Mobile Diner® where wireless and washington meet….

when everyone is looking for gold in the same river, the best opportunities are somewhere else… Mark Cuban

A recent article in the New York Times got me really excited.  No, it wasn’t an article predicting the Ravens to be Super Bowl Champions.  It was about a journalist who went beyond Facebook and Twitter to bring value to his company.  Not only was he successful in that endeavor but it paid off for him professionally too.

If you didn’t see the article, I highly recommend it.  The story is about Mark Coatney, a former senior editor at Newsweek, who decided to engage with folks in another medium.  Accordingly, Mr. Coatney starting using Tumblr to post unique content.  The effort created a successful following for Newsweek on Tumblr that other media companies are looking to emulate.

Many companies and organizations are starting to pursue a social media strategy now.  Three years ago Facebook and Twitter were great.  However, they are the status quo.  You have to go beyond them now.  There is a tremendous opportunity to be a leader and not a follower by utilizing location based social networks (Foursquare, Gowalla) or going beyond blogging with (Amplify, Posterous).

Congrats to Mr. Coatney for leading and his new gig at Tumblr!

Disclosure – I’m one of the co-creators of Amplify

Bookmark to:

Cecilia Kang’s recent front page story in the Washington Post discussing efforts by those in the telecom / tech space to use social media to affect policy generated a lot of buzz over the weekend.  Although I’m no longer in the trenches fighting those battles, I’ve been one of the early advocates for using social media in the public policy arena (this blog started in 2006).  Accordingly, I have a few thoughts on the article.

Ms. Kang begins the article stating – “Why pay for a golf trip, dinner, or full-page ad when you can tweet for free”?  It is a good question and is core to the overall conversation.  However, citizen lobbying isn’t on equal footing yet.  Fundraisers that provide the golf and dinner opportunities provide access to policymakers that are not quite analogous to twittering.  If this was true, as highlighted in her Post Tech column, some companies wouldn’t be spending nearly $6 million (last quarter) in lobbying.  Don’t get me wrong, utilizing social media is allowing citizen lobbyists to close the gap on the traditional influence game.  However, we are not quite there yet.  Continue Reading »

Bookmark to:

I’m chewing on a number of thoughts this morning and I thought I should share them…

Blogs have influence — I subscribe to an email based clipping service pertaining to the wireless industry.  I’ve noticed this before but it is becoming more and more the norm – the highlighted clips are from tech bloggers.  I know many folks in the diner are not shocked by this news.  However, there are still tons of people in the District of Communications that haven’t figured it out.  Not only are many journalists getting their stories from bloggers but the impact some of these stories have had on public policy decisions are significant.

EVOLVE — According to GigaOm, a much tweeted quote from author Clay Shirky’s speech at SXSW was: “Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”  What a fantastic quote!  I can think of so many examples but this may whet my appetite for a future post in the diner.

Location, Location, Location — The battle of the “check-ins” is quite fierce and the NY Times did a nice little story this morning.  Although sharing my location information is not my thing, there is huge potential in this space.  Small businesses really have a nice opportunity to connect at a more intimate level with consumers and consumers can reap the benefits of being “a regular.”  I look forward to seeing more marketing efforts around location based social networking.

Bookmark to:

Are you a leader or a poser?  There’s a big difference.

Free Press is a leader in the interactive universe.  They cultivate and organically grow their communities.  By utilizing digital tools early and often, the Free Press team has built a machine that can deliver results.  Last year, they took on Comcast, leading an effort to urge the FCC to rebuke Comcast for its network management practices.  They won.

Early this year, Free Press began beating the drum for the FCC to stay the course and open a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on open internet regulations in the wireline and wireless spaces.  This effort mobilized thousands of letters, blogs and tweets on the topic.  Once again, they won.

Free Press has become a juggernaut in the District of Communications.  Although, I don’t always agree with all of their public policy positions – I love the strategies they use to raise public awareness and influence policymaking. Continue Reading »

Bookmark to:

As always, apologize for the stale food in the diner.  As I have mentioned, things have been busy at Tin Can and Amplify but wanted to cook-up a quick dish on Twitter lists…  In digital circles, you can’t go anywhere these days without hearing about them.  It is all the buzz right now in social media.

What are Twitter lists?  Briefly, Twitter now has the functionality to allow its users the ability to segment people they follow on Twitter.  For instance, I follow around 400 people and, with the addition of twitter lists, I can now group people according to “policy”, “mobile”, “digital”; you name it, there is a Twitter list for it.  You can also see other Twitter users’ lists (if they’re public) by looking at their profiles and you can get a sense of how you are seen in the Twitterverse.

This is either another stroke of genius by Ev, Jack, and Biz or just another thing for the social media elite to point to as a way to measure “influence.”  Thus far, it seems to be the latter and I don’t think that’s good for Twitter in the long haul.

We’ve already seen reports that Twitter’s growth is slowing.  The strategy to get to 100 million users seems to be promoting the celebs and hoping all of us will just want to sign up so we can see what Alyssa Milano and Ashton Kutcher are doing.  Contrary to being an awesome two-way communication tool – it becomes a fire-hose of noise.

I’m working on my list now (it is private) to see if it adds additional value.  I enjoy Twitter and the community I have engaged with there for over 2 years.  However, I’m not optimistic about this move and believe it is a step in the wrong direction…

Bookmark to:

I was catching up on some reading last night when a recent Roll Call story on Twitter’s need to hire a lobbyist caught my attention.  The article links Twitter’s success to the rise of Microsoft and Google and asks a key question – when do you hire a lobbyist in DC?  In Microsoft’s case, they moved quickly, responding to the Department of Justice’s interest in the company’s business practices.  In Google’s case, they built their office slowly before any major issues arose.  With that in mind, is it now time for Twitter to hire a lobbyist?

The answer is no. And the reason is clear: Twitter doesn’t need a lobbyist!

Twitter continues to be the hottest thing on the social web.  However, let’s not forget that the company is not making any money.  The resources necessary for representation would be better served elsewhere.  For instance, hiring more developers to strengthen the quality of service (think FAIL WHALE) or growing the treasury for more acquisitions (think Summize) to make Twitter more valuable as a service are better investments for the company.

Twitter also has something that many companies (many of which have huge arsenals of lobbyists) are trying to build now — an active community!  Twitter founders Evan Williams (1,129,147 followers), Biz Stone (964,023 followers), and Jack Dorsey (927,253 followers) could easily start a movement in response to a misguided attempt by a lawmaker to cripple the popular social networking website.  On a related note, @Ev, @biz, @Jack already have relationships with lawmakers on twitter.  They already engage in direct conversations with key policymakers without spending a dime at a fundraiser.  Not to mention the attention Ashton “Mr. Twitter” Kutcher (2,858,856 followers) would draw to the legislation.  He is already using his Twitter fame to mobilize around causes.  Let us not forget his talent for publicity – his achievement of 1,000,000 followers before Larry King did and his appearance on Oprah was all over the news!

Companies such as Twitter are changing the world, and the Internet is changing the way business is done in Washington.  Twitter allows us to connect directly with Congress and to build connections with people around the world among common interests.  This is good for our democracy.

Twitter will need to play the traditional Washington game at some point in the future.  It is a fact of life.  However, they can play it differently.  Once again, they have millions of users who can carry (tweet) their messages to Congress.  Ashton will lead their battle and not the lobbyists.

Follow me on Twitter – @mobilediner

Bookmark to:

To the great consternation of my 25 year-old roommate, her mother friended her on Facebook.

Then came a deluge of wall postings – “Its your mom! I see all your pictures” and “who is that hot boy that wrote you a comment! Is he single??”

She was oblivious to my friend’s agonized embarrassment (to the great amusement of the rest of us).

Not all Facebook moms are insensitive to a kid’s need for privacy. In a hilarious New York Times piece, ‘omg my mom joined facebook!!’, a mother incites the wrath of her teenage daughter just by signing up. The daughter refuses to friend her and retaliates with a menacing instant chat: “You won’t get away with this…everyone in the whole world thinks its super creepy when adults have facebooks.”

According to ReadWriteWeb, Facebook hit an astounding 100 million members in August. In September 2006, Facebook opened its membership (beyond college students) and with it the floodgates of parental involvement were opened.

As a testament to this fact, parenting experts have recently begun to weigh in on Facebook and the friending of children. Meanwhile, kids have spawned tons of groups dedicated to shunning those same parents like “What Happens in College Stays in College: Keep Parents Off Facebook!” (joined by over 500 people). This actually sounds like pretty standard teen/parental interaction to me…

More and more parents are flocking to Facebook – with or without the consent of their kids. Continue Reading »

Bookmark to:

This morning I attended 2 great keynote speeches here in San Francisco at CTIA. The first one was Jim Balsillie (Co-CEO, Research in Motion), followed by Shantanu Narayen (President and CEO, Adobe).

With regard to RIM’s presentation, BlackBerry is putting its money on real-time use of social technologies. As we know, in the diner, these technologies flourish through wireless. Mr. Balsillie demonstrated this by showing the utility of the new BlackBerry devices and how they can fuse all of your entertainment, music and social networks.

BlackBerry already integrates Flickr and Facebook. In addition to those social spaces, Mr. Balsillie also announced a recent deal with MySpace. This offers a tremendous opportunity for the MySpace community (currently 122 million users) and I expect the results to replicate Facebook’s mobile app success (already 2.5 million downloads in 1 year). On a related note, Mr. Balsillie sited the projected growth of mobile social networking as a staggering 1000%, leaping from 80 to 800 million users.

It will be interesting to see how users implement the constant access to social networks via wireless and how the social networks themselves adapt to their usage.

Disclosure – Blackberry is a client…

Bookmark to:

With the U.S. Open Men’s Final all set for tonight, I’m feeling a little nostalgic.

I’m remembering Andre Agassi and those Canon commercials — “Image is Everything” he would proclaim… Andre was so right!

In the district of communications, your image has a lot to do with how successful you are with your policy initiatives. One industry that has suffered from bad perception in the marketplace is the cable industry. However, the cable folks are not following the traditional playbook and trying to hire more lobbyists. They are looking to improve their image engaging bloggers and the citizenry.

In a Communications Daily story today (subscription only), Rob Stoddard (NCTA, Senior VP of communications and public affairs) stated:

“the cable industry needs to do a better job of improving its image with bloggers and customers alike. As we chip away at that image issue, I really believe that all this money we spend on messaging will go further.”

Policy and politics are all about marketing. Accordingly, in times like these, making sure you are a step ahead of the competition is critical. Companies that blend an interactive strategy with their traditional communications will be rewarded in the market and in DC.

Bookmark to:

Everyone seems to be trying to benefit from social communities these days, including corporations. Even that little show about a company based in Scranton, The Office, made a spoof of this – seen when Ryan, the greasy exec from corporate, extols the merits of his newly launched Infinity website where customers will buy paper products – and will stay to chat!

According to a Deloitte survey, most company sponsored social communities don’t upkeep their site, then bomb as a result. Most people don’t want to spend more time engaging in work than they have to. There has to be a value, beyond banal conversation, to drive participation.

For instance, female employees and customers may find it difficult to work away from their kids. You could allow these employees to shape a space in the social network to suit their need. Maybe they can find other parents in their neighborhood to start carpools with. Or maybe the feedback from these forums cues an organization in on the need for enhanced childcare. This is a great way to soften your brand – putting a personal feel on an organization, and maybe enhancing customer loyalty at the same time.

There is a misperception that if you build social communities people will automatically engage, and I think that’s where corporate social networks go wrong. That’s what she said.

Bookmark to:

Senator Stevens, we love you in the diner.

For someone who has always seemed overly concerned about online social networks, I find it interesting that you are looking for “friends” online… MySpace??

Once again, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think parents would be too excited to find their children (especially millenials) friending, sharing photos, videos, or participating in your online communities.

With your election on the horizon, I’m sure someone in your campaign thought this was a brilliant idea. You’ve seen others in the political space embrace social communications and reap the enormous benefits. However, for you sir, your efforts in this space lack passion and just ring hollow.

Bookmark to:

I just got back from China (specifically Beijing and Hong Kong), and I’m fascinated by what’s going on worldwide in communications. It was a great trip and I wanted to share a few perspectives from my travels…

China

With the upcoming Beijing Olympics, China’s government seems to be making some crucial strides towards opening up, particularly in the arena of new media. My buddy, a writer for Sohu.com (China’s answer to Google) agreed that bloggers are blowing up China, allowing a previously unheard avenue of free speech.

An example of this in action is President Hu Jintao, who interacted with “netizens” for the first time on the internet forum Renminwang. According to many people I met in China, prior to the Sichuan earthquake, the government officials seemed completely out of touch with the public.

New media has the ability to bridge this gap and give the people of China a voice. A provincial Chinese official, the Secretary of Party Discipline, made waves when he stepped out of line and began to blog in response to government complaints by local citizens, opening up discourse towards the free flowing of information.

Granted, the Chinese government has a long way to go. Click here to watch an interesting podcast by Thomas Crampton of Danwei on the use of Twitter, and other forms new media, as vehicles for censorship. Continue Reading »

Bookmark to:

Qui Diaz (over at the Buzz Bin) briefly highlighted the latest “marketing tactic” by Verizon to market My Home 2.0. She was quite judicious in her assessment of their marketing.

At a time when Fortune 500 companies are starting to think about utilizing social technologies in different capacities (advocacy, organizing, marketing etc.) this is a setback. In fact, it makes my old company’s mLife campaign look brilliant.

So what was the agency on record thinking when they devised this campaign?

Obviously, they want to target folks who may be predisposed to upgrade their service to FIOS (or flee the cable companies). Accordingly, they are positioning themselves in different social areas because this demographic more likely comprises heavy internet users. I see the justification and the merits of a social media strategy. However, “Twittering Teddy” is just awful.

Social media is risky. It provides an excellent opportunity to engage and get closer to consumers but it can blow up if it is not authentic or just plain silly. Verizon has successfully developed the brand over the years with strong products. It has had great pitchmen from James Earl Jones and the “Can You Hear Me Now” guy is a legend…. Twittering Teddy?

The good news (in all of this) is that a Fortune 100 company is willing to utilize social media to reach consumers. The bad news is they jeopardize the brand with a campaign that is as poorly developed as this one.

Bookmark to:

dish ingredients – the following item has some promotion…

Summer is here in DC and there’s a great deal of stuff cooking in the district of communications…

Instead of serving the usual FCC dish and policy snacks, I thought I would serve up some other links to chew on…

Here’s what’s cooking -

Free Press Conference – I’ll be speaking about mobile broadcasting and social technologies next week at the National Conference for Media Reform. Looking forward to joining an awesome panel and demonstrating how wireless can augment citizen journalism.

Blog Potomac – Livingston Communications is hosting Blog Potomac in Northern Virginia on June 13. It should be a great conference and I know that Geoff has worked hard to put together an interesting program. Hope to see YOU there.

Continue Reading »

Bookmark to:

So there’s a bunch of chatter in the blogosphere about Comcast lurking on a social networking site and then actually coming out. I’m not going to delve in the back story (those folks covered it) but prefer to look at the situation in its current state.

Currently, Comcast is on twitter monitoring what folks are talking about and then actually engaging some of the twitterati. This is a very interesting move and I applaud it at the macro-level. They are taking a proactive step to deal with customer service issues. I don’t know why other companies who run call centers haven’t figured this out. The opportunities to utilize digital tools to improve customer service are available and most folks are still stuck in analog (not providing free advice on that one).

In this situation, I do have some advice for Comcast:

(1) Whoever is “ComcastCares” be a human. Folks like to connect with people. Add your name on the bio page. We won’t bite!

(2) Follow those that have “Followed” you. In order to “get the pulse” as you’ve stated, you should follow those who are interested in Comcast. Last time I looked 90 people were following and you were only following 11 people.

(3) You cannot please everyone. In some instances, some folks will never be happy (kind of like a condo board where the same folks always complain).

(4) Stay committed. We are already seeing a bunch of corporate efforts online fail because they try to put bells and whistles on their “meatballs” (buy Seth Godin’s latest book). As time goes by, it will be easy to see how authentic you all are towards this endeavor. If you succeed, you will reap the benefits and could serve as a model to others.

Utilizing social technologies to enhance customer service is long overdue and this is a step in the right direction.

Update – ComcastCares has been eating in the diner!

Bookmark to: