Inkspeare on PR & Everything 2.0

Google has made its sadness concerning the struggling state of newspapers known country-wide. However, according to the New York Times, it’s tired of providing a gratuitous news source. The search engine giant has finally placed ads on a service that had, until then, been untainted by advertisements “for over six years.” It seems that it’s a rather opportune moment for Google to change it’s mind about the matter. Old media is on its knees, asking for a hand. Google, rather than helping them out, as they’ve vowed to do, has jumped on their shoulders as it prepares to cement new media’s place in our lives. I mean, as much as Google might want to live in a flowery land of happiness, but the economy seems to have set everyone into a sink or swim mindset. And though slowing profits doesn’t exactly mean Google is sinking, it didn’t get to the top by taking risks.

Rest in peace, paper and ink. Welcome to the world of the Kindle and RSS feed. And in a time that has chosen to embrace the green ideal, why not? Save a tree, start a blog. Oh, and Google would prefer if you choose Adsense as your advertisement provider when you do decide to come on board. See you soon.

PR “professionals,” as Solis ironically calls them, are missing out on a very important part of starting conversations. Rather than taking the time to wine and dine bloggers they seek to win over, they seem to think telling them they’re in love with their blog, and though they’ve never actually presented themselves before this, would love it if the blogger would marry them. Solis mentions that it’s important to actually read a blogger’s blog before approaching them with a conversation-starter. As Brian mentions, these people are probably busier than you, so it would help if you took some time to get to know them before blowing the one impression you’ll have a chance to make.

A curious way around this, you might think, would be to scope the bloggers out from afar. Maybe make use of the archive section of the blog. Maybe find out what they did last weekend. Solis notes it’s probably not a good idea to do this. Though mentioning the blogger’s recent vacation with a peppy, “Had a good trip?” as an e-mail starter might seem like a good idea, the blogger will probaly sniff out your intentions and redirect you take a vacation out of his blog.

So, take Solis’s advice. Stalk your prey before you strike.

As the ubiquity of social media takes hold, its seems that it is extending itself to the most private corners of our lives. Paul Zolezzi, an aspiring model and actor, updated his status to “born in San Francisco, became a shooting star over everywhere, and ended his life in Brooklyn. … And couldn’t have asked for more,” foretelling his own death. These digital and public suicide notes have been seen on MySpace as well. Usually, the social services respond by quickly closing the accounts. Megan Meier’s death was closely intertwined with MySpace as well. Meier met and fell in love with a fictitious boy that was created by the mother of a former friend. The mother posed as the boy, feigning interest in Meier and then, after building trust, dismantling her self-esteem and breaking off the relationship. Meier, devastated, killed herself.

This grim side of social networks has presented a problem, but has yet to offer a solution. Monitoring social sites for suicidal behavior might be automated, but that opens up additional problems. Privacy advocates would undoubtedly stand against any such datamining system. Even if no opposition presented itself, finding an adequate response to each individual case would be difficult and costly. And who would foot the bill? And cyberbullying—how do you stop it when faced with the same restrictions?

Twitter has been operating for a while now. It’s no longer a secret of the Internet subculture. Even President Obama used it in his campaign as a means of communication. But even though Twitter has been operating for three years, it has seen absolutely no revenue. With the current economic crisis, online advertising, the most viable method of economic sustainability on the Internet, is suffering. Twitter’s ability to maintain itself indefinitely will continue to be doubtful if it cannot publicly produce a viable business plan. Many corporations are beginning to manifest their presence on the web through mediums such as Twitter. However, is the investment worthwhile if those mediums go under? If Twitter fails, will the corporations efforts be for naught? This is an interesting question given the notion that many companies have established customer service teams centered completely around Twitter.

Even if Twitter were to dissolve into nothingness, it’s doubtful that the companies would lose much. If anything, they should take this as a crash course in the new conversation-centered marketplace that the Internet has grown into. Companies should indulge in the cheap training course while Twitter survives. May it live long and prosper- but just in case, companies should brace for a retreat to the blogosphere, rather than completely abandoning a web presence.

Apple has been footing a long battle with rumors of its CEO’s health for several months now. It was increasingly difficult to contend with the scandals of waining health as time went by and new pictures of the skeletal CEO surfaced. And now that the truth of Steve Jobs’s poor health is out along with speculation of his coming death, we are left to wonder: Does Steve Jobs deserve some privacy?

Steve Jobs resurrected the Apple name after a return to the company that had fired him years before. Mere rumors of Job’s declining health have made notable dents in the company’s stock. Apple and Jobs, in turn, vehemently denounced the rumors. Speculation continued even after he didn’t make an appearance at MacWorld, the company’s prestigious product exposition. Shortly after, Jobs announced he would be stepping down as CEO, citing health reasons. He’ll be away from the company for a minimum of six months. The bloggers were right: Steve’s still sick. Now the blogosphere doesn’t know whether or not to believe the company when it says that Steve will be back in the Summer of 2009.

When you’re the CEO of Apple, you come to expect a certain amount of public spotlight. But even now some popular personalities in technology are calculating that Jobs might be dying. If this is the case, there is no doubt that he deserves privacy. However, he should also step down as CEO. The argument that he deserves privacy while maintaining his position is unconvincing. Apple should come forth with the truth for the sake of its stockholders. And if Steve Jobs is as bad as they say he is–Apple needs to let go already.

The Cluetrain Manifesto is a set of theses much like those Martin Luther nailed to the Castle Church in Wittenberg. They are not alike in a religious focus, but rather they are similar in their catalystic nature. Both were agents for change and reform. In the first set of theses, Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger introduce the idea of a conversational marketplace. Were they overestimating the power of conversation in the online arena or were they right?

They just might have been right. Let’s look at some individuals that missed the cluetrain.

When the world began transitioning to Windows Vista, Creative Labs’ products weren’t ready. Many users faced frustration dealing with hardware that became obsolete following the OS upgrade. A community modder stepped up to the plate, offering homebrewed drivers that fixed the problem. Users wanted to say thanks and so the user, Daniel_K, began accepting donations. Creative issued a cease and desist. In turn, the Internet issued 2,251 angry comments. Ironically, Creative Labs, which produces sound hardware, was finally able to notice the conversation going on around it.

The Consumerist is a blog that details corporate folly. Usually, it highlights companies’ inability to engage in conversation with their clients, while praising them when they do. In an ironic twist, the Consumerist fell on its face when it refused to attribute Flickr users when they employed their pictures.

Dell remembers its own folly. Its own IdeaStorm stands as testament to the power of dialogue. But learning the functions of the Internet’s cogs and wheels takes time. As we wait for everyone to catch on, how many will suffer in their inability to learn?

This is a month late, but it’s a good indicator of negative effects an online presence can entail when mismanaged. In a bold move, Chrysler’s CEO posted a thanks for the bail-out, via blog and paid advertisements, the former lending itself to the devices of social media’s wrath and the latter lending itself to the wrath of users’ empty wallets. About 250 angry comments currently populate the post.

An example of the type of comments for the post:

My response to being forced to bail Chrysler out was to immediately purchase a FORD Focus and I will NEVER buy any car that Chrysler has anything to do with.  This ad you ran “thanking” us was an example of you wasting OUR money.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by redwood tree

I can’t help but this this post–AND the advertisement–were completely unprocessed ideas, something like taking a huge bite of food and not chewing it all the way… you end up choking in the end.

Welcome to Inkspeare. This is my personal blog. In the coming months, I shall be using it to blog about PR in social media and other technological happenings that might interest me or the classroom 2.0 niche. Stick around!