Hopkins & Cook publish revised Social Media white paper

Lee Hopkins and Trevor Cook, two of Australia's the world's quick-witted thinkers about social media, have published the 3rd edition of their white paper Social Media (or how we stopped worrying and learnt to love communication).

In 46 pages of crisp writing, they cover the basics -- more, actually -- of blogging, podcasting, social networks (Facebook, Twitter) and virtual worlds (Second Life). Lot's of input from other social media users, and lots of links to best practice sites.

And it's free. So if you are new to social media, this is the place to go.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:14pm in Communication, Social Media, Writing I Enjoy | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) | TrackBack (0)

Governor Bill Richardson, WAYMISH?

UPDATE! A Richardson financial manager wrote me, sent a special form for overseas American contributors -- outlining several ways to contribute -- and said "call if you need me." I answered "the form's on its way" and got another positive response.

I like Bill Richardson!

Desirable Roasted Coffee is not a political blog, and only tangentially a personal one, but I'm happy to say Governor Bill Richardson is my first choice in 2008. I'll be voting for him in the primary and, I hope, in November.

But -- since 95% of the American people aren't behind me on this, and since Desirable Roasted Coffee is more about communication than politics -- let's talk about basic communication. If I could ask Bill Richardson one thing, it would be this:

WAYMISH?

"WAYMISH?" was coined a guy in my "kitchen cabinet", the great Ray Considine. "WAYMISH" means "Why Are You Making It So Hard (for me to give you my money)?" Ray, whose obsessions included celebrating great customer service with anyone in hearing, used to wonder why otherwise great brands, great restaurants, great stores fell down on the job when it came to basic "here I am... I want to pay... show me how!" customer service.

You know the drill... you go to a good restaurant (led there by good reviews)... and you wait 20 minutes before anyone takes your drink order. Or arrive at a rental car stand. You are a loyal customer... are begging them to do business with you but... no sir. Try Alamo, just down the road. These are the people you want to ask "Why are you making it so hard for me to give you my money?"

WAYMISH, Governor Richardson!

I signed up on Bill Richardson's website months ago. Checked all the boxes -- send me everything! Checked all the boxes -- I'd like to contribute! Checked all the boxes -- I'm willing to help spread the message in my area! And added that I've been active in Democratic grassroots politics since the 80s....

If you are guessing I now get a lot of mail from the Richardson campaign, you are right. And it's great stuff.

It's such good stuff, I want to give Bill my money. But I can't.

While his website's mechanics allow contributions from American citizens abroad, every attempt I've made (and those of friends) fails. OK, a little ecommerce problem, a little need to confirm identity from abroad. FEC rules; I can live with that.

So I've written the website, written the various staff people who send me mails, and even left a note on his Facebook page (yes, I know he does not run his FB page, but I hope some staff person reads it). Not a single response. And I don't want a big bear hug from the Governor, I just want someone to say "here's where to send your $500."

Why are you making it so hard for me to give you my money, Governor Richardson? I am a Democratic activist, an American citizen -- and wanting to contribute.

WAYMISH?

Technorati : bill richardson, ray considine, richardson, waymish

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:25pm in Communication, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) | TrackBack (0)

Americans, meet your new (tasteless & jingoistic) passport

I was perusing The New Republic today (as Captain Queeg once noted, "these silly little habits have a way of paying off") & was horrified by a little story (sub required, sorry) announcing that the United States passport has been, yet again, redesigned. This time by a bunch of jingoists whose foreign travel was undoubtedly one drunken spring break in Cancun.

Go have a look at the State Department passport site.

For the last 25 years, at least (in other words, ever since I first got one), US passports have been quiet, unobtrusive, unfailingly polite documents, even as the government of the day might have been anything but. The great seal of the United States somewhere; a polite request from the Secretary of State to let the passport holder pass. Some instructions to the passport holder to keep his or her nose clean while abroad. A quiet document that, nonetheless, often earned its carriers a bullet from terrorists in the 1970s and 1980s (rest in peace, Mr. Klinghoffer).

The designers of the old passports knew one fundamental of communication: know your audience! They knew the important readers of US passports are officials of other countries, some friendly to the US, some barely civil, some outright hostile. They knew the job of the passport is to let the holder "pass the port" as quickly as possible. Thus: clear layout, lots of room for stamp-happy officials to do their thing, no propaganda.

The designers of the new passport, however, go at the propaganda with all the gusto and artlessness and inclusiveness of an 8th grade civics class or a Disney Imagineer: A little Lincoln, a little Star Spangled Banner, a little Constitution, a little Martin Luther King... big images of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

The intended audience? Who knows -- but I promise you, if it's the Thai border guard, this is way off. My passports have been literally stamped to pieces in 30 countries, and I cannot imagine one instance where this little civics lesson would have helped me along, and can imagine more than a few where it would not have done me one bit of good. China comes to my mind as place where the jingoism won't go down well, but perhaps that's to be expected. But can anyone expect Mexican and Canadian officials to look on this dribble day-after-everliving-day and not think less of us?

The TNR article notes that many Americans are acquiring passports for the first time (they were not previously needed to visit Canada and Mexico), and so it could be they are the audience. A little reminder of... what? I don't know. That they should be proud while traveling abroad? But proud of what?

My passport has a few more years left, so it's possible a rational design will be back in place when I go up for renewal. I want another quiet, unobtrusive, unfailingly polite document that lets me get where I am going without giving border guards 8th grade civics lessons.

Technorati : Leon Klinghoffer, US passport, US passports, jingoism

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:39pm in Bizarre but Expected, Communication, Expatriate Life | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (0)

Debbie Weil. Alliconnect, astroturfing and the ethics of PR people... observations

The Debbie Weil - alliconnect - astroturfing flare-up grew a little too personal for my taste, so I am mostly happy to see the thing fade away.

And it never should have flared up at all.... Debbie Weil just didn't know any better.

See, what surprised me from the start was Weil's defense of her invitation to astroturf:

"There's nothing underhanded about the email I sent, as I posted the same request publicly on my blog. And I didn't send it to a list of "prominent PR bloggers." Just a list of folks I know. It's not that big a deal. Bloggers - corporate and otherwise - use the backchannel of email all the time to communicate with one another."

What kind of explanation is that? How she sent the invitation is, of course, irrelevant.

But in reading the posts of those who criticized her effort and those of her (few) defenders, I suddenly realized what was up. Debbie Weil doesn't know astroturfing is wrong -- she doesn't work in PR or corporate communication, and doesn't realize astroturfing is a huge breach of ethics. And, pretty much down the line, her defenders are outside the communication profession and her critics are in it.

Now, I know the general public ranks PR professionals fairly low, somewhere around lawyers and CEOs, but 99.9% of the PR professionals I've met take their ethics codes (PRSA's, for example, or IABC's) very seriously. Astroturfing is something we just don't do (and some are working actively against it), and we damned sure aren't shy about calling people on it when we catch them at it. But that works only if the other person should know better.

Debbie Weil just doesn't. Well, that's alright then! Isn't it?

Update: she should have gone to buyblogcomments.com.

Technorati : alli, astroturfing, debbie weil. alliconnect, pr ethics

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 04:35pm in Advertising & PR, Communication, Ethics, Pharmaceutical Industry, PRSA, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (6)

Ragan Communication launches social media site -- I like it

Ragan Communication has launched MyRagan, a social media/community/watering hole for communicators, yesterday, and it's no slouch of a place. When I went to bed late last night, there were about 30 members; now there are over 200. Message boards, customizable rich profiles, IM -- I like it.

Technorati : myragan, ragan

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:15am in Communication, Corporate Communication, Social Media | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (10)

Real estate rollercoaster: now that's data information!

A big part of my practice is coaching folks on organizing presentations cogently. A big part of that is coaching them on how to uses charts effectively.

Jim Horton brings us this wonderful example of data in action -- real estate prices randed as a rollercoaster ride. But before you click, let me quote Jim:

Too often on web sites, especially corporate web sites, data is dumped onto the page, sometimes with a thought to the reader, but just as often, without consideration for those who are going to use it. As PR practitioners, presentation is a skill we bring to organizations we represent. We should be in the forefront representing the public that uses our organizations' web sites and pushing for better presentation. Regrettably, in too many organizations, PR has no say or control over what is done on the web, and it is our fault this happened. PR ignored the web early on and resisted learning about it until it was established as a separate entity within most organizations. Today, we are in catchup mode, and it is difficult to work our way into a well established technology.

Yep, that's about right. Now you can click: enjoy the ride!

Technorati : business presentations, jim horton, real estate prices

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:38pm in Communication | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0)

Dee Rambeau: blogging is useless and irresponsible

Dee Rambeau, communicator and entrepreneur, has quit blogging. In posts at Adventures in Business Communications and the Auburn University Marcom Blog, he throws in the towel, calling blogging "futile and pedestrian" for him, "negative" for business in general, and "useless and irresponsible" for public corporations. Harsh words, sure to grate on the ears of blogging evangelists.

At Adventures in Business Communications, Dee analyzes why he is "done blogging." The chief reasonable reason seems to be that blogging is not a good use of his time as an entrepreneur in a B2B business run by three partners. His business' scarce resource is time; he knows time is best spent on supporting employees and customers, maintaining sales growth, operating efficiently, promoting the brand, and selling. He believes his blogging doesn't help his business and occupies too much of his professional and free time. Fair enough: Dee is allocating his time as he sees fit -- and blogging doesn't fit.

But he can't stop there. In both posts, he goes on to rant that "blogs are just websites" -- then again, he's a CMS vendor -- and that blogging "largely an exercise of EGO." I've snipped the following from the middle of a Faulkneresque paragraph:

"the reason most bloggers actually start and continue blogging. Because of their egos. Because they believe that they have something really relevant to say…something totally unique…something that someone will want to hear…will strain to hear. Is it true? Of course not. The reason that it was difficult to get published or get on the air in the old days was because you had people judging content…judging talent…filtering just who had access to the microphone or the pen…deciding who actually had something relevant to say. Since the Internet and modern blog tools allow for anyone to publish content, there are no filters. Which means that 99.9 % of the stuff that is written on blogs is bullshit…sure there are individual content creators that will rise to the top…but it's actually MORE difficult now than it was before to have an authentic voice because everyone can be published. Because of this phenomenon, business bloggers are among the most rabid of the blog class second only to political bloggers. Business bloggers NEED to be measured…ranked somehow. They need to feel that they're speaking to someone out there and making a difference. See back to #1…there are only a handful of ways to make money with a blog, so how can you actually call it "business blogging?" Business bloggers clamor to share links…clamor to post on one another's blogs to create consensus around ideas and memes…choose sides and shoot barbs at the heathens opposing them. I'm guilty…I've done it. Think about the fact that business bloggers started out as smart business people (well some did…) and they're fighting for a reputation and a ranking online. So not only are they prospecting and selling and doing all the things they need to do to build and maintain their business on a day to day basis, but NOW they're also forced to compete in the blogosphere. Why? Ego."

I'll let you in on a dirty little secret. The only reason you, I, anyone ever expresses themselves is because they believe they have something relevant to say. Remember that the next time you open your mouth to speak to your spouse, or write an email to a colleague, or place an order at Burger King. Dee would have you check your ego before telling your husband that the dog has set itself on fire again, but, trust me, go ahead and express yourself. Yes, the vast majority of the world will not care. But they aren't your audience. Your audience will be listening. And this is true whether you are a newspaper columnist, an American Idol wannabe, George Bush, or a blogger.

Is it egotistical to believe you have something relevant to say? At some basic level, yes, it must be. But we all express ourselves, anyway. Perhaps the other people in the room wish we would do the selfless thing and just shut up, but human discourse is pretty much about conversation. About having an idea, having the ego (arrogance?) to think it relevant, expressing it and -- and this is critical -- listening to the responses of the other egotists around you. That's how we get on in life.

Rambeau goes on to tell the PR students at Auburn University's Marcom Blog:

1. Public Corporations: blogs are useless and irresponsible. No Corporate Communications person in their right mind would allow a C-level executive to blog. The Jonathan Schwartz's of the World aside, it is not a sensible PR move to allow a top executive to share his thoughts in Cyberspace.

That's simply the most ridiculous advice I've ever heard. Let's leave aside the fantasy of a corporate communicator deciding what the CEO will be "allowed" to do. If none of the CEOs of the Fortune 1000 can be trusted to communicate to the public without being first filtered by corporate communication, then corporate America is in serious trouble. Yes, some CEOs are lousy communicators -- and these are precisely the ones who are too often shielded by officious corp-com drones and PR agencies. Some CEOs are brilliant communicators -- and these will (without the permission of corporate communications, mind you) use any tool in the box to communicate with the public. And may their tribe increase!

2. Private Companies: blogs can help with SEO (search engine optimization) for product lines, thought leadership, and other things. But if content management systems have advanced to the degree that they have, why do you need a "blog" to say what you want to say. Just use your freakin' website to do it. A site is a site is a site. It doesn't matter if you call it a website or a blog, the fact that the communicators now have control of it is what is important. Set your website up to have the ability for you to make content additions/changes right away. Offer up social tools such as comments, sharing, etc. and voila…you have a website with blog capabilities…who needs a blog?

And later:

blogging is just this: posting content to the web using a content management system. If the company that you end up working for or represent has a good CMS for their website that the PR team can control, what's the point of having a blog? Put your issues, mission, opinions, etc. right there on the website. So if you want to blog personally…blog away! Professionally it is useless.

You'd expect that from a vendor of CMS software, so we will forgive that part. But Rambeau forgets that companies do not communicate. Websites do not communicate. People communicate. Is a blog the best way for the leaders of a company to communicate with the public? Maybe; maybe not. Again, the savvy communicator will use any tool in the box.

Who knows? Dee may be motivated entirely by a jaded view of communication. And maybe his rant is meant to be a wake-up call to social media thinkers. But you know what I think the real motivator is? It's here, buried in his post at Adventures in Business Communication (emphasis mine):

I was trained in the investment business early in my business career. We used to joke that when a company or an industry or a topic finally hit the cover of Time, you'd better be long, fucking gone from an investment perspective. The smart money was already OUT! So Time elects us all…the collective populous of bloggers and content providers to be the Man of the Year. The contrarian in me is aching to be outta here to the next thing...I will be focusing on the ongoing value proposition of my company's software to our clients. (By the way…we could have created a blogging platform 4-5 years ago…but when there are other companies giving it away for free…where's the revenue model?).

Technorati : Dee Rambeau, Marcom Blog, adventures in business communication

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:48am in Communication, Is Tedious in the House? | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (12)

Law.com's do's and don't of corporate blogging. Excellent overview....

Even seasoned communicators should take a look at As Blogging Grows, So Do Its Do's and Dont's, an article by Alysa N. Zeltzer adn John E. Villafranco at Law.Com. These are corporate blogging guidelines from the point of view of the legal department, and they provide rich insight into the legal issues of blogging. At the very least, understanding the points in this article will prepare communicators for possible objections to blogging raised by corporate or client legal departments. Here are a few samples:

• Do be mindful of intellectual property laws and train your blogging employees on such requirements. Employee postings on a corporate blog that include a third-party's intellectual property, such as copyrighted material or trademarks, may expose the company to allegations of infringement. Given that blogs, by their nature, tend to build off the content of other Web sites and materials through linking and copying, it is critical that such use complies with "fair use" principles (i.e., posted for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research).

• Do implement a clear policy on employee blogs, especially those in which senior executives contribute. Chances are, a number of your employees already have a blog that prominently features their association with the business, and many are saying plenty of things (and sharing images) relating to the company. Some of that content may be innocuous; other types may be embarrassing or come back to haunt the company in litigation. Implementing and enforcing a clear policy that provides reasonable parameters for such postings can save you headaches down the road.

• Don't employ consumer bloggers to say positive things about your company's products or services without ensuring that they disclose their affiliations with the company. Endorsements and testimonials by word of mouth have always been a popular form of marketing, but the blogging world has made them even more so, thereby making content that crosses the line an attractive target for regulators.

• Don't terminate employees for posting inappropriate content to corporate blogs without considering the risk of wrongful termination claims, especially where the company does not have a consistent practice on how it treats employees who post content online. Employees may claim that the employer authorized the posting, and is now discriminating against them for exercising their right to organize.

What's refreshing here is seeing corporate lawyers saying "By all means... blog!" instead of taking the knee-jerk "better not!" stance.

Technorati : alysa zeltzer, blogging guidelines, corporate blogging, john villafranco, law.com

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:45pm in Business, Communication, Law | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0)

"Wow, Dave, what happened to you?" "Hit some low-hanging fruit and fell on my cutting edge."

A couple of years back, I ranted a little about crappy, irritating business jargon. I secretly find it satisfying to sneer inwardly at people who bandy about "proactive," "low-hanging fruit" or "stretch target." I'm particularly down on people who talk about being "cutting edge" -- great, pal, you've learned not to use the back of the knife.

If you're nodding in agreement, head over to The Office Life Business Jargon Dictionary, where they have codified the most commonly encountered business cant. Dip into it sparingly; it's much too depressing to go from A-to-Z in one go. But a fine resource.

Hat tip to "Marcus."

Technorati : cant, counter words, jargon, language

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:19pm in Communication, Language & Linguistics, Logophilia | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1)

More with Les: Les Potter's Blog

Les Potter, one of the great thinkers in corporate communication, has established a blog called "More with Les."

If you know Les -- and, if you are an IABC member, it's hard not to at least know of Les -- I think you'll agree with me that more is what we can expect here. More smarts about communication, because Les just exudes smarts about communication. More insight than you can shake a stick at, because Les throws off insights like my cats shed fur. And a more critical look at social media? I wouldn't be surprised... Les has been around the communication block a few times.

Les is a natural-born mentor. Run, don't walk, to his blog. And be prepared to learn.

Hat tip to Shel Holtz.

Technorati : communicators, iabc, les potter, towson

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:27pm in Communication | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2)

Communication Arts loves my friends TWICE as much!

If you are in advertising or graphics design, you'll know that a nod from Communications Arts is, well, pretty swellegant. I won't say I know art directors who would kill grandma to get recognition from CA, but I know some who would discuss it.

Seriously... when CA decides you are worthy of its award, you are in pretty tall cotton.

My client, the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies copped two awards, out of 18 winners, and out of thousands of entries, in the publication division. This is a small non-profit organization with a couple of dozen employees. Major ad agencies went home empty handed.

I'll quickly come clean: I had nothing to do with it. But my friends and colleagues Flemming Wisler, Martin Johansson and Stine Olesen did -- they are crew at nxt. And CIFS -- the client -- is fearless.

You see, now, why I love my work?

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:07pm in Communication | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1)

Robert French buffaloes Steve Rubel, who is really Kaiser Wilhelm II

I think, after watching too many late night Texas-hold 'em tournaments on cable (God knows I watch them, but since we ban Texas in our poker group, it's just entertainment), Robert French couldn't resist the gambling metaphor. He calls Steve Rubel's milquetoast column in AdAge a "buffalo bet."

I can get with that... I often find myself using metaphors from what I am reading or watching.

This week, I am reading Castles of Steel, Robert K. Massie's history of the war at sea during the Great War. My metaphor for Steve is Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm (Steve) built an extraordinary fleet (blog cred with other PR bloggers) before the war in 1914 (before 2005)... but when a pretty good British fleet arrived at his doorstep  (when lots of other credible PR bloggers arrived in force), Wilhelm locked his mighty fleet in harbor (Steve stopped posting anything remotely thoughtful, stopped commenting on his own blog or those of others, and largely retired to "oh, isn't this cool?" link lists) and refused to play.

The Kaiser's unwillingness to come out and play (send him the Cluetrain!) sent the First Lord of the British Admiralty Winston Churchill (Jeremy Pepper?) around the bend. The result... Churchill (Pepper) went to the trenches (Shandwick) while the Kaiser (Steve) went to the relatively anonymous comfort of exile (Edelman).

Technorati Tags: Buffalo Bet, Jeremy Pepper, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Robert French, Robert K. Massie, Steve Rubel, Tag 22

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:39pm in Communication, History | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (7)

Chat #3 at Better Desirable Roasted Communication Café Podcast

In today's chat, Lee advises comms students and new professionals to jump into blogging and podcasting, if only to join a global network of colleagues, friends, and mentors. Allan says "you betcha", and advises also joining IABC or PRSA, or both. Allan also suggests joining Ned Lundquist's Job of the Week newsletter & discusses why JOTW is a networking success story.

Lee announces our new website: http://www.commscafe.com.

People or organizations mentioned in this show: Robert French's MarCom Blog, Ross Monaghan's The Media Pod Blog, Neville Hobson, Shel Holtz, Jeremy Pepper, IABC, PRSA, The Job of the Week Newsletter, Fast Company.

Note to listeners: because of technical upgrades at Chez Hopkins and Allan's travel schedule, the café may be silent next week. But subscribe to the RSS feed and you are guaranteed not to miss a single show!

Download [6mb] and listen right now, and don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed to catch every sparkling discussion as Allan and Lee pass the coffee pot around.

Agree with us? Disagree? Drop your comments on this post, or send a Waxmail to ‘comments at commscafe dot com’.

Technorati Tags: robert french, ross monaghan, shel holtz, neville hobson, jeremy pepper, ned lundquist, prsa, iabc, jotw, fast company, allan jenkins, lee hopkins

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:43pm in Communication, Podcasting | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0)

Lee Hopkins is not a dog... this way, folks, to the Egress

Yesterday, in show #2 of the Better Desirable Roasted Communications Café Podcast, Lee Hopkins and I talked about virtual project teams . I believe smart independent communicators, meeting each other in the PR/communication Oort cloud, will soon form temporary, virtual "agencies" to serve clients.

We've seen a bit of this already. Neville Hobson and Fredrik Wackå serve a client together, and Hugh McLeod and David Parmet work together on both English Cut and Stormhoek.

Lee, who describes himself as "one of Australia's leading thinkers on communication strategy in an online environment," a claim I have chosen not to examine closely, rightly points out an obvious issue, one raised in the old New Yorker cartoon: on the Internet, no one knows you are a dog. Lee notes:

"With an example of the requirement to launch a multi-country PR or marcom campaign, Allan correctly suggests that two consultants in different parts of the world, say, Adelaide and Copenhagen, may well know more about each other and be of more value to a campaign than two senior executives from a global PR company with offices in Sydney and Copenhagen.

"The obvious leap is that should that campaign require (from a European base) an Australian element, a North American element, a Canadian element, inter alia, then the Euro-based PR consultant would be able to tap into the local expertise of people he/she already knows and has built a relationship with, rather than the faceless executives of a global firm.

"However, having slept on the idea, I can see a ‘challenge’.

"Despite the ‘trust’ relationship that might be built up between two online-corresponding consultants, let us not forget that on the internet no one need know that you’re a dog. I can create any persona I like, and if I creatively or schizophrenically hold ‘true’ to that persona, over time I will cement that personality into the hearts and minds of others who repeatedly correspond with me.

"So too with Allan’s virtual global PR team comprising of a free-moving, project-based, fast-evolving and fast-dissolving amalgamation of consultants. Whilst the executives from the global PR firm may not know each other, they do have the ‘trust’ base of being employed by the same company, with hopefully the same values and measures for success, and disciplinary measures for failure."

I don't think any responsible consultant would entrust a client to a colleague who is only an online correspondent. But let's say Lee wanted to hire me to handle some work for him here in Copenhagen -- would we have to meet? Well, no, because much of the PR/communication Oort cloud is connected through past experience, work, personal knowledge, professional credentials. In this case, I could suggest to Lee: a) "A.B." a  highly-credentialed IABC colleague, whom we both know, sent me to Berlin to do focus groups and seemed satisfied, b) "C.D.", another highly-credentialed IABC colleague, and I have worked together, on several association tasks c) "E.F.", another IABC leader, might be worth asking.

(Of course, at this point, it can become maddeningly difficult to put the nail in the quicksilver. A.B. and C.D. could truthfully say they've "known" me 13 years... but would have to confess, on cross-examination, that they've been in the same room with me.... probably not more than 18 hours in 13 years. And there are IABC leaders who shudder at the thought of 18 hours in a room with me. But let's leave that, and move on.)

Lee's point, of course, is do your due diligence. I believe that is fairly easy to do in the blogosphere, and more easily than in an international agency, for a couple of reasons. First, I think it's hard, though certainly not impossible, to fake it in the blogosphere. Stru***tte tried, did a pretty good job at the outset, but was outed in less than a week. Second, most of the PR/communication cloud has been around a while. Due diligence is easy enough. Many of the people I read are IABC and PRSA leaders (past and present), award winners (easily checked), or show up at conferences where, in some face time, you get a sense of them.

Frankly, after the PR agency scandals we've been seeing? I'll take that any day over agencies "hopefully with the same values and measures for success, and disciplinary measures for failure."

Technorati Tags: Allan Jenkins, Better Desirable Roasted Communications Cafe, communication ethics, Lee Hopkins, Tag 10, virtual teams

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 04:01pm in Career management, Communication, Management | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (4)

Better Desirable Roasted Coffee Communication Café: Show #2

Technorati Tags: Allan Jenkins, Better Desirable Roasted Communications Cafe, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, Creative Class, Lee Hopkins, Richard Florida, Constantin Basturea

Read more "Better Desirable Roasted Coffee Communication Café: Show #2"

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:56pm in Communication, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Podcasting | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0)

2nd Idea for IABC Scandinavia: get local

Two weeks ago, I pledged to offer IABC Scandinavia 12 suggestions for building membership.

After a first suggestion (Start a blog, which drew attaboys from IABC members and was panned by IABC European leadership) I missed last week, between deadlines and a national holiday. But I'll throw out two this week, and then we are back on track next week.

Suggestion No. 2 Be far more local.

IABC, like Rotary, like scouting, like most political parties, operates at several different levels.

1) International: policy, strategy, budgets, global professional development. Boring (except for global PD), but necessary.

2) Regional: membership, chapter support, opening new markets, regional professional development. More fun! And necessary!

3) Local chapter: networking, local professional development, mentoring and being mentored, comraderie, smart thinking on local communication issues. Real value for IABC dues, and lots of fun.

The most important, for building membership, is the local level. We all know this. Members, living or working in a small geographic area, most of whom know each other (or of each other), who have a common purpose "on the ground," are the members who a) enjoy the benefits of membership most, and b) evangelize so much that they attract other members.

Who of us joined Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts or whatever to get the national magazine? You joined because you were in a troop and it was fun.

IABC Scandinavia misses this point, which is why the "chapter" is failing. It should look for instruction to successful chapters in the US and Canada.

First, the geographic catchment area of IABC Scandinavia is enormous, covering an area the size of the Eastern United States. It contains, at last count, 35 members -- to put this in perspective, some office buildings in Toronto contain more than 35 IABC members. This is not a group that can come together regularly or on any sort of short notice.

Second, most members do not know one another, and never will. And why should they? They don't share a common culture, don't speak the same language except in the broadest of terms, and don't move in the same business circles. Hell, they don't even read the same newspapers.

The result? None of the criteria for a successful local chapter are met: small geographic area, members knowing or knowing of each other, common ground from which to work. The results speak for themselves: IABC Scandinavia has had three sparsely attended meetings in 18 months, three all-member emails and... well, that's it.

So, on to my suggestion. Maintain the pretence of a "Scandinavian" chapter if you must, but concentrate on building lots of activity in the local centers of membership: Greater Copenhagen/Malmö, Greater Stockholm, Greater Oslo. Let the locals organize meetings and seminars amongst themselves -- encourage them to do so. By being actively involved in IABC -- and active involvement means more than 2 meetings a year in some city 500 miles away -- they become IABC evangelists. Which builds membership.

In fact, take it a step further: declare an ambition to split IABC Scandinavia, the "on-paper" chapter, into three or more real chapters by the end of 2007. Let the Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo groups build themselves up to 20-25 members -- not a difficult goal -- and form chapters of their own. The result for IABC: three active chapters, instead of one that never got off the ground. The result for local members: a much more interesting and rewarding way to be a part of IABC.

Readers, friends, IABC members, PRSA members, Little League coaches... please offer your suggestions and criticisms.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:24am in Communication, IABC, IABC Scandinavia | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (7)

Introducing the Better Desirable Roasted Communications Podcast

The Better Desirable Roasted Communications Cafe is now open for business.

Come on inside, grab a cup of Joe, and eavesdrop on Allan Jenkins and Lee Hopkins as they ‘chew the fat’ for 18 minutes on business communication issues.

In today’s chat they’re discussing how to make that ‘first’ suggestion to a client or your boss when you’re fresh out of college, as well as the merits or otherwise of using aggressive print DM tactics on the web.

And tell us how often you want to hear us — never again? once a week? a couple of times a week? more (are you a glutton for punishment?)?

Download [8mb] and listen right now, and don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed to catch every sparkling discussion as Allan and Lee pass the coffee pot around.

Agree with them? Disagree? Drop your comments on this post, or send them a Waxmail.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:23am in Bizarre & Amusing, Communication, Podcasting | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1)

Communitelligence has feeds after all (mea culpa)

Weelll... I sure stepped in it.

Yesterday, I wrote about Communitelligence, the pretty cool communication portal set up by John Gerstner.

Readers will remember that I had some nitpicking to do about the blogs: smart writers, but no RSS feeds.

John quickly pointed out that they do all have RSS feeds & there's a subscribe button at the bottom of each blog.

Ooops. I don't know what happened there, since I looked once, twice, thrice and sure didn't see it the first time around. After John's note, I spotted it right away.

He also takes pains to stress that Communitelligence is not a "for pay" site. That was a bad choice of wording on my part; you don't have to pay to go there and read. However, it is a commercial enterprise.

At any rate: it's a smart stable of communicator/bloggers over there. Well worth a visit.

Technorati Tags: Communitelligence

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:53pm in Bloggers, Blogging, Communication, Mea Culpas & Outright Retractions | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0)

Communitelligence: smart people, but no RSS

What do you do when smart people write blogs, but don't provide RSS feeds? Well, if you're me, that special effort to go read them can be hard to make.

Today, I wandered over to Communitelligence, a "for pay" communication portal run by John Gerstner, a prominent IABC'er.

To my great surprise, I found any number of IABC friends and colleagues blogging at the site: Robert Holland, Ayelet Baron, John Gerstner, Michael Rudnick, Barbara Puffer...

These are some of the smartest IABC communicators working, and normally their joining us would be of great interest to the rest of us. Perhaps the news got out while I was looking the other way, but I think I would have heard something out there.

Here's what I think has gone wrong:

• Very few of them comment on other people's blogs. Robert Holland does once in a while, but I've never seen a comment anywhere by the others.
• Incredibly few links.
• Highly polished writing: these are, for the most part, carefully crafted, entirely neutral -- and -- given how spirited I know these people to be in person -- a bit bland.
• Infrequent posts.
• No comments allowed on their blogs.
• No trackbacks allowed to them, no trackbacks offered from them
• No RSS feed, guaranteeing only the most voracious of readers will visit often.

In short, while these look "like" blogs, they are anything but. What John has put together is a nice little Web magazine on communication, in format similar to a blog.

Let's hope it becomes much more than that.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:28pm in Bloggers, Blogging, Communication | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2)

1st Idea for IABC Scandinavia: start a blog

"Booo"... I can hear to the rafters already, as you all say "too easy..."

But hear me out a minute.

Most blogs are personal. Most blogs deliver the highly opinionated view of one person. In fact, blog "purists" would prefer it that way.

But I look back on the many organizations I've been a part of. Scout troop, fraternity, community group, IABC committees and boards, political party groups -- every single one had a problem with timely communication. In most cases, there was a will to communicate, but poor technical channels. A group blog would have solved a lot of problems,

Bad comms is a killer. In an organization like IABC Scandinavia -- a handful of members spread over tens of thousands of square kilometers -- it is  a killer if you cannot communicate.

A blog could be the answer.

Set up a blog, give all the regional leaders author rights. For that matter, give every member author rights.  Invite and encourage members to write in. Make it loose and unofficial. Sure, that's where you announce the next meeting. But it's also where you critique the meeting. Or announce a job opening.

Let me answer some of the obvious questions:

1) What if we don't have much to say? If you open authorship to all the members, you will find that other people have a lot to say.

2) We will need to monitor the conversation. No, we elected you as leaders. We monitor you, not the other way around.

3) Sounds like a lot of IT expense? Can be set up in an hour. And I, Allan Jenkins, will pay for the first two years of hosting. Free gift.

4) We already use email... shouldn't we keep that? Anything posted can be reformed to email, so that's not an issue. At any rate, within a year or two, all savvy communicators will prefer RSS.

5) No other chapter does this? Fine.... for once, be in front.

Price? Peanuts. Time to set up? About an hour.

Readers... Pile in with your views.

Suggestion No. 2? One week from today,.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:13pm in Communication, IABC, IABC Scandinavia | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (8)

PR and politics have lots in common?

Politics and PR -- industries with image problems. Stuart Bruce is both a politician and a PR practitioner. And while  he rarely goes off the rails, I think he's derailed here:

Public relations and politics have a lot in common. Not least is the fact that both PR practitioners and politicians are frequently criticised by people who know very little about the subject but think they are expert commentators.

The reason they think they are experts is that they are "consumers" of some of the products of PR and politics. The problem is they only see it from their own limited perspective and not the whole picture that the PRs and politicians have.

Well, what perspective do you expect them to have?

Stuart, I am a communicator, and I have been active in party politics, so we both have more experience in both fields than most people. I'd say, though, that when things go bad for our clients or candidates or parties, the problem is almost never a failing of the "consumer" -- the voter, or the journalist, or the user of the product. When reporters, consumers, voters lacerate our brands and candidates, it's generally because we have misunderstood them -- not the other way around.

Stuart is writing an essay on the topic.  I suspect I will disagree with it, but Stuart is always worth a careful read.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:21am in Communication, Politics, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2)

Lee Hopkins survives a year in the blogosphere

Lee Hopkins, of Better Communication Results, passed the 1-year-of-blogging mark this week.

Newsworthy? You tell me. Plenty of bloggers slog through their first year. But Lee has treated us to year of sparkling posts  that jab, entreat, encourage,  and empathize and commiserate with every communicator who reads him. And he does it with humor, insight and aplomb.

Now, careful readers will know that I granted Lee, months ago, the Honorary Futon of Antipodean Communication here at Desirable Roasted Coffee. I could claim deep prescience. The truth is -- and let's not dwell on it  -- Lee got it for taking care of a little outstanding vice rap I had going in Australia (Oh, Lee, before I forget... I didn't know they'd send up to Block J... my bad).

But... guess what?  I'm reappointing Lee to the Futon. This time for the real thing. For communication thinking that's worth getting out of bed for.

Hat's off to Lee Hopkins -- if you are a communicator, you ought to be reading him.  Every day.

(Karen, here's my draft for that Hopkins 1-year post. But don't post it until his check clears. And I mean check; don't be falling for that "frozen kangaroo steaks" thing again.)

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:28pm in Bizarre but Expected, Bloggers, Communication | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2)

It’s Mardi Gras, so there’s no school... right?

Fascinating little tidbit from John Wagner:

Many Houston-area students displaced by Hurricane Katrina assumed that schools were closed for Mardi Gras, and they didn't show up.

No one told them school would be open, and many didn't ask, because in their experience, schools always close for Mardi Gras. Roughly 40 percent of the students from New Orleans in Houston-area school districts missed classes Monday and Tuesday, and they're getting marked for unexcused absences.

Wagner diagnoses the problem as one of knowing how to communicate across mini-streams, now that mainstream media channels are breaking up.

It's a challenge that will only grow in complexity as society gets ever more segmented. PR people, are you up to it?

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:32pm in Communication, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (6)

Common Sense Blogging Thoughts from NewComm Forum

Shel Holtz has written a great summary of Debbie Weil's Corporate Blogging Case Studies at the New Communication Forum (wish I was there soaking it all up).

It's all good, but one line I like came from Paul Rosenfeld, general manager of Intuit Quickbooks online notes:

[We have] posts to the blog from the employee who keeps the server up and running talk about server problems. Makes us human, imperfect, which people understand and appreciate (vs. companies that behave as though they're infallible). [Emphasis mine]

That's what I wanted to say today. Flemming Wisler and I were giving a presentation on social media, and while I believe I managed to make the same point, it sure wasn't as pithy as Rosenfeld's. But from now on, that's what I will say.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 12:52pm in Blogging, Communication, Management | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0)

Short update on the Sprint Ambassador diplomatic crisis

Still no reply to my email to "Bob" (you will remember I had to assign him a name) at Sprint. I do hope he will reply in such a way that I can restore diplomatic relations with Sprint and say "ok, we're friends again!"

In the meantime, the estimable Mike Sansone at Copywriting Watch makes his own suggestion to Sprint on my behalf. It's lovely, and I wish I'd thought of it. And if Sprint takes him up on it, I will sing their praises to high heaven.

"Here's my suggestion to Sprint (Bob?). Send a note of sincere apology to Allan. Invite him to choose three people he knows in the target markets to become a Sprint Ambassador. They don't have to be bloggers. Allan's choice - pure and simple. Then over deliver. Somehow. Just don't pull a Nvidia."

That's what it's about, everyone (and I mean everyone!): market ethically (don't spam), but if you do mess up, apologize! And over deliver to your victim! It's an easy thing, and we have all seen it work a thousand times. Unfortunately, we still see it too little.

So, Bob at Sprint Ambassador Team. If you take up Mike's suggestion, I will choose three of my friends back in the United States, all of whom could have stepped out of the pages of The Tipping Point, and you can make them ambassadors. I'll be happy, they will (that is, if you over deliver) be happy, and you will be happy. It's win-win-win for us all!

Also, I've sent an email to Lori Joseph, a senior communicator at Sprint, prominent IABC leader, and former colleague of mine on IABC's board of directors. Since she's all about good corporate communication and marketing ethics -- and knows how to get things done -- I am sure all of this will be speedily and happily resolved.

Technorati: Sprint, sprint ambassador, mike sansone, Copywriting Watch, diplomatic immunity, lame pitches

Related post: Desirable Roasted Coffee breaks diplomatic relations with Sprint Ambassador Team

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:14pm in Bizarre & Amusing, Communication, Ethics, Is Tedious in the House?, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3)

Steve Rubel lashes out at the Blogging for Benjamins crowd... about time, I’d say

If Steve Rubel isn't the most cautious person in the communication blogosphere, he's surely in the running. Over the last 18 months, 99% of whatever edginess was in Micropersuasion has ebbed away, leaving little but neutral thoughts and (invariably useful) links.

So it was with great pleasure that I read Steve's swipe at Copyblogger, a blog that purports to teach us poor slobs "how to sell with blogs and RSS."

Steve writes in part (and he's dead on target):

"Arrrgggh! Copyblogger is propagating the whole school of thought that blogging is just about getting more traffic. They have even published a how-to guide. Well, I am here to tell you, it's not."

Cheekily, he invites Copyblogger to pack up and go home:

"My suggestion is that if you're blogging solely for building Web traffic and Google Juice, go build a Web site and advertise it on Google instead. Blogs are about being part of a community. Join it, add value to it, but don't focus on the traffic."

I will give Copyblogger credit for not being as crass as that crowd at Performancing, where search engine manipulation and splogging is the order of the day. But that's the extent of my credit.

Hit 'em again, Steve!

Technorati: copyblogger, steve rubel, micropersuasion

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:21pm in Blog Management, Blogging for Benjamins, Communication | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (6)

There's a new blog in town: NevilleHobson.com

Friend Neville Hobson -- oh, you don't know Neville? The guy, the guru, the mentor who has pretty much created whatever awareness European biz has for social media? Yes, that guy -- has a new blog at NevilleHobson.com.

Now, I am hard to please. I spend way too much time mentally out there the edge, so when I come home, I want the books on the shelves to be where they were yesterday. I want easy. I want safe.

With Neville shifting from Nevon to NevilleHobson, a small but significant part of my world is turned on its head.

And I don't like it.

But that's just my own selfishness and... here's the thing... whatever shingle Neville puts out in front of the shop, it's worth my while -- it's worth your while -- to get in there and listen. You won't come out stupider, as we say down in the sticks, and you will probably learn something.

Neville! Keep on keeping on!

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 12:09pm in Communication, Communication Skills, Corporate Communication, IABC, Writing I Enjoy | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2)

Social media & PR education

I've signed on again to be a contributor to the Marcom blo