Vine: The Twitter of Video

Vine videos are taking off, and companies are starting to create them. Vine is a mobile Twitter service that lets users capture and share six-second videos on a loop.

CIO identified five companies that are making good use of the service. Home improvement store Lowes, for example, has posted several "Fix in Six" videos with helpful suggestions, such as using cayenne pepper to keep squirrels out of your garden. Ad agency BBDO posted this video about the idea:

Companies also are creating commercials on Vine, although it's unclear who was first. Five days ago, Ad Week reported Dunkin' Donuts as the first:

"During this evening's Monday Night Football pregame show on ESPN, Dunkin' Donuts will run what's most certainly the first TV ad made entirely from a single Vine-Twitter's popular six-second social video format."

But four days ago, Mashable reported Trident as introducing the "first, 6-second Vine TV ad."

Regardless, they're both silly/cute/fun/dumbck your adjective.

Discussion Starters:

• Read CIO's examples of companies using Vine. What other ideas do you have for how companies could use the service?
• What's next for short, mobile messages? Any predictions?

Is Kenneth Cole Trolling?

How is it possible for Kenneth Cole to write yet another offensive tweet capitalizing on an international conflict? This time, the apparel designer is making no apologies.

In 2011, Cole used the hashtag #Cairo during the Egyptian uprisings:

Cole apologized for that tweet, and Ad Age did a fun summary of events (which I converted into a PowerPoint presentation), showing how quickly the hoopla emerged-and passed.

This time, Cole chose the controversy about Syria to hook into. "Boots on the ground" is a common reference to whether the United States will proceed with a military strike on Syria.

Reactions on Twitter were swift and harsh, but Cole isn't sorry at all. He issued this statement to CNBC and posted a video to Instagram: 

"For 30 years I have used my platform in provocative ways to encourage a healthy dialogue about important issues, including HIV/AIDS, war, and homelessness. I'm well aware of the risks that come with this approach, and if this encourages further awareness and discussion about critical issues then all-the-better."

Discussion Starters:

• Did Kenneth Cole do as he says and purposely promote "a healthy dialogue"? Did he forget? Is he insensitive? Too proud to apologize a second time? Or, as some suspect, was he trolling?
• What's your view of Cole's statement and video? What do you make of his creating a video in this situation?
• This is Cole's Twitter description: "Designer, Aspiring Humanitarian, Frustrated Activist, Social Networker In Training." Should he change it?

When Execs Send Less Email, Employees Do Too

A new study shows one sure way to reduce corporate email: "start at the top."

The seven-person management team at International Power in London saw their own influence on the number of emails sent within the organization. Sending an average of 56 emails a day, this group is actually below most middle managers in the United States. Still, the managers were surprised at this number and agreed to take steps to reduce the number of emails they sent. 

According to an HBR article, executives participated in a process for reducing their emails: 

"Despite a few misgivings (some felt the intervention intruded on their personal style), the executives underwent training to reduce their e-mail output by taking more-deliberate actions: not forwarding messages unless strictly necessary, limiting messages' recipients, and choosing the form of communication that would most efficiently accomplish the task at hand. In a phone call, for example, vocal tone provides real-time feedback on whether a message is being understood-something that's missing in the low-bandwidth e-mail channel. Facial expressions and body language make in-person meetings an even richer method of communication."

I was skeptical about this study, wondering how sustainable the results would be. An email reduction within a few months is easy to attain, but what about the long-term? However, the authors report email reductions lasting an impressive two years: 

"Within three months the team's total e-mail output dropped by 54%. The output of the 73 other London-based employees soon began decreasing too, even though those employees received no training or feedback. In fact, this drop was even greater-64%. The result was an annual gain of 10,400 man-hours, which translates to a 7% increase in productivity. The new practices soon became embedded in the top team's behavior, and the reductions have been sustained for two years."

HBR published this "interactive," showing the number of emails that could be reduced when executives send fewer emails. Sorry, this does nothing for me. How about a simple chart instead? 

Image source. 

Discussion Starters: 

• To what do you attribute these results in email reduction throughout the organization? 
• This study took place at a British energy company. Do you think the results may be different in the United States or at a company in a different industry? Why or why not? 
• What's your assessment of HBR's "interactive"? Am I too harsh in saying that it doesn't add value to the survey results?

Poor Spelling and Grammar Top List of Dislikes of Brands on Social Media

Disruptive Communications asked 1,000 UK consumers what they find most likely to damage a brand on social media. The winning response was "poor spelling or grammar." 

Perhaps this is an inevitable trade-off of brands becoming more personal on social media. With a natural, conversational voice may come some sloppiness. But, at least according to this survey, brands shouldn't become too sloppy, or they risk their brand's reputation. 

Surprisingly (or maybe not), respondents between 18 and 24 weren't as concerned about grammar and spelling. Instead, their biggest complaint was "does not post updates often enough," at the bottom of the list for other age groups. Maybe this is because the younger age group checks brands' posts more frequently?

Brands have a tough balance to strike: 13% of respondents said they "post updates too often." A similar percentage said brands tried "too hard to be funny," and "salesy" updates were the second biggest frustration of respondents, particularly for those between 45 and 54 years of age. Clearly, brands can't overdo it on social media, either. 

Full infographic. 

Discussion Starters: 

• How would you have responded to the survey? To what extent do you agree with the responses? 
• This is a UK survey. Do you think the results might have been different in the US? 
• Follow a brand on Twitter and Facebook for a few days. How do its posts match these survey results? 

Study Finds "Likes" Could Encourage Positive Decisions

A study in the Science journal found that when people liked an article, others are 32% more likely to approve of the article. Published as "Social Influence Bias: A Randomized Experiment," the study looked at data from 100,000 articles from a web site that aggregates social news. Web site administrators randomly assigned initial positive and negative ratings, which caused a "herding effect"-in this case, "jumping on the bandwagon" with positive reviews, although writing and reporting in that article were not necessarily any better than in any other articles.

However, the study found, surprisingly, that the opposite didn't hold true; rather, when people disliked an article, others commented to correct the initial review. In other words, people defended articles with initial negative comments.

A New York Times article about the story describes the effect: 

"The first person reading the comment was 32 percent more likely to give it an up vote if it had been already given a fake positive score. There was no change in the likelihood of subsequent negative votes. Over time, the comments with the artificial initial up vote ended with scores 25 percent higher than those in the control group."

The authors warn of social biases in many types of decision making. 

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

• In what ways do you see evidence of this study in your own experience on social networking sites or ratings sites?
• What implications from this study can you see for how TripAdvisor works? What are the potential dangers of the herding effect?

Food Truck Employee Gets Fired for a Tweet

Unhappy about not receiving a tip, a food truck employee let loose on Twitter:

 

Employees at Glass Lewis & Company, a consultancy specializing in corporate governance, ordered $170 worth of grilled cheese sandwiches and milkshakes but didn't leave a tip. Brendan O'Connor, the Milk Truck employee, chronicled the incident on his blog:

"I was making sandwiches, another worker took the order and a third made the milkshakes and watched the grills. A line grew while we worked, and we had to tell other customers that their lunch orders would take longer than usual. They paid; I asked my co-worker who was dealing with the money how much of a tip they'd left. They had left actually no tip at all. (They had paid with a card so we checked the cash tips to see if there'd been a bump. There hadn't.)

"I asked some of the group as they were picking up their orders if they had intended to not tip. They hemmed and hawed and walked away.

"Well. I could have not said anything. I could have made it a subtweet. I probably should have made it a subtweet. But I didn't, because of some misguided notions about having 'the courage of your convictions,' or whatever."

O'Connor explains that he was fired by the owner after someone from Glass Lewis complained about being "tip-shamed." O'Connor's argument is that his employer uses social media feedback to monitor employees' performance, so why shouldn't he use social media to "advocate for a more civil exchange between worker and consumer?"

Well, no companies want their customers embarrassed publicly, and many have policies in place to this effect. Milk Truck managed to restore its credibility with an apology tweet, accepted by Glass Lewis:

But Twitter is still abuzz with the ethics of the situation. Did Milk Truck do the right thing by terminating O'Connor? Was O'Connor's tweet  justified? Does Glass Lewis owe an apology? What's your view?

Images source. 

Why Employers Shouldn't Care About Facebook Photos of Drinking

HR and hiring managers are passing up good candidates who post or are tagged in photos of drinking, according to a new study. The study by Stoughton, Thompson, and Meade, "Big Five Personality Traits Reflected in Job Applicants' Social Media Postings," was published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.

Explaining the rationale for searching for candidates online, co-author Dr. Lori Foster Thompson said, "Companies often scan a job applicant's Facebook profile to see whether there is evidence of drug or alcohol use, believing that such behavior means the applicant is not 'conscientious,' or responsible and self-disciplined." But posting such content is not correlated with conscientiousness. Further, those who post rated highly on extrovert measures, which employers may value.

However, the study warns companies to avoid people who "bad-mouth" or post negative comments about an employer online. People who rated highly on agreeableness and conscientiousness were very unlikely to post such content.

This advice is consistent with a recent Wall Street Journal article, which reported that 44% of employers would not hire someone found to be "badmouthing employers on social media." The author of this article also suggested, "While some employers may be willing to overlook the occasional rowdy photo or off-color tweet, it goes without saying that any post linking a job candidate to illicit activity such as drinking and driving or illegal drugs, or to racist or sexist behavior, won't go over well."

A recent Harris Interactive/Career Builder study showed that 43% of employers have rejected candidates based on their social media posts, and 48% of them did so because "There was info about candidate drinking or using drugs." These employers may want to reconsider their practices.

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

• What's your view of the study findings? Do you agree with the two main conclusions: that Facebook posts about drinking don't indicate poor job qualifications but that negative posts about employers might be a good reason to disqualify a candidate?
• How, if at all, does this study influence what you will post or how you will handle posts on your Facebook page?

George Takei's Ghost Writer Fesses Up

George Takei, 1960s Star Trek cast member, is highly popular on Facebook. But his posts have been written, at least in part, by someone paid $10 per joke. With 4.1 million likes, Takei's Facebook page is a mix of cartoons, jokes, and other lighthearted posts.

Rick Polito came clean in an email to Jim Romenesko's blog but seemed to have regretted the decision after a few days' rest:

"Polito tells Romenesko readers today: 'I wrote an apology to George and Brad and their guy said he'd pass it on. I just said that I'd been looking for any mention of my book I could get and that I hadn't meant to expose anything.

"He adds: 'I don't update his page. I've had no direct contact with George. I've sent him some memes, as have other comedian types and I was happy for the exposure.'"

In an email to Wired, Takei doesn't share his fans' concern:

"What is this hoo-ha about my FB posts? I have Brad, my husband, to help me and interns to assist. What is important is the reliability of my posts being there to greet my fans with a smile or a giggle every morning. That's how we keep on growing."

Discussion Starters:

• Compare this situation to that of Mark Davidson, whose tweet writer exposed him on his own Twitter feed. What are the similarities and differences? 
• How do you assess this situation? Under what circumstances is it acceptable for someone to write social media posts on another's behalf? 

Study Shows Value of Internal Social Networks

A Kellogg School study found positive effects of an internal social networking system at a major credit card company.

As more companies implement enterprise social media tools, Paul Leonardi, a professor of communication at Northwestern University, wanted to evaluate their usefulness. The credit card company was installing "A-Life," and Leonardi compared two groups, marketing and operations, to see the impact. The marketing group was given access to the system, while the operations group was not. Before the six-month period, employees were asked who within the organization knew what-an important question for knowledge management and for getting work done.

After using the site rather than email, the marketing group reported a 31% improvement to find information and a 71% improvement in finding people who knew those with needed information.

Perhaps most interesting is that younger employees were the most skeptical of the system, as a Kellogg article explains:

"...he found that use differed by age: younger employees across the company were generally more skeptical of the tool. 'So many young people use social media tools'-like Facebook and Twitter-' their lives daily,' and those tools are really for social, non-work-related communication, says Leonardi. This, he believes, made it harder for younger employees to embrace social technology in the workplace.  'They would say, "Oh, I don't want to be posting things my boss would see." … On the other hand, the senior employees didn't have that same concern. For them, the technology was another mode for communicating about work-related matters.'"

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

• What, if any, social networking tools have you used at work? What do you see as the benefits and potential pitfalls?
• Are you surprised at the results about younger employees? Why or why not?
  

J.C. Penney Removes "Hitler Teapot" from Billboard

Does this teapot look like Hitler to you? It does to some people, and J.C. Penney responded by removing the image from a billboard in California.

J.C. Penney responded to several tweets, such as this one:

Despite the criticism-or perhaps because of it-the teapots sold out online but can be had for a mere $199.99 on Ebay. Or you can place a back order for just $40.

The teapot was designed by Michael Graves. Here are more of his J.C. Penney products. Do you see any other political figures, criminal master-minds, celebrities, or religious figures?

Discussion Starters:

• When should a company ignore social media reactions? Is this one of those situations?
• What could be the consequences of J.C. Penney's leaving the billboard as is? Do you think it would be worth the risk?

Does Texting Hurt Grammar?

Finally, an infographic that incorporates cats. A study by Onlinecollege.org found that the more students text, the more their grammar may be affected. But some of the results are dubious.

The good news is that 86% of middle-schoolers believe that good writing skills are important in life, and only 11% think that texting negatively impacts their writing.

But the survey sponsors seem concerned with the 50% who say that they don't use proper grammar or punctuation when writing texts or IMs. Also, the more teens receive "techspeak," the more they use it.

So what? I'm not sure we can reasonably conclude, as the sponsors have, that texting hurts grammar.

Discussion Starters:

• Review the full infographic. Do you draw the same conclusions as the study sponsors do?
• Look at the graphics representing 50, 11, and 86%. What issues do you notice? 
• How, if at all, do you think texting and IM have affected your use of proper grammar and punctuation?

"Socially Devoted" Brands on Twitter

Which brands are most responsive to customers on Twitter? Socialbakers released its view of the top five companies.

Although Nike answered a higher percentage of questions, JetBlue clearly is leading in response time, with an impressive 13 minutes. With so many more followers, it may not be possible for the company to beat Nike's rate.

Socialbakers also looked at the most engaged industries on Twitter, again using percentage of questions answered as the metric.

Although an imperfect measure, response rate is better than looking at the number of followers, which had been the prevailing metric of engagement for some time. At least with this data, human intervention is considered.

Discussion Starters:

• What, if anything, surprises you about the companies' and industries' level of "social devotion"? 
• I say that response rate is an imperfect measure. Why do you think this is the case?
• What other metrics could be used to determine companies' success on Twitter?

This Tweet Brought to You by Dos Equis

To promote its "Legend of You" app, Dos Equis hired a comedian to tweet.

When Michael Ian Black ("The State" and "Ed") tweeted that the new app turned him into "a Most Interesting Person," his 1.9 million followers knew it was a paid advertisement. Black's other tweets are funny (depending on your sense of humor). 

The backlash was harsh, with one tweeter saying, "I wish you had died in 9/11" and another criticizing Black for using language that an unpaid intern probably wrote. Black responded to some tweets, such as this one:

You have to admire Black's honesty, but I wonder how his employer feels about it.

Discussion Starters:

• What advice would you give to companies considering paying for tweets? Should they not do this at all, or can safeguards be put in place? 
• If you were the marketing manager for Dos Equis, would you hire Black again to promote your products? He did get a good discussion going...

Amy's Baking Company - No Lesson Learned?

Amy's Baking Company is in the social media news again for angering customers. Back in August 2010, Amy responded to a negative Yelp review by calling the customer a "moron" and saying that "only tramps and losers want to sit outside in 110 temperatures" (although she used more capital letters and exclamation marks than I have).

Now, Amy finds herself in the heat again. Owners Samy and Amy Bouzaglos appeared on the reality TV show "Kitchen Nightmares" for Chef Gordon Ramsey to save their business. But Chef Ramsey left the show because the couple is "incapable of listening." Things went downhill from there.

The owners tried to win support on the company's Facebook page, but people were not sympathetic. As it turns out, calling people "little punks" and saying "We have God on our side" typically won't elicit support.

Now, the couple is saying that the Facebook page was hacked.

But their new Facebook page posts are suspiciously like the old ones. The owners may need more help than "Kitchen Nightmares" can provide.

Discussion Starters:

• What advice would you give the Bouzagloses about responding to social media posts?
• What's your opinion of this incident in light of the 2010 Yelp response? How, if at all, does this change your view of the owner and the business?

Ethical Social Media Marketing After the Boston Bombings

An article by Augie Ray, director of social media for a Fortune 100 company, describes the ethics of social media marketing, and gives us several interesting examples from the Boston Marathon tragedy. In contrast to these companies that perhaps crossed an ethical line, recall El Pelon Taqueria, the restaurant that offered help and asked for nothing in return.

Calling it a "desperate attempt to trade on people's feelings," Ray described an NBC Facebook picture of a boy in a hospital bed. The post asks people to "'LIKE' this to wish him a continued speedy recovery." Ray points out that "liking" a post does nothing to help the boy recover.

In another example, Ray criticizes Ford for muddying a message with its products. According to Ray, "Ford's use of brand imagery not only reduced the sincerity of the message but demonstrated questionable ethics." For comparison, Ray presents Ford's actual post, at right, next to one without branding, at left. The difference is fairly obvious.

 

Individuals made mistakes as the tragedy was unfolding, too. Author Guy Kawasaki was criticized for continuing to post promotional tweets, as others were suspending theirs. Clearly, he didn't agree with the criticism. He responded, "Loving how people with less [sic] than 1,500 followers are telling me how to tweet."

Discussion Starters:

• How do you assess these three situations? Do you agree with the criticism of each?
• Augie Ray offers a sound suggestion for modifying the Ford post. Can you think of something similar for the NBC post? What might make this one more acceptable (read: more compassionate)?

False Tweet Rocks the Stock Market

A fake tweet on Associated Press's Twitter feed sent the blue-chip Dow down about 145 points in two minutes. The market quickly recovered, but the incident reminds us how reactive we are to potentially false information.

Associated Press confirmed that its feed had been hacked, although no individual or group has yet taken responsibility. The false tweet is below.

This is certainly not the first case of hacking. Facebook and Twitter both admitted security breaches over the past few months. In a February blog post, Twitter outlined plans to improve security.

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

• What are the ethics of this situation? Analyze the behavior of those who acted and those affected.
• Are the hackers responsible for the effect of the tweet, or should investors be smarter about using information to make trades?

More Data on Social Recruiting

The Society for Human Resource Management published a new study confirming much of what we know about social recruiting and offering some surprising data, too.

It's no surprise that most of the 651 respondents, whose job includes staffing, use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter-in that order-to find "passive" job candidates. This is consistent with other survey data in the past couple of years. Eighty percent of respondents use these sites; those who don't cite legal concerns, such as finding out someone's age.

A surprising 57% of companies don't have policies in place for using social networking sites to screen candidates, and 72% have no intention of establishing a formal policy within the next 12 months.

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

• Why don't companies have a policy for screening candidates online? What are the potential drawbacks of creating a policy?
• What are the potential ethical considerations of screening candidates on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter? How do these three sites differ as screening tools?

Tweet for Jobs

We know that "social recruiting" is increasingly common, with 73% of employers responding to a Jobvite survey reporting that they have hired someone online. But how does this work on Twitter, through which 15% of the 73% had hired someone? The Wall Street Journal published an article that explains some of the recruiter's and job seeker's perspective.

As funny as it seems to tweet your qualifications within 140 characters, more employers are encouraging people to respond to job postings on Twitter.  Boston network-infrastructure firm Enterasys tried this approach and found success. The company's chief marketing officer said, "I am fairly certain I am going to abandon the resume process. The Web is your CV and social networks are your references."

Other employers report following prospective candidates to evaluate their interactions. And in many situations, although the initial contact happens via tweets, candidates include links to more substantive resumes and social media profiles.

One optimist, Kathryn Minshew, founder of career website TheMuse.com, said that the tweet is "the new elevator pitch."

Discussion Starters:

• How optimistic are you about companies' recruiting via Twitter?
• How could you see publicizing your qualifications and career interests on Twitter? What are the potential downsides for you personally and professionally? 

What Do Social Media Teams Look Like?

A Ragan/NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions survey of 2,714 communicators uncovered how organizations' social media teams are structured. This infographic, created by Go-Gulf.com, highlights a few interesting facts about those who completed the questionnaire:

• Only 27% have a dedicated social media team. (It would be interesting to know the size of the companies and industries.) 
• 42% have only one person working on social media.
• Only 22% plan to hire more people to manage social media next year.
• 25% use interns for social media work.

 

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

• What, if anything, surprises you about this data?
• How do you think these numbers might vary for hospitality, retail, technology, and other industries?
• If you could project out five years, how do you think this data might change? What are your predictions?

The IRS Doesn't Consider Emails Private

Strategizing with your accountant about how to avoid paying taxes? Asking your mom whether you really have to declare that research stipend? These conversations best not happen over email.

The IRS believes it can access taxpayer's emails without a warrant, according to a response to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)'s asking for the agency's privacy policy. As a defense, the IRS seems to conjure the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which the ACLU calls "hopelessly outdated":

"It draws a distinction between email that is stored on an email provider's server for 180 days or less, and email that is older or has been opened. The former requires a warrant; the latter does not. Luckily, the Fourth Amendment still protects against unreasonable searches by the government."

Enacted in 1986, the Act doesn't account for where many people now store email: in the cloud. Similarly, the agency seems to claim that people have "no privacy expectation" for email stored on a server.

Although the IRS denies doing so, the agency may search social media sites for posts that may contradict some of the claims made on tax returns.

Image source. 

Discussion Starters:

• If the IRS did search and read your emails, what would it find?
• Does this news make you more cautious about what you might send over email? How so?