Brad Marley's Blog

Will The Last Person To Leave Please Turn Off the Social Media?

This scenario happens far too often to be good for anybody's mental health.

An influential person on Twitter is leaving on a jet plane, so they throw out a tweet to their people to recommend a good book for the trip.

What follows is hundreds upon hundred of recommendations for marketing, business, self-help and entrepreneurial books that nobody in their right mind would read on an airplane, but recommending it conveys a sense of savviness and marketing smarts.

Absolutely nobody recommends a work of fiction.

Of course, said person thanks everybody for playing and says they decided on "Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution"! This makes matters worse, and serves to solidify two false truths in our Twitter-addled brains:

1. In order to stay relevant on Twitter and in the eyes of influentials, everything you tweet must be grounded in your field of business. (Don't we all follow that guy who tweets stuff like "How to Attract New Customers Through Social Media" at 10 p.m. on a Friday night?)

2. If you decide to stray from your area of expertise, you will be shot on site.

The beauty of a site like Twitter is that it gives us access to like-minded individuals who are likely in search of similar dialogue. But these conversations are never-ending, so if you disappear for even a few days -- like, I don't know, taking a vacation? -- you risk missing out.

As it is in any type of social environment, there is pressure to keep up appearances.

How far are you willing to go to stay relevant?

All The Twitty Girls

 

Every guy who attended high school remembers the popular girls.

Their slow-motion walk down the hallway made the nerds cower in prepubescent fear and the jocks sweaty with anticipation.

Good looks and flawless fashion sense raised their status to rock star levels while we toiled away on the periphery, forever yearning to be in their good graces. A simple nod of acknowledgment was all we asked, but in the back of our minds we knew that we never stood a chance.

From that unattainable goal comes a deep-seated resentment that their outward appearance and popularity will take them places in life we can only dream of going.

- - -

This article in Vanity Fair is exactly why people hate Twitter.

 

Everybody is encouraged to interact, but there is a clearly defined "in" crowd that becomes evident the more you participate.

 

No matter if you follow unofficial Twitter etiquette to a T, you start to see the same people's tweets retweeted and replied to, which gives the impression that most users just want to draw attention to themselves from, to borrow a phrase from the article, the "twilebrities."

 

Compound that idea with the fact that the woman portrayed in the article are young and good-looking, and you start to wonder, "What's the point?"

 

The attractive people are still winning.

It's high school all over again.

 

Nothing has changed.

The best stuff I read in 2009.

Like most of you, I'm sure, I did a lot of reading in 2009.

Whether it was a book, a newspaper article, or "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," 'the complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning and/or constructing meaning' was something I partook in daily. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Hill, would be so proud.

So as I bid good riddance to the year that brought us four-hour waits for flu vaccinations, the advent of TMZ.com as a legitimate news source (because they were the only media outlet unscrupulous enough to run a report of Michael Jackson's death before it was confirmed) and teenybopper vampire romance trilogies, I want to take one more look at my favorite blog posts and articles from 2009.

• NHL: Brand Resurrected (MarketingDaily)

• How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live (Time.com)

• How Social Media is Radically Changing the Newsroom (Mashable)

• Could Twitter destroy real journalism? (ESPN.com)

• PR People: Stop Being Bad at Stuff and Read This (Bad Pitch Blog)

• An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All (WIRED)

• How To Be Interesting (Copyblogger)

• Apocalypse Then: a two-part series on the lessons of Y2K. Part 1. Part 2. (Slate.com)

• Anything Jeff Pearlman writes about on his blog.

There you have it. Those are mine.

What captured your fancy in 2009?

Revenge of the Weekly Grab Bag of Links - 10.31.09

You probably think I have a ton of links saved up since I haven't posted a weekly grab bag of links since early September, right?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your thinking would be incorrect.

Truth is, work and baby preparation have gotten in the way of reading.

But with a week of little-to-no sleep on the horizon, I should have more time than I need to stay current on my blog reader.

For now, these will have to do.

• You don't mess with Montana's Communications students (Deadspin) - When Montana's football coach told his players to stop talking to reporters from the student newspaper, the student newspaper relatiated by covering the team's opponents. The coach has since allowed players to talk to the paper. Communications students 1, jocks 0.

• 5 Social Media Disasters (Penn Olson) - The headline says it all, really. Learn how Honda and Taco Bell handled social media the wrong way.

• An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All (Wired Magazine) - This is an article every parent-to-be should read. The topic of vaccinating your kids is polarizing, to be sure, but when the facts are laid out in a straightforward fashion, it's easier to make a decision.

• The Robots Are Coming! Oh, They're Here (Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com) - A group of students at Northwestern University have created a bot that writes game recaps that "captures the overall dynamics of the game" using stats from the game. It's called Stats Monkey, and I'm wondering if they set out with the intention to eliminate more jobs.

• Inside the NHL's social media innovations, growing pains (Puck Daddy) - This article explains how the NHL is actively trying to engage its fans (and fans-to-be) on social networking sites.

As always, you can see all of my links on my Delicious page.

Is Twitter just another place to complain?

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I bought a washer and dryer from Lowe's and scheduled an early-morning delivery so I could supervise the installation -- and make sure the delivery guys didn't track mud through the house -- before I took my daughter to daycare.

They called the day before to tell me they had to be at my house before seven because they were due at the store -- which is 15 minutes from my house -- by eight.

Perfect.

But when 7:30 rolled around and they still weren't there, I started to get annoyed. My annoyance increased threefold (at least) when I called the driver and he explained they were 20 minutes away because of truck issues.

I can be pretty forgiving, but I don't think a phone call was asking too much.

They finally showed up 45 minutes late, which pushed back my schedule by 45 minutes.

Rather than call his supervisor to complain, I turned to Twitter to voice my disapproval. The allure of the hashtag-tagged complaint held too much power. Even though my 140 character beef was met with Twilence, other consumers have been successful, turning Twitter into another hotline for customer gripes about their cable companies and commercial airlines.

And maybe to the general public, that's all it is?

Is Twitter Really That Important?

Count me among the minority (I'm sure), but I'm still not completely sold on Twitter.

Actually, let me rephrase that.

I think its importance is overstated.

Yes, I use it, and I find it is a great resource for direct contact with journalists and other influentials in my field.

But I hesitate to label it as anything more than that (a resource), and I stop cold when I hear Biz Stone, essentially, put in the same group as Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan (no offense to Biz Stone.) 

I can turn my user icon a delightful shade of Pro-Democracy Green if I want to, but what does that really accomplish aside from showing the audience that I have rudimentary Paint skills?  That I  pretend to understand, and care about, the events in a country that is a charter member of the 'Axis of Evil'?

The hue of our headshots does not hide the fact that we are still more likely to read an inspirational quote tweet, or a mini-rant about Jon and Kate, than we are something deep and meaningful about an oppressed society.

Chalk that up to the character limit, I guess.

At the end of the day, we are showing our solidarity because it's easy and costs significantly less money and exertion than donating money to the Red Cross, or racing for the cure.

Maybe Twitter just makes us lazier?

For my money, Twitter is best used when it sparks conversation around its original question -- What are you doing? -- then around what everybody else is doing.

How do you value Twitter?

Weekly Grab Bag of Links - June 12, 2009

There are a lot of great links in this week's grab bag, and I'm not just saying that because I sifted through every single blog posted this week to the Web to bring you, my faithful handful of readers (whoever you are), the best of the best.

Now that you have been appropriately guilt-tripped, read on.

• Submitting News to the Media (Maroon PR) - This post by Stefan Lovelace explores the disappearing line between the traditional PR tactic of pitching media story ideas and pitching media already compiled coverage for their use.  The post contains a Q&A with Michael Anderson, the public relations manager of the Cincinnati Reds, who has become adept at driving local coverage through alternate channels.  Good tips in here for those in PR looking to drive more coverage for their clients.

• How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live (Time.com) - I think the title of this article is a bit misleading, but the writer uses the Hacking Education conference as an example of how we are using Twitter to shape our conversations.

• Ray Fitzgerald, Will McDonough and glory days of the Boston Globe (Sports Illustrated) - Rather than just bemoan the current state of the newspaper industry and the affect blogging has had on the traditional reporter, Kevin Armstrong harkens back to a time when reporters were considered kings and a job as a sports writer was something worth fighting for.

• How Social Media is Radically Changing the Newsroom (Mashable) - More and more newsrooms are beginning to give serious thought to the ramifications of social media on their business.  For example, the Wall Street Journal now has strict guidelines for their staff on "friending" confidential sources (don't do it) and getting into arguments on the Web (don't do it.) 

• There's an art to writing on Facebook or Twitter - really (USA Today) - Contrary to popular belief, great Tweeting is great writing.  As more and more people sign up for Facebook and Twitter, there is a drive to stop being boring and start being more interesting in your status updates.  "Going to the store" just doesn't cut it.

• The Real Secret to Becoming a Popular Blogger (Copyblogger) - I love everything about this post.  The copy explains, like the headline suggests, how to become a blogger that people will want to read. Essentially, inject some personality into your writing.  (Bonus link: How to be Interesting)

• Interview with a Jampire (GQ) - I'll admit it: I like the Dave Matthews Band. I've seen them in concert 11 times, and in July I'll see them for a 12th time. Every Dave Matthews interview is worth reading because he speaks his mind and isn't afraid to say something completely off-the- wall. This Q&A delves a bit deeper into that idea.

As always, you can find all of my links on my Delicious page.

Brad's Weekly Grab Bag of Links - May 22, 2009

Ladies and gentlemen of the Internet: your weekly grab bag of links.

Enjoy.

• How to Save Your Newspaper (Time Magazine): The title is a bit misleading as a solution to save the newspaper is nowhere to be found in the body of this article.  But there is a striking yet obvious piece of information brought to the readers attention: newspapers have more readers than ever. It's too bad a majority of them are online, a place the publications have not learned to profit from.



• US fights Taliban on another front: public relations (Yahoo! News): Not only is there stil a war in the traditional sense being waged in Afghanistan, but now officials are forced to battle the Taliban in the communications arena.



• Wired Struggles to Find Niche in Magazine World (New York Times): Wired Magazine is one of the least popular print magazine at Conde Nast (print circ: 704,000), but it's Web site is the most popular with 11 million unique visitors a month. Editor Chris Anderson, who has led Wired to a number of National Magazine Awards, is the man in charge of coming up with a solution to solve Wired's print problem.



• Props to Eminem for Local Promotions (Chris Brogan): Eminem placed pairs of tickets to his free Detroit show throughout Metro Detroit, then tweeted locations and directions to his followers on Twitter.  This is such a great way for artists to harness the power of sites like Twitter.



• Red Wings keep city of Detroit humming (Yahoo! Sports): What is the most efficient organization in Detroit? If you guessed the Detroit Red Wings, you would be correct. Their combination of smarts and business savvy make them one of the most admired companies in the city. 

You can find these and other links on my Delicious page.

Keeping Up with Social Media Upkeep

I'll admit it: I am struggling to establish my social media visibility.

Aside from this blog, I have accounts on Delicious, Digg, Facebook, LinkedIn, Technorati, Twitter, and YouTube.

Of those seven sites, I use three (maybe four) on a regular basis.  Just having to maintain those four is a daunting task, but, apparently, that's not enough.

Social media extraordinaire Chris Brogan, who practically wrote the book on social media (that book is called "Personal Branding for the Business Professional") suggests one should also create accounts on Discus (this site no longer exists), Gmail, Flickr, FriendFeed, Plaxo, StumbleUpon, and Upcoming.org.

Dude.

To be honest, the thought of having upward of a dozen sites to maintain causes me to break out into a cold sweat.  I mean, unless your job is social media, who has time to keep up?  It makes the social upkeep you're doing on the side seem like, well, your job.

Does anybody else share this predicament?  If so, what do you feel is the best strategy for maintaining your visibility?

Brad's Weekly Grab Bag of Links - May 1, 2009

It’s the time of the week when I share the best links from a week’s worth of surfing the Web and then tell you why you should click on them.  It’s otherwise known as the highlight of your week.

Let’s get started.

• The Biggest Mistake PR Pros Make Every Day (David Mullen): PR pro, David Mullen polls his followers on Twitter to get a sense of what what they think is the biggest mistake PR pros make.  Topics range from talking at your stakeholders, to not listening.
• Top 9 “to don’t” tips from a journalist to PR (PRsarahevans): Because we interact with journalists every day, it’s always nice to get “insider” tips on how we can do our jobs better. It’s kind of like a police officer telling would-be crooks how to get away with a crime.  And while there’s nothing illegal about our work, having that information in our back pocket will make everyone happier. 

• A Magazine With a Puzzle Buried Inside (New York Times): This is from the latest issue of Wired Magazine guest edited by J.J. Abrams.  Essentially, his article explains that it’s often not the destination, but the journey, that makes something worthwhile. To drive home his theory, he inserted a puzzle inside the pages of the magazine.  This article tells the story of one person’s quest to solve the puzzle. Awesome. (It also provides, perhaps, a way for print magazines to continue to drive readership.)

• Proper Pitching: Or how to not make a journalist or blogger angry and maybe ensure your story sees the light of day (PRsarahevans): This post is currently making the rounds at work. In it, a former reporter shares with Sarah’s readers what not to do when pitching someone. The tips seem fairly straightforward, but you’d be surprised.

• Journalism 2.0: Don’t Throw Out the Baby (ReadWriteWeb): As the blogger indicates at the beginning of his post, this is a “blog-style view of the journalism profession by somebody who care about the outcome.”  In it, he writes about how blogging compares to journalism, what happens when bloggers become journalists, and why we don’t need print or TV to deliver the news.  He also thinks we will one day find a model that benefits both journalists and bloggers.
• Why Twitter's Reach is Limited (Advertising Age): Shockingly enough, 60 percent of people who sign up to use Twitter never come back. It is this low retention rate that will block the site from ever become more than a niche site.

As always, you can find all of my links on Delicious.