Posts filed under 'Blogs'
Posted October 25th, 2007 by Kevin
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, there has been some discussion as to whether or not CEO’s should blog (including ours). For the most part, people seem to be falling on one side or the other. Here at DIG, from the top down, we know that this is not a black and white issue and that recognizing the shades of gray will lead to the appropriate answer on a case by case basis.
Not everyone should be a blogger, or can be for that matter. Sure, the technology exists to allow anyone the opportunity to participate, but that doesn’t mean they should. It’s important to understand the motivations for a blog from a CEO perspective – Raise awareness of the company? Generate Leads? Motivate Employees? Provide Thought Leadership? These don’t sound like CEO responsibilities to me and apparently some people agree, like here. These initiatives are primarily the responsibility of other executives who may be more appropriate when considering who should author the organizations blog.
Back when social media was just starting to form, pioneers like Seth Godin and Steve Rubel found plenty of reasons to why CEO’s should think long and hard before blogging. Rubel made a great point in stating that CEO’s need to be conversational if they plan to blog. As most bloggers know, it’s about the conversation not just generating content. I for one would rather have my CEO talking with potential customers and creating corporate strategy then writing thought leadership posts to educate and entertain the industry or commenting on posts about the latest shiny object and how it will lead us to the Web 3.0 promise land.
The social web is about creation and consumption. Considering the popular theory of “The 1%” often discussed at Church of the Customer, 99% of people interacting with Consumer Generated Content aren’t content creators themselves. To suggest that they don’t recognize the power of the space because they don’t create content themselves is absurd. Isn’t it quite possible that the content being produced by that 1% could be a result of conversations with people like…I don’t know…CEO’s?
Posted October 19th, 2007 by Neha
I’m used to pink products piled on shelves for the month of October, but I was pleasantly surprised when I watched bloggers turn pink for this month. The face of many of my favorite blogs changed their look in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Though changing colors and placing a pink ribbon on your facebook page may not necessarily generate funds it does peak people’s curiosity, inspire people to learn more and prompt some to take action.
For the bloggers who are already pink, they have adopted their own means of supporting causes. Recently as I was scouring The Budget Fashionista for some fabulous fashion tips, I realized Kathryn and Angela were doing their part by contributing a $1 toward the Breast Cancer Awareness fund for every comment readers left on their posts.
Since breast cancer has touched the lives of many, it has garnered significant support. However, we all support causes that we feel passionately about, whether they are on a large or small scale. I’m an avid reader of Beth Kanter’s blog which documents how non profits can implement social media. Beth just launched a personal campaign for a Cambodian student she cultivated a relationship with. Her fundraising efforts have gotten the support of people Beth has never met, but have learned about the cause through twitter feeds, facebook and other bloggers. I learned about her fundraising efforts as I noticed that in place of her daily musings were thank you blog notes to contributors to her campaign. Each of these generous contributions are going to help make a difference in Leng Sopharth’s life.
Today, I posted a little note on TBF and made a contribution to Beth’s Sharing Foundation. Whether they are making a difference in one life or a million, these women and bloggers have my support.
Posted September 24th, 2007 by Neha
Rumors that 14 year old Disney star Miley Cyrus is pregnant circulated around radio waves bright and early this morning. The radio program, Matty in the Morning, had assistants frantically trying to confirm these rumors. Once upon a time, when a rumor needed to be verified, contacts at print publications like US Weekly were on speed dial. Yet, this morning the contact that was bombarded with phone calls and email was none other than the most notorious blogger.
Listeners were assured that all efforts were being made to contact Perez Hilton to solve the mystery of the alleged pregnancy. Kerry, a member of the Matty in the Morning team, proudly stated that she had Perez Hilton’s cell phone number and another team member was simultaneously flooding Perez’s inbox with inquiries.
A brief post on Perez’s blog quelled the rapid rumor and put it to rest. But one thing remains true - a shift became apparent this morning when traditional media turned to social media for news and content. The blogger used to generate content by scouring magazines and gossip columns in newspapers but now Perez Hilton, the king of gossip, has emerged the ultimate source of
Hollywood chatter.
Posted September 20th, 2007 by Char Lyn
I just read a great article in a paper I’ve never read before thanks to the Freakonomics blog. It was an inspirational story about a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has pancreatic cancer and is unlikely to live more than a year. In the article, he quoted something the assistant football coach told him in high school when the head coach kept yelling at him for his mistakes:
“When you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.”
While the article touched me, that one quote stuck. I started to think about the work we do at DIG and the number of companies afraid to engage with their customers through social media. Businesses are so often afraid of their customers “yelling at them,” but they forget that people only yell because they are engaged—they haven’t given up hope that the company will give them what they want. If they want something within your power to give, then you can gain loyal followers by giving it to them. If customers want something they aren’t getting from you, their lack of yelling means they are getting it somewhere else.
Freakonomics’ recent move to the New York Times blog is a perfect example of this idea. When they moved to the NYT, they lost the full-post RSS feed. The readers, 90% of whom were reading through RSS readers, revolted in the comments of every post for at least the first week. The authors were open in their communications about the reduced feed through three posts on the topic here, here, and here. They were not able to make everyone happy and lost some readers (customers), but the NYT readership should compensate for the loss.
So, where is your company at? Are you on the field getting yelled at, and getting the cheers when you make the touchdown? Or are you still sitting on the sidelines of the real game and only playing in the safety of the friendly flag football game at the company outing?
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