Mutually Inclusive PR

Flickr Needs to Stay Focused

With the announcement today that Flickr is being purchased by Yahoo!, the creativity and stamina of the Flickr team will continue to be tested. Up until now, it's been a struggle to find resources, keep the thing moving forward, and handle all the dozens of things that come at you every day when you're a company. Now they have to keep from being Borged by their new owner.

Announced Sunday in the Flickr Blog, the move gives the team a lot of new resources and opportunities. They are aware of the challenge: make Yahoo! become more like Flickr, instead of Flickr more like Yahoo!

Only time will tell. I'm an optimist, so I hope to see some good changes coming to both sites. And maybe this will give Flickr the push they need to get their photo sharing/social networking site out of perma-beta and into production.

Oh, and Monday is the next time Flickrnauts take photos like crazy and share them as part of a Day in the Life. Check Flickr tag "DILOMar05" to see the results. Between the Yahoo! announcement and DILO, don't be surprised if the servers are extremely slow, or even unavailable sometime during the day.

Lockergnome Ad Excess

Chris Pirillo apparently makes $10,000 per month for Google Ads on his blog. Taking a look at his web site lockergnome, it's hard to find any content around all the advertising.

Chris, there is such a thing as TOO MUCH ADVERTISING.

Diversity Debate Continues

Continuing the diversity theme mentioned in my previous post, here are some more items to check out:

Corporate Engagement:  Plus Ca Change, A List Bloggers Are Mostly White, Male, American, More Debate About Levy

Mama Junkyard's: Update - We Do Exist

Blog Tyme: A-List Shuffle

Blog Tyme points out that a lot of the people saying there aren't a lot of women or ethnically diverse bloggers don't have a clue. There are no labels on blogs identifying the race and gender of the poster, so the background of a given blogger isn't always ovbious. Nor is it always important, if their points of view are diverse.

6 Degrees of Culturally Diverse Separation

The more I wander blogland (sorry, I refuse to refer to it as the blogosphere unless I'm mocking someone), the more homogenized the place looks. Which is weird, since there are millions of blogs out there.

So last week I took a Six Degrees of Separation tour through various blogs and sites. I didn't get a chance to post this until today.  I started at Technorati, and found a posting about "My Little Goatie". The misspelling of goatee caught my eye, and I was off:

kartik kannan's space on the web

A techie in India, Kartik takes me on a trip to Munan, for a final get-together with his classmates before they all go their separate ways.

A link on his site said "Anand", so I click, expecting to be taken to technology review site Anandtech.com.  Nope, instead it is Mdeii Life, the musings of   Anand Krishnamoorthi, a Tamil film student from India, currently at the  University of Bristol.

Writes Anand:

"During my days in Anna University, I desperately sought to train myself in picture and sound editing. I hated working with other editors and edit technicians whose sense of rhythm never matched mine. This was the case until recently, when I had the chance to work with a really good editor on a project I directed. Suddenly I realised the advantages that collaborative editing can bring. Soon, both editor and I were communicating with mere twitches of a few facial muscles, and odd nasal and grunting sounds. A little glance through the corner of an eye meant, "The cut has to move exactly 4 frames back". I do know that it is hard to come across this kind of a collaborator, but when one does, then it definitely adds value."

Anand is a bit obsessed with The Godfather, but he has some interesting posts nonetheless.

A link then takes me to Coffee House, where I find this amazing description that brings me back to a trip I made to India in 1992:

cenatoph road: a traffic police man asked for a lift this morning, as i turned left from chamiers road to cenatoph road. i stopped my bike and he sat heavily on the pillion. enga sar poganum (where do you want to go), i asked him. summa straighta poitae irunga sar (just keep going straight), he said. its a small road, and a minute or so later he said, andha car than double seven double two (that car 7722). and then it struck me, the car had jumped the signal and the policeman wanted to catch the culprit. that car was going slow. as the bike rode past the car, i could sense the policeman motioning the driver to stop.

From there to OutlookIndia.com, and Delhi Diary, by Vinod Mehta, with this comment:

I am reminded of what the great journalist Alistair Cooke told Jawaharlal Nehru. Cooke said as a reporter he had been taught that the truth has two sides and he should report both. What, he asked Panditji, was he to do since increasingly he found the truth had four, even five sides. "Ah," replied Nehru, "you’ve discovered the Hindu view of truth."

Finally I arrive back in Canada with a Toronto Diary entry by Ramachandra Guha:

I had planned to spend the day of the US presidential election in the town of Berkeley, California. . . . My plans were brutally torn to shreds at Toronto airport by an American immigration official named (as I recall) McCullough. I had spent a week lecturing in Vancouver, at the University of British Columbia, and was now on my way to Oberlin College, Ohio, and, from there, to the University of California at Berkeley. I'd been an itinerant migrant worker for the past decade. It was a way of life I was used to and so, I believed, were the Americans. It was thus with a certain casualness that I placed my papers on the counter.

Guha's description of border difficulties reminded me of Jeremy Wright's ordeal trying to get into the U.S. for a blog consulting gig. After many hassles, he was turned back. His account attracted more than 40,000 visits to his site in one day.

So ends my Six Degrees of Separation.

Then I find out my little experiment in finding a less homogenous part of the Internet is part of a trend -  there's a  Newsweek posting questioning whether the blogospere (that moronic word again) has a diversity problem, and a March 7 post encouraging people to link to more women and non-Americans (hey, I'm not American - link to me!). Well, my tour may not be original, but I learned a few things, and will try it again this weekend.

Thanks to Desirable Roasted Coffee for the last two links.

IABC's Stunned Silence Brings Criticism

Update: Discussion on the MemberSpeak intranet tool, and a new posting on the IABC Chairman's Blog are covered in this more recent item of mine.

____________________

Canadians are patient, polite people, willing to forgive much of someone if they acknowledge their shortcomings and promise to try harder next time.

Which is why, when I read Allan Jenkins criticism of IABC chairman David Kistle, I thought Allan was being too harsh, and too public in his comments. (Read the Comments below the posting for a vigorous, well-reasoned debate about leadership, IABC's future direction, advocacy and
member expectations.)

Then I waited for the response from IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) head office, or from Kistle himself. I'm still waiting, and this Canadian is starting to get pissed off.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I was expecting anticipated some response, even if it was just, "Allan, we heard your critique and were disappointed you chose to do it in such a public way. Please join a discussion in the Members section of our web site, where there can be a full, open dialogue among those most affected by your concerns about IABC's leadership and future direction."

Or maybe something on The Chairman's Blog: "There have been some criticisms of the infrequent postings to this blog. I have to apologize. I gave it a good shot, but realize I'm just not a blogging kind of guy. I won't bemaking any postings during the remainder of my term in office, but would be glad to hear from you at this e-mail address ______________."

Or even: "Dear IABC members: We have read some complaints in various weblogs and will be posting something within __ days."

Of course, the best response would be to somehow engage in a discussion about IABC's future direction. That's what organizations generally do with their paying members if they want the members to keep paying. Shel Holtzdescribes the way an effective organization would gain
momentum and "own the issue" by hosting the discussion on
its blog.

I don't really care if IABC has a blog, and if it's
written by the elected chair. There are definitely other
ways to communicate on issues. A blog would certainly be a
good way to engage the membership in talking about how
they can help fulfill IABC's mandate, and it might go a
very small way toward articulating IABC's position on
public issues such as:

•     ethics in public relations,
•     the credibility gap for companies and other organizations,
•     the implications of new technology on organizational communications, and
•     the role the public and advocacy groups play in shaping public opinion through interactive media like blogs.

I posted an item on IABC's MemberSpeak discussion forum Wednesday, with an open invitation for people to acknowledge the discussion that's taking place outside the confines of the IABC extranet, and talk among ourselves about the organization's strategic plan and our future.

So far, there have been 124 views of the discussion thread, and with one exception, all of the five comments have come from the same people who have been commenting publicly in
various blogs.

This suggests to me that either no one cares about IABC's future, or no one has the guts to speak up in case someone criticizes their point of view. Or maybe they just don't want to be associated with a bunch of muck-rakers.

Whatever the reason, the silence is deafening.

In 10 short days I've gone from being a fairly satisfied IABC member with a benign attitude toward the
organization's leadership to an annoyed skeptic, wondering why such a simple organizational communications matter can't be dealt with quickly and effectively.

If the silence continues much longer, my discontent will  become anger. All because IABC can't seem to involve itself in a discussion about its future direction, and what needs  to happen for it to be the pre-eminent international association for the PR profession.

As the polite Canadian in the small group of critics publicly questioning IABC's leadership approach, I can only say, "Get your act together so we can get the organization headed in the right direction. (Please.)"

I still think this discussion should be taking place in private among the membership. But since that doesn't seem to be happening, let the discussion take place wherever committed people will get involved.

Here are links to several sites where discussion is taking place.

Shel Holtz
 Owning the Issue

Allan Jenkins
 IABC's Kistle Should Let New Chairman Get a Headstart

Neville Hobson
Get Used to Transparency, IABC
IABC Chair Blog Can Succeed

On Monday, an International Event Happens on Flickr

About 1,100 phototgraphers from around the world will take their cameras with them on Monday.

Some of them will take a few pictures of something they see in the parking lot, the view from their cubicle, and maybe some images from their neighbourhood. Others will spend the day taking hundreds of images that say something about their community, their taste, their artistic side.

The end result will be a Day in the Life of March 21 on Flickr, the online photography sharing community.

The rules are simple. Anyone can contribute up to five photos taken that day to the Flickr DILO Group (DILO = Day in the Life Of). Everyone is encouraged to tag all their photos that day with "DILOMar05", so anyone can scroll through that tag to see all photos taken that day. To view photos in a tag, just type in a word in the Search for a Tag box, or click on one of the tags being displayed, and you can see a stream of photos that people have "tagged" with that name.

One talented member of the online community will be creating a visual record of the day, using time of day to show how the images progress throughout the day. Another will be creating a poster of the images. I expect there will also be some people creating visual reviews, picking out some of their favourite images that others have taken and posting them with commentary for others to see and comment on.

It will be fun to take part in, and I hope to be amazed by some of the results.

I considered taking the day off work Monday to spend the time finding some unique images around town, but decided instead to just share some of the things I come across in an average day.

Come see the event unfolding on www.flickr.com, or drop by later and see the final results. If you like photography, subscribe to Flickr Blog to see some interesting images chosen from the site.

Interactive Mapping for PDAs

Finally, some functionality for PDAs that takes advantage of the knowledge and opinions of a community of people.

Earthcomber allows the user to download a map of an area, with comments about points on the map. The possible applications? Well, a neighbourhood with multiple retail outlets would be a good candidate. The locals could provide their opinions of the quality of service and products at the local shops, so someone could download the knowledge of the community and use it to make decisions.

One of the examples on Earthcomber's site is a university campus -- a typical place where newcomers need information quickly, and old-timers can provide survival tips. Another sample is of the Underground Railroad.

This is the kind of application I just assumed would blossom when technology became cheap and portable. It has taken longer than I expected for something like Earthcomber to push the boundaries of sharing information for people when and where they need it (instead of to their computer screen at home).

How was I to know MP3 players would blow PDAs out of the water?

This web-based service has "We want to get bought out by Google" written all over it. But what's wrong with that? It would make a fine addition to an existing portal, or it can try to raise awareness and attract users bit by bit without a major partnership/ownership. Either way, it's worth checking out.

Only in the United States, you say? Pity.

Thanks to Desirable Roasted Coffee for the link.

AOL's Content-Grabbing Legal Terms

There's an interesting discussion going on at Slashdot about the terms of service published by AOL.

The terms are quite comprehensive, and essentially give AOL the right to use, without compensation, anything published on their service or transmitted through their instant messaging tool. AOL insists people are deliberately misinterpreting their legalese, and they don't save any instant messages that flow through their system. The key issue seems to be whether the agreement would allow them to legally store and use information from instant messages if they chose to do so.

Privacy purists have been freaking out over the sweeping ownership of content that AOL seems to give themselves with this legal agreement. One person's interpretation of the agreemen (one of 292 comments on the item)t:

 

AOL can use copyrighted material w/o compensation (Score:5, Interesting)
by solprovider (628033) on Monday March 14, @10:28AM (#11932409)
(http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=lose) What does AOL being a giant multi-billion dollar company have to do with this?

Case 1:
Mr. Aspiring Songwriter writes a song, and asks some friends for their opinions. He sends the lyrics and an MP3 to friends using his AOL email and/or AIM. The song becomes big a year later. AOL searches their records, and finds he used the AOL network to transfer the work. According to this license, AOL may now:
- publish the song on the internet,
- include the song on CD,
- use the song in a movie,
- use the song in advertisements, and
- have their current boyband record it
without ever giving any compensation to the Mr. A.S.

Case 2:
Mr. Writer works on his book or movie script. He sends each chapter to his agent from his AOL email. AOL can use his work without compensation.

Case 3:
Mr. Small Business writes software. His team uses AIM to discuss the code being developed. AOL may use any of the code transferred on their network for any purpose without compensation.

Case 4:
Mrs. Sporting Goods owns a small store. It does not have an e-commerce website; her AOL email address is enough for the few online orders. One of her customers becomes famous. AOL may publish information about the athlete's purchases and any concerns discussed in her emails. (They may have difficulty justifying the use of the athlete's emails, unless the athlete also used AOL software.)

If this license was used by a small private business, the materials collected could soon become the most valuable resource of the business. AOL is already part of a major media conglomerate, and the threat of using all meterials transferred on their network without compensation is real. AOL's music and movie divisions should be drooling over the ability to find free resources.

Do News Organizations Sell News or Newspapers?

News organizations face the same dilemma that the music industry faces: do they take a small amount of revenue for each member of a potentially huge market they can reach online, or do they pursue a traditional business model for their product?

Citizen journalism advocate Dan Gillmor notes that news organizations that hide their content behind a paywall become invisible to the millions of potential visitors to their online services.

Make a few bucks per million visitors, or stick with the small but steady flow of dollars from subscribers, that's the choice they face. Still others, like Canwest Global and The Globe and Mail, do a juggling act, as I mentioned in a previous posting: When Paid Online Content Goes Bad.

Mining the Internet for Marketing Information

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. But don't ignore it, either.

Adrants writes about BuzzMetrics, a research company specializing in analysis of all the marketing information on the Internet, including the online conversations taking place about products, brands, companies, and more:

Because of the pervasiveness of the Internet, the use of chat rooms, IM, forums, email and weblogs, the level of "consumer conversation" has risen dramatically. The beauty of this, for marketers, is that it's all digitized, right there on servers across the globe, to be examined and analyzed for future product development and marketing. Research firm BuzzMetrics has taken advantage of these vast resources and made a business out of culling data and analyzing it for marketers. It's most recent report takes a look at artificial sweeteners.

If something doesn't change soon, it seems all food is going to come out of a machine and contain nothing but hard to categorize, unpronounceable. man-made ingredients. It's already happening, and has been for some time now, with artificial sweeteners. A recent study by BuzzMetrics indicates people are wising up to all this fakery and marketers may need to take note. According to BuzzMetrics, 45 percent of all artificial-sweetener discussions among over 200,000 monitored trend-setting consumers in online health and nutrition forums were negative in the fourth quarter of 2004. Specifically, 14 percent of discussions recommended using natural sweeteners instead; 13 percent warned of side effects; 11 percent advocated for limited intake; and seven percent complained of unpleasant taste.

Conversely, 42 percent of artificial-sweetener discussions were in favor of them in some way. Specifically, 19 percent discussed regular usage; 17 percent advocated their use in cooking; and six percent recommended them over natural sweeteners.

This is just a tiny snapshot of the "conversations" that are out there for companies to look at when they consider the development of a product or the marketing of an existing product. It's not an easy task but there's never before been a time when so much information has been available about people preferences, opinions and habits.