mudwrestling in the corridors of power

Mattias’ blog post on the Wikipedia-tampering by the PR people of the US presidential candidates shows how quickly people resort to mudwrestling tactics in the corridors of power. Again, this really got me thinking about how careful you have to be with the new communication-technology on offer on the Internet and what threats it poses to people working in public relations, especially those who are working as gatekeepers of the corridors of power.

You may have noticed I used the word threats and not opportunities. That is simply because I feel that the threats for PR people associated with new technology by far outweigh the opportunities they offer. To me it is a bit like fighting the three- headed dragon. You chop one off and face two new instead. And what is more important, most of the time you don’t even have an idea about who you are up against.

Don’t get me wrong. Wikis, podcasting, blogs, Facebook et al, every one of these novelties offers public relations opportunities. If nothing else, the latter are excellent for the purpose of monitoring the online-debate. But blog-examples from this little class of ours alone have already highlighted some serious downsides to it all.

I’d welcome some advice from a level-headed person as how to maximize the advantages and sidestep the problems. But so would PR people the world over, I guess.

ba given longer runway by liverpool fc

British Airways has now suddenly been given a longer runway to get its wings and sort out its PR mess by the most unlikely of sources, Liverpool Football Club. The crown of “PR ineptitude” has changed hands (or heads?) this week following a public playground-like spat by the football club’s American owners.

George Gillett and Tom Hicks only bought the club a year ago. Six months on, their relationship had broken down. Reports of an approach for another manager soured the atmosphere within the club and undermined the position of its manager, Rafael Benitez.

To make matters even worse Hicks has now twice in one week publicly called for the resignation of the club‘s CEO. Gillett has now responded, backing the CEO up, ultimately turning the club into a laughing stock. Remember, this is the club that set the benchmark for keeping everything in-house and out of the paper.

As such BA and LFC do not have much in common, if anything. What links these two cases is the total inability to handle their own communications through periods of adversity. One of the key PR elements is common sense. Apparently there’s none of that left, neither at BA nor at Liverpool FC.

israeli army in facebook clampdown!

Facebook? A social networking tool - but apparently also a social destructive tool! Again, just as with every other tool in the online PR toolbox, things need to be thought through. What seems to have an obvious advantage at first glance might have a serious disadvantage. Just ask the Israeli defence chiefs!

Just watched Sky News a few moments ago (see timing of post at the bottom) and they were running a story of an Israeli soldier so keen to impress with his access to strategic weaponry and information on Facebook that the Isreali military has ordered a "clampdown" in Facebook activities on behalf of their soldiers. The BBC website gives a good account of what this is all about:

"Israeli defence chiefs have moved to tighten internet social networking rules after photographs appeared showing sensitive military subjects. A review of Facebook pages belonging to Israeli troops found that some had posted detailed pictures of air bases, operations rooms and
submarines.

"These are things we don't want the public to see for security reasons," an official source told the BBC. Posting photos of troops in uniform - a popular pastime - is still allowed. The new set of rules - which has not been made public - includes a ban on images of pilots and members of special units, and anything that shows specific military manoeuvres."

podcasting – another pr tool in the box?

"The PR people are drooling over the potential for going "beyond the press release" and influencing what journalists write - even those who fail to turn up to an event - because they can listen to it at a time of their choosing. Disney, General Motors, Purina, Cisco, Macromedia, Virgin Atlantic, TV Guide, Jupiter Research, are all podcasting."

Before we come to this quote, does anyone remember the quote just recently mentioned to us in one of the PR and Technology seminars? "Don't just use technology for the sake of it." The opening quote of this post is taken from a website called Blog Relations. And what is interesting is the fact that this was written in September 2005!

The point I am trying to make is the one that even though we should greet every new step the online technology brings us as progression of some kind, I totally agree with Tom Kelleher where he writes in his book Public Relations Online (2007): "...we have to be especially careful not to overstate the implications of the new technologies we embrace."

Podcasting, which at the time was touted as a revolution in communication and the way of modern PR, hasn't really caught on as people expected. As has been demonstrated (like in our class today, thank you George) it can be very helpful and it can also be an utter waste of time. All depending on who the producer is and what he wants to achieve.

So another tool in the PR tool box? Yes. But keep the breakthroughs coming by all means. Gradually the way we practise PR will be changed by technology, but it will not be revolutionized overnight by a single invention.

nordic countries lead the way in ict

According to the World Economic Forum today, the Nordic countries lead the way when it comes to Information Communication Technology, ICT. Denmark sits proudly at the top of the pile, followed by Sweden in second place, Finland (6th), Iceland (8th) and Norway (10th). Switzerland ranks third, the US 4th and Singapore 5th. The Netherlands are rated 7th while the Republic of Korea occupies the 9th spot.

A press release from WEF today said: “The successful experience of the Nordic countries, Singapore, the United States or Korea shows that a coherent government vision on the importance of ICT, coupled with an early focus on education and innovation, are key not only for spurring networked readiness, but also to lay the foundations for sustainable growth.”

Published for the seventh consecutive year with record coverage of 127 economies worldwide, the Report has become the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT. The Networked Readiness Index (NRI), featured in the Report, examines how prepared countries are to use ICT effectively on three dimensions: the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of the three key stakeholder groups - individuals, businesses and governments - to use and benefit from ICT; and their actual usage of the latest information and communication technologies available.

youtube as a pr tool

To date, I have not exactly been one of those who has bought into the beliefs that the Internet is the all-embracing solution of things. Nonetheless, it is a fantastic tool with its pros and cons.

How useful is it when it comes to public relations? Very useful if done right.
One of the most popular videos currently running on Youtube is featuring Will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas fame promoting US presidential candidate Barack Obama. Cleverly done, entertaining and very likely to win him some votes.

When accessed today, some 6.7 million viewers had logged on to watch this roughly four minute long clip. And interestingly, Obama's PR machine fingerprints have not yet been linked to this product.

produsage - an idea whose time has come?

The concept of produsage highlights that within the communities which engage in the collaborative creation and extension of information and knowledge that we examine, the role of consumer and even that of end user have long disappeared, and the distinctions between producers and users of content have faded into comparative insignificance (based on the website http://www.produsage.org/ – accessed April 6th 2008 at 15.35).

One of the best examples of this term is probably Wikipedia, the online all-embracing encyclopaedia that anyone can adjust or alter. As all things in life produsage has its pros and cons. On the positive site it allows people who otherwise wouldn’t be approached, to throw their knowledge into the melting pot and perhaps bring new perspectives to the debate. Participation is as open as possible and the status of the participants is determined on a dynamic, real-time time basis by their contribution.

However, there is the downside to produsage that unscrupulous people can fiddle with things in a way that can be extremely difficult to detect. I certainly think produsage has got limits, but I also think there must be many fields where its application could be really useful.

I only have one question at the end. When a website boldly states that it is about “an idea whose time has come” doesn’t it strike you as odd that its main page (see link above) has not been updated since December 28th last year? Or is it just me again....?