Social Media Offers Reception, Not Just Dissemination, of Ideas
Social Media Is For Reading, Too
How many of us, individuals, organizations, and small businesses, have shied away from getting involved with social media because we were not sure we had much to say? How many of us have quietly sublimated a sense of distrust of what we could contribute into an unwillingness to learn about social media? I have, for one. The open seas of social media can seem vast, rough, and uncharted (if not ‘unchartable’!), and from the seashore it can seem safer not wade in. Nevertheless, we have often posted on this blog ideas about how to dip a toe, then a leg, etc., into the ocean – get acclimated, then get writing with what you are comfortable sharing with a wide audience that can become wider still with some patience. But a recent blog posting from Neil Vidyarthi on SocialTimes.com cleverly points out that social media can, and should, be as much about reading/learning as it is about writing/teaching.
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, Media Review, Tweets, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
BP/Haliburton/Transocean Blowout Recapped – What About The PR Blowout?
The explosion on 20 April killed eleven workers
BP’s third effort to cap the destroyed Deepwater Horizon well seems to have been successful, as pressure tests have not done further damage to the emergency mechanisms. As of posting (the afternoon of 16 July), the BP Global website stresses the cleanup of the Gulf without immediate mention of the successful capping done yesterday. Discussion of the cap is found via the link “Gulf of Mexico Response Homepage.” Such an improvement in the situation might deserve mention on each and every page of BP Global’s site, but this post is not going to question BP’s website design. Nevertheless, the successful capping of the well (touch wood), serves as a telling moment to skim some of the thoughts that have been shared about BP’s myriad PR blowouts since the disaster happened. Perhaps the best known of those is @BPGlobalPR as led by @BPTerry and Leroy Stick. We have often encouraged our readers to follow them through this disaster, at least to enjoy some black humor (and offer donations) through the crisis. But many in the communications and media arena have responded to the ways BP has tried to marshal the PR gaffes and crises it keeps finding itself in – the most recent of which are allegations that BP influenced the British Government to allow the only Lockerbie Bomber held in Britain to return to Libya in an effort to secure an off-shore drilling contract with Quadafi. What ‘lessons’ can be learned from these fiascoes?
Popularity: unranked | Category Climate Change, Marketing, News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Tweets, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Tweet This: USA! USA!
Landon Donvan sends the US to the next round of the World Cup
For the first time since 1930 the US national soccer/football team won its World Cup qualifying group with a dramatic, last-minute, 1-0 win over Algeria. Soccer skeptics might immediately assume yet another yawning 1-0 match. But if those skeptics are also baseball fans, they might assume a great pitchers’ duel. In this instance, we had a great goalkeepers’ duel as Tim Howard of the US and Faouzi Chaouchi of Algeria were both kept busy with shots against the posts and breakaways. Indeed, it was as exciting and flowing match as could be hoped for. And as we predicted, social media kept the excitement flowing to ever widening audiences.
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Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Lest We Forget: Oil And @BPGlobalPR Still Gushing (And That’s Not The Worst)
“You can’t make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire.
All you’re doing is recording it.”
Art Buchwald
Follow this link to one of BP’s Live Feeds of Gulf Oil Geyser
We are now 60 days – two full months – into this ecological disaster. Few even mention the eleven platform workers killed when the Deepwater Horizon first blew apart on 20-21 April. BP and TransOcean and Haliburton have danced through the Kibuki Theater of Congressional Hearings, blaming each other for the blowout and yet spinning post-facto admissions that they struggled to keep up with the others’ incompetence. The evidence of indifference to safety concerns on behalf of BP’s management continues to leak into the press. And through it all, @bpTerry continues to work hard to broaden the outreach and impact of @BPGlobalPR:
@bpTerry highlights some of the positives
But who is this guy, and what do his efforts portend for social media and brand allegiance/control?
Popularity: 1% | Category Community, National/International, Politics, Tweets | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Twitter Tables To Turn Up Fundraising Fun
Charity events, galas, and $X000-a-plate dinners have been traditional ways to raise funds, even in these difficult times. And yet, social media have captured the imaginations of many a fundraising group and we have often reported on ways social media, philanthropy, and community involvement are tweaking the traditional ways to do things. Well, The Chronicle of Philanthropy is reporting on how Thompson Child and Family Focus, a charity in Charlotte, N.C., has found a way to combine all of the above.
Popularity: unranked | Category Grants and Funding, Marketing, Nonprofit, Tweets | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Soccer’s World Cup Kicks Off Today & Social Media Already Winning
What with oil slicks growing and aid ships being forcibly boarded and sanctions being levied and nuclear-weapons threats being kicked across ‘demilitarized’ zones, it is important to remember that human beings do indeed have the capacity to share a positive competitive experience. And thus begins the World Cup in South Africa!
The ideal of the tournament was first raised in 1914 (oh, the irony), but FIFA, the world association of national soccer/football associations, concentrated its efforts on the Olympics until the mid-1920s, when the body pressed ahead with a tournament open to professionals. The first World Cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay, who went on to win it by defeating Argentina 4-2. ‘Only’ 13 teams joined that first tournament, but with over 93,000 fans pouring into the stadium for the Final, it was clearly a huge success. The World Cup has been held every four years (with the exception of the 1940s) ever since, and it has grown with each successive tournament. It is the single most-watched event on the globe, and unlike the ‘World’ Series, or ‘World’ Champions of the NFL, the winners of the World Cup can honestly claim the title.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, National/International, Tweets | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
“BP Cares” About Public Relations, Though ‘Public’ Seems A Sticking Point
Like we said, the great satire of @BPGlobalPR forces one to hesitate before laughing or crying, unsure which is the proper response. Leroy Stick continues to lambast people’s mushy responses to this little setback. I mean, “So YOU want to see pictures of dead animals covered in oil and WE are the bad guys!? Sick bastards. #bpcares” (3 July). Yes, BP continues to fumble its way to a solving of the oil gush, and the stories that are beginning to leak out about how BP continues to fumble the publicity statements are almost as alarming. Unlike the faulty deep water well, we have the technologies and experience to handle press releases, do we not?
Popularity: unranked | Category News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Tweets | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Remembering Memorial Day
Remember the Fallen
First and foremost, let us take a moment to remember those who have served in the country’s armed services. Whatever your politics, whatever your position on US foreign policy, whatever your position on the contentious issues of Afghanistan and Iraq, surely you will agree that our service men and women sacrifice a lot – if not their lives – so that most of us can kick back, have a day off, and openly complain about or praise our politics, foreign policy, and interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As for the day itself: The first Memorial Day was on May 30th, 1868, though it was called “Decoration Day.” The holiday was declared by Civil War General John Logan. General Logan wanted the day to help mend the relationship between the North and the South after the Civil War. He stated that he chose May 30th for two reasons: First, it was a day that no Civil-War battles took place. Second, he was confident that flowers would be in bloom all over the United States by the end of May.
Have a happy and safe Memorial Day.
Popularity: 1% | Category News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Tweets, Uncategorized | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Younger Donors And Social Media Savvy
Sure, we all know that the young seem hard-wired to ‘get’ new technologies (oh, but their time will come!). We know they text as often as talk with their phones. We know they seem impatient if not downright sloppy with their casual conversations. But do we know that the average twenty-something donates about $340 a year to philanthropic causes (Admission: I did not give that much)? That 57%+ twenty-somethings have volunteered on a charity project in the last year? (Disclosure: I can take some comfort for belonging to that statistic)? That 37% of them joined their charity’s social network in the last MONTH (Alright, such social networking was not an option when I was twenty-something)? These statistics are from the Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s summation of recent reports sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Edge Research and Sea Change Strategies, and by Johnson Grossnickel Associates. Is your organization ready to reach out to them? Are your people ready to be reached BY them?
Popularity: unranked | Category Education: Technology, Nonprofit, Tweets, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
A Primer on Social Media – Chapter One: Getting Started (And Why)
Getting started with the use of social media can be a daunting task. There are blogs, Twitter accounts, GoogleBuzz!, instant-messaging tools by the dozens, Facebook… The list goes on-and-on, and it will only continue to lengthen for the foreseeable future. All that access to information can be overwhelming. We at MKCREATIVE will post some ideas and suggestions over the next few weeks that might help calm fears and perhaps clarify some misconceptions about social media and online networking. For today’s entry, we wanted to touch on the ‘concepts’ of social networking and how to get involved, as well as why. In later postings we will turn to software and ‘work habits’ that we have found useful, and you might too.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Education: General, Tweets | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D