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Social Media: Destination UnknownYesterday

Way back in early 1990, I spent several weeks preparing a long Sunday piece on the death penalty in California. It was my best work in my then still nascent print journalism career, a story that would make people think. This was ultimate power, at least to a writer. But when a copy desk editor wrote a misleading headline (in my opinion) and moved around some of the key paragraphs, I blew. I called the editor names I didn’t even know I knew, and threatened to quit if the article ran with his changes. I didn’t mind editing, in fact I welcomed it – however this was editing that changed the meaning, and that was something I couldn’t tolerate. The story ran as I had wanted (not entirely but close enough); I apologized to the editor and kept my job. I was ready to lose my job, however, over what I felt were my principles, albeit my youth and inexperience certainly led to my acting like a complete asshole. But the incident taught me something else, something far more important, something I didn’t realize until much later. Why did I care so much about that story? I never cared about a headline before or about copy changes. But this time the topic was capital punishment, which I had covered in Missouri and remained passionate about since moving back to California. A few months later, I did leave my newspaper job. I gave up my apartment, packed my belongings into a couple suitcases, and threw them in the back of my car along with my Macintosh computer as I headed out f

The Power of CommunityYesterday

An amazing thing happened last night. Less than 12 hours ago, Dave Armano posted a simple plea: help he and his wife help a friend of theirs land on her feet. The friend is named Daniela, a mother of three beautiful kids, and a victim of domestic violence who found herself homeless and near penniless. Dave and his wife opened their home to Daniela and her kids, but all of them knew it wasn't a long term solution. So Dave did what Dave does so well: he blogged about it, asking the community to help him help Daniela. And then he posted this to Twitter: OK, here's the favor. It's a big one. For big hearts. Please help. http://is.gd/eKbo Please retweet. In the past 12 hours, Dave's plea has raised over $11,000 from an unknown but presumably very large number of people who cared enough to read his posts and Tweets (or any of the countless ReTweets and comments). Dave's blown away. Daniela is blown away. Everyone is pretty much blown away. This single act of compassion is proof positive of the power of community. Our community. Thanks to all who read about it, posted about it and contributed. In less than 12 hours, you've given Daniela hope. What a great way to start the year.

2009: Hoping For Audacity, Believing We Can ChangeDecember 30 2008

"Stepping Into The Future" by Flickr User anjan

The first few years of my PR career in Silicon Valley were marked by a singular frustration — most PR professionals did not aspire to be, nor were they particularly expected to be, as driven to innovate in their own field as their clients were in theirs.

"Just get into the Journal," seemed the dictum. "Everything else is secondary."

For a number of reasons so tangential to this story as to be distracting, the advent of social media is what kept me in public relations at a point in 2001 when I asked myself "Is this all that there is?" Years later, I'm glad to see there's a lot more. A hell of a lot more.

For what it's worth, 2009 will be the year when real innovation starts to come back into PR — not in the relatively cosmetic form of press releases gussied up in Web 2.0 regalia and such, but fundamental changes in how the art of communications is applied day-to-day. Some of these changes won't be all that sexy. Most of them will be perhaps only operational in nature. However, they will be no less important.

I won't venture into trying to predict the innovations themselves but, rather, discuss the eme

My Christmas List, Part DeuxDecember 23 2008

Continuing on from yesterday's post: The brands that stand for something will outperform the brands that either stand for nothing, or worse, try to fake it by aligning themselves with an otherwise noble cause. Good Purpose is good business. If I had anything to say about it, Good Purpose would become an anchor – if not THE anchor – of every client’s plan. Youth and the young at heart will prevail. This will be true in business and life. If you think today’s world is just for geeks and kids, then you are about to get your lunch handed to you by geeks and kids. Think like a geek and act like a kid. It’ll keep you young (and in business). Quality will rule over quantity. Many in the world of social media are obsessed with how many friends, fans and followers they have; in 2009, we will see that become taboo as people create personal filters within their own networks to keep out all but the highest quality people – those whom they find add real value to their personal conversations and communities. Mobile carriers will get out of their own way and find a way to work together to enable marketers to execute national mobile programs. This is just as inevitable as is the fact that mobile devices will become our first choice device for all computing and communication. Hard to say if it will happen in 2009 or not, but we are an information on-demand culture, and mobility is a driv

My Christmas List, Part 1December 23 2008

I’m not smart enough to say what will happen in 2009, but here’s what Pete Blackshaw, Charlene Li and Peter Kim have to say about it. Once I read their posts, I figured I’d go a slightly different path and talk about 9 things I’d like to see happen next year. Here they are: Brands and businesses that embrace their flaws and work with the community to solve them will outperform their competitors. Plain and simple: actions speak louder than words. There will be a direct, irrefutable link proven between authenticity – of motive communication, product, experience and actions – and business performance. FYI, we’re working on this, and have some IP that we’ll be releasing early in the New Year that begins to make that case. Colleges will totally re-think their Marketing, PR & Journalism curriculae to ensure that the students they graduate have the knowledge and skills they need to perform at a competitive level when they enter the workforce. Our goal at Edelman is this: every person in the firm needs to be able to walk the new talk, and we intend to make a big dent in our cultural transformation by ensuring that the hundreds of entry level hires we make every year are smart and passionate about PR 2.0 from their very first day. Madison Av