Social Media:They’re Talking About You!

Richard PalmerPublic Information Officer

Washington Township Fire DepartmentMontgomery County, OH

What is Social Media?

➲ Often called “new media” social media is defined as:

Social media is a product of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.*

It is the democratization and socialization of information as well as the tools to facilitate online conversations.

* applications that harness network effects to get better, the more people use them.

What is Social Media?

To put it another way, [social media] is the shift from one-way to two-way conversations.

Geoff Livingston with Brian Solis, now is gone, Bartleby Press (Laurel, MD:2007) p. 9.

Who is Social Media?

The tools and dynamics are in place for EVERYONE to be part of the new media arena.

Social tools such as blogs, social networks, social bookmarks, podcasts, livecasts, virtual worlds, news aggregators, microblogs, online video...

Who is Social Media?

...and all other forms of user generated content and the ecosystems that support them are creating a neighborhood of peer-to-peer influence.

- Shel Israel, author of Global Neighborhoods blogTagline: Following Social Media Wherever It Leads

PR 1.0 vs. PR 2.0

PR 1.0 was about controlling the message and broadcasting it.

PR 2.0 embraces transparency and enables stakeholders in the [organization], its team, and its place in the [community], now and in the future.

PR 1.0 vs. PR 2.0

PR 2.0 encourages participation (KEY WORD) in online networks and communities in order to spark conversations to help people solve problems and discover new solutions.

PR 2.0

Social media is one of the most important ingredients.

People have new routines for reading, interacting with, and sharing information.

PR 2.0

Other ingredients for PR 2.0 include: Listening Reading Transparency Participation Understanding people's needs Understanding unique channels that

reach people (and their needs)

Communications NOW

Communications has evolved more in the last decade than in the ten decades before.

Given the complexity of the situation and the newness of technologies, [organizations] try to get engaged in social media.

Success Story

Ike Pigott, Communications Director of the Red Cross Southeast Division

Previously worked for Birmingham Area Chapter during Hurricane Katrina

Success Story

Call volume from local media, local individuals, groups seeking to donate items, and clients looking for service was too high to maintain.

Red Cross found inability to field calls. Traditional phone, fax and press release system could not scale.

Success Story

Pigott started to blog, but only some media took to it as a source of information.

He added short (30 to 40 second) podcasts that provided audio of news releases.

Media outlets began to use these in their telecasts and broadcasts.

Success Story

Other regional communications directors have embraced the simplicity of blog, podcast, and RSS* feed out-reach within a preexisting, well supported network.

*RSS: Really Simple Syndication

Success Story “This success has accelerated our

adoption of proactive social media in other venues,” said Ike. “We have [had] several successful incidents where we've spotted a burgeoning complaint on a blog, and have taken the appropriate measures to either correct a wrong impression or repair a relationship with the writer and the Red Cross.”

Blogs

➲ Livejournal.com➲ Blogger.com➲ Blogsome.com➲ Blogspot.com➲ And every other self-hosted blog supported

by frameworks such as Moveable Type, Wordpress and other software.

Social Networks

➲ MySpace.com➲ Facebook.com➲ Bebo.com➲ LinkedIn.com➲ Plaxo.com➲ Hi5.com➲ Classmates.com...

Social Bookmarks

➲ Del.icio.us➲ Furl.com➲ Diigo.com➲ Reddit.com➲ Digg.com➲ StumbleUpon.com [link]

Podcasts

➲ Originally “user generated” content➲ Now embraced by traditional media

outlets➲ NPR and PBS have some of most

successful subscription stats

Podcasts

➲ “You don't need an iPod” to listen to or view a “podcast.”

Podcasts can be delivered into your news aggregators (Google, Newsvine, etc.)

Podcasts can be brought into iTunes, WinAmp and Windows Media Player

Podcasts can be downloaded to your computer.

Livecasts

➲ Ustream.tv➲ Blogtv.com➲ Talkshoe.com➲ Qik.com

Rich Palmer [link]

Len Edgerly [link]

Virtual Worlds

➲ Second Life➲ There.com➲ Kaneva.com

News Aggregators

➲ Google Reader➲ Bloglines.com➲ Newsvine.com➲ Firefox, Opera, Flock browsers➲ Numerous proprietary systems

The Micro-Blogs

➲ Twitter.com➲ Pownce.com➲ Jaiku.com➲ Plurk.com➲ Identi.ca➲ & more (& more & more)

Micro-Blog Support

➲ Hellotxt.com➲ Ping.fm➲ Twhirl➲ PockeTwit (mobile phone app)

➲ Tiny Twitter➲ Friendfeed.com

Micro-Blogs on Steroids

➲ Video and enhanced connectivity Utterz.com Seesmic.com Viddler.com 12seconds.com

Online Video

➲ YouTube.com➲ Revver.com➲ Blip.tv [fire department trench rescue interview]

➲ Magnify.net➲ Viddler.com➲ Metacafe.com➲ mDialog.com link

Online Video

➲ Vimeo.com➲ LiveLeak.com

Worst Firefighter Drive-by Shooting

Do we need social media?

➲ “...heretofore [pr practitioners] could issue whatever content they wanted and it was taken, because there were controlled forms of communication...”

Do we need social media?

➲ “Content is now out of control, being created by millions. And there's very little that traditional marketing and public relations professionals can do about it.”

Do we need social media?

➲ “With each passing day, the gap between outdated tactics and current marketing needs widens. It's incumbent upon communicators to learn new media, not just on a theoretical level, but as practitioners.”

-Geoff Livingston

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Livingston recommends five steps to embrace:

Give up control of the message Participate with your community Is your community social media

savvy? Commit to the resources Understand transparency and ethics.

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Give up control of the message? We cannot control the message in

social networks We can become the definitive

source of “our” message if engaged.

We can influence, shape and nurture the message.

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Participate in the community? You don't own the eyeballs. You

don't own the press, which is now divided into pro and amateur zones...”

Jay Rosen, Press Think article: “The People Formerly Know as the Audience.”

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Participate in the community? “Community” is the watch word of

the “new media revolution” We are returning to relationships Small town feel is a global

phenomenon Public trust is about accountability

Business, government, charity all apply

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Is community social media savvy? 8% of internet users keep blogs

12 million American adults 39% of internet users read blogs

57 million adults More than half (54%) of bloggers are

under age 30, evenly divided between men & women.

Pew Internet, American Life Project

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Is community social media savvy? If your community is populated

heavily by folks over 50, not in communications fields, blogs or social network engagement may not be necessary.

Monitor behavior through traditional & new media, though.

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Dedicating the resources? Blogging is most well known form

of social/new media. Most mature, with slowest amount

of current growth.

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Dedicating the resources? Blogging requires:

Financial resources (hosting, labor, maintenance)

Time – someone should update regularly to allow for content to stay “fresh”

Thought – Creating valuable content and information for the network needs to be a team approach (not just something dumped on the intern). Include senior leadership.

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Dedicating the resources?

It may be better not to start at all than to be seen online with a blog social media effort that disappears or stops with a static or non-participatory presence.

Will Your Initiative Work?

➲ Ethics and transparency? An agency must be what it

represents itself to be. New media participants have little

tolerance for agencies that are not authentic.

Examples from p. 59 of now is gone

Engage in Everything

➲ But choose wisely.➲ Just because a tool or resource

exists doesn't mean your agency has to use it.

➲ However, as a participant in the arena, you will be much more savvy to what has potential.

Trying it out...

➲ Examples: Textmarks: keyword NIOA to 41411 Hellotxt.com: cross post to several

micro-blog sites at one time. Catch multiple communities.

MySpace community presence, allows for new updates, blogging, and video delivery (recruiting, education)

Trying it out...

➲ Examples: mDialog.com – new video series

being developed. “Day in the life” produced in-house with little “gloss” editing. Follow activities of new hires, house shifts, training, and responses (with careful monitoring of legal concerns).

When Social Media Hits “Mainstream”

➲ Internet bather video – Xenia OH Close to home, affects public opinion Affects an industry; affects corporation Video has viral fandom and permanence

link

Accuracy in Reporting

➲ @JerseyTodd reply to @breakingnewson in Twitter. [link] [link]

➲ Recommended read list:

now is gone – Geoff Livingston with Brian Solis

Occam’s Razor – Ike Pigottwww.occamsrazor.com

PR 2.0 Essentials – Todd Defran (ebook)www.pr-squared.com

wikinomics –Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams

➲ Find notes and links:

richpalmer.com/reno

Available after the conference.

➲ Rich Palmer rpalmer@washingtontwp.org (937) 671-8157 mobile (937) 433-3083 office Twitter.com/richpalmer Twitter.com/wtfire