new_punishment

I admit it, I watch American Idol. It’s hard to avoid, often a train wreck, often provides some great TV, and … my wife has it set to record on our DVR. I would like to be able to say I hate every minute,  but I openly admit, it often prompts me to yell, hide my eyes, admire, resent, laugh, verbally abuse, shame or celebrate it’s many moments of made for reality television, erm, television.

<— But, this is what caught my eye. A Hashtag! #idol. I work for a company that is a news provider. The Chronicle Herald. We have a history in this market that spans over 150 years, as one of the last independent newspaper publishers in Canada. Obviously as most print publications work to transform from Newspaper providers into News Providers, we are making steps to create an on-line presence on many digital platforms. We strive to continue to display the Trust, Integrity, and Balance that a company with this much history is expected to provide. Specifically, I have a huge interest in Social Media, and as my current role dictates, I need to identify and communicate emerging developments and trends in this realm.

Back to Hashtags. These aren’t new. But the cross-media use of them is pretty new. You may have read blogs regarding the “4 (0r 5 depending on the author) Screens Of Social Media”. The premise being we use multiple screens to engage; Desktop, Laptop, Tablet, or Smart Phone. And obviously, Television.

My suggestion (although, not earth-shattering) is that hashtags should also be included in … print. Not in a QR Code kind of of use, but more in a Trending Topic way.

Example: Reading a news paper (or tablet, smart phone, etc.) news or Opinion article and you’d like to know what people are saying (ok, typing) about this topic. Boom – the author/publisher includes a Hashtag, and you have a new resource to investigate! A Hastag with an article would presumably give you access to an enormous pool of opinion and possibly useful, information – via Twitter.

If advertisers or brands can use these for products or other social objects (eg: television programs, dishwashing liquid, or Life Insurance) why not news stories? Opinion pieces? Or even … print ads?

There are potential pitfalls with utilizing hastags, however. Did you see what happened to McDonalds marketing disaster? Can you imagine if #idol was associated with a huge anti-Idol backlash? It can happen, and probably already has – but in this connected social media world we currently inhabit, what are the options?

I say let’s use hastags in print, to add value, diversity and open input to news stories – rather than avoiding them, in fear of the possible pitfalls.

#IsThisAGoodorBadIdea?

They forget the Queen’s English:

Who do you listen to?

All right. You know you should update your blog and you have some great ideas … some pretty loyal (although waning) followers who regularly check-in and comment on your blog, but … you just don’t seem to have the time! And who does? Seems every CEO was encouraged and perhaps enjoyed posting a regular blog, that out-sourced web masters hastily attached to the company site, hoping to increase “transparency”, to connect with users, and to show a human face of the company. It was scary. Then fun. You “engaged” with your audience. You gained insight into the market’s preferences. You had to defend your views, respond to enquiries, and perhaps even thanked your readers for their complimentary comments.

But guess what? If you are a small, large or perhaps even medium company – then time just seems to disappear! The business of business just gets in the way … you job, family, sports or even hobbies just seem more attractive (or demand more attention) than sitting infront of your laptop belting out an up-date for the sake of … well, belting out an up-date. Has the Blog-bubble finally burst? Are you really connected? Does anyone care anymore? Do you have anything new to say? Has Twitter replaced your multi-paragraph thoughts with micro-thoughts that have a shortened URL to add more detail?

I think they have.

Paragraphs have become walls of information. Blogs are now a crazy maze of angry millennials, dis-associated Generation Xers, or even frustrated Boomers battling the flood of seemingly unending new digital technology. Plus, Twitter just allows bit sized information, that you don’t even have to read in it’s entirety. Who needs words when there are Instagram photos,  Youtube videos and cool Infographics!

The blog is dead. long live the Mirco-blog!

Seriously, I can see the practical applications of a site – which allows you to post images or snippets of information that you want to refer to or influence your friends’/spouses’ gift selections – but I can’t help the feeling that I’m looking at my sister’s scrapbook! I keep expecting to see pictures of acid wash jeans, Bon Jovi or perhaps Johnny Depp.  Admittedly, I am connected with two local women at this point, but what happens if I connect to a male Pintrest page? What images do men share? Music? Clothes? Recipes? Well, I guess I’m gonna find out. Oh, and another thing , Pintrest – it would make perfect sense in todays social world to be able to invite friends via Twitter accounts, rather than just email & Facebook. Or is that just me? Perhaps – but I can’t seem to decide what I want to pin at this point in time ….

***NOTE***

Follow-up! Since this hasty morning post, I have taken time to reflect, and read Jeff Harper’s blog post and I’m currently reconsidering my point of view …

Your SM person should be loveable but edgy!

This is an often over-looked finer point of any successful Social Media campaign. Your SM person needs to be smart. Not necessarily book smart, but certainly street smart. Witty. Quick with the come back, without compromising your brand. Smart.

Yes, your SM person needs to be technology savvy. They should have a sold understanding of your product/service. They should defend your brand image, but never put your company’s integrity in question. They should “Think, before they Tweet” but still – do this quickly.

In the constant feed of SM wallpaper, your company’s message needs to be outstanding. It should be entertaining, informative and likeable. Really, your SM presence needs to emulate a late night talk-back host, who you’d like to see host the Emmy Awards (Think; Jane Lynch, Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert or Jimmy Fallon). Lovable, yet pushing the envelope. Edgy. Smart.

Oh, and they should never type the word fcuk.

c/- http://www.mbaonline.com

Back in the day ...

Steve Jobs has been in the media spotlight recently since resigning as CEO of Apple. A Globe & Mail article implied that: “Steve Jobs right up there with Edison and Ford“.

Not surprisingly, this has caused quite a stir among the interwebs … including my associate Robert Snell in his recent blog post. While I certainly agree with Robert’s point that “…the Globe and Mail compare Jobs to Edison or Ford and I am really not sure how these even begin to compare.” it is my opinion that the Globe and Mail is gushing a little for journalistic impact. I should probably have spent a little more time researching this post before I started – but I’m sure you don’t want a computing history lesson.

However, my understanding is that Steve jobs was more of a “hacker” when he started out in his garage building the first PC prototype. The group of young innovators (including Bill Gates) had a vision and set about making their vision a reality. Fast forward several years and that vision has become two PC corporations.

My opinion is that there were fundamental differences in these concepts. The vision Steve Jobs had was to make things work, reducing roadblocks in the user interface (UI) and allowing the average person the ability to enjoy the computing experience.

Here’s the differentiator between Apple & Windows: Apple Macintosh made the HARDWARE and the SOFTWARE.

With that came the freedom to make things work the way they were designed to. Then I believe Steve Jobs took that to the next level with creating hardware (iPods, iPhones, iMacs & iPads) that were just sexy. Not clunky PC purely utilitarian devices that mostly worked – when the software was able to integrate correctly with the hardware.

He was also passionate about his companies products and was a master of presentation (have you seen an Apple product launch?) and had an ability to command the room (podcast?) with almost magician-like ability. Don’t take your eyes off his hands, you never know what will appear! He really was the Ringmaster of the Apple Macintosh circus.

To conclude; I don’t think it was about the man’s creations. The analogy that came to mind after reading Robert’s blog post was that Apple products became the Harley Davidson of computers. He didn’t invent the PC, or the mp3 player, or the tablet computer (in the same way that Harley Davidson didn’t invent the motorcycle) – but you WANTED them over all others. Your trusted them. In marketing terms, they really just had (and still have) a brand presence that dominates! Apples products became part of the daily vernacular. But, Steve Jobs is the glue. I doubt that Harley Davidson would lose much market share if their CEO was to step down – I have no idea who he/she is. But Steve Jobs was the man with the vision, passion and stage presence to captivate a market (perhaps several generations) and still is the face of his companies products.

I certainly don’t think you can compare Jobs to Edison or Ford for his creations alone,  but the man is still an icon.

I get a real kick out of statements like this.  Especially when I ask the person if they have a Linked In account and they reply “Well, yes – but that’s different”.

Actually it’s not.

If you have a Linked In account, view your friend’s/family’s photo albums online, view YouTube videos or utilize Goto Meeting you are using Social Media.

Oh, and you probably consider yourself a grown-up. But, guess what – MANY adults also use Twitter, Google+ and Facebook too. Many adults are making social & business connections, promoting their products/services and as a result making money. Which one are you?