HYPERtext

Asia Pacific bloggers speak!

We’ve just announced the results of a survey of more than 125 bloggers across eight Asia Pacific countries.  And while I’m a great believer in Chris Anderson’s first rule of the blogosphere, paraphrased as “…don't generalize about the blogosphere.” I’m afraid I’ll have to do a little generalizing when looking at the results.

First up, it is clear that APAC bloggers want to hear from PR people.

This comes as a great relief for those of us actively engaging with bloggers across Asian countries. 

But it also presents a great challenge, as the survey went on to point out that we (the PR industry) seem unable to consistently give the bloggers what they want. 

While, for example, 52% of the sample pool wanted online video, and 48% wanted charts and graphs, it appears that, instead, bloggers have been spammed with traditional press materials and other unsuitable documents.

Comments on content included: “Those who contact me should not be lost in their own jargon” and “What they talk about should be relevant to my blog”.

This is commonsense but it seems PR agencies in Asia are breaking some of the cardinal rules of communication by simply not taking the time to understand their audiences.

Another interesting finding was that bloggers were happy to hear from anyone representing a company, as long as it was the person closest to the story. In particular, they wanted to hear from active bloggers or those prominent in the blogger community.

This got me thinking about the Asian 'spokesperson of the future'. This person may not be the managing director or product manager who has traditionally spoken with mainstream media.

My advice to Asian companies looking to engage with this increasingly influential audience is to determine who's already blogging within their businesses and groom these active participants to become active company representatives.

PR folks should also consider that most Asian bloggers are part-timers, with 67% of bloggers spending fewer thatn eight hours of each working week blogging. Knowing this, it is critical for Asia Pacific PR people to plan activities outside of normal working hours.

Invitations to traditional midday press conferences will likely go unanswered while also running the risk of being posted on as worst practice PR examples.

The single biggest finding was, in essence, something I hope we already knew.  It is critical for PR people to know their audiences, know what they are interested in, offer them unique information, and know how they like to be engaged with.

Last word comes (appropriately) from one of the respondents: “Bloggers are the new media, they are not to be treated like second-class journalists or expected to behave like traditional journalists. It's a whole new landscape and PR people should learn to accept it.”

- Jeremy Woolf, Hong Kong

Shareholder Meetings in Second Life?

An article in the Wall Street Journal reported that ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s largest steel makers, hosted its shareholder meeting in the virtual world of Second Life this week.

The goal, according to the article, was to attract, “a younger generation of investors.” I suspect the actual goal was to generate media coverage around an event that traditionally receives little to no attention. And to that end, I guess it worked.

Or did it?

Participating in a virtual community, whether we’re talking about blogs, social networks or virtual worlds, requires that we ask many of the same questions we ask when developing a more traditional PR plan, such as determining the audience and objectives.

The results, though, can’t be measured with a print or broadcast story. They are seen over time, as new relationships are forged with online communities and conversations are ignited that would otherwise never happen.

My guess is that ArcelorMittal wanted to do something “totally unique,” and in this case, might have tried to run before they were walking.

The shareholder meeting was yesterday, and I haven’t found one reference to it in the blogosphere or anywhere else online. No mention on the virtual world or financial blogs. No Flickr photos from the event. No follow-up communications from the company. No Twitter references.

If I were evaluating the success of this event, here are some of the questions I would consider:

• Did the participants learn something about our company or our culture that they couldn’t have found elsewhere?
• Were we able to interact with our audience and discover things about them that we weren’t able to do by other means?
• Are we now part of conversations that would otherwise have excluded us, and are these conversations that we want to be a part of?
• Was the return appropriate to the size of our investment, both in time and budget?

This post isn’t intended to bash ArcelorMittal’s efforts, but to help other companies considering similar events to think strategically about how they approach peer media rather than just jumping on the bandwagon.

I hope someone from the company reads this post and responds - not to prove me wrong or to defend themselves -  but simply to participate in a conversation that they started.

- Aaron Uhrmacher, NYC

Technorati Tags: ArcelorMittal,second life,public relations

Upcoming: IABC Social Media Presentation

I’m excited to be leading a pre-conference workshop on social media next Sunday at the International Association of Business Communicator’s (IABC) International Conference here in New York.

Organizers are expecting over 1,500 communications professionals from all over the world, and they’ve assembled a terrific lineup of sessions and speakers to ensure participants get their money’s worth.

I’m particularly excited about the General Session on Monday, where hotel scion Bill Marriott will be the guest speaker. His blog, “Marriott on the Move,” is often cited as one of the best large enterprise CEO blogs. It will be interesting to hear more about his experience as a C-suite blogger and how it fits in to the company’s larger communications strategy..

My session is one of several that will focus on social media communications. Shel Holtz will lead a session addressing the role of social networks and Ryan Williams will review the results of an IABC member survey on their use of social media.

If you’d like to follow (or join) the conversation, I’ve set up a Twitter profile for the event, which we’ll use as part of my workshop to help attendees begin building their own community.

There are some other informal meet-ups planned for communicators in New York to gather informally. I’ll post them here (and on Twitter) as details emerge.

- Aaron Uhrmacher, NYC

Technorati Tags: social media,IABC,Marriott

New York Office Opening Party

Last Wednesday, was the grand opening party for the brand new NYC office digs on swanky Park Ave. South. 

With almost 100 attendees, including media (PR Week, eWeek and PRNewser) current and future clients and Texties from all around North America, the main event was a huge success!

Fujifilm Client

Text 100 New York Staff: Tara, Scott & Pam

Aedhmar's presentation, The Future of Communications, engaged the audience with questions from reporters and a very flattering comment from IBM about how Text 100 New York's story is one of rags to riches - despite starting off in squalor at its first office, there has been one common denominator: bright, creative minds!

Aedhmar Hynes, "The Future of Communications" presentation

-Van, NYC

Job opening: We're looking for a Peer Media Manager!!

Text 100 Public Relations currently has an opening for a Peer Media Manager.  This newly created position will work across all North American offices, sharing knowledge of social media as well as the latest insights and trends in the social media space. We are looking for a self-starting, team-oriented individual who thrives in an independent, small company environment.

Responsibilities include:

• Serve as one of the company's social media strategists, responsible for articulating social media plan and implementing it, both internally and externally
• Develop a set of best practices, devise recommended rules of engagement and through sharing of best practices and knowledge, help to build social media capability
• Support account teams in the development, coordination, implementation and administration of public relations programs using peer media tools, directed primarily toward the media and secondarily to industry and employees
• Coordinate, plan and execute social media campaigns for clients including blogger outreach, social networking initiatives, social news participation, press release optimization and virtual worlds participation
• Provide training to staff, leading internal and external skill building sessions
• Ensure that community engagement is both effective and consistent with the organization's image and overall strategy

Qualifications:

• Strong understanding of social media in relation to the broader media mix; understanding of the interplay between online/social media and traditional media
• Understanding of industry best practices, especially as they relate to social media at large corporations
• Proven ability to be a change agent
• Deep knowledge of social media tools, including those for measurement, social bookmarking, social networking   RSS, Twitter and blog publishing. Strong understanding of Web design, applications, navigation and the Web 2.0 ecosystem also preferred
• Strong relationships with influential bloggers
• Ability to counsel senior executives on effective use of social media
• Experience working with corporations or corporate clients who deploy social media effectively, including management of a professional blog for an organization or business.
• Strong communication, research, presentation and creative skills.
• Prior agency experience preferred
• Candidates must have a minimum of 2-3 years of corporate social media experience

Text 100 International is one of the largest independent technology public relations consultancies in the world. With 30 offices across Europe, North America, India, Africa and the Asia Pacific region, Text 100 is the largest and most established brand within the Next Fifteen Communications Group (London Stock Exchange: NFC). Currently, Text 100 has 5 offices in North America; Boston, Rochester, San Francisco, New York City, and Seattle.

Text 100 also offers one of the top benefit packages in the industry including:

• Four weeks of vacation
• 10 paid holidays
• 2 duvet days
• Highly competitive salary
• Full medical, dental and vision
• Domestic partner benefits
• 401k Plan
• Annual bonus package
• International opportunity

To apply, please visit: http://www.text100.com/careers.asp

Seattle Social Media Club: A Published Stream of Consciousness: Do Business and Micro-blogging Mix?

The next Seattle Social Media Club meeting is coming up on May 1! The topic is micro-blogging services such as Twitter and how they can be effectively used in a professional environment. We’ll be discussing everything from the basics (What exactly is a tweet?) to using micro-blogging to enhance your personal brand, grow and strengthen your business network, notify customers, promote your blog and more.

 

Meeting Details

When: Thursday, May 1, 2008; 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Where: Text 100 Public Relations: 110 Union St. Ste 210, Seattle

Register: http://mayseattlesocialmediaclub.eventbrite.com

More Information: Katie Hoyne, Text 100 Public Relations, 206-267-2021

Council of PR Firms Launches Newsletter

Today the Council of PR Firms launched The Firm Voice, a new email newsletter for PR agency practitioners.

I was asked to participate as a member of the editorial team to help ensure that the content was relevant not only to individuals at the executive level, but to junior agency staff as well. Our firm's first contribution was this video, where some of our digital natives talked about how we use peer media both inside and outside our organization.

If you have any feedback you'd like to share about the newsletter, please do so in the comments.

Aaron Uhrmacher, NYC

Technorati Tags: Council of PR Firms,digital natives,public relations

Seattle Social Media Club: What do rocket scientists and yaks have in common?

They obviously don’t have the same IQ…so it must have something to do with the fact that they both represent possible business uses of virtual worlds!

We had a good turnout and lively discussion at last night’s Seattle Social Media Club meeting, where Jeff Barr of Amazon, Rob Lanphier and Greg Tomko-Pavia of Linden Lab, and Brian White of HP gave us great insight into the past, present and future of businesses in virtual worlds.

While I could go on and on about last night, I’d like to cover some of the highlights that really seemed to stand out to attendees. First, an explanation of the yaks and rocket scientists. As an example of how non-profits can benefit from virtual world participation, Brian told us about Save the Children, a non-profit that sold virtual yaks in Second Life and used 100 percent of the proceeds to help children around the world. Brian also told us about NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and its initiative to figure out how astronauts could connect with family and friends while they are literally tens of millions of miles from home.

Overall, the panelists seemed to agree that 2008 is THE year for businesses to discover the ROI that can be found within virtual worlds. The novelty factor has lost its shine and now it’s time to figure out to what’s worked and what hasn’t. Jeff’s Web Services group has seen a lot of success in holding regular developer chats on the Amazon Developer Islands in Second Life. Because they want to work with developers who are creative and can think outside the box, they naturally find these people involved in virtual worlds. Jeff has already hired two developers based in Europe by attending a virtual job fair. Two new global employees without spending any money of airfare, hotel, etc!

We also talked a lot about the immersion factor. Sitting on a conference call trying to figure out who’s speaking, or watching WebEx click through PowerPoint slides just isn’t the same as participating in a meeting in-world. Virtual worlds make meetings more interactive for both the speaker who can see his virtual audience, as well as attendees who receive visual and auditory cues, helping them focus more on the presentation.

We asked Greg and Rob “What’s next?” from a Linden Lab perspective, and they both agreed that upcoming focuses include interoperability, improved collaboration features and optimization. Rob also discussed his mandate as “open source busybody,” helping to liaise between Linden Lab other developers who want to work with the code that was released last year.

We look forward to staying in touch with our local virtual worlders...maybe next time it will be my avatar Madelynne who does the talking!

-Katie Hoyne, Seattle

 

Chevronasaurus

Fifty million years ago/They walked upon the planet so

They live in a museum/It's the only place you'll see 'um

Walking in your footsteps...

-- The Police

While the consequences of global warming become ever-more dire, the oil industry is awash in record profits.  And Chevron C.E.O. David O'Reilly is articulating a future that is downright, well, Jurassic.

The comments came in a San Francisco Chronicle article, "Big Oil has trouble finding new fields."

"We're a pretty resilient bunch," O'Reilly once said in an interview with The Chronicle. "We'll be around. We'll be selling energy. We'll be providing energy services. But I'm confident it will be quite different than it is today."

Uninspiring to say the least; damning, when taken to its logical conclusion.  This is a company not just in need of radical PR counsel--it's a company in need of a leader with vision and guts.  Chevron clearly has no real strategy for adapting to a changing world.  It intends to ride this massive wave of petroleum to the bitter end. 

And I'll wager it won't be a comet that will wipe them out, but rather some entrepreneurial valley start-up with a breakthrough technology and a genuine vision for a sustainable planet.  Here's to hoping things are profoundly different than they are today.

-David Bailey

Seattle Social Media Club: Virtual Worlds in the New Year

Text 100 Seattle is hosting the January Social Media Club meeting, which features a panel discussion with a killer line-up of virtual worlds experts, including Jeff Barr of Amazon’s Web Services group, Rob Lanphier and Greg Tomko-Pavia of Linden Lab, and Brian White, author of Second Life – A Guide to Your Virtual World.

Everything from why virtual worlds are important in business to examples of how Amazon has used Second Life to facilitate developer relations will be presented, but the best part of these meetings is their informal nature, which always takes the discussion in a million directions!

The meeting will take place at the Text 100 Seattle office (110 Union St, Ste 210) on Thursday, January 31, from 6:30 – 8 p.m. Please register in advance by following this link: http://seattlesocialmediaclub.eventbrite.com/. We hope to see you there!

-Katie Hoyne, Seattle

Technorati Tags: Text 100, Social Media Club, Seattle, Virtual Worlds