PR/Communications Study Shows More Focus on Social Media

A study of senior-level communicators reveals priorities for communication in public and private companies, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. The Communication and Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices (GAP VII) study is the seventh by the USC Annenberg Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center.

This year, the study shows that organizations are increasing their public relations budgets, measurements of success, and responsibilities for social media and SEO. Organizations also have given PR/Communications functions more responsibility for  internal communications and customer relations. Also encouraging, PR seems to have a so-called "seat at the table," according to the report findings:

"In nearly 60% of responding companies PR/COM reports directly to the 'C-Suite' (chairman, CEO, COO, etc.), reflecting today's increasingly transparent, communication-intensive environment."

Additional changes are reported in the GAP VII executive summary, below, and in the full report.

Discussion Starters:

• Which results from the study surprise you? Which results do not surprise you?
• The study reports little use of wikis and virtual worlds for communication. What do you think accounts for this lack of use?
• Analyze how the full report is organized. Is it logical and easy to follow? What, if any, improvements would you suggest to the author?

Emails in Facebook Dispute Revealed

Paul Ceglia, of StreetFax, is claiming a 50% stake in Facebook (reduced from 84%). The claim is partly based on email interactions between Ceglia and Mark Zuckerberg, who was contracted to work on Ceglia's StreetFax site in 2003.

Zuckerberg's attorneys take issue with the emails themselves, which are produced in Microsoft Word, rather than within a native-format email program. The attorney's motion to dismiss the case called the emails "an obvious indicator of fraud," stating that "Ceglia simply typed text into a Word document and declared it was the text of emails with Zuckerberg."

An email dated February 4, 2004, refers to the launch of Facebook: "The site looks great." But the time stamp is 10:30 a.m., before Facebook went live that afternoon. According to the Facebook team's motion, "This exchange is a historical impossibility."

The Wall Street Journal provides more information about the situation and doubts Ceglia's credibility:

A ThomsonReuters article analyzes the situation and also agrees with Zuckerberg's defense. In the piece, the writer provides six rules for "What not to do if you're suing a Facebook billionaire," including Rule 1: "Don't leave a version of the contract between you and the billionaire on your parents' computer unless that version matches what you've presented to the court."

Discussion Starters:

• Read the ThomsonReuters analysis. With which of the writer's claims do you agree?
• What other examples of emails becoming public have been in the news in the past year?
• In this situation, Zuckerberg's emails may help him defend the case. But in other situations, public email is embarrassing and damaging. How can you avoid this happening to you?

MLA (Bizarre) Standard for Citing Tweets

The Modern Language Association has announced a new standard for citing tweets:

"Begin the entry in the works-cited list with the author's real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are known and they differ. If only the user name is known, give it alone.

"Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the entry with the date and time of the message and the medium of publication (Tweet).

The word "Tweet" is rather strange to me; we don't include the words "book" or "journal" in other citations. Rather, the source is Twitter. I might also include a date when the tweet was accessed for the same reason we do so for other web content: the tweet may be deleted.

The Verge compares MLA's approach to APA's, identified two years ago:

MLA:

APA:

As The Verge writer points out, the MLA version is more helpful because it includes the real name and Twitter handle, but the APA version helps readers find the actual tweet by including a link.

The Harvard Business School Citation Guide 2012, my preferred source for business writing, doesn't include tweets at all. I imagine the theory is that tweets are considered fair use and therefore, as long as the source is clear within the text, citation is unnecessary. Or, the HBS needs updating.

Discussion Starters:

• Do you prefer the APA or MLA citation standard? Why?
• What's your view of not citing tweets for business writing?

Accounting Study: Be Careful with Video for Bad News

A new study found a discrepancy in how managers perceived a CEO who announced financial restatements via video compared to text. After viewing messages in each medium, managers were asked to rate the trustworthiness of a CEO who announced changes. Published in the March/April issue of The Accounting Review,  the study suggests that companies needing to issue restatements should do so via video only if they take responsibility for the bad news. The authors explain:

"Announcing a restatement online via video is likely to benefit firms only when top management apologizes for the restatement and accepts responsibility by making an internal attribution for the error. When management apologizes but denies responsibility by making an external attribution, announcing a restatement online via video is likely to have unintended negative effects on investors."

The messages varied by only one sentence in the middle of the statement:

• "We are fully responsible for this error because we relied on the advice of our internal lease accounting expert when preparing our financial statements." OR
• "We are not responsible for this error because we relied on the advice of external lease accounting experts when preparing our financial statements."

According to the study, using video is risky, but there is an upside. Managers who watched the video gave the CEO a trustworthiness rating of 6.15 out of 7 for the first statement and a mere 4.0 for the second. Managers who read text of the statements gave similar ratings for both: 4.75 and 4.55, respectively.

This study had a professional actor play the role of the CEO. For real situations, corporate communicators likely will consider many other factors before choosing video or text, including how well the CEO will come across to an audience of investors.

For more detail, see the study, "Using Online Video to Announce a Restatement: Influences on Investment Decisions and the Mediating Role of Trust."

Discussion Starters: 

• What do you think accounts for the discrepancy between a video and text?
• What would you advise a CEO to do when he or she has to issue a restatement because of an internal error? Should he or she risk creating a video? What would factor into your decision?
• If a company has to issue a restatement because of an external error, should the CEO take responsibility as if it were an internal error in hopes of garnering more investor support? (Careful!)

Will This Student's Video Get Her into Yale?

Jackie Milestone really wants to go to Yale, but she was deferred admission. To try to influence the admissions committee, she created a video, "White and Blue for You."

It's a catchy tune, but Jackie might take some lessons in persuasive communication.

Discussion Starters:

• How does Jackie balance emotional appeal, logical arguments, and credibility in her video? 
• What suggestions do you have for Jackie to improve her video and possibly sway the admissions committee?
• If you were deciding Jackie's fate, would the video influence you? Why or why not?

Claire's Response to Jewelry Plagiarism Charges

Tatty Devine's website shows several suspiciously close comparisons between its jewelry designs and those of Claire's, a 3000-store retailer of jewelry and accessories. Tatty Devine's jewelry is high-end; the "dinosaur" necklace shown on the left side is handmade from bones and costs £132, while Claire's version is rubber and costs £4.

While the lawsuit is under way, social media activity rages on, and Claire's isn't handling it too well. The company has been criticized for deleted and ignoring Facebook comments, such as those below:

Claire's also took two days before responding to the plagiarism charge, which had already received support on Tatty Devine's blog. Finally, Claire's posted this statement on its Facebook page:

"Claire's Stores, Inc. is a responsible company that employs designers, product developers and buyers, and works with many suppliers to provide innovative collections that bring customers all the latest fashion trends. As such, we take any allegations of wrong doing seriously. We are looking into the matters raised."

One blogger described the statement this way: "The response is a stiff corporate apology that appears to dismiss the concerns expressed by their consumers."

PR expert Scott Douglas suggests this as a better approach:

"The pictures show remarkable similarities, and clearly that's upset a lot of people. We understand those reactions. That's why we are determined to get to the bottom of what happened and launched an immediate investigation. We promise to keep you updated."

I wonder how Claire's lawyers would like that response.

Discussion Starters:

• Compare Claire's response and proposed response. What are the benefits-and the risks-of each?
• What principles should Claire's follow when addressing social media comments?

Memes and More Memes

Memes are pure fun-and good examples of visual communication. These depictions of culture are making the Internet rounds and may have some uses in business.

"What I Really Do" shows different perspectives of jobs, such as a bank clerk.

Mashable has gathered 20 of the best college memes, and Northwestern University has its own Facebook page of memes, which are probably funnier if you go to the school.

Discussion Starters:

• How could businesses use memes? Brainstorm ideas for recruitment, marketing, and team building.
• One Northwestern student wrote an article using memes. What do you think of this approach?

Emails Goes Mobile

New research shows dramatic changes in where people access email. Between December 2010 and December 2011, according to BI Intelligence, web-based email dropped more than 30% for people between 12 and 24 years old. Email is moving to mobile devices-phones and tablets.

As you can see from the chart, results are mixed for older generations. This is one reason that I wouldn't get too excited about the so-called "death of email." Email is still highly pervasive in business, where we see people between 45 and 54 years old and about a 15% increase in web-based email. Also, people are still using email; they're just accessing it differently. Another study, by Radicati, indicates that 85% of business people access email on a mobile device. Whether people use both a browser and a phone is unclear from these numbers. 

Yet the numbers likely predict a future increase in mobile email-no surprise to any of us, really.

This move has significant implications for how we write and respond to email messages. The lines between email and texting may continue to fade, and maybe we'll finally delete mobile-device tags, such as "Sent from my iPhone."

Discussion Starters:

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of using email on a browser and a mobile device?
• What are your thoughts about the tag "Sent from my [mobile device]"? Does it explain short messages or excuse lack of attention to detail?

Social Media Centerstage: Pinterest

Pinterest, the virtual pinboard, has seen phenomenal growth in its short life. With a December 2009 launch date, the social photo-sharing site has reached 10 million unique views a month, more quickly than any other social media site.

This infographic shows the Pinterest's tremendous growth. With only 16 employees, the site attracts two million Facebook users every day, and 97% of the site's users are women.

The start-up does have a few challenges. Copyright complaints are rolling in, with photographers claiming that their images are used without their permission. Pinterest does have a process for reporting infringements, but when called a few days ago, the voice mailbox was full.

On its Pin Etiquette page, Pinterest warns users to "Avoid Self Promotion":

"Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you're proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion."

This statement may restrict how companies can reasonably use the site for sales, but Pinterest still offers a big boon to retailers, who benefit from peer-to-peer promotion of their products. Mashable's compilation of 15 of the Most Popular Pictures on Pinterest shows a variety of images: hands, scenes, food, metallic nails, and more. Pinterest also offers views based on specific interests, such as planning a wedding or decorating a house. Clearly, the categories lend themselves to consumer purchases.

To sign up, users "Request an Invite" and receive this email:

"Hi!

"Thanks for joining the Pinterest waiting list. We'll be sure to send you an invite soon.

"In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. You can also explore a few pins.

"We're excited to get you pinning soon!

" - Ben and the Pinterest Team

According to Squidoo, all users likely get this email a couple of days later:

"You're in!

"I'm excited to invite you to join Pinterest, a social catalog. I can't wait to have you join our little community."

Discussion Starters:

• Do you think Pinterest could be "the next Facebook," as some suggest? Why or why not?
• Why do you think Pinterest attracts so many more women than men? 
• How do you assess Pinterest's strategy for people to "request an invitation"? Is it effective?

KLM's "Meet and Seat": Choosing a Flight Mate Just Got Social

KLM just announced Meet & Seat, a new program that allows passengers to link their Facebook or LinkedIn profile to their flight to see who else is flying. Passengers can see whether they know anyone on board or select someone who seems interesting.

The airline promotes the program primarily for business networking:

"Meet & Seat facilitates contact with fellow travellers who have the same background or interests, making air travel even more stimulating for KLM passengers. They can find out whether someone they know will be travelling on the same flight, or discover who else will be attending the same conference in the USA, for example. Through Meet & Seat they might arrange to have a coffee before their flight, select adjoining seats or decide to share a taxi afterwards."

But this animated video focused on more social reasons for Meet & Seat:

Discussion Starters:

• Do you think KLM's Meet & Seat is a good idea? How could it benefit the airline?
• What are the potential risks of the program for the airline?
• Would you use the program if you were planning to take an KLM flight?

Political Campaigns to Your Email: Spam or Free Speech?

Brace yourself for email from the presidential candidates. Although the 2003 CAN-SPAM law (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) restricts how companies use email addresses, political candidates are exempt, according to a Fox News report:

"'Political communications are not spam. Political communications are a demonstration of free speech in America,' said Stuart Shapiro, president of iConstituent, a Washington, D.C.-based firm which uses state-generated email lists to send messages on behalf of clients on all sides of the political spectrum.

"'There is a tenet in government that is based on communicating with our constituents, and email is one of the most effective ways to do it,' Shapiro said. 'People look forward to it and want it.'"

"People look forward to it and want it"? Shaun Dakin, president and CEO of The National Political Do Not Contact Registry, disagrees: "Politicians love the fact that their perceived freedom of speech is more important than voters' privacy." To be fair, voters offer their emails on voter registration cards, so perhaps they do want to be contacted. On the other hand, do people realize that providing an email address is optional? This is clear on some registration cards but not on others. Also, do people know that, in nine states, emails can be sold to political campaigns and organizing groups?

Discussion Starters:

• What's your assessment of this story? Do you believe it's wrong to sell voters' email addresses, or is this simply an example of politicians' free speech?
• Look at two or three voter registration form online. (Search images.google.com.) What advice would you give to the form designer who wants to make it clear that email addresses are optional? Would you also include an explanation of how email addresses are used (and that they could be sold)? Why or why not?

RIM's #BeBold: Another Hijacked Hashtag

As McDonald's learned last week, Twitter hashtags may not get the results that companies want. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion started the hashtag #BeBold, but unfavorable tweets started soon after:

"Be Bold" is part of RIM's marketing campaign involving the Bold Team, a group of cartoon characters, which has also been criticized as "cheesy":

"Each character comes with a name (like Trudy Foreal) and cheesy biography that seems to cater to the younger demographic.

"If there was ever any question RIM was running out of ideas in the business and professional sectors, this cartoon collective is your definitive answer."

Although companies are trying new approaches, they may have to give up the hashtag: it's too easy for people to use the tag for their own fun.

Discussion Starters:

• What would you advise companies who want to use a hashtag on Twitter? Could a different approach work, or is it too risky?
• What's your reaction to RIM's Bold Team? Do you find this to be an effective marketing strategy for young people and, if so, how young?

Twitter's Funny Viral Recruiting Video

During "Hack Week" at Twitter, employees work in teams to test new tools and make Twitter easier to use. The program encourages innovation and, this year, resulted in a parody of corporate recruiting videos that garnered almost 600,000 views within four days.

 Ian Padgham, a member of Twitter's design team, explains the inspiration for the video:

"Recruiting videos are the worst. Jeremy and I decided to make the worst possible video ever, since there was no way to make a good one. Knowing that #HackWeek was coming up, we wanted to have fun and embrace the awesome creative environment you find at Twitter."

Padgham may have a point. Corporate recruiting videos try to lure candidates, but many end up hokey and fake.

Discussion Starters:

• How similar is Twitter's joke video to the recruiting videos you've seen?
• Have you seen any good recruiting videos? What do you like about them?
• How can companies improve their recruiting videos? Or are they doomed?

Super Bowl Ad Previews on Social Media

In case you can't wait until Sunday to see the Super Bowl ads, here are a few teasers. At an average of $3.5 million for a 30-second spot, companies need to get their money's worth, so we're seeing some pre-game, viral promotion.

According to Reuters, the Super Bowl is one of the few TV shows that still garner large audiences: about 100 million people are expected to watch the game on February 5. And yet companies will supplement views by promoting their ads on social media sites. Coca-Cola's commercial, for example, features computer-generated polar bears who will have their own Facebook page and Twitter hashtag (#GameDayPolarBears). Not to be outdone, Pepsi is encouraging fans to watch Melanie Amaro perform "Respect" and then download a video using the Shazam app.

As always, the Super Bowl ads, like this one from Priceline, target their audience.

Discussion Starters:

• How successful do you think these companies' social media strategy will be? Will it achieve their objective of expanding viewers and air time?
• Watch a few of the Super Bowl ad previews. What techniques do they use to target game watchers?

#McDStories Turns Ugly

McDonald's started the Twitter hashtag #McDStories to encourage people to post their thoughts about the company. The campaign started well enough with @McDonald's initial tweets:

But the social media promotion quickly turned into a "hashtag horror show." The hashtag made it too tempting for people to tweet their worst views of the company, such as these:

Where did McDonald's go wrong? Rick Wion, the company's social media director, explained his perspective:

"Last Thursday, we planned to use two different hashtags during a promoted trend -- #meetthefarmers and #mcdstories.

"While #meetthefarmers was used for the majority of the day and successful in raising awareness of the Supplier Stories campaign, #mcdstories did not go as planned. We quickly pulled #mcdstories and it was promoted for less than two hours.

"Within an hour of pulling #McDStories the number of conversations about it fell off from a peak of 1600 to a few dozen. It is also important to keep those numbers in perspective. There were 72,788 mentions of McDonald's overall that day so the traction of #McDStories was a tiny percentage (2%) of that.

"With all social media campaigns, we include contingency plans should the conversation not go as planned. The ability to change midstream helped this small blip from becoming something larger."

Monitoring activity and recognizing failure are critical for social media campaigns. As Wion says, "As Twitter continues to evolve its platform and engagement opportunities, we're learning from our experiences." True enough: trending on Twitter can be a dangerous game.

Discussion Starters: 

• Why do you think #meetthefarmers was successful but #McDStories was not?
• Should McDonald's have anticipated this outcome and not introduced the hashtag, or was the reaction too hard to predict?
• Wion talks about having a contingency plan. What do you think that entails? How should companies prepare for social media campaigns that fail?

Brazil Addresses "Technological Slavery"

Brazil has passed a new law that makes employees eligible to request overtime pay for email and phone calls after work hours. The Brazilian government views emails to employees' smartphones as orders. The law addresses what a labor lawyer in this CNN video calls "technological slavery."

Discussion Starters:

• What's your view of the new law? 
• Is this a good idea for United States? Would it work? The video mentions difficulty in enforcement. What other challenges could you see?
• How else could we avoid the 24/7 nature of work?

Timothy's Coffee Apologizes for Facebook Promotion

Offering free coffee is a great way to increase Facebook "likes" but only if you can keep up with demand. Timothy's Coffee offered free 24-pack boxes of single-serving coffee, but ran out of supply for the number of people who requested the $17 CAD gift. The company underestimated how viral the promotion would become, and it took too long to sort out how to solve the problem.

In a video, a company spokesperson explained that they "received an overwhelming amount [sic] of entries" and "because of a technical glitch, confirmations were sent beyond the quantities available." 

The company apologized on a Facebook wall post:

Although 136 people "liked" this post, 291 commented, and many were negative, like this one: "fans being left in the dark from January 4th to Jany 13th, without A SINGLE comment regardless of the raging posts on the wall."

Responding to the disappointed fans, the company then offered a coupon for free coffee for those who didn't receive the promotional gift.

Discussion Starters: 

• How could Timothy's Coffee have avoided the failed social media promotion?
• How do you assess the spokesperson's video? What is effective and ineffective about the apology?
• In the post above, you see "[sic]" within the company's quote. What does this mean, and why is it there?

NY Philharmonic Stops When Cell Phone Won't Stop Ringing

The incessant "marimba" alarm clock so frustrated the New York Philharmonic orchestra conductor that he stopped the performance this week. Albert Gilbert and the rest of the audience heard the phone in the front row, which, according to one audience member continued for "5 minutes or so." This video is a mock-up of how the ringing may have interrupted Mahler's Symphony No. 9:

Gilbert stopped the orchestra and said, "We'll wait" and stared at the potential culprits in the front row. He then said, "Turn off the phone." But the phone didn't stop ringing, despite yells from the otherwise cultured audience: "Get out!" "Turn it off" "Throw them out!" Lincoln Center is investigating why its ushers didn't follow protocol and address the audience member.

So how did this happen, and why didn't the audience member turn off the phone?

"Patron X" didn't want to be identified but told the New York Times that his company just swapped his BlackBerry for an iPhone, and he didn't realize that an alarm was set. Although he thought he turned off his cell phone, the alarm went off anyway.

Gilbert accepted an apology, which Patron X explained to the New York Times:

"It was just awful to have any role in something like that, that is so disturbing and disrespectful not only to the conductor but to all the musicians and not least to the audience, which was so into this concert."

"I hope the people at that performance and members of the orchestra can certainly forgive me for this whole event. I apologize to the whole audience."

Discussion Starters:

• The Washington Post Style Blog offers these cell-phone etiquette suggestions for performances. Do you agree with these? What other steps would you recommend to audience members?
  
• Do you buy Patron X's explanation? Could this happen to any of us?
• What's your view of texting during a movie?

Blackstone Buys blackstonesucks.com

In a preemptive social media move, private equity firm Blackstone has purchased several disparaging websites:

• blackstonesucks.com
• blackstonegroupsucks.com
• theblackstonegroupsucks.com
• schwarzmansucks.com
• stephenschwarzmansucks.com
• stevenschwarzmansucks.com
• steveschwarzmansucks.com

Blackstone follows the lead of Bank of America, which secured hundreds of domains last month, including BrianMoynihanBlows.com.

In September, Etsy, the online market for handmade art, filed suit against the owners of EtsySucks.com, .net, .org, .biz, and .info. Etsy won the case. But what about Freedom of Speech? The difference seems to be in how the domains are used; if they're used to post about a company, then fine, but these Etsy domains were empty, parked websites, indicating that the sites weren't "registered in good faith," according to Domain Name Wire.

Maybe I should register bizcominthenewssucks.com, just in case.

Discussion Starters:

• You can't blame these companies for trying to stem the tide of negative online comments, but will these domain protections work?
• What avenues would you most likely use to complain about a company's product or service? 
• Research the "sucks" domain for a company that interests you. Is it taken and populated with negative comments? What, if anything, can the company do about it?

Rupert Murdoch Joins Twitter and Inserts Foot in Mouth

After just four days on Twitter and 27 tweets, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corporation, has amassed over 104,000 followers. Why the sudden interest? Some say Murdoch is considering an investment in Twitter, while others see the move as part of an image restoration campaign.

He did manage, within his first 20 tweets, to "slag off" the British. The reply tweet is from a fake account with Murdoch's wife's name, but he still complied by deleting the tweet.

Discussion Starters:

• Read a few of Murdoch's recent tweets. How would you summarize his goals in using Twitter so far?
• Looking at more of his tweets over time, how would you assess his participation in Twitter? Do you think it was a good move for him to join?