When CNN anchor Kiran Chetry was scheduled to speak with America’s Spelling Bee champion Evan O’Dorney, she probably didn’t think it would be one of the most difficult interviews of her life. However, their discussion quickly turned into one of those interviews that even makes the viewer cringe.
O’Dorney gave very brief, awkward answers to almost every question he was asked, and twice told Chetry that she was pronouncing a word wrong – one of them being his last name. In the middle of the interview Chetry even told Evan that he was making the interview tough for her, to which he had no response.
Are you overwhelmed by your social networks? Do you feel there is just not enough time in the day to SuperPoke on Facebook, update your MySpace mood, add your Flickr pics, Plurk and follow fellow Twitterers? Today’s Wall Street Journal profiles “social Web browser” applications that can make your social networks work for you.
Toolbar that runs on left-hand side of Firefox browser (will be on IE in July)
Aggregates friends’ updates on Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Last.fm
Chat on AIM, GTalk, MSN and Yahoo!
Drag, Drop and Share videos you find on YouTube and MetaCafe and add pics to Flickr
Universally update your profile status
Interactive screen saver and desktop viewer called chirpscreen (Mac only runs viewer)
Aggregates friends’ photo updates on Flickr, Facebook and Twitter
Users can comment and share photos without stopping the screen saver
Gives you live updates on eBay auction items you like
Toolbar that runs on Firefox browser
Aggregates friends’ updates on Facebook, Digg, Pownce, Twitter, del.icio.us, Magnolia, Blogger, Blogsome, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress and Xanga
Check email on AOL, Gmail or Yahoo! Mail
Media MiniBar has a scrollable filmstrip view of photo and video streams from YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Piczo
Toolbar that runs on top of Firefox and IE browsers
Aggregates friends’ updates to MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and Twitter (coming soon: YouTube, Bebo, Orkut, LiveJournal, Flickr, Yelp and Flixster)
Any other sites or tools that help simplify your social networking world? Post a comment and give us your suggestions!
Well, for those opposed to Google’s street view, they can take solace in knowing that even Google’s street car isn’t above the law: A Google street view car was pulled over the other day in San Francisco for some sort of driving infraction.
No details were given on the violation, but it should be noted that Google is using an environmentally responsible Toyota Prius for its mapping.
As business issues around globalization, sustainability, green IT and social responsibility become crucial for any corporate communications strategy, Racepoint Group is excited to announce today a deepening and expansion of our corporate and public affairs capabilities.
Racepoint has added David Whitmore as executive vice president of our new Washington D.C. offices.David will be heading a growing office that now includes: Brian Lunde, senior consultant of issues management and government relations; Timothy Binning, senior consultant of issues management and government relations; and Rich Blewitt, senior advisor crisis and issues management (who joined Racepoint several months ago).
The new Washington D.C. office will join our offices in Boston, London and San Francisco.
Using Racepoint Group’s expertise in digital and social media, the Washington D.C. practice will deliver a next-generation corporate practice to help companies enhance their reputations and navigate the challenges of 21st century communications.
For more information, read our press release on the new offering.
To the surprise of the Drudge Report, last week the Associated Press (A.P.) sent them a letter requesting that several items containing quotations from AP articles be removed from their site.
Apparently, the A.P. isn’t too happy with people reposting or reusing their content, and is willing to take concrete steps to prevent this.
According to the New York Times, the A.P. issued a statement defending its action on Friday, saying it was going to challenge blog postings containing excerpts of A.P. articles “when we feel the use is more reproduction than reference, or when others are encouraged to cut and paste.”
Jim Kennedy, vice president and strategy director of the A.P. had some interesting words on the subject:
“We don’t want to cast a pall over the blogosphere by being heavy-handed, so we have to figure out a better and more positive way to do this. Cutting and pasting a lot of content into a blog is not what we want to see. It is more consistent with the spirit of the Internet to link to content so people can read the whole thing in context. As content creators, we firmly believe that everything we create, from video footage all the way down to a structured headline, is creative content that has value. We are not trying to sue bloggers. That would be the rough equivalent of suing grandma and the kids for stealing music. That is not what we are trying to do.”
“Drudge Retort is doing nothing different than what Digg, TechMeme, Mixx and dozens of other sites do, and frankly the fact that they are being linked to should be considered a favor …So here’s our new policy on A.P. stories: they don’t exist. We don’t see them, we don’t quote them, we don’t link to them. They’re banned until they abandon this new strategy, and I encourage others to do the same until they back down from these ridiculous attempts to stop the spread of information around the Internet.”
Last month I wrote how Fox News correspondent Liz Trotta joked about a possible assassination of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Well, Fox News apparently hasn’t learned from their mistakes.
Media Matters reported that Fox News’ America’s Pulse, host E.D. Hill apologized for her June 6 comments about a ‘fist bump’ between Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, when she took a hint from Michelle Malkin’s criticism of Dunkin’ Donuts, and called the act a terrorist move. “A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently,” Hill said during the broadcast.
Now, The New York Times reports that for the third time in less then three weeks, Fox News is apologizing for more inappropriate comments and/or judgment towards or about Obama:
The network has released a statement saying it should not have referred to Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle, as “Obama’s Baby Mama,’’ as it did on Wednesday in an on-screen headline commonly called a “chyron.”
“A producer on the program exercised poor judgment in using this chyron during the segment,” Bill Shine, a Fox News senior vice president, said in a statement.
While Fox News has clearly been stepping over the line, it’s interesting to see how many of these slip-ups are going unpunished. Could this be a result of the comments being laughed at and not taken very seriously, or the one-sided views of the network?
In order to take a stand against the false statements, Obama’s camp has launched a new site, FightTheSmears.com. The site acts as a fact and fiction differentiator, separating the truthful and fictional statements and comments about Obama and his campaign.
I had the opportunity to attend PRSA’s Digital Impact Conference the past few days in New York City, and discovered quite a few new resources that I wanted to pass along, as we all try to identify the best ways to make our digital and social media marks online. Check them out when you get a chance!
SEO / Linking and Ranking Tools
Seodigger.com - Shows how a company ranks for organic search
Market Leap - Add in a URL and see how many links your site has versus competitors, and what their ranks are
Search Rascal - Shows the sites that are ranked for use of one certain word, and how it changes over time
“Link:” on www.Google.com – If you type “link:” immediately followed by a domain name (ex: link:racepointgroup.com) into Google search, the results will show you which and how many sites are linking to that domain name
Twitter
TweetScan – A real-time search engine for Twitter that lets you find the conversations on the topics you want.
Who Should i Follow - Enter in your Twitter username, and this tool will give you suggestions of people you might want to follow.
TweetWheel – A tool that shows you which of your Twitter friends know one another
TwitDer – A Twitter directory that shows you the most popularly followed people on Twitter, and the people that send the most updates
Video
Icyou.com – Healthcare video community that brings you everything from late-breaking medical research videos to exercise tips
Tubemogul – Video analytic tool that shows you when, where and how often videos are being watched, letting you measure how powerful your video marketing campaign is against competitors
RedLasso – Search national and local TV and radio broadcasts and make clips to post to your site
Podcasts
Podscope – Search engine that lets you search podcasts by typing in a phrase of spoken words
Podcast Alley – One of the biggest collections of podcasts on the Internet – features the top 10 podcasts as rated by listeners
David Carr, media columnist for the New York Times, admits that he’s a word guy.
On September 11, 2001, Carr was dispatched to cover the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers.A few block from Ground Zero, Building #7 in the World Trade Center complex collapsed.An enormous cloud of dust and debris rolled down the street where Carr was stationed.
He dove under a parked automobile where a pigeon had also taken cover.
“We had an inter-species moment,” Carr said.“Both of us were looking at each other as if to say, ‘What the freak are we doing here?’”
Under the car, David found a copy of Strunk & White’s “The Elements of Style.”He put it in his pocket and still cherishes the edition.He admits he can’t write as eloquent as the guide advises, but he believes the book solidified his passion for words.
Carr was putting this story in the context of Web 2.0 and the changes in journalism, communications and public relations at the second day of the PRSA Digital Impact Conference in New York City today.He spoke to a packed room of PR professionals about his transformation from “Fred Flintstone” into a journalist utilizing the tools of the Internet – from blogging to video.
Carr said in today’s world professionals are faced with “hellacious clutter” from living modern, technology enabled lives.
“While I’m talking you’re all going to be checking your mobile phones, iPhones and checking email,” he said.“I don’t blame you, we’re all too busy.We all get hundreds of emails a day.We are all fighting for our content to be noticed.”
Carr has moved from being a wordsmith to experimenting with online videocasts and a New York Times’ sponsored blog called “Carpetbagger” – a blog about the Oscars.
“We are in a pull world, not push,” Carr said.“And if you are in the push business, well, time to rethink.”
Carr suggested that PR people embrace new technologies, but to be cautious about listening to anyone who claims to know what going to happen next.“No one can anticipate what’s next in this market,’’ he said.“It’s moving too fast.”
Bernoff, who focuses on social technologies for the research firm, got right to the point. “Concentrate on the people, not the technologies,” he told a crowd of about 200 public relations people during his keynote address.
Bernoff said that marketers and PR people need to understand that controlling the conversation on the Web is an impossible task. He said he wrote “Groundswell” with fellow Forrester analyst Charlene Li as a manual for using social technologies effectively. Bernoff said participation and a willingness to engage freely are the keys.
During his presentation, Bernoff outlined his four step process for engaging with what he calls the groundswell of people using social and digital technologies.
1. People. Companies first priority should be assessing their customers’ social activities. What technologies are their customers using? How are they communicating? Where can they be found online?
2. Objectives. Companies then need to decide what they want to accomplish with social and digital media relations. What are the goals? Is digital and social media the best channels?
3. Strategy. Thirdly, companies need to expend the energy up front to plan for how social and digital media relations with change relationships with customers. What are the short and long-term consequences of engaging on the Web?
4. Technology. Lastly, companies need to decide which social networks, widgets and tools are best for them and their customers.
RaceTalk doesn’t officially endorse a presidential candidate. We leave that to TechCrunch. However, as a member of Generation Y, my choice was inevitable.
Senator Barack Obama secured the Democratic presidential nomination last night, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party ticket. However, “the story” coming out of his nomination last night wasn’t so much about race (we’re not about race either as Jeremy Caplan of Timerecently noted) it was about looking back at his nearly improbable campaign and “the race,” which became a marathon battle for the Democratic nomination.
“Prevailing through an epic battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in a primary campaign that inspired millions of voters from every corner of America to demand change in Washington,” penned Jeff Zeleny for the front page of today’s New York Times.
While Obama’s campaign has transcended politics it has also given a glimpse into the evolving world of marketing and communications. The way in which the Obama campaign capitalized on open communication along with his understanding of setting a truly global image in our world “2.0” is something we can certainly endorse.
As Ellen McGirt of Fast Company poetically described in her April cover story for Fast Company entitled “The Brand Called Obama”:
“Politics, after all, is about marketing — about projecting and selling an image, stoking aspirations, moving people to identify, evangelize and consume. The promotion of the brand called Obama is a case study of where the American marketplace — and, potentially, the global one — is moving. His openness to the way consumers today communicate with one another, his recognition of their desire for authentic ‘products,’ and his understanding of the need for a new global image — all are valuable signals for marketers everywhere.”
Obama has fully embraced the Internet age and because of this, as McGirt also noted, the internet has embraced him. He was also adept at monetizing it. The “yes we can” message resonated across multiple communication channels and the viral video featuring the Black Eyed Peas, Scarlett Johansson and others became the campaign’s rallying cry as it exploded across the Internet.
He and his advisors made skillful hires of folks that understood social communication. Case in point: their appointment of Chris Hughes (yes the one that invented Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg), to head its online efforts. They adapted to giving the consumer control of their message and made Facebook and YouTube key aspects of their communication’s efforts.
Some academics and experts that I speak with on the subject of marketing and advertising tell me that the industry is in a constant cycle rather than evolving. What we are witnessing today is an aberration and it will never become fully transparent. In fact, we may eventually see the “somewhat” misleading and overly persuasive advertising and marketing tactics of the 60’s and 70’s reemerge.
I tend to think they’re wrong. I think today’s consumer is savvy enough to see through salesmen’s facades.
As Barack Obama has proven, hope and open communication are a powerful combination and this philosophy is one thing I “hope” doesn’t “change.”
