Marshall McLuhan famously stated that the medium is the message, this is very relevant for the worlds of communications and PR. Just like in fashion, where styles change over the seasons, modes of communication change.
It is important to master different media forms as each has its nuances - the carrier of the message can have an impact on tone, style, imagery and pace. These in turn have an effect on how your message is received and can either work for or against you.
As one example, the 1960 presidential election debates showed an unshaven, sweating Nixon, tilting the balance to the telegenic JFK and demonstrating the power of TV.
Major networks and media dominated for latter part of the last century, and provided a platform for formal, top down communications. More recently social media emerged, challenging other forms of media and encouraging a more informal style. Blogs, the original social media, have ceded ground to social networks and Twitter. People are increasingly relying on these last two for news and information delivered via short form, unfiltered Tweets and status updates.
I wrote about some of the PR challenges that can come with Twitter. More recently I have noted some cases which make me think that it can sometimes help to be a little sarcastic or antagonistic when you are tweeting in support of a company or brand.
Two that were in the news in sports and tech made some people in the PR field scratch their heads in wonderment; yet the tactics were well received and covered in the media - no harm, no foul I guess, we all live and learn and ideally adapt.
In the first, which I heard about via Twitter, of course - the Journal wrote that Pat Henlon, the PR guy for the giants was talking trash over Twitter with some demoralized fans. See below:
The Giants also fired back in that placid, well-reasoned asteroid field of opinion, Twitter. Summoning his inner Don Rickles, team public-relations maestro Pat Hanlon zinged back at fans slamming the club's offseason torpor. Hanlon tweaked one commenter as a "knucklehead" and used a couple of words that aren't a big deal on HBO's "Hard Knocks" but might get you in trouble in this newspaper.
When someone suggested that the 2011 Giants were worse "on paper," Hanlon shot back: "We don't play on paper. You know what you can do w/ that paper?"
Too much? Too uncharacteristic, too un-Giant-like? I liked Hanlon mixing it up on Twitter. If you're going to be on Twitter, embrace the Twitter. Get in there, get greasy, throw your elbows around. Don't embarrass yourself or employer, but real-time conflict is expected, encouraged, celebrated. Hanlon engaged, and didn't offer stale PR autopilot. That may not be the Giant way, but it is the Twitter way.
Also, more recently, the Journal covered Michael Dell's rants in the wake of HP's recent moves to divest its PC business and shut down WebOS. Here is an excerpt:
On Thursday, the billionaire computer executive took to Twitter, unleashing a handful of pointed tweets at competitor Hewlett-Packard Co. Prompting the abuse: H-P’s announcement earlier in the day that it would try to spin off its PC business, much of which it bought from Compaq Computer Corp. in 2002.
“If H-P spins off their PC business,” Mr. Dell tweeted, “Maybe they will call it Compaq?”
Mr. Dell has a reasonable audience for his tech-related epigrams — his “verified” Twitter account boasts 21,699 followers...
“They call it a separation,” Mr. Dell tweeted. “But it feels like a divorce.”
Mr. Dell has also used social media to interact with customers with laptop troubles, as well as comment on tech trends. One tweet celebrated the 30th anniversary of the PC. Mr. Dell sometimes uses smiley faces and exclamation points. Still, Mr. Dell has a history of making snide comments about his competition.
objectives here at 