On Measurement and Social media

Its not a simple formula, but rather looking at objectives and what is appropriate to measure...and then getting after it.  More about Dell and measurement of social media in a guest post I was invited to post over at Lewis' blog.  

Money quote, because no business is perfect and we all want to constantly improve: :-)


These conversations are going to occur whether you like it or not…do you want to be part of that or not? My argument is you absolutely do. You can learn from that. You can improve your reaction time. And you can be a better company by listening and being involved in that conversation.--Michael Dell in Business Week Discussion.

Lewis' bizsolutionsplus

Interview with Lee Odden about Social Media: what it is? why use it? How and more

Enjoyed the chance to catch up with Lee Odden over at The Online Marketing Blog.  He's running a great series on social media and it is blog worth making sure is in your reader. 

We covered everything from how to define social media, how to justify business involvement, a look at some of the strategic directions and considerations, as well as measuring success. 

Hope you enjoy it too and looking forward to comments... here or there ;-)

Why Dell Uses Social Media

Thanks to Jeremiah Owyang for this video interview with Bob Pearson, our VP of Communities and Conversations.

The Value of Connecting: The Creative Age, Tribes, Social Media and ROI

Apologies for not blogging more lately, but sometimes there just is not enough time or mental space in a day after catching up with people on Twitter, popping over to FriendFeed, visiting and reviewing other blogs and working on current and new Dell social media initiatives.
Dell Commmunity Forum Got me thinking: We are excited about changes happening with the Dell Community and are in the midst of a migration to a single platform where we will be able to integrate Dell community forums, blogs, and wikis.  Its another step to connect and further build community, applying some of the newer social media tools while offering additional features for customers to further connect and communicate with each other. The Dell Community forums have been part of Dell's heritage since the mid/late 1990s when we started these online chat rooms so that Dell customers had a place to connect, share and learn online and together. 
More than Products/Services: The Value of Customers Connecting, Sharing and Being Connected

On the advice of Hugh MacLeod I recently read Welcome to the Creative Age: Bananas, Business and the Death of Marketing by Mark Earls.  Just by chance, Hugh also just blogged about Mark Earls book, social objects and "purpose ideas," something else I have been thinking about lately.  Hugh also interviewed Mark over at Gapingvoid (its great).
The Value of Connections: Mark Earls notes that companies getting attention in today's cluttered marketplace are businesses who deliver something of value beyond the physical reality or intangible associations to which we are happy to ascribe economic value.  He notes this concept is not the traditional "brand value." Rather it moves toward a sense that the business is offering to change the world for the customer and with the customer...the business and customer are connected through "purpose ideas" that engage emotion and form human bonds....sort of like a tribe.
Tribes: Connecting, Leadership and Value: Seth Godin in his new book, Tribes, states

"Thinking about stuff is easy because we can see and touch and hold the stuff....Tribes, though, aren't about stuff. They're about connections...unlike the residue of stuff, the tribal connections you can create with leadership grow, they don't fade....those connections lead to more connections.  The tribe thrives; it delivers value and it spreads...tribes are longer lasting and more effective"

Godin notes you don't tell Tribes what to do, you don't "manage" them or their effort.  For those interested in the whole issue of social media and "losing control," guess that sort of sums up that argument in a whole new way.  Godin also notes the importance of leadership (read the book). He points to three key elements for building tribes and movements are:

1. A narrative that tells a story about who we are and the future we're trying to build;
2. A connection between and among the leader and the tribe;
3. Something to do -- the fewer limits the better (organizations tend to focus on this and forget the others).

Clearly the connected era we live in today makes #2 and #3 easy.   Businesses that choose to connect online with their customers and others interested in them are on their way to building tribal strength.  If done properly, businesses benefit from the value of those connections, beyond the product or service they sell.
Value of Customers Connecting/Relationship ROI
On a recent trip to visit the Queen of PR measurement, KDPaine, I stumbled upon these signs from a turn of the century corner store. I wonder what the ROI was on these signs and whether the company ever knew or asked how or why these signs impacted customer decisions?
More importantly, I am betting these signs did not foster the kind of tribal connections or benefits associated with connections that go beyond a product purchase....Just a guess on my part.
Social Media ROI Moving Us to New Grounds? While there continues to be a debate about the ROI of social media and its development, I wonder if it offers us the opportunity to move beyond traditional measures of sales and brand image to better understand the true nature and value of connecting with customers? For a great discussion check out Jason Falls' Social Media Explorer blog. 
Social media measurement still has a ways to go in the development stage.  However, the tools available start to take us in a direction to understand engagement and connections, moving us beyond eyeballs, clicks, awareness, share of voice, or hypothetical sales results....although you can measure those too.
Value of Engagement: if you know what it is you want to measure, then often the web analytics can be found to deliver information that supports or more accurately helps business understand "engagement"....not a bad first pass for understanding tribal connections. Google analytics (and other web analytics programs) start to answer questions about who is engaging with us on a regular basis; in what way; did they ultimately make a purchase from us and do they continue to have an online (and even offline) relationship with us. 
Value of Listening and Learning: Using social media measurement tools and analytics, we no longer have to guess about whether customers are talking about us at the corner store or over a coffee at the diner.  And, we can hear it all, not depend on whether it breaks as a media story.  There is a business value to real time feedback that any business can use to constantly improve its products, services, customer interactions and overall business.  Business changes based on that feedback have value.
Thoughts? In what other ways do you think social media could result in better and more effective ROI measures for business?

An anthropological introduction to YouTube

M Wesch, who has done some great work before about the evolution of the web and how people are connecting to each other has antoher video out about the "Connected Era".

Thanks to Liz Strauss (http://www.successful-blog.com) and David Armano (http://darmano.typepad.com/) for the pointers to this

The Evolution of the Web: The Personal Info Construct

....and the implications for the mass media.... a great video to check out

Marc Silber and I chatted about the Fine Art of Photography

It was a real thrill for me to catch up with Marc Silber to chat about photography and his new program on Fast Company, Photocycle. Check it out over at www.dell.com/yourblog

David Griffin: Photography connects us with the world

for those who know me or follow this blog, you know of my love....so was just rewatching this and thought I would share.

Thanks to TedTalks! and David Griffin

Social Media is Dell's Core Marketing Strategy!

Andy lark talks about our social media efforts

Dell Traction on Changes; Blog Council Steps Out

Busy day today for two things that matter to me:  My Company; and The Blog Council.

On Dell:

For those who follow Dell, since Michael Dell became CEO again we have embarked on some pretty major changes to get our "mojo" back, as it was once referred to.  That has included his push to have us take advantage of what we call the connected era to connect with customers online, listen, learn, engage and build relationships with those interested enough in Dell to talk about us online.  

Brian Solis takes a look at our efforts to date and notes "The company is also actively monitoring blogs, social networks, and also Twitter to identify problems and solve them, and at the same time, cultivate a sense of community by genuinely and transparently participating even when there isn't a fire to extinguish."  Read on and you'll see what sounds like a pretty good description of my job.  I said,  "My actions on behalf of Dell are not mere talk and conversation. Everyday we follow up on the online listening and the learnings we get from customers, fixing issues and bringing customers' perspectives inside Dell -- real time, real views and real customer experiences. We believe that is improving our response times, contributing to better products and services and making us a better company, that is directly connecting with customers who care enough about us to talk about us on the web every day."

I've noted before that Brian posts some pretty helpful commentary for public relations folks and is a must read, as listed in my blogroll.

Over at GigaOm, there is an interview with Michael Dell where they chat about everything from smart phones to cloud computing and the mobile web.  here is a great quote:  "What informs that advantage is the connection we have with customers and the information that customers convey to us in the process. By knowing exactly what customers want and being able to build that and provide products and services tailored to customers’ needs and being able to personalize products — that creates significant advantage and significant growth possibilities for us."

BusinessWeek also has an interview with Michael.  Again, a broad range discussion about growth in international markets, consumer business, cloud computing, software as a service and our move into retail. For marketers, here's the quote I like the best: "We're also seeing an interesting phenomenon where the direct business is starting to grow again. A lot of people had written off the direct business. Now the brand is ignited again and we've got some exciting products; marketing is interesting again. "


By the way, BusinessWeek starts the story with "Dell's uneven turnaround may be smoothing".  I must say, thats a little much for me to take.  Michael always said the changes to the business were not "short term fixes" or a short term game.  I recall last summer he responded to Bloomberg when they asked if we were 50% along the way of completing the turnaround and he said, "more like single digits."  You don't turn a 60 billion dollar business around in a quarter or two. Not in this market and sector anyway.

The Blog Council Disclosure of a Best Practice Tool Kit 

I noted yesterday that the Blog Council has a blog and suggested you keep an eye on it for today.  The Blog Council’s Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit is posted to the site today: http://blogcouncil.org/blog/making_disclosure_and_transparency_easier/
This is a training tool for companies to use to develop their own disclosure guideleines, and its an "open source"  toolkit, meant to continually change and be updated based on community feedback and commentary. 

The Blog Council is not a trade associations or standards body but rather a volunteer group of companies that share perpsectives with each other and hopefully act as "mentors" to support other businesses who want to get involved in blogging and social media the right way.  That's why I am so supportive of our activity there and Johnatdell's leadership on this front...I hope more companies blog and become more social period and this organization is meant to be supportive of that goal. 

Hope you will make sure your voice is heard and contribute in a constructive way to the "Best Practice Toolkit"

Thoughts from Around the Web

Human Companies, Blog Responses: Todd Defren over at PR Squared posted a thoughtful piece this week about the approach companies take to address negative posts on the web and whether corporate community relations pros should remain unflappable or show their humanity, making them (us)– and our brands – that much stronger? 

I responded with a fairly lengthy comment.  It could have been a blog post here, so I am linking to it.

A Tribute to Randy Pausch:  If you have not seen this video in the last lecture series, check it out. One of the segments in the lecture (and related to the item above) was his comment that when you screw up and no one tells you, thats when you are in BIG trouble.  In August 2006, Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  He died this week.  Thank you for this wonderful lecture. 

Digital Age Literacy in The New York Times:  Interesting article about how we read on the web; is it better than being in front of a television or is it destroying traditional ways of reading, like reading a book.  Great quote:

Young people “aren’t as troubled as some of us older folks are by reading that doesn’t go in a line,” said Rand J. Spiro, a professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University who is studying reading practices on the Internet. “That’s a good thing because the world doesn’t go in a line, and the world isn’t organized into separate compartments or chapters.”

Interesting Graphic too from The Times

 

The New Media Divas from Blogher talk Twitter: Blog World Expo on Blog Talk Radio talks to the New Media Divas who offer insight and perspective, especially related to Twitter.  Great to listen to these pros together. The New Media Divas include: Erin Kotecki Vest, Lucretia Pruitt and Laura Fitton.

Twebinar 2 a Blast, Sign Up for Twebinar 3: Crosstech Media and Radian6, put together a wild, fun and experiential social media learning program with their Twebinars. Hosted by Chris Brogan, the second twebinar had a new more interactive format and seemed to be a hit with the large crowd.  It resulted in more than 1100 tweets in a two hour time frame --I know it kept LionelatDell and me busy and made for some fast-paced discussion on the impact social media is having on brand ownership.

Why Your Company Should Consider the Blog Council: The Blog Council has a blog here: http://blogcouncil.org/.  Glad to see JohnatDELL headlining the video about why companies might want to consider this organization.  Keep an eye on the Blog Council Site tomorrow, Monday, July 28th for some news, I think.

Social Media Club Appoints Interim Board and Focuses on Deliverables: While I was away the Social Media Club announced a new interim Board to chart the organization's strategic direction related to development of membership, acceleration of local chapter development, increase adoption of industry standards and implementation of a new legal structure for the organization.  If you have thoughts or views, I'd love to hear them as one of the interim Board Members.

Social Media Camp here in Austin:  Related news, from the Social Media Club, lets get social, have some fun and get more people involved.  Here is the link for the July 30th event: http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/SocialMediaCampAustin

New Tools: Lately I have been preoccupied trying to figure out how to make us of and apply some of the many new tools available to bloggers and people like me trying to find their way around the web, without getting lost along the way.  While I am still working with some of these tools/applications, and it took a bit of work to get there, here are some I am trying out to see if they make life on the web a little more productive and fruitful.

1. Friendfeed:  With special thanks to Louis Gray and Scribin I have a "customized" friendfeed that works for me and am finding pretty darn good so far.   The key add-ins for me are the scripts available in Firefox that add tabs and allow you to filter services.  Let me know if you want additional details to shorten your learning curve.  PS: Im not leaving twitter for friendfeed.  I use them differently :-)
2. Feedly: If you are interested in "user interfaces" and making the web more friendly for getting through feeds and finding information, versus the "raw data" sort of approach, check out this magazine style reader that integrates with information from others to give you recommendations.  Its pretty cool.
3. AideRSS: Thanks to Jason Fallis for this lead.  Very impressive for sure.  Its an interesting way to take a look at material in your google reader and see what is bubbling to the top with others.
4. RSSmeme: Is another interesting approach to see what is moving and being shared around the web.  I think both it and AideRSS have tremendous implications for business wanting to be involved with communities and determining whether their contributions online are in fact becoming part of the community. Can you say new metrics perhaps? 

Any other good finds? Other thoughts? Looking forward to hearing from you

Blogs, News and Information Moving on the Web, An Experiment

Here is an interesting little test and example of what is happening in terms of news and distribution of information on the web.

Want to see how the world of the communications professional is changing, here is a little glimpse.

Nikon announced the new D700 camera this week. Looks like an awesome product setting the pace in the full frame digital field.

Search Nikon D700 in last day on google (normal search, blogs and news). Here is what you find:

Blog search: 396 stories

Nikon D700 - Google Blog Search

Results 1 - 10 of about 396 for Nikon D700.

News Search: 188 stories
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=d&tab=bn&q=Nikon+D700&scoring=d

Results 1 - 7 of about 188 from Jul 3, 2008 to today for Nikon D700.

Google Search: 85,200 results

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS245&as_q=D700&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=d&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

1 - 10 of about 85,200 over the past 24 hours for D700.

July 4th: It Means Something for All of Us

It was June 14th, 1994 that I drove up to the border crossing between Canada and the United States in the Thousand Island, papers in hand,and embarked on a new journey -- my American journey.

Leaving a solid career in politics, public affairs and lobbying, I crossed the border, green card in hand, to embark on new beginnings in Corporate Communications.

Along the road of that new venture a highly respected and prominent DC-based business person told me I would never make it the USA and perhaps I should return to Canada where my background mattered. My many new-found American professional colleagues and friends, people like you, have proved him wrong. You have been most welcoming indeed, says a former Canadian, now living in Texas.

Several months after that comment, from my home base in Richmond VA where Mom and Dad and family had settled sometime earlier, I started a new career in communications. First stop, St Louis (as a PR consultant to companies, one of which was Dell and wining a silver anvil, by the way) the gateway (arch) to the west, learning the midwest and living near the Mississippi. Then it was on to the "communications capital of the world," New York, again consulting in public relations, and learning the North East.

American Citizenship came in February 2002. Schooled for my citizenship test by Geraldine Ferraro (I scored 100% :-). The journey has since taken me to Texas and Dell. But, back on that cold day in February we had a party to celebrate a new citizen and citizenship. July 4th relates to that party, and reminds of that day, because I chose to be an American. Here is what I said in February 2002 on becoming a citizen:

I think we should reflect on this thing called citizenship. It is not something to be taken for granted, whether we choose it, as I have done, or simply have it because of birth or other circumstances, as used to be my situation.

Citizen. What is it? It's sort of like, lets discuss "being"

According to the dictionary citizen is a member of a state who has full political privileges and protection. Citizenship is the condition of having all civil rights and duties.

I guess that would be equivalent to "being" with some "obligations".

Surely, it seems to me, that full political privileges and protections, and the having of civil rights merits some duty. And that duty need not be onerous. I think that duty can be as simple as pausing, every once in a while, to treasure, think about and value this thing we call citizenship.

And one of the values is respect and freedom as partially delineated in the Constitution and the first 10 amendments (see Geraldine, I did get it). Respect for diversity, in all that means, including different opinions, lifestyles/orientations, cultures, ethnic groups and religions. Tolerance for differences and freedom to participate with each other, creating our communities.

This seems to me to be a hallmark of the value of citizenship.

I think it is incumbent on all of us to, at the very least, be cognizant of the fact that our being a citizen confers rights and responsibilities that foster the free, tolerant and respectful society we live in -- and often we just take this for granted. "

PS: The photo is from my first July 4th as a citizen, celebrated with friends on Fire Island

Hope your Indpendence Day is special. Have a great 4th!!

You Know I Love This and Had to Share

You know I love photography and getting out the there, taking shots......so I had to share this exciting video and series to come :-)

Learn and Share: Tomorrow's Twebinar

Expect a great trip down the road tomorrow at the Twebinar -- Game Changing Moves Doing Business with Social Media.

Radian6 and CrossTechMedia have partnered on an interesting journey that looks at how businesses can benefit from social media. With 30 interviews of people practicing social media and hosted by blogging powerhouse and social media mentor to many, Chris Brogan, it should be a great opportunity to learn and share.

Yup...this is no normal webinar. Its not just learn....its share and practice/use social media. It combines a Twitter conversation with it, making it interactive and a true use of social media. Lets hope Twitter is not upside down or a whale surfing the page :-)

Register and join us: http://twebinar.com

Creatives grow better in the South West

Stumbled upon this via Marketing Profs and thought it was great. Brought a smile to my day, from a business perspective and personal perspective. Hope you too enjoy

In the Continuing Theme of Customers do the Greatest Things

Many of you know of my own interest and love of photography....so I have to tell you our customers do some of the greatest and I love see it.
Here is one! A Beauty.
Thanks to MackenzieGoodman for it

Robert Williams from Dell talks blogs

some how in adding the link to www.dell.com/dellshares our investor relations blog...I lost the video...so reposting :-)

Robert Williams from Dell talks blogs

Here is a vlog featuring Rob Williams of our Investor relations team at Dell. He talks about www.dell.com/dellshares, the philosophy behind dell shares and the place of social media in Investor Relations.

I have to say our IR team makes me proud :-)

PS the link to the Dell Investor Relations blog is: www.dell.com/dellshares. Drop by and check it out

My Gaming computer. What do you think of it?

Its not my gaming machine....mine is an XPS 410....but I love checking out the web and blogs and finding customers who show off their technology in interesting ways!

Interview with Shel Israel, Fast Company TV's Global Neighbourhoods

Shel Israel posted an video interview this past week. We chatted about Michael Dell's drive to take Dell's direct business model and extend it using social media and online tools to foster direct connections with customers and others with an interest in the company.

In this "connected era" we also chatted about the value of listening, some of the tools, measurement, and changes impacting communications and marketing.

Frankly, we chatted a lot about why I believe what we are working on at Dell is so important and how it changes the interaction and relationships between business and people....but, of course, only time will tell.

Dell Community and Online Ambassadors

People have asked me why I am RichardatDELL and what if I leave Dell etc etc. The moniker RichardatDELL has to do with our online policy of making it clear where you work.

As for the "what if I leave Dell" or issues of tying myself to "Dell"...I have often explained there are a bunch of great people working together to listen, learn and engage with our customers.

You will start to see more of them over at Yourblog talking about personal tech...and we hope you'll come post there too. I have a couple posts going there about photography and personal tech.

Most importantly though, check out the Dell Community Ambassadors page over at Direct2Dell.

You will find these great team members who I have the pleasaure of working with every day around the web, commenting on blogs, on Facebook, on Twitter and more. Its all of them that make (or I hope help us make) Dell a human company.

I just wanted everyone to know this is a great group of people committed to connecting, conversing and doing what is right for our customers and working hard to keep up with the web, your conversations and your views. I toast them all, each and every one, every day and tip my hat to say what a great team....and watch out, more to come :-).

It's Your Dell's Birthday

Today is one of those days that calls for a little celebration.

Your Dell: young, growing, a heritage built on direct connections with our customers -- and an online pioneer, going back to its early days.

We work at getting better by listening and learning from you.

Drop by and say happy birthday by checking out 24 reasons to celebrate or visiting Direct2Dell or Ideastorm or some of our blogs like Dellshares or the newly launched "yourblog."

By the way, check out how www.dell.com is getting more "social" all the time -- from ratings and reviews to sharing features and more to come....

Thanks for the first 24 years. We are working hard to do our best to get better and better in the next 24 (days, months, weeks and years...he says with a smile).

Blogging Gets A Second Wind | Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Blog and Podcast - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

 

I think Mitch Joel has a pretty good post about the value and sustainability of blogging.  It's a bit in keeping with a previous post I wrote about blogging being in the dip (to use a Seth Godin concept).  Mitch Joel references the challenge of video and Twitter to blogging. My earlier post was related to the then attraction of Facebook.  

I still believe that blogs are the most powerful of the many emerging online tools or mediums.  Their open and accessible nature (versus the walled gardens or specialized tools that are needed for video etc); the unfettered frank perspectives that blog authors deliver through a blog; and the blog's/authors availablilty to interact, connect and share in a conversation are tough qualities to beat. 

Other mediums and outlets help bring it together or add some icing to the cake. But so far, the real and substantive connections, it seems to me, are found in blogs. 

Its why I love my job and am always thrilled to break away from meetings and go out and connect and see what's up.

Here is the link to Mitch Joel's post: Blogging Gets A Second Wind | Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Blog and Podcast - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

out of office

having great trip taking parents through west Texas  from Y.O ranch and horse riding to indian lodge and big bend to marfa and marathon--unbelievable

The Canard of Control

Canard, not as in duck, but as a "false or baseless, usually derogatory story, report or rumor."

Previously, I wrote about three of blogging's dirty little secrets. I continue to hear people say that businesses wanting to enter the social media and blogging space have to "give up control."

Of course, the social media evolution/blogging requires corporations to engage in very meaningful and human ways; to listen, to learn and to converse. This is a fundamental change from the mass media era.

Indeed, this new era may in fact be revolutionary for creating amazing new ways and opportunities to further realize what Michael Dell recently talked about: "joining the conversation and speak directly and candidly with our customers. The more we engage, the more we learn and the better we can do for our customers."

When has that not been the case for business and the basis of relationships with customers?

This issue of control continues to be a red herring. It creates false fears and false assumptions. Companies didn't have control to start with. To suggest that business entering this space must give up something (especially the alleged concept of control) when they did not have it to start with puts a false sense of security into maintaining the status quo, while also scaring people (read businesses) into complacency and maintaining a false condition of security that does not exist anyway.

And, much as "practices" by business might have been used to give some illusory sense of control, the fact is a brand cannot be controlled. What business had the control to move its brand from X to A, from Pink to Yellow or from ugly to pretty.

In a similar vein, corporate reputations are not controlled either. Again quoting Michael Dell in his recent interview with Shel Israel "We don't own our reputation we just own our actions. That's something our customers give to us in return for us exceeding their expectations."

Check these definitions out...as further demonstration that philosophically "control" does not exist. This issue of control is a false security, predicated on leaving something behind that did not exist. People or businesses need not leave behind "control" in order to enter the field of social media. They need simply to want to more actively engae with their customers.

Look at what Wikipedia says about "free markets":

"A free market is a market in which prices of goods and services are arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers. By definition, in a free market environment buyers and sellers do not coerce or mislead each other nor are they coerced by a third party.[1] In the aggregate, the effect of these decisions en masse is described by the natural law of supply and demand. Free markets contrast sharply with controlled markets, in which governments directly or indirectly regulate prices or supplies, distorting market signals.[2] In the marketplace the price of a good or service helps to quantify its value to consumers and thus balance it against other goods and services. In a free market, this relationship between price and value is more clear than in a controlled market. Through competition between vendors for the provision of products and services, prices tend to decrease, and quality tends to increase."

Or check this out. Wikipedia says this about brands and how the customers were are are in charge:

"By the 1940s, Mildred Pierce manufacturers recognized how customers were
developing relationships with their brands in the social, psychological, and anthropological senses. From that, manufacturers quickly learned to associate other kinds of brand values, such as youthfulness, fun, and luxury, with their products. Thus began the practice of 'branding', wherein the customer buys the brand rather than the product. This trend arose in the 1980s 'brand equity mania'.[8] In 1988, Phillip Morris bought Kraft for six times its paper worth. It is believed the purchase was made because the Phillip Morris company actually wanted the Kraft brand rather than the company and its products."

My suggestion? Control and issues of power are canards. Lets move the dialogue on.

Lets talk about participation and engagement; listening and learning together. It is here where the dialogue is fruitful, productive, hopeful. It is here that it is real and it matters.

Interesting Linkages and Cross Connections

From Facebook's Friend wheel

SXSW Shel Israel Interview

Shel talks about the little things we can all do to contribute to the future of our world. Hope you will come join us and be part of regeneration for a better world...which I plugged at SXSW and Conversation Starters :-)

The SXSW Facebook Interview Controversy

Brian Solis takes an inside look and analytical background look at the Sarah Lacey-Mark Zuckerberg SXSW interview and quotes Sarah Lacey as saying:

“I feel for Mark because he sometimes people don’t understand his personality. I wanted to show a more human side of him and share with everyone the Mark I know. I asked the hardest questions that no one has succeeded in earning answers, and we all shared in his responses.

I’m lucky and thankful of my friendship with Mark and the time

I was able to spend with him at SXSW.”

You can watch the interview here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/10/mark-zuckerberg-sarah-lacy-interview-from-sxsw/ and see all the hoo haw here

Jeff Jarvis, a pro on the media and of the media, noted she failed to understand her audience. Perhaps its a question of her style...and yes, she made mistakes.

Here is another thought: was the audience really ready for conversational interviews?

Maybe what has happened here is symptomatic of the challenge to conversational marketing? Are we all stuck in the mold of wanting "mass media" interviews? Are we so used to traditional mass media interviews and marketing that it is ingrained deeply within us, so deeply that old ways of what interviews "should be" prevail in our own expectations?

I dont know ....I was not there.....but it's a questions worth asking.

Maybe you have a perspective or thought

PS: More: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/10/the-nuclear-disaster-at-sxsw-was-nothing-more-than-a-witch-burning/

Diva Marketing Blog - Marketing blogs and corporate social media strategies for innovative companies

Really enjoyed this interview with Toby over at Marketing Diva and like I say in the comments, Looking forward to the views of others on social media, where we go and what its all about....

Diva Marketing Blog - Marketing blogs and corporate social media strategies for innovative companies

Corporate Blogging: Getting Over the Fence

There was a great post and links today in "The Times" (UK) online about corporate blogging. If you are from a business and thinking about blogging there were some good points in The Time's Online "10 step" program. Take a look and think about how you get over the fence.

On a related note, JohnPatDELL and I had a chance to chat with students in a public relations course at St Edwards College today. Boy, did they have some great questions and express some interesting perspectives. We thought we might be over our head when we checked out some of the student blogs at the link above. However, we managed to make it through the class :-)

In one case they told us about summer job experiences with companies where they had suggested starting blogs and were met with looks of questioning and doubt. My view...these kids know where it is at. Listen and learn. Even funnier, or cool....they thought it was pretty neat that two "old guys" had taught themselves social media and were into it up to their eyeballs.

Whats holding you back from listening learning and being in touch with customers and others who want to know your company better?

A Squared: Atlanta and Austin: listening, learning and conversations

Next couple weeks have some exciting conversations, where I'm excited about taking online conversations offline, listening and learning together with people I get to meet.....It's a great part of the job.

Atlanta: While I am no Diva, I get to join Atlanta's Diva marketing guru and Dell customer, Toby Bloomberg. If you don't read her blog, you are missing something. True to this online world, I've never met Toby, but can't wait based on the impressive, helpful and enjoyable online interactions I have had with her to date.

And, what a great event: the AiMA - Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association -Social Media Marketing Gets Some Respect! Feb. 27, 2008 - 6:30 PMGA Tech Global Learning Center 84 5th ST NW, Atlanta, GA, 30308 . Goodwill, Home Depot, moderated by Geoff Livingston, author of "Now is Gone" (I am still passing out copies of his book at Dell). Im looking forward to learning from them all and sharing the journey we are on.

Austin: If you are going to be in Austin for SXSW interactive, have we got some good things going.

March 11, our own Lionel , will join moderator Mack Collier, who does great corporate blog reviews, and measurement and communications guru Kami to talk about future directions for corporate blogs.

March 10 We are going to blow out online connections and make them even more real offline. A special night of "Conversation Starters" (social evening, event RSVP required) sponsored by Dell (we are going to be listening), Federated Media, BulldogSolutions, The Conversation Group and Social Media Club of Austin.

Over drinks and appetizers, you'll have a chance to share ideas with a number of people who have volunteered to start conversations: Shel Israel, Robert Scoble, Jeremiah Owyang, Charlene Li, Chris Heuer, Mack Collier and Lionel Menchaca, as well as several Federated Media authors.

More information here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10870488407
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/435087
Register here: http://conversationstarters.eventbrite.com/

Look forward to seeing and hearing from you! Gotta go work on the Atlanta notes and a Q&A I promised Toby...

I Voted

On Citizenship:

But citizenship is not just about getting the right to vote. It is about the freedom to create and build a life. It is about a nation, and its people, who welcome you.

It is about a country that becomes home. .....

Citizen. What is it? It’s sort of like, lets discuss “being.”

According to the dictionary citizen is a member of a state who has full political privileges and protection. Citizenship is the condition of having all civil rights and duties. I guess that would be equivalent to “being” with “obligations.”

Surely, it seems to me, that full political privileges and protections, and the having of civil rights merits some duty. And that duty need not be onerous. I think that duty can be as simple as pausing, every once in a while, to treasure, think about and value this thing we call citizenship. Or it could be voting and exercising our democratic right we so often take for granted.

But among the many things encompassed by citizenship and duty are the values of respect and freedom, as partially delineated in the Constitution and the first 10 amendments....Respect for diversity, in all that means, including different opinions, lifestyles/orientations, cultures, ethnic groups and religions. Tolerance for differences and freedom to participate with each other, creating our communities. This seems to me to be a hallmark of the value of citizenship.

I think it is incumbent on all of us to, at the very least, be cognizant of the fact that our being a citizen confers rights and responsibilities that foster the free, tolerant and respectful society we live in -- and often we just take this for granted.

Our citizenship, Canadian or American, has entitled us to live in, relatively speaking, free societies -- societies where our freedom and those benefits of citizenship are rarely questioned or under siege.

Perhaps we have fallen into some sort of false sense of security, no pun intended. Perhaps we ought not just make assumptions about or take for granted the value inherent in our citizenship......(from Feb 08, 2002).

From 3 Blog Secrets to Some Personal Secrets

Up until recently, I had avoided being tagged "it" in the blog game called "memes". After Peter Kim and BL Ochman tagged Marketing Profs Ann Handley to reveal some personal bits, and gingerly she did...Ann nailed me.

I have procrastinated; thought of dodging the ball thrown this way; but ultimately yielded.

Afterall, "Around the web with RichardatDELL", Facebook, Twitter, so many of your blogs and other social media activities have resulted in new-found professional colleagues (like Ann), many of whom only know me (and vice versa) on one or two levels. Perhaps getting tagged "It" adds dimension to personal "connectedness" that usually only comes with personal contact over time. By "spilling some" we make the personal and professional connections more human and real -- contributing to proof of the "theory" in "Naked Conversations" that blogs and other web 2 "tools" actually "humanize" companies, enhance connectedness and foster understanding.

I'm not sure what follows below are necessarily "secrets" but they are things you might not have known. I hope they might add some perspective to who RichardatDELL is.

Employment Chapters Before the American Communications Career

1. I was actively involved in Canadian politics as a political aide to the Ministers of Community & Social Services, then Environment, Health and Employment and Immigration. I managed several successful local campaigns and worked on the national campaign teams for the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney and the Right Honourable Kim Campbell.

   - I was what is known as a "Progressive Conservative". If that sounds like an oxymoron to my American friends....I leave it with you :-) .

   - I was a "rabid" supporter of the Canada-US free trade agreement, believing it demonstrated Canada was "growing up." I have commented here previously about proudly helping bring disparate parties together to pass Canada's first National AIDS policy, as well as working for the Parliamentary subcommittee a year later reviewing progress and directions

   - I had the honour and pleasure of meeting Ronald Reagan and George Bush (the first)

   - The Canadian election 1993 drove me to a career in the United States

2. I also worked as a lobbyist and completed a Master's degree. My thesis examines the challenges of exercising (political) leadership over bureaucracies.
3. I worked 12 hour shifts one summer in a Dupont factory making Nylon yarn. Messy and tricky business. I wanted to quit every day.
4. I spent a day when I first moved to Dell building computers -- it was fun, learned a lot and every computer I built passed all quality inspections :-)

Photography, Art, Life

1. I am completely "self taught" in photography (starting in 1994) have had several exhibits and been selected among "best in show". My first exhibit was a group exhibit that included work by mentor and friend Jennifer Dickson, the only Canadian artist to be a member of the Royal Academy. My work is the Boardroom of a major NYC based company, a Venture Capital firm and several private collectors. What started at $200 a print is now worth over $800-$1000 a print -- all scrupulously tracked in my registry (usually small sets of up to 15). Robert Frank's printer, Richard Hobbs, prints my film based work....long story.
2. I have my own "mini" art collection, including numerous works by Jennifer Dickson, 2 that I own are artist's proofs (with dedications to me enscribed on them). Copies 1 of 5 for these two pieces are in National Gallery of Canada.
3. I love music (all kinds) and during my time in NYC became friends with DJ/Producer Eddie Baez. I used to hang out in the dj booth at sound Factory, Tunnel and other clubs when Eddie played, as well as visit him in his studio. I have done the high hats on some of his remixes and have lots of cds/tapes from nights at the club...one of a kind remixes done on the spot. Precious.
4. NYC was the first city I ever really called my own home, as an adult...knowing I would move on from Kingston, Toronto, Ottawa, Richmond (family shelter and stopping place after immigration) and St Louis. Living there was a phenomenal experience that remains difficult to explain, although Ill never forget the realization one fall day shortly after moving there. Friends and summer Fire Island, distant today but close in my heart. Austin is giving it a run for it money -- from a very different perspective.
5. (BONUS...since I was tagged for 8)....February 8, 2002, 6 years ago, I became an American citizen. A proud day indeed. VERY! We had an all day party with friends and family; my dear friend Geraldine Ferraro, I call her my American political mother, presided over a wonderful luncheon and was the first person I spoke with after passing my Citizenship interview (because my parents were out when I called) ...Her response when I said "I passed" was "I expected no less". Just like my real Mom.

Feels slightly narcissistic, all of this.....thanks Anne.

So time to move along and tag some others. How about it: Valeria Maltoni (she is poetic...bet it will be the same), Connie Reece (she is a live one), Michael Lingolook ( an early web friend and epitomizes generosity)....and back to the homeland, Joe Thornley (he played this one in 2006, but it was only 5 secrets, so Joe, add three more...or how about updating things?)

Regeneration, Facebook and Graffitt contest Winners

Regeneration.org has posted the winners from over 7,000 entries and 1 million votes later following the Facebook Graffiti Contest.

Talk about the power of involving and engaging people!

Now, the judges have spoken and selected the winners from the top 150 submissions with the most votes. The Facebook graffiti community really made this contest take off and the art work is really phenomenal.

I encourage you to think about or join regeneration and check out the art on Facebook.

The Faces and People: Making a Superbowl ad, Dell, (RED)

http://www.qik.com/video/11712 Scoble interviews Michael Dell (in Davos)about (RED) here

Buy Dell, Join (RED), Save Lives

Now that's an advertisement and message with meaning.

Music is Mick Jagger's Charmed Life

FREE: The Collaboration, Ulta Nate, remixed DJ-Producer Eddie Baez, Binhammer Photos

Some music and photography mixed together, from a few years ago. I thought it would be fun to share. Thanks for the many times in the studio and booth to Eddie !

Thank you

Thank you to great friends and colleagues!

Lingolook » Sunday thoughts

I hope my friend Michael, and one of the people I think of when I say Web 2 is generous, is right on his first assertion...as for the second, that would likely be a disaster....Id be too nervous :-).

"I think Dell are going to take online conversations to new heights so expect to see Richard on Oprah in 3Q."

Lingolook » Sunday thoughts

Three Dirty Little Blogging Secrets

Graphic =http://www.gapingvoid.com/.

Thank you Hugh, as always for the inspiration and more.

Since visiting blogs, listening and learning from bloggers, and finding my way around social media for the past year and half, I have trouble with three precepts of this "new medium" that you sometimes hear about. I think its fair to set the record straight on a couple matters, at least from my experience and percpetions. They are:

1. The blogger is Not a "citizen journalist" nor does a bloggers' "power" authority or importance arise from that premise

In most situations, bloggers are not journalists. Bloggers are speaking (writing, podcasting, vloging etc) from their heart. Its the old saying in its truest form "perception is reality." Bloggers are real people sharing their personal perceptions and that is their reality. Its why blogging and bloggers are so powerful. No filter, no "fairness." Blogging is people and their naked realities. Those naked conversations are based on how I think, feel and believe.

Journalists attempt to tell stories and glean what the "truth" may be through fair-minded and "objective" reporting. There are some exceptions, of course: a) bloggers who are the closest some countries have to free press, where the state represses freedom of the press; and b)
some of the "a-list" publishers (Engagdet, Federated Media, etc) or bloggers who are actually closer to online freelance journalists, commentators than a personal blogger. Here are some links with more food for thought: http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2008/01/new-thoughts-on.html

http://www.shaicoggins.com/index.php/weblog/why-im-so-bloody-boring-and-other-excuses/

http://mediabullseye.com/mb/2008/01/the-bloggers-double-standard.html

http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2007/12/congratulations-new-rising-voi.html

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/

2. "Lose Control" ? How about Participate. These are different Issues and have different ramifications.

For businesses entering social media and getting involved, it is often suggested you have to understand you have no control. I call this the fear factor....oh my god "lose control" = fear. Im not making an argument about the degree to which companies may or may not control their brand....but anyone curious about this field ought to understand this: participation is very different to losing control. Participation = involvement, it is not rooted in fear. It also leads to different results than "losing control" and fear. Do you act because you are afraid or because you want to participate and "join in"?

3. The "blogging" world is not "fair" (see 1); Its a wild Mob. Wrong, It's a Generous World

I have personally found bloggers of all stripes, once you prove you are serious, genuine and listening (earn your stripes so to speak) to be findamentally generous.

As I mentioned in one of my first posts and in the recent Toronto presentations, the conversations are ultimately "give and take." If you are willing to listen and learn, then you will find people on Twitter, Facebook, in the blogs and elsewhere who connect with you and share. That is an important word, SHARE.

I have learned from so many who have been willing to point me in various directions...it is amazing. This is no angry mob....or some ill-informed populace. It is world filled with great people who are fundamentally generous and willing to help you individually, or as a business, understand and gain even better and more important new insights. Likely more than you can appreciate until you dive in.

So what holds you back from diving in?