I had only met KD Paine once previously when we were slated to debate at a software publishing conference in the middle 1980s. Our topic was whether or not public relations could be measured. At the time, I was a PR operative and she had started a PR measurement firm. I expected it would be…
MY PREDICTIONS FOR 2011
Well it’s year-end, once again. And a bunch of people are about to embarrass themselves making predictions for the coming year. These predictions usually fall into two batches: the blatantly obvious and the ones that can be explained away when they do not happen. The thing about the future is it’s filled with surprises and…
SM GLOBAL REPORT–DOD’S JACK HOLT PART 1
[This is a restart of my social media global report, an ongoing series of interviews with people from all over the world on how they use social media in work and life. There have been over 350 such Q&A reports since 2005. Many of them became the starting points for content that I’ve used in…
INFLUENCING KLOUT
I have been having a bout with Klout. It’s been constructive and civil and is filled with those social media triangulations I love. It started two nights ago. Noting he outranked me on Klout, the Internet influencing site, Ian Greenleigh challenged the credibility of the free service. Now, Ian is at Austin-based Bazaarvoice, a very hot startup that’s…
TWITTER DAILY NEWSPAPERS. USEFUL OR DECEPTIVE?
You have probably seen a customized “daily newspaper” on Twitter already. Particularly, in the morning, you’ll find these “newspapers” from people who find you in your stream. They are called Whatever Daily News or some more specific name. What’s going on? The virtual publications are aggregations of links that were shared on Twitter in a…
CLEVELAND BANS TEACHERS FRIENDING STUDENTS ON FACEBOOK
I tweeted a news item announcing a Cleveland school administration forbids teachers from friending students on Facebook. I am not one of Facebook’s biggest fans, but teachers talking with students–in public–is a good thing for many reasons. It makes kids familiar with a tool that is likely to be part of their lives. It teaches…
OLD SPICE BECOMES A MEME
“Hello Ladies,” says the oh-so-manly Old Spice guy. “Does your man look like me? No. Can he smell like me. Yes.” What a great combo. The Old Spice guy is both a spoof and at the same time an extremely cool and compelling reason to splash your face with an after shave lotion that chances…
WHERE DOES SOCIAL MEDIA BELONG ON THE ORG CHART?
A few days ago, I wrote about the emerging enterprise battles between departments over who should control social media. I talked about the irony of how a few years ago, most enterprise social media programs and teams were parts of skunkworks projects just five short years ago. Now the very departments who disdained social media is now…
WHO’S DISHONEST, THE HACKERS OR AT&T?
It seems the Gawker group is becoming the receptacle for ill-gotten goods on Apple products. First was the iPhone4 prototype and it’s strange journey from a beer garden bar stool to a Gizmodo editor’s home office. More recently, a hacker group turned over 114,000 iPad owner email addresses to Gizmodo sister publication Valleywag. What we…
OPEN LETTER TO MARK ZUCKERBERG: STEP DOWN
Dear Mark, First off, my congratulations. The company–and team–you have created are very likely to be remembered as the most important–and successful–new company of this decade. You have taken Facebook from fraternity row at a few elite campuses to everywhere. Facebook has more users than America has citizens. Being on Facebook today is more important…