New Communications Forum Wrapup: The Secret PresentationPosted by Amanda Chapel The Incredible Talking Dog
You had Cluetrain co-author David Weinberger give the keynote on why social media is changing the way we work, communicate and live. It was unreal. According to David: “Reality keeps things apart. The digital world escapes this constraint. The characteristics of the digital are not contained by the constraints of the real.”
Not to be outdone, Kami Huyse and Linda Zimmer did a presentation on Second Life and why we should be in the virtual world. Kami provided a 'live' demonstration. The login page showed that there was only a small fraction of the number of people who have joined Second Life online. Much of what we saw was empty rooms. It was a little surreal. Then an all-star panel of Shel Israel, Debbie Weil and friends, discussed best practices ironically for corporate blogging. The shear intangibility they were able to maintain was breathtaking. It was all best summed up by KD Paine: “For a group of people supposedly dedicated to being real and transparent, it's pretty funny that we're all here in Las Vegas, the ultimate capital of fake.” Well, to any normal outsider, this all might seem like it was some convention of professional cheerleaders bent on raising club dues by hawking potions, crystals and magic hats. Trust me; it wasn’t. I am sworn to secrecy but I am going to share what made the trip all worthwhile: “The Incredible Talking Dog.” I am totally sorta serious. BACKGROUND Why is reality in play now? Well, we’re in the in-between. PR as we’ve known it for 100 years, our bread-and-butter, is becoming quickly outmoded by technology. And our new role? It’s yet to be clearly defined. It’s all a little disconcerting... well that is until you get to see and hear "The Dog.” Historically speaking, from a pure swindler’s perspective, PR 1.0 was pretty innocuous. Yeah, yeah... we puffed our bills. We refried creative and resold it a hundred times. We made promises Christ himself could not keep. So what. Pitch and place, pitch and place, now and again we accidentally made things happen and delivered BIG time. That NYT profile of Fuzz King Fred Schmirtz doubled his sales and more than made up for our venial sins. Bottom line: We were a 'reasonable' gamble whose risk couldn’t always be measured but hell... we could be managed. Well apparently, those were the days. New tools, a changing marketing dynamic, a crumbling fourth estate and an influx of cash, Edelman’s exaggerated Me2Bluster hints at general acceptance. That's unbelievable! Sure seems like PR 2.0 - whatever that is – is rapidly emerging. Right? Well, some are not so sure. In a recent interview, Martin Turnbull, noted PR Industry Analyst and Wikipedia senior contributor said: “I think the Industry’s waking up to a nightmare. Imagine. You’re seemingly doing well, living in some McMansion; but it’s 3 am and you can’t sleep because your daughter’s still not home and your accountant just text-messaged you and wants to meet first thing. Sure, I hear those carolers at the front door but I also smell the heavy scent of electric wires burning.” REINVENT OR PERISH Like the media, the Web is rapidly dis-intermediating information-based institutions. PR is no exception. As such, the call to “reinvent or perish” rings out among the PR-blog-and-social-media zealots as they try desperately to lead the industry into the Promised Land. According to young turk and noted social geek Brian Solis: “Many savvy marketers decided to use 'PR 2.0' as a philosophy and practice to improve the quality of work, change the game, and participate in a more informed and intelligent way. We envisioned fusing the intelligence of market analysts, the mechanics of Web marketing, the credibility of market influencers, and the conviction and reach of passionate evangelists.” Why? Solis answers, “It truly is PR redux, and there are those who are carrying the flag with a true working knowledge and honest conviction in order to improve an industry, long plagued and hampered by the lack of PR for itself.” Right. Sure we’re makin’ money like no other time in our history; but the writing's on the wall. Every day the margins are thinner and our effectiveness diminished. We're fucked and it's time to move. OUR RIGHTFUL CLAIM But like some 11th-hour rescue out of Egypt, God gave us Web 2.0. And we are the chosen ones. We are the natural heirs of all things “communications;” or so we claim. All this new stuff: blogs, wikis, podcasts, vodcasts, RSS and the myriad of obscure permutations that is the essence of Micro Persuasion, belongs to us. DO NOT QUESTION THY LORD THY GOD Well, that’s a little much and only a belief held by our most staunch evangelists. Everybody else is dancing in front of a golden calf. It's all about the money. Regrettably, our shear exuberance has clouded any critical thinking (not like the PR Industry had much to cloud). Here’s a perfect example. There’s been a short film circulating among our ranks for the last few weeks. The popular Boing Boing describes it: “This incredible video called ‘Web 2.0... the Machine is Us" is deeply moving and incredibly smart. The creator is Michael Wesch, an assistant Cultural Anthropology Prof at Kansas State U, and he has strung together a bunch of animations, text, and screenshots in order to tell the story of Web 2.0 -- why it matters, and how it's changing the world. This is as starry-eyed as techno-optimism gets, and it might just choke you up a little.” But according to Wesch, most seem to have missed its point. The gravity of the film is in the last 30 seconds, i.e. "We'll need to rethink a few things." Wesch said, “All human relationships are mediated by communication. If we change the way we communicate, we change human relationships, and since society is ultimately based on human relationships, those seemingly minor differences can have a profound effect on society, especially if they become dominant or very popular modes of communication.”
Bottom line: for PR 2.0 to be even feasible... we need to rethink: copyright, ownership, identity, ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, governance, privacy, commerce, love, family... ourselves. And with that said, the zealots are absolutely correct: we certainly would make a boatload of cash with a talking dog. But that's the point. IT’S NOT REAL AND IT AIN’T EVER GOING TO BE REAL!!! Dogs can’t talk! It’s not what we do. It’s not who we are. It’s not what clients expect or are going to pay for. I’ll leave you with two fundamental questions: If this nonsense succeeds, why would society ever need a PR person? If this supposition fails which is likely, will we ever have ANY credibility again? Woof Woof! Bookmark This
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Having just seen a fake volcano and a fake pirate attack on a fake island, while trying to buy some Excedrin PM, I can attest to the fact that there were things more surreal in Las Vegas this week than Kami and Linda's Second Life Presentation. There was, I'll agree, a certain level of disconnect between what social media is and could be, and the needs and interests of New Comms attendees. To be fair, I think Jen and the folks at Ragan gave people what they wanted, which was a really good intro to the latest tools and techinques in 21st century PR. Whether they'll ever be allowed to use them is, of course anyone's guess.
So are you are saying that if traditional media goes away companies will no longer need public relations people. One I do not think traditional media will entirely go away, though it will and is changing. Therefore there will be some role for media relations experts. Public relations is not just about media relations however, there's a lot more to the discipline, internal communications being one area.
No John. The point is that the social media zealots are disintermediating themselves. Ask Weinberger or Doc Searls if they think there are PR people in the new world you hope for. Nope.
- Amanda
I do not think that all traditional media will go away to be replaced by citizen or corporate journalism. For example, in my own city of Boston, the Boston Globe and boston.com covered the recent cartoon network campaign extensively. I did not see anyone else covering the story in such detail. I doubt anyone will be able to replace the boston.com infrastructure. However, I do hope that Boston.com starts turning blog comments on in the future. I think it will help the online paper.
Use of blogs and social media does take out communications people as the go between the company and audience; it also takes out the media. If you ask companies what is happens when they start blogs and social media, it appears that many employees are asking for help with understanding how to use the new technologies. There is a role, be it a new one for public relations people if they choose to take it. Though I will admit I have talked to a few companies where PR is not leading the development of blogs or social media. Other departments are doing that, but that is not the case in every company, sometimes PR does offer advice and help. I suspect public relations people will have to do less pitching but provide more strategic advice and also monitoring services for their companies. Yet, some of the new professional bloggers are being pitched in the traditional sense. Or they might take a lesson from the Nokia blogger relations campaign, that to me was a successful product review program with blogging elements. Yes public relations will not have a direct role to play in writing blogs and on other social media technologies. There is definitely a role for someone to manage the process; it may be conducted by PR, marketing, product management or customer service. I have found all of the above in reviewing corporate blogging. The point is that the new social media technologies can use some of the expertise and tools of public relations and apply them in a different setting. This also gets into the argument that public relations is not just about media relations. Many people better qualified in PR than I have discussed that issue.
I am sorry John... but did you read the article your commenting on? We're not talking about media relations, per se. The topic is communications and the unreality of Web 2.0/PR 2.0. You're seemingly whistling while watching the deterioration of some basic social structure. Anarchy a good thing? NO... it's not.
- Amanda
You said: "I’ll leave you with two fundamental questions: If this nonsense succeeds, why would society ever need a PR person? If this supposition fails which is likely, will we ever have ANY credibility again?"
Well I know several people who are earning a living from giving web 2.0 advice inside their companies, how many examples do you need? Are you suggesting that all existing corporate blogs and social media technologies are going to fail in the next year or something? What are you suggesting here? Or are you pointing to the article about David Weinberger's speech and his suggestion that the web is 'ours', and that people will want more of that in the future? I was addressing your last questions.
"Well I know several people who are earning a living from giving web 2.0 advice inside their companies, how many examples do you need?"
I know several hookers. Doesn't make it a legitimate business pursuit. "Are you suggesting that all existing corporate blogs and social media technologies are going to fail in the next year or something?" It is not a technology issue. It's a cultural issue. I am suggesting as Wesch that your expectation that you're going to fundamentally change humans to accommodate futzing with blogs is unrealistic. Silly. "Or are you pointing to the article about David Weinberger's speech and his suggestion that the web is 'ours', and that people will want more of that in the future?" No. Quite the opposite. Weinberger's hypothesis is anti-business crap. Cluetrain is an academic sham. It is a liberal opinion almost totally devoid of legal or economic theory. With regard to addressing my questions, I'll answer them to save us some time. 1) Web 2.0 is anti PR and doesn't need paid facilitators, period. PR 2.0 is a contradiction. 2) You and others continually pushing something sans history, discipline and critical thinking is embarrassing. When the heat of the fad subsides, we'll be left with embarrassing. That's what bubbles do. All due respect John.
Amanda, you are wrong about blogging not being a legitimate business pursuit. I was initially skeptical about the practice, but after talking with a lot of corporate bloggers over the last four years I am convinced there is value and a reason to pay people to blog.
"It is not a technology issue. It's a cultural issue. I am suggesting as Wesch that your expectation that you're going to fundamentally change humans to accommodate futzing with blogs is unrealistic. Silly." People are reading blogs. "No. Quite the opposite. Weinberger's hypothesis is anti-business crap. Cluetrain is an academic sham. It is a liberal opinion almost totally devoid of legal or economic theory." Actually that is what I was suggesting you meant. "With regard to addressing my questions, I'll answer them to save us some time. 1) Web 2.0 is anti PR and doesn't need paid facilitators, period. PR 2.0 is a contradiction. 2) You and others continually pushing something sans history, discipline and critical thinking is embarrassing. When the heat of the fad subsides, we'll be left with embarrassing. That's what bubbles do." Regarding 1) I think that public relations people probably should not be the people blogging at most corporate blogs. However, I think that PR people or marketers, product managers, or customer service people can help to facilitate a well run blog. So there is room for paid advice, though it does not necessarily have to come from the PR department. 2) I don't see any decline in usage. quite the opposite blogging and other social media appear to be set for growth in companies. I am describing the reality around me. Okay Amanda how long until blogging fades? If we revisit this question in 5 years time are you suggesting no one will be giving PR 2.0 advice or earning any money from the effort? Could we agree to come back to the same place on March 13th 2012, and make an assessment to see who was right?
"Amanda, you are wrong about blogging not being a legitimate business pursuit. I was initially skeptical about the practice, but after talking with a lot of corporate bloggers over the last four years I am convinced there is value and a reason to pay people to blog."
Just because lots of people are doing it, does not make looting a "legitimate" pursuit. Underscore "law." All this biz blog hype needs to be assessed with what business law can accommodate. "People are reading blogs." You are missing the point. Please watch the movie above. "Regarding 1) I think that public relations people probably should not be the people blogging at most corporate blogs. However, I think that PR people or marketers, product managers, or customer service people can help to facilitate a well run blog. So there is room for paid advice, though it does not necessarily have to come from the PR department." No. In Web 2.0, there is little if any room for corporate interest. It is all about the individual. Listen to demagogues like Jarvis, "we own the company now." No, Jeff is flat wrong. The shareholders own the company. That's the law. It is a property issue; and sharecroppers cannot give away something that doesn't belong to them. "I don't see any decline in usage, quite the opposite. Blogging and other social media appear to be set for growth in companies. I am describing the reality around me." That's why they call it a bubble. "Okay Amanda how long until blogging fades? If we revisit this question in 5 years time are you suggesting no one will be giving PR 2.0 advice or earning any money from the effort?" No. Please research bubbles. It doesn't mean it goes away. It just means that after reality sets in and the hype disappears... most of the investment disappears and the workers (you) are displaced. "Could we agree to come back to the same place on March 13th 2012, and make an assessment to see who was right?" I'll be on the Island of Capri. Look me up. Add Comment
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