DISQUS

Todd · 7 months ago

Sorry to be the decenting opinion ( ...actually I am not sorry ) but this *IS* new.

Conversations have always been between people, yes, but The Open Social Web expands itself to include machines as well. Be it in any combination ( human-to-human, human-to-machine, or machine-to-machine ) what we see evolving before us is fundamentally new way of existing, unprecedented in history.

Once put into a manageable aggregate, the physical activities and passing thoughts of millions ( billions? ) of people and machines will reside on The Open Social Web - all annotated, timestamped, formatted in an easy to consume way...and instantly accessible by anyone. That *IS* new.

Here's a very well done presentation by Chris Messina that defines exactly what the Open Web is:
http://www.slideshare.net/factoryjoe/the-open-s...

Dan Keeney, APR · 7 months ago

Richie: Great stuff. I really like what Todd has stated. That's really the crux of what I was trying to get across in my piece. We're busy trying to shoehorn what's happening into our tried and true model for PR -- research, plan, execute, evaluate -- but we are blinded to the fundamental changes that are taking place. We get so caught up in the tools that we aren't seeing the big picture. I have to admit that I really have a clue what Todd is talking about, but I WANT to understand it. I don't need to get another PR 101 talk about why objectives are imortant. I get that. I want to know how collective knowledge sharing and the emerging social Web will fundamentally change how people gather and share information.

Andra Bennett, APR · 6 months ago

At the PRSA SDW conference, one luncheon speaker (forgive me, her name is escaping me on this lazy Saturday a.m.) blew my mind when she told the story of a sheep herder in rural India with a cell phone. She said, "Here I was in the middle of nowhere. And there he was in the middle of everywhere." The global, cultural ramifications of this technology are huge.
That being said, maybe some do not need another PR 101 talk. But many of us who are new to the space or have to justify social media to higher-ups who truly do not WANT to hear or read what their constituents are saying need to use (not 'shoehorn,' but adapt) the tried and true models that we know and understand. Just "jumping in" without a strategy or some way to report results -- and in one instance, someone jumped in and did something just plain unethical, imo! -- resulted in wasted time, staff frustration and set us back in terms of audience credibility and management support. Onward!

Andra Bennett, APR · 6 months ago

Correction -- PRSA SWD (Southwest District) /TPRA conference. And credit where it's due -- Dr. Patricia Alvey, distinguished chair and director of Temerlin Advertising Institute, gave the talk on the future of global marketing communications.

Beth Harte · 6 months ago

Great post Richie! Thanks for pulling together both sides of the coin. I think the fundamental struggle for PR folks is the concept and wanting to continue to be the mouthpiece for their clients/brands instead of consulting clients/employees to speak for themselves. And, I still think a lot need to learn how to write decent, measurable plans. :)

@Todd, personally, I don't want to talk to a machine... ;-) (Kidding)

@DanKeeney, "I want to know how collective knowledge sharing and the emerging social Web will fundamentally change how people gather and share information."

There is still nothing new here. It's like a neighbor submitting her favorite recipe to the neighborhood cookbook for all the neighbors to share/try. It's all old school...people have been sharing forever, it's just that we are doing it online now.

@AndraBennett, totally agree, people want to learn how to write plans and plan for social media (and it's measurement!) as part of their communications plan. Thanks for the great example! Some countries are way ahead of the US as far as technology because they skipped the infrastructure phase. So, they might not have decent roads, but they have had wonderful cellular connectivity for years.