Nothing in Life is Free

And when it comes to social media this is one gift horse you should definitely look in its mouth. 

Of course, I'm referencing Facebook and how it manipulated almost 700,000 users' feeds to see if the amount of positive or negative information presented influenced the sentiment in the posts of those users. Guess what. It did. Makes sense....when I worked as a standardized patient the first thing we were told was to go home and watch a comedy to help us break the mood of the pain/depression we were acting out during the day. 

The interest in this study however is less about the findings, and more about the ethics concerning how the research was conducted. What you need to know is that no individual user signed up for this study. Facebook didn't ask people to participate. Think about that. For a week, you may have been fed a disproportionate amount of positive or negative news from your friends, news sites, groups and companies you follow. What you once thought was a fair representation of what was going on in your circle of connections may have been skewed. On purpose. 

Now, Facebook cites within its ToS it can use the information it receives for internal operations including research and service improvement. This section found under policies is named "How we use the information we receive." Wait, WHAT? Based on the policy, information received by Facebook the company can do research. Ok. I buy that. Most companies collects information on its customers/users to help better serve them - whether that's through recommending a new product, developing a new feature, you get the idea.

But nowhere in the policy does it say that in order to receive the information to conduct the research, that the company has the ability to manipulate the fundamental nature of the service itself. Oh wait, I'm in PR. I can't possibly believe this to be true... 

Let's be real. Almost everything online is manipulated in some way. Companies run pricing tests to see which number will drive the most sales. A/B tests may look at how people respond to new imagery. Search engines if not driven by advertising, is driven by teams of marketing experts looking at SEO/SEM. So what's ethical, what's not, and where do we draw the line? Is that even possible? 

When chatting with friends this weekend about privacy and how data is used (not specifically about the Facebook study), I was shocked to find out that not a single person in the group really cared about how their data could be used. The resounding consensus was that it didn't impact their day-to-day so it didn't seem to warrant their attention. 

My question is this, if how information is collected isn't through the natural way you interact with the service, and is instead manipulated to the point of interrupting your behaviour and psychological response to the information presented, is it right? Are you comfortable with it? Should the potential cons outweigh the pros? 

One of the first things a good PR pro builds their career upon is that transparency is key. I'll be the first to admit that while I think the approach taken is unethical, I won't be cancelling my Facebook account. Knowledge is power after all, and because I'm in PR I'm generally quite aware of how my data is used, and what's happening behind the scenes. If nothing else, I hope people will at least give this pause for consideration in how they post, what sites they use, and understand that situations like this do and will continue to occur. It's important to understand that the information you read is being presented to you. It may even be manipulated. It may not be organic. 

I also hope that this study encourages companies to be explicit in their intent. That studies are conducted in a transparent way - with notifications to users. And that those in the legal profession take a hard look at this example to help build legislation around data usage to best protect the people using these services. 

What do you think about the study? Will this change how you view the sites you use? Will you be using them differently or cancel an account? 

Our Generation's Question: To Blog or Not to Blog?

The Inc 500, published by Inc magazine (my guilty pleasure/bible for creative ideas), has brought up an interesting analysis of how these successful companies use social media. Interesting to note is that there seems to be fewer companies blogging these days preferring Twitter and Facebook to engage with customers. As a blogger, Tweeter, and poster I can appreciate this. When life gets busy it is very difficult to make time to compile thoughts in any kind of coherent way that might be interesting to people. On the flipside, the people who follow me on Twitter and Facebook are family and friends with an entirely different taste in the kind of information I deliver. No, my Mum does not really care about defense technology. She only cares that I still have a job (go budgets!).

Frank Reed from Marketing Pilgrim breaks down why this trend may not be something companies in the B2B space should use as a beacon for driving their social media program. He points out that "Twitter and Facebook responses are a mile wide and an inch deep"meaning that real, valuable feedback can't be given. Really, are thousands of "I love my new shoes" and "I hate bananas" all that valuable to you? I know from past experience that tracking the "I love you" Tweets was nice from a quantifiable reporting standpoint. But it was the detailed responses with valuable insight that enabled my clients to foster change and develop better relationships with their customers.

Sharing Experiences in Afghanistan via Social Media

Michael Yon’s blog is one of my go-to reads. Michael is a reporter that has most recently been writing about events in Afghanistan. Invited to observe missions and take photos, Michael’s accounts of events provide a unique and poignant view that mainstream media often can’t and/or won’t deliver. His writing reminds us that we can’t detach ourselves from the efforts of our forces and must remember that there are many who won’t be home for some time. As Michael wrote on November 28, “there is a high probability that as you read this, someone is bleeding and in the process of extraction from the battlefield.”  

Michael has quite an impressive resume – the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, CNN and others have published his work. He has written two books and his blog is well-followed. For all of this, I actually found Michael on Facebook. He has more than 48,000 people following his daily accounts – and these people actively engage him in conversation through the social networking site. In fact, on any given day thousands of people are “talking about” Michael and his posts on Facebook. While I might have stumbled into Michael’s blog eventually, the power of Facebook certainly accelerated it. My advice? Whether you want to be on Facebook or not, if your target audience is there (and let’s face it with more than 800-million active users they likely are), you will want them to find you.

Check out Michael’s page, Twitter profile, and website – what other best practices can you apply to your social strategy?

I Heart Army Social Media

If you're on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn there is no way you haven't noticed the unbelievable presence that the United States military has in social media. The US is taking social media seriously - more so than many other countries from what I can tell – and it’s a full-time investment. If you don’t know what I’m talking about just check out the Facebook pages for the US Army and Marine Corps. Through social networks the military is able to engage recruits, those enlisted, and veterans as well as their family and friends in a dialogue about the inspiring work and heroic challenges that servicemen endure. 

I find these pages a great resource of news and photos; they provide access to speakers and events I might otherwise be completely unaware of. Yes, the US has certainly embraced social media in a big way and it seems to be paying off. 

Check out this presentation from the Department of Defense about optimizing online engagement in the Army. There are some good best practices outlined and you’ll get a sense of just how much the military wants to engage everyone in this conversation.  

Wrapping Up

(No I haven’t given up on this blog already)

It’s that time of year – time to write your program wrap report. “Ugh!” That’s all I have to say and I’m sure many of you share the sentiment. The accurate capture and analysis of PR efforts can be a difficult thing to do – let alone communicate in a meaningful way. Easy things to tabulate include:

·         Number of press releases distributed

·         Number of interviews/briefings conducted

·         Number of features, briefs, mentions, posts

o   How many were positive/negative/neutral

·         Increase in Twitter/Facebook followers

·         Number of YouTube views

These are all tangible things your company will be able to set benchmarks around. But, what about the intangible things that public relations pros contribute to? If I provided a laundry list of the number of times I tweaked messaging and briefing notes based on industry news and journalist/analyst feedback, we’d be here for weeks and my report would be incredibly boring. Naming each report or partnership agreement that was reviewed for brand standards and the “PR perspective” would make anyone weep. I still think the risk analyses provided to senior executives is some of my best writing, but would anyone else care?

As a result, I like to keep things pretty high-level focused on measurable tactics, and bring anecdotes to the table. I focus on tangible items that my team and company at large will identify with – the announcement about a major customer win that involved a great team effort, the article that a customer read and brought to a meeting, the shout-out on Twitter from the daughter of one of our video spokespeople.

If you’re lucky enough to have an entire team of people monitoring and analyzing your communications programs, news, industry perceptions, and reputation, a wrap report becomes a nice-to-have but not always necessary because your finger is on the pulse every minute of every day. But, if you’re like most people I know, you’re a one-man-show carving out a bit of time to complete your annual wrap report and set benchmarks for next year. I suggest you put a little color in it people! It’s the festive holiday season after all. Even if all you have is plain, brown paper to work with the least we can do is put a bow on it right?!