Flack's Revenge

The NY Times recently covered promising developments in the area of tools that help analyze online news and information.

The article Hot Story to Has Been described several efforts under way that aim to chart the evolution and propagation of stories. I will be writing in more detail about the Web-based tools listed that are publicly accessible in a future post.

The article Mining the Web for Feelings reported on advances in the ability to automatically detect the tone of a story. These tools are variously called sentiment analysis or opinion mining because they go beyond mere facts to infer the tone of articles.

This has been kind of a holy grail for online monitoring and artificial intelligence. It requires analysis of words and context to detect the nuances of sarcasm, for example, and “understand” the sentiment of the writer.

I visited the websites (where available) for each service and plan to eventually kick their tires, write about them, follow their progress and share this info.

The one that seemed most accessible and thus easy to check out and review was Newssift, from the Financial Times Group. The information on the site did not make clear how many sources it searches across. But my quick look and a few searches convinced me that this is a tool worth spending some time with and checking out further.

E.g., plugging in a generic tech term like “cloud computing” revealed overwhelmingly positive sentiments about the topic (see below). Along the left panel it shows the frequency of the term by source type, and shows the top people, companies, themes and regions associated with the term. You can refine the search by selecting specific people, companies, topics etc. that are suggested and displayed along the top panel.

If you select a company, you can see a chart of sentiment trends, making this a great tool for exploring the evolution of brand perceptions. Very cool indeed!

The NY Times public editor (an ombudsman for the paper) wrote about potential conflicts of interest regarding tech gadget writer David Pogue.  The article describes Pogue’s many and varied activities:

In addition to his weekly “State of the Art” column in The Times, and his blog and videos on the newspaper’s Web site, and his weekly e-mail newsletter,
he appears regularly on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” CNBC and NPR. He
also entertains lecture audiences with satirical ditties on the piano —
he once aspired to be a Broadway composer — while informing them about
the latest gadgets… Pogue originated “The Missing Manual”
series of help books for the technologically challenged

I learned a lot from this article.  E.g., I have always found Pogue to be informative as well as entertaining.  But who knew that he’s a real entertainer?

Oh, and one more thing: did I mention (as the article did) that Pogue has two books out on Apple Snow Leopard, a product that he has reviewed for the NY Times?  Hence the ethical conundrum that is the subject of the piece.

As the article says:

… The Times and other news organizations are going to
face more of these situations as journalists worried about the economic
health of their employers seek outside sources of income and as the
companies turn to independent contractors, like Pogue, for more of
their content.

That is why the brand is so important – the personal brand, as well as the publisher imprimatur.  People generally respect the NY Times’ reputation as a trusted source for news.  Anyone who reads Pogue knows that he’s a straight shooter.

On a related topic, the FTC is causing many to reevaluate the trustworthiness of online media as the agency mulls updating its guidelines on paid endorsements to include social media and blogs.

Kevin Grossman noted his concerns about this on HRMarketer .

The Marketing Roadmaps blog has a post on this, and is also hosting a webinar today on the topic of Blogging with Integrity that promises to shed light on what is happening and what to expect regarding FTC disclosure rules.

Although most of the focus has been on reviewers that get paid with cash and/or swag, others are getting caught up in the debate.

One prominent blogger – Anne Giles Clelland – is responding via the first ever (that I am aware of) completely transparent and legally vetted policy.

Her blog Handshake 2.0 (as her tag line says, Even online, it’s still who you know) is a forum in which businesses can promote themselves and connect with others.  Although clients pay to get featured on the blog, Handshake Media is completely upfront about its model.

When it comes to building personal brands, there’s been much buzz about building your online presence by working on your profiles and the like.  I feel that there also needs to be some discussion about the way people interact and “behave” online.

As I said in my post Evolution of Core PR Skills, you need to understand the mores of blogs, micro blogs and social networks and be comfortable communicating in these forums.  But what exactly are the mores of social media?  They can vary from community to community, and also are influenced by the nature of the community.

E.g  on Twitter, it is considered to be acceptable and even desirable to repeat your thoughts and those of others verbatim.  Not so on blogs.  Status updates on Facebook that are all business all the time might seem mercenary.

While social media and networking offer endless opportunities to have your message heard, it is important to understand that you are making an impression in the process.  That impression can be good or bad, and it can be lasting.

How you communicate online says things about you.  They may be inaccurate but perception is everything right?

Who are these People?

We all know them; there’s (at least) one in every crowd.  You talk to friends, family and coworkers and compare notes, and lo and behold, the same people jump out as irritants.

As networks multiply and more people jump on board the rules of the game evolve.  I often caution people to be wary of so-called social media experts (is there some kind of degree or certification program that I am not aware of?).

There’s no single right way or wrong way; different approaches can work for different people.  And I don’t want to fall into the trap of being a Social Media Scold, a social networking type (namely, the people who are constantly calling out the right way and wrong way) that I am sure many find irritating.

Then again this is my blog, my forum and I am allowed to spew here about things that irritate me.  So, without further adieu, here are some of the types that frustrate me:

Town Criers: These are the same ones who, in years before social networks, felt like they had to update people with endless details about their family and business interests via mass email blasts and newsletters.  They are usually all about me me me, all talking and very little back and forth

Name Droppers: These are the flagrant strivers, the ones who feel that the way to elevate their online profiles is to blab about the A listers they hob nob with.

Crypto Fascists:  These are the people who trick out their Tweets with so much inside baseball, hash tags, etc.  I understand the function of hash tags but there’s a downside to using them.  You limit your audience by being obscure, and make your missives harder to read.

Blabbers: The ones who monopolize airwaves

Spammers: (genus Facebookus Spammus): Constantly annoying with pokes, applications, invitations

Blurters:  Just spew whatever is on their minds, without much thought to punctuation, spelling or propriety.  Frequently these are the same people that share T.M.I.

This blog seems to be one that attracts readers, but not many comments.

I know I get readers from the metrics I track (yes, occasional comments too).  And, every once in awhile, when I get frustrated that my posts do not generate more comments, I am heartened to get a kind note, see Tweets, Facebook comments and sometimes even place on “favorite PR blogs” lists.  (Thanks, Wax blog, Brendan Cooper, Tony Mackey, etc.)

I have a feeling that I am not the only blogger in this situation.  Our time is a zero sum game, and people are increasingly distracted with ever more content choices.  More time reading means less time generating content like comments.  And research has shown that content creators (commenting falls in this category) are far outnumbered by passive content consumers.

I think much of the buzz around content that used to be confined to blogs now takes place on Twitter and social networks. It would be a step forward for the social media world if someone invented a widget, or if the blogging platforms made it possible to aggregate comments related to blog posts from Twitter, Facebook, etc., so that they appear under the related post.

It seems like a no brainer (I am not saying the solution is easy to develop, just the fact that there is a very obvious need).  Is anyone aware of such a solution?  Is it out there and I have just somehow managed to miss it?  Please indulge me and ignore the title of this post.  I don’t want to look desperate but comments and answers would be appreciated.

Extra points: what movie is the subtitle of this post from?  Your clue is in the image

I have always thought that corporate blogging is one of those unfortunate, oxymoronic phrases. Blogging at its best is not about corporate formality.  It is more about communicating in a voice that is genuine and authentic.

Having said that, many companies are looking to use blogs to expand their communications efforts and build online influence. Paul Gillin offers excellent advice in his post Blogging Blunders, Part I.

The first tip advises against using the blog as a dumping ground for marketing and PR content such as press releases.

Communications professionals are skilled at delivering messages, not promoting conversations. When presented with another channel, they tend to use it to push out a message. In the worst cases, these messages are nothing more than press releases. Lacking interactivity and insight, they fail to generate any reaction. Worse, they make the company look clueless about the medium.

Although I agree with the larger point, I take issue with the first sentence above; many communications professionals are involved with promoting conversations these days.

He does say PR should be involved, but relegates us to an advisory role

Contributors should be the experts within the company. They are most likely to be the ones who will have meaningful dialogue with the audience. The communications people should focus on big-picture issues like voice, topic selection and quality of writing. They should also sweat details like copy editing. Like orchestra conductors, their role is to bring out the best from the individuals in the ensemble.

With that qualifier, we are on the same page.  I tell clients that the
blog is not something that can be completely outsourced to the agency.

He also advises against using the blog for chest beating, over things like awards, saying few people will care.  I generally agree here, with a caveat.  Ideally, people will get to know you and your blog over time.  They will hopefully become familiar with the voices and personalities behind the blog.  To the extent that they care about individual contributors or the company at large, they may well want to know what you are doing and share in your excitement about successes.

Similarly, some people dislike mundane updates on Twitter about what you are doing, and others enjoy these.  It doesn’t have to be all business and deep insight all the time.  Some of the most successful blogs and widely followed Tweeters do a fair amount of name dropping, chest beating, etc.

Finally, Gillin suggests getting a distinctive look for the blog by going beyond the canned templates:

It’s difficult enough to distinguish yourself among the millions of sites that are already out there. Don’t make it worse by looking just like them.

He points out that for a small investment you can get a custom design or, at a minimum, explore the extended set of third party templates.

I offered some tips that go into more detail on this and other apects of blogging in my post Launching a Company blog in 3 Easy Steps.