High-Tech PR Blog >> Beyond the Hype

Boston Blogs Too!

  In this morning's Boston Globe Scott Kirsner was kind enough to highlight one of our blog posts about Twitter in his Monday Business column called Blog Filter. I point this out at the risk of being considered a "Self-Promoting Narcissist," one of the Twitter Personas I outlined in the blog post he points to in his column.

It's great to see Scott's weekly compilation of interesting posts from Boston area bloggers. One of the other posts he references this week is from our former client Chris Herot's blog and discusses a Harvard Law School panel he attended regarding the impact of noncompete agreements. Kirsner also included some data he had referenced on his own Innovation Economy blog about New England venture capital investment falling further behind Silicon Valley investment. The trend line is not good, Scott reports.  Despite this, elsewhere in the Globe (thanks, John Dodge, for pointing this out in a Tweet this morning) there is a story about Microsoft making a major investment in Cambridge, MA in the Boston Concept Development Center in Lotus's old stomping grounds. Given Ray Ozzie's roots and influence on this (his brother Jack is the GM and former Loti Reed Sturtevant is its director), it sounds familiar to me -- Iris 2.0, anyone?

There is a lot to blog and tweet about -- and invest in -- here on the east coast.  A little self-promotional narcissism for the region is not a bad thing.

We Tweet, We Link In, We Friend, but E-Mail Still Piles Up

  As I was digging out after a week away, I found an interesting post from David Pogue in response to a reader who asked him how "public figures" like Pogue and Mark Cuban handle responses to emails, as this individual was soon to be a public figure. Pogue quickly noted that it has nothing to do with Mark Cuban or himself, in particular, but he was happy to answer the questions posed by the reader, as follows:

A) How many wackos do you hear from in a day?
B) How do you handle said wackos?
C) Do you use elaborate file/folder systems?
D) How much of your day is spent on replying to e-mails?
E) How do you determine who gets a reply?
F) How often do you check e-mail?
G) What advice would you give to a public figure about what to watch out for if you publish your e-mail address?"

Pogue's answers aren't startling, but they are interesting.  It sounds like he really does try to respond to and keep up with a huge volume of email where he can and, like most of us, he wishes there was a better way to manage the constant influx of mail more efficiently.  Clearly he does triage on his mail, which is certainly a method I employ, especially if I'm out of the office on business or personal time, to check for anything from a client that requires response immediately or something from a colleague that needs a response or at least to be passed on to someone else who can help until I return.  I found it humorous that after reading a book with tips on "Getting More Done," Pogue tried to follow the tenet of clearing out his inbox at the end of every day.  He ultimately gave up, as the approach revolved around responding to what you need to respond to and either filing in folders or deleting the rest.  He felt this just reshuffled the deck (my words, not his) and really didn't reduce the glut of mail.  I know our systems team who constantly remind people to delete or archive, couldn't agree more.  I remember in the early days of our agency one of our young managers followed the approach Pogue's book advised and refused to leave her desk until she had categorized (filed) all of her mail for that day in folders.  She worked ridiculously long days (self-imposed) and ended up burning out and shifting into a freelance career.  I do hope she ultimately arrived upon a less punishing approach to finishing her day.

As Pogue noted, for a columnist like himself who gets tons of emails, it's ideal to have an assistant who can help manage the mail, and to outline on your website your guidelines regarding emails -- frequently asked questions and answers; your policy on responding to mail, etc.  I always found Walt Mossberg's meticulous outlining of his guidelines a great help to anyone needing to communicate effectively with the popular WSJ columnist.

So Pogue's column is interesting, particularly in that it shows all of us that managing email has come nowhere near being solved. I have been working on it for years.  I already have my email filtered into two mailboxes.  The primary one is for anything addressed specifically to me or from a set group of senders.  The second includes group emails and newsletters, etc.  I'm personally still waiting for 95% of email to disappear at the end of a set period of time unless the person chooses to retain it.  I know you can set those kinds of Mission Impossible disappearing-email features, but you still have to create the setting when you send the email.  I'd prefer it to be the default setting.  For example, part of what I am painstakingly going through right now is emails sent to teams that include replies one-by-one from each team member.  If you are working remotely and don't have a lightning-fast connection, blowing these away can take more time than it should.  And I'm fortunate enough to have a great assistant who already placed a lot of iffy emails into a folder for me to review when I have time.

Pogue's column also raises the question, in my mind, of who exactly is a public figure.  Many of our clients right now are starting corporate blogs written by the company's technology or business leaders.  Although I think of public figures as politicians and actors -- people whose lives are an open book to the world -- it can also mean that anyone who puts their thoughts or beliefs about any subject in the public domain, by default, is now a public figure.  So Pogue raises a good point regarding being clear about what they will respond to -- either via their policy on comments to blog posts or emails/calls that could result from anything they publish in a blog. 

I'm glad the disappearing-email feature didn't dissolve Mr. Pogue's email from my mailbox before I got to think about all of this and share it with you.  And I'd love to hear from anyone who has come up with new ways to manage emails.

IR Gets Social, part two

To follow on my post about the NIRI conference I attended earlier this month, I wanted to provide some additional thoughts from John White of the SEC. White addressed the evolving regulatory landscape with a particular focus on interactive data and using corporate web sites to disseminate investor information.

White's discussion of hyperlinking and the SEC's initial thoughts on it stuck with me. As we incorporate more and more linking and tagging into the information that we distribute on behalf of clients, I'm not sure there's been a lot of thought to what the hyperlinking might imply. From the SEC's perspective, a company could potentially be accountable for the third party information it links to in an investor communication. White did clarify that this is not an issue with embedding links in product information, but in documents, data and information specifically targeted at investors.

The SEC has not issued any specific guidance on this yet, but White assured us it is coming. In the meantime, the suggestion is to either use exit notices that make it clear you are moving from one web site to another, or to add some contextual language about why the link to a third party is included.

Given the world of PR is laser focused on embracing social media and the practice of hyperlinking is now just table stakes in this new world, I thought the broader implications of this view from the SEC could be significant. Does this mean it won't make sense to do a social media formatted release for financial news or for other corporate transactions? Please share your thoughts.

One final comment from White that stuck with me was that the SEC is reconsidering what it means to meet full disclosure requirements as it relates to information posted on a company's web site. Today just posting to a corporate web site does not meet these requirements, but one day it could. Per White, guidance on this is also to come. 

More evolution of IT media

I'm stuck in Newark (what a surprise) traveling back from setting another client on course with social media.  So, while catching up on e-mail I could not help but notice a couple of updates about changes with the media and was struck by the juxtaposition of old and new.  Both changes speak to the shifts taking place in the landscape of media reaching the enterprise IT buying community.

TechCrunch continued its expansion by launching a new site, TechCrunchIT, which is focused on profiling companies in the enterprise technology space.  The editors are Steve Gillmor, a long-time industry journalist and Nik Cubrilovic, an enterprise technology entrepreneur blogging as a secondary pursuit.  According to its about page:

TCIT is dedicated to obsessively profiling products and companies in the Enterprise Technology space. TCIT aims to promote an understanding of emerging and existing Enterprise technologies and to analyze their commercial, social, and consumer impacts.

This certainly fills a big void inTechCrunch's area of coverage, as the original blog really only covers consumer-oriented Web 2.0 companies.  Scanning TCIT's first few days of posts, however, it seems that like it's parent blog, it covers mostly start-ups.  Unlike TechCrunch, however, it doesn't seem the new blog has the same audience yet, as only a few comments have been posted.  I wouldn't be surprised to see its audience and influence grow, but it certainly bears watching.

This contrasted with rumors of more changes afoot at one of the most venerable of old-guard enterprise IT media titles.  Since this is not official information, I'll withhold the name of the publication, but the changes have to do with how reporters cover news, with a shift towards blogging about news in a manner that offers more opinion that in straight news stories. 

If true, this simply will be latest in a pattern of how traditional enterprise IT publications have evolved in a way to encourage more reader participation and interaction, as data has shown that IT buyers are trusting this type of information over traditional editorial content.  This certainly is how TechCrunch delivers its information and this has been a factor in how it's built its audience, perhaps at the expense of the traditional titles.  Regardless, titles like eWEEK and InfoWorld continue to have loyal readerships, so having another outlet reaching this buying community is a welcoming sign.

Where Google still is playing catch-up

Two items hitting my attention streams today got me thinking again about the fiercest competition in technology now -- that between Yahoo! and Google.  There's no doubt that Google is winning the search war, but it's interesting to look inside the uber fight and at where Yahoo! is winning the battles.  These include the areas of finance and news.

The New York Times had a lengthy analysis today of Google News, characterizing the service as suffering from stagnant growth.  It noted how the news of the death of Tim Russert hit Google News about an hour after other news sites.  While Google News has played a significant role in the disintermediation of mainstream media, it is causing these organizations to rethink how they monetize their content, including perhaps changing the way stories are written.  Nonetheless, as the article implies, Yahoo! News, the number one news site by a wide margin, remains popular because it assembles its content through an editorial staff. Perhaps consumers of news like the human touch after all.

The other tidbit of news was how the New York Stock Exchange has introduced a new product that will provide access to the real-time stock prices that had been available only to brokerage clients until now.  NYSE Realtime Stock Prices initially will be available through Google Finance as well as CNBC.  This is another area where Google lags behind Yahoo, and this is an attempt to take a dominant position.  As the Mashable post on the news points out, however, Google is once again a step behind as Yahoo! Finance added real time quotes a month ago.

What's your Twitter Persona?

As I continue (less frequently many days) with the Twitter experiment, I am finding it a fascinating case study of the wide-ranging human styles of communication.  I have summarized them below for your amusement on this sunny near-summer afternoon:

The "Pay Attention: I Don't Tweet for My Own Amusement" -- I actually enjoy these the most.  These are usually the credentialed journalists who only tweet when they have something decent to share -- usually an article that teaches you something new and that you might not have found on your own.  I make a mental note about these folks as good contacts to maintain.

The "Quick & Dirty Journalist" -- These are the older style journalists who use Twitter as a shorter version of filing stories -- very very short stories or chopped up, streamed stories.  Or they send a short Tweet along with a link to some breaking news -- sometimes their own coverage; often that of others.  These are helpful to get a sense of what people are talking about and what is generating buzz.

The "Personal Diarist" -- You know who these folks are.  Some of them are the legendary bloggers who essentially report on every single thing they are doing every single minute of every single day.  Granted their days often are filled with interesting interviews with interesting people, so it is a stream worth following.  And they can be amusing and friendly to people who engage with them.  So it's hard to get upset with them.  I have "unfollowed" a few of them whose conversations were not of interest and were just too much too often.  Others I enjoy tuning into, sort of like I half listen to my Mom sometimes when I have dinner with her after a busy week. . .

The "Homage to Tony Roberts" -- For those of you who aren't Woody Allen fans, Tony played Woody's friend who, before cell phones, had a habit of stopping at every phone booth (ask your parents to explain that one to you if it doesn't ring bells) or office phone to call his answering service to tell them his exact location in case an important call was coming in for him.  "I'm at Lexington and 75th right now, heading North."  It was a hilarious bit and the tweets that constantly tell me exactly where the person is -- on the runway at JFK, getting ready to walk into a meeting at XX location, working at home at XX, looking out my window at XX -- remind me of Roberts.  They also remind me that people should reread some of Patricia Cornwell's books on serial killers stalking their victims before they reveal so much info about their patterns and whereabouts.  I guess Twitter isn't for the paranoid.

The "Virtual Library of Congress" -- I blog and then I tweet about my blog post, including the link.  This gets old unless it is a really key blog post.  If I am following you on Twitter, I probably am reading your blog.  You don't have to constantly show me your work.  I believe you are good.

The "Self-Promoting Narcissist"  --- Wow, I am so cool I am now going to do this super-cool interview!  I am going to be on TV! I was sitting in the VIP section because I am tight with so-and-so.  You know the types of tweets I mean.  I'll bet you could name at least one without even thinking about it.  I keep the feed just for my own amusement at the incredible exhibitionism of some humans.  I learn much more about their neuroses than I do about their subject matter, which is a sad commentary.

The "Curmudgeonly Whiner" -- Constantly complaining about something -- Twitter and how it is useless; gas prices (if you can't fix 'em, why whine about it, really!).  Life in general is one big complaint to this person and it gets old.  An occasional cranky tweet is fine (just like a cranky blog post like this one).  But a steady diet of negativity will cause people to drop your feed.

The "Rest of Us" -- We're trying to figure it out.  We are listening in virtual hallways to virtual conversations between people we don't know or don't know well.  We are occasionally making a human connection.  We are picking up bits of interesting info.  We are dealing with a service that is not always stable.  We are trying out a new form of communication.  And we are learning a lot about our fellow people.

I'm sure there are other personas out there, so I'd love to hear about them.

NBA Finals Provide Stage for Image and Reputation Loss and Rehabilitation

Today in Boston we celebrate the Boston Celtics 17th NBA Championship by honoring the team with a parade through the city.  In a city that is now used to winning, this championship victory brought a little extra sweetness because it happened at home; was over its most hated foe, the Lakers; and it capped off a remarkable year in which the franchise completed a 180 degree turnaround from worst season ever to one of the greatest in its storied history.

Great sporting events like the NBA finals provide a rich environment for a multitude of story lines.  As a PR professional I found several concerning image and reputation management to be almost as intriguing as the games themselves.  First there was the clear effort to not only crown Kobe Bryant as the king of the NBA and on par with Michael Jordan, but also as team leader, all around good guy and family man.  It was Kobe this and Kobe that.  We saw Kobe at home with his family, and even hugging and kissing his children and wife at halftime!  Clearly he is one of the best individual talents in the game today, but I think that the NBA and its network partners went a bit overboard with its campaign, especially given his reputation leading into the series. See this interesting blog post by Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, reporting on what he saw and heard while sitting next to the Lakers bench during one of the playoff games.   

Another interesting development was the breaking story that NBA referees influenced the outcome of the Lakers' Game 6 Western Conference finals win over the Sacramento Kings in 2002. In that game, the referees called fouls that gave the Lakers a staggering 27 fourth-quarter free throws.  This accusation was leveled by Tim Donaghy, a former NBA referee now awaiting sentencing in a gambling scandal, so some may question the source.  Nonetheless, it was and is a big story and a perception problem for the NBA.  Strangely, NBA commissioner, David Stern, who built a reputation as the man who turned around the league's image when he took it over in the early 80's has been criticized in his handling of this matter for his passive response to these charges. Sure, the response strategy was to focus on the games and minimize the claims by calling them a desperate move by a convicted felon to help obtain a lighter sentence.  Still, when the integrity of game is called into question at such a fundamental level, a stronger response is warranted. 

And finally there is redemption and vindication.  Nobody can be feeling any better these days than several Celtics. Take Paul Pierce for example. He stuck it out through the tough times in Boston and even survived a near death experience.  He has achieved his dream, and in doing so, has pushed himself into the rarefied air of super stardom and Celtic hero.  For Kevin Garnett there is the satisfaction of putting to rest all those who questioned whether he could win the big one.  He certainly is on the top of the world now.  And finally, congratulations to GM Danny Ainge, who was often ripped on local sports talk radio for his handling of the team.  His ability to come back after losing out on the lottery to concoct the trades that brought us Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett was something that even Red Auerbach himself would have been impressed with.   

Avoiding Disaster with a Little Help from Your Friends

As a PR professional, I know better than to promote my clients’ technology on our own blog. But I might make an exception today based on the coverage of the disastrous flooding going on in the Midwest right now.

I ran across a blog this week talking about how The American Red Cross is now relying on various social media widgets to exchange vital information during natural disasters.  Apparently these tools have been extremely helpful handling the flood crisis along the Mississippi River over the past few weeks.  I’ll admit, sometimes I show my fair share of skepticism with certain social media applications, but this situation builds a strong case for why tools such as Twitter can provide serious value to the public.

I remember hearing about the wildfires in Southern California last fall from our client, First American.  First American provides geospatial data to the insurance and re-insurance industry that helps insurers (and ultimately consumers) predict which geographic areas are at most risk for these types of disasters.  As someone that has always been fascinated with the weather, I find geospatial technology to be especially interesting.  Based on the work we have been doing for our client, we have been closely monitoring how natural disasters break in the news. And not surprisingly, seconds – as opposed to minutes - matter when these stories roll out – because they can help people avoid life-threatening situations. You often hear people talking about how social media keeps people connected, however as these natural disasters are showing, these tools have a lot more potential that people might not necessarily suspect.

Podcast: Commentary on the All Things Digital conference

Today, we bring you episode 5 of our Beyond the Hype podcast series. In this segment, Cheryl Travis chats with Lois Paul about last month’s All Things Digital, or D conference, hosted by the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. They discuss the highlights of this exclusive conference.

Lois shares how she goes to D because of the enormous respect she has for Mossberg. "You can just see it - Walt revels in this," she said. "It is really a conversation Walt and Kara have with industry leaders that are affecting all things digital."

She summarized the point of these conversations by saying that it was a combination of people wanting the personalization of their entertainment and their information on any device they want any way they want. It's not just about sitting around the living room and watching television. The experience increasingly is combined with interaction and social elements. She remarks how it was clear from the discussion that a lot of these approaches are evolutionary and not revolutionary.

Lois also commented about how Rupert Murdoch made a good showing at the conference (his first since News Corp. bought the Wall Street Journal). He was very candid about how there needs to be more of both an entertainment flavor and consiseness in how people get their information. Certainly, the changes we've seen with the Journal have reflected this.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we'd love to hear your feeback. You can subscribe to the podcast series through the Podcast Ready button in the right sidebar, or via iTunes.

IR Gets Social

I attended the NIRI 2008 Annual Conference last week in San Diego and quickly realized that the investor relations community is facing the same challenges the PR community faced as the use of social media escalated. There were sessions and discussion groups on the role of social media, and particularly blogs, in IR. As it turns out, there are a handful of companies on the cutting edge that have worked blogging with their investor community into the mix of communications. Dell, with its Dell Shares blog, was the most notable. Sun is also leading in this area, as is Cisco.

In addition to social media, interactive communications is on the rise -- some because of mandates, others because it maybe a more interesting and effective way of reaching investors. Several sessions were dedicated to XBRL and the coming requirement for the use of interactive data -- a way of tagging all of the numbers being provided by an organization so that they may be more easily analyzed and manipulated by investors. There was also a lot of talk of the interactive, or multi-media, annual report. I was particularly impressed by the annual report Invitrogen showed the audience. It was pretty cool to think about clicking on a particular number and having a short voice over explanation of the number accompanying it.

Bottom line is that interactive technologies are clearly having an impact on the IR profession. It was interesting to see my colleagues try and get their arms around when to embrace these new ways of communicating, how much to use them and what the potential pitfalls might be. Given the level of regulation around investor communication, this is certainly an area in which to tread carefully and strategically. At the same time, companies like Dell and Cisco will tell you the benefits are significant and positive. Good luck!

If you have already implemented a blog or some use of social media for investor communications, please share your experience and best practices.