Digital Era II

62/365 Spot the Difference Uploaded by AlicePalice on 7 Sep 08, 7.29PM GMT.

I’ve seen it in a lot of companies and I have sadly also seen it in a lot of government departments (albeit not in the UK).

Policy and Public Relations are not the same thing and I find it annoying when they are being misconstrued as being identical.

I can see how it can be confusing. Since Policy is increasingly using high levels of stakeholder engagement one might be forgiven for thinking that Policy professionals are now into Public Relations. They are not (trust me I am one of the former).

In Policy we would ask “How can we design a policy that will work optimally?” whereas in Public Relations we would ask “How can we communicate that our policy is the best?”

See, I would call that pretty fundamentally different.

Both functions are certainly valid (and valuable). However, by confusing the two you end up with either policies that don’t work or with policies that cannot be communicated.

How come this is so hard to grasp?

Jump on the social media bandwagon Uploaded by Matt Hamm on 15 Oct 08, 10.07PM GMT.

We had this discussion the other day with Stavros Kontaksis (blog in Greek) -  @stakon on Twitter – the fact that parties in government seem to be a lot less quick on the Social Media front.

I have blogged in the past about the differences between the two main parties in Greece. PASOK – then the Opposition, now the Government – is seen by some as gearing down its engagement, particularly compared to its professional and organised comms strategy before the election. Me, I kinda doubt it. At the very least they are the first government in Greece to open up consultation processes on-line - not in a very organised way but that’s a matter for another post. Secondly, they do still have an admirable history and policy of engagement online.

However, if speed is becoming a bit of an issue I can’t say that I don’t see why that might be the case.

Take the UK example.

Having worked in the UK Civil Service in the past I know first hand how many rules and regulations exist and some of them for very good reasons. Systems are vast, databases sometimes old, processes outdated. However you get exciting projects,  people who believe in what they do and a vast array of stakeholders who discuss things with Whitehall. And everyone increasingly wants to know NOW what government is thinking.

Having said that, what is frequently forgotten is that government has extreme responsibilities when it comes to creating policies and at the same time protecting commercial interests in a competitive market, ensuring data protection, being mindful of national security etc. For example, a government cannot communicate vague thoughts on a new policy as speculation might completely destroy a whole market. In other words – with great power comes great responsibility.

Government engagement is a different beast than political party engagement and the two need to be running concurrently. Government is an institution, with executive branches, it should be an authority that can ensure continuity irrespective of the political party in power (ah… dream on Sofia). A political party on the other hand has completely different needs.

Hence – Communications 101 – different needs and different audiences mandate different types, styles and content when it comes to communication.

I understand we are undergoing a paradigm shift. But I’m hopeful. I think governments are getting better at this and people are getting better at demanding what they need rather than everything in one big chaotic jumble.

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Stavros blogged about similar stuff following our chat in Greek: Εγκαταλείποντας τα Social Media

gaming in style Uploaded by PortugePunk on 13 Jan 06, 11.46PM GMT

If you have any desire to work in advertising and you haven’t heard of Saatchi & Saatchi I think it’s fair to say that you should consider an alternative career right about now.

Each summer, Saatchi & Saatchi offer up to ten graduates the opportunity of a place on their Summer Scholarship Programme. Graduates are given the chance to experience the industry first hand, and see for themselves exactly what is required for a career in a creative company. At the end of the programme, up to four of the grads may be offered a permanent role.
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This year they are going through the selection process via Facebook – which I find very interesting. All you had to do (fine it started in January) was join their Facebook group and take part in a series of challenges – the first of which was to create a group of your own and attract members.

Over the coming weeks we will be setting a series of briefs that have been specially designed to test the various skills and attributes you will need to work here. Each brief will be fun, but challenging – that’s the point. It’ll be a bit like The Apprentice meets Big Brother meets The Blair Witch Project. Actually scrub the Blair Witch bit.
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The group number over 6.000 members so no pressure.

I’m hoping they’ll come up with a report at the end about their experience.

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I read about it: Graduate recruiter employs social media by Sheli Rodney on CorpComms

With lube & affection Uploaded by Olive Talique on 26 Apr 09, 6.38PM GMT.

I love the idea of people getting together to discuss how new technologies and social media can affect young people and spread more awareness on issues of sexual health.

Enter sex::tech 2010 which will be held in San Francisco (Feb. 26 and 27).

The Internet and mobile technologies have strengthened youth networks, provided new avenues for expression, and increased youth access to tools and information designed to improve their sexual health. Sex::Tech explores available tools and methods for reaching youth with culturally appropriate STD/HIV prevention and sex education interventions.
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Check out the schedule which seems to be nicely varied. I especially like the discussion about the digital divide and reaching urban youth.

The digital divide is something that all tech enthusiasts tend to forget (myself included). Nowadays I even see it in consumer research that claims to be ‘representative’ with only an online sample. By realising that not all members of the population have access to the same resources you can begin to tailor your communications. If for example I was targeting the over 75s in rural Britain (I recently was really close to such a campaign) the web would not really be my primary outlet. So it’s heartening to see a discussion on the sex::tech conference that also addresses the issue of access.

I look forward to the results of the day. If you happen to find yourself there and you intend to blog about it drop me a line.

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Hat tip to Ryan T. who pointed me in the direction of the conference – check him out on Twitter he is a top bloke!

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post (I tend not to do them)

Odd One Out
Uploaded by momoryuji on 18 Jan 09, 8.06AM GMT.

This is the first lesson I remember from my experiences with policy development that really made a lasting impact.

When you sit down to develop policy on an issue, good policy makers start a process of engagement with stakeholders. Thankfully this is not something that only government departments do nowadays but it’s good practice within industries as well even if the process might not always include a formal consultation – which, let’s face it, it doesn’t always need to.

The first step when it comes to engagement is a sort of mapping of your stakeholders so that you can identify industries, organisations and groups that your policy will have an impact on – either positive or negative, depending on their positioning.

I was quite surprised when I started working in policy and external relations to learn that the number one group that gets forgotten are the people that the policy is actually made for.

Best example? It’s this word of mouth story (even though I don’t know how true it is) of a government department that mapped out all of their stakeholders for a new policy initiative aimed at improving circumstances for children. Stakeholders not appearing anywhere? The children.

This might seem like a no-brainer but I do get how something like this can happen by being exposed constantly to your own industry and established stakeholders (like trade associations and third sector organisations) which might take your mind off the alternative people that you really need to have in the room.

After nagging endlessly about the abysmal search facility on twitter I can’t resist being very enthusiastic about Google Real Time Search.

Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before. When they are relevant, we’ll rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search results page.
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I had a chat with some friends yesterday on this (they did me the honour of inviting me to their podcast #NoNameCast – sadly only available in Greek) and we had a bit of a debate on whether this is a gimmicky thing for Google.

I certainly don’t think it is  gimmicky even though I am looking at it from the point of view of Communications, Public Affairs and Policy professionals rather than users in general.

Immediate access to what is going on
It might not give me time to truly analyse but I’ll know on the spot. Invaluable if a big story is breaking and you work in a Press Office.

Immediate access to blog posts
You won’t have to wait for your press mentions service to report to you once a week. If you need to know now you can find out now.

Getting a ‘feeling’ for what’s going on
Do not underestimate how important it is for comms people to have a ‘feeling’ for what is going on out there. Sometimes it’s equally important with the more substantiated view that serious analysis can give you.

Be on top of the ‘now’
Sometimes it’s important to understand what is going on now. This is not to underestimate the value of good analysis and substantiated research. It’s just that you may be on your way to a meeting or a brainstorming session and you’d like to understand the ‘now’ of the equation.

Can’t wait to see how this will develop.

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Read on:
Relevance meets the real-time web by Amit Singhal on The Official Google Blog
Google finally gets real-time by David Meerman Scott on Web Ink Now

Westminster at Sunset
Uploaded by DMoutray on 29 Dec 08, 2.34PM GMT.

I cannot find it in my heart to truly sympathise with Members of the UK Parliament (MPs) who might now hit a spot of bother with their twitter account – but I do understand how this might have happened.

You see we are about to go onto a general election and the rules state that MPs become Prospective Parliamentary Candidates and are not allowed to refer to themselves as MPs at all. Apart from new stationary this could very well mean a problem with twitter accounts of the @(name)MP format. If clarification is sought and the House decides this goes for Twitter as well I wonder if all of their names are still available without the MP suffix.

I would expect the House to be sensible about this and ask them to by-pass or re-direct to a campaigning account e.g. @(party)in(constituency) for the duration of the general election process. There certainly are ways around the issue.

However I can’t really make my mind up on whether this is a technology or a communications problem.

First of all Twitter services are admittedly quite abysmal. Being a verified user has been a long time coming and it’s still not widely available. I assume most MPs thought that the best way to communicate it’s really them would be to append MP after their name (there are actually quite strict rules about this so people – in the UK – do not misuse it generally).

On the other hand MPs don’t remain MPs for ever. I would normally do a boring list of how they should have done it here but really I think it might have happened kinda naturally. I might not sympathise but I understand it. This sort of problem usually comes up due to lack of initial planning. The ease with which one can open a social media platform account (and the fact that they are free) may some time lead to not thinking things through and not checking the rules. However we’ve all seen it before (usually when a website is delivered and it’s well and truly wrong just because the company never gave a proper requirements document).

This is a learning process for all existing and new candidates and I’m eager to see what lessons they will take (and hopefully share) out of this general election and their digital communications processes.

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Read On:
MPs Could Be Forced To Change Twitter Usernames Before Election by David Singleton, PR Week UK, 25 November 2009

Handshake
Uploaded by Sergio Prado on 30 Sep 09, 3.06PM GMT.

Here is a good example of why it’s a good idea to refer clients to people who can help them when you can’t do it.

Went to a corner shop today and I asked for something. The guy behind the counter looked at me, slowly turned around, checked if the product was there, looked back at me and with the bored look of the early morning said “I don’t have any”. Mind you, this guy owns the place. I’m not planning on going back. There is another corner shop just two doors now and I plan on starting to use that one. I would be prepared to stick to the first guy if he had said the most simple thing in the world. “I’m sorry I don’t have any right now, I will be getting a delivery tomorrow but in the meantime there is another shop two doors down where you might find what you are looking for”. There, how hard would that be.

Admitting the limits of what we can do and what we want to do is a SoMaFusion fundamental principle. If there is something that cannot be done or that we are not interested in we will always strive to recommend other people and/ or companies to the client. We do this for a number of reasons.

Read more on SoMaFusion’s travelogue

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Disclaimer: I work (and blog) for SoMaFusion. Sometimes (but not always) I write posts which I think also work well in this blog.

It’s a good idea if you are a new company (or even if you are more established) to have very clear goals in mind when making the effort (and spending the time and money) to go to an industry event like a conference or exhibition. And I mean a different industry than your own. We were at the World Travel Market this week so that’s what partly prompted this post – as well as Manolis’ fascination at the absence of some companies that we ‘d expect to have seen there.

Read more on SoMaFusion’s travelogue

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Disclaimer: I work (and blog) for SoMaFusion. Sometimes (but not always) I write posts which I think also work well in this blog.

Anti-Social Media?
Uploaded by Intersection Consulting on 23 Apr 09, 6.48PM BST.

I don’t know why but as comms people we frequently get over-excited by the latest shiny thing. In that respect I think we are a little bit like academic researchers – go crazy over something and think it has an application absolutely everywhere.

These days it’s social media. We just stick it into whatever comms strategy comes to mind as if the awesomeness of twitter and facebook (which are either way disputable) is enough to elevate a campaign and make it relevant. Which is of course ridiculous.

I seem to recall that the same thing was happening a few years ago when it came to campaign micro sites and website design with heat maps and eye-tracking technology. The whole world went mad over trials that were expensive, thorough and in some cases completely unnecessary.

There is a question that comes before social media. There is a question that comes before design. There is a questions that comes before heat maps.

There is a question of substance that comes before appearance.

Who are you and what do you want to do?

This question addresses the two fundamental aspects of an online digital strategy. Your identity and your goals.
Without them we can give you all the shiny tools in the world. And you will – sadly – still be struggling to make sense.

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Following a database meltdown (long live the server move processes) this post and the comments were uploaded again manually.