to vent publicly. Examples already number in the thousands, with some capturing significant public attention including starbucked.com, ihatestarbucks.com, boycottwalmart.org and againstthewal.com.

Fairwinds recently released a study that documents the power of Internet gripe sites. The Wall Street Journal explored the topic with an in-depth article, "How to Handle 'IHateYourCompany.com,'" which explored what some companies are doing, or not doing, to protect their brands online.

In its study, FairWinds researched the Web to identify gripe sites specifically containing "sucks.com." The study uncovered over 20,000 domains with only 2,000 ending in the phrase "stinks.com." Of the major consumer-facing companies surveyed, only 35% own the domain name for their brand followed by the word "sucks."

But domain names are only one of the many opportunities for customers to share their discontent, and in the new era of the two-way web, communications, customer service, and brand and reputation management teams must all work together together to actively survey the landscape to detect and diagnose negative experiences.

The Social Media and conversation landscape is a diverse universe. In order to identify a potentially dangerous asteroid on a glancing or full-blown collision course with your brand, you'll also need a powerful telescope, or, a "Conversation Prism."

The Conversation Prism was designed to provide a snapshot view of dialogue within mainstream and vertical social networks and communities that may be consequential to your brand. Every network provides a search box to unearth threads of discussions tied to connected keywords and inherent developments, negative or positive, that may affect the company brand and reputation.



Conversations and developing crises are probable across a multitude of online channels, including:

- Blogs and Comments
- Microcommunities aka Microforums
- Social Networks
- Lifestreams
- Customer Networks
- Groups

The ensuing conversations tied to your brand can quickly and easily amass, across multiple networks simultaneously. Don’t let those conversations fall upon deaf ears.

For the first time, we have the ability to identify and address potential crises as they surface. And not only do we have the ability to engage with people to address their grievances or discontent, we can also learn from each engagement and feed the corresponding lessons, experiences, and criticisms back into the sales, service, and product development departments to change everything for the better.

It's the difference between simply placating customers and improving our business and products to satisfy many others who would have been potentially exposed to a potential deficiency.

Customers are among the new influencers and have the tools and platforms readily available to them in order to share their experiences and potentially incite the masses.

It's not just about the gripes we've identified, it's about the dialogue and actively and publicly addressing each issue to minimize the unforeseen eruptions from those who have yet to publish or rally others against us.

While our control has been crowd-sourced, perception management and crisis communications are ours to lead. Perception is reality and it's our responsibility to invest in the relationships and the correlated activities that will help us cultivate and manage an industry leading, market relevant, and in-tune brand.

Listen, learn, and adapt. In the Social Web, and in the real world of business, companies will earn the relationships, and the crowd-sourced brand, they deserve.
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Reinventing Crisis Communications-Brian Sois

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Business Marketing marketing social

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UPDATE: Now available as a downloadable and printable Word or PDF file at Docstoc, Scribd and ThinkFreeDocs.
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Recommended Reading on PR 2.0:
- The State of Social Media 2008
- In the Social Web, We Are All Brand Managers
- New Communication Theory & the New Roles for a New World of Marketing
- Comcast Cares and Why Your Business Should Too
- Will The Real Social Media Expert Please Stand Up?
- The Social Revolution is Our Industrial Revolution
- The Essential Guide to Social Media
- The Social Media Manifesto
- Free ebook: Customer Service, The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media
- PR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
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Crisis Communications 2.0 Series:
Where the Streets Have Names: Learning from Bono's Facebook Dilemma
Nike, Just Do It: When a Local Story Runs Away on the Web
Apple and the iPhone Price Bomb
The Skype is Falling
Microsoft PR Sparks a Blogstorm
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