Shooting the Gap

In my never-ending struggle to understand, much less integrate, social media into my job, I am amazed at how quickly information changes and evolves. Recently, I ran across the 2009 Digital Readiness Report, a new research piece put out by IPressroom, an online news management service. If you like to read statistics (and I do if they are relevant), this is an interesting read.

The tidbit that jumped out at me from me initially was the telltale gap between how organizations want to use their resources in developing social media and the actual desires of the consumers/customers. It seems that corporate America still distrusts microblogging and social networking as a legitimate place to invest because of its reliability. That is true--we've seen examples recently of how social media outlets were the start of erroneous death reports, and other gossip-related items. On the other hand, we've also seen examples of how micro-blogging can rocket news stories into the public mainstream much quicker than traditional media.

The takeaway from the whole discussion for me is that the consumer/fan/customer is using social media--they are there--in greater numbers than anyone expected, whether I like it or not. So do I want to go where they are, or am I going to stick to my plan--use the traditional avenues I am used to, comfortable with, and know well?

In order to close the gap between what we want to provide to our customers/fans versus what the reality is, I think we have to make a choice. Either learn to use social media well to get where they are or just keep up business as usual and continue to have a gap.

The 140 Character Conference

This month's PRSA Tactics magazine had an interesting article--"Insights from the 140 Character Conference"--a gathering in New York City in June of the national Twitter elite. Many of the panelists and presenters were people who are leaders in the field of social media--Brian Solis of Future Works (great blog), Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch, and many others from business leaders to media leaders.

Gavin Purcell, co-producer of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, made a comment that summed up the essence of what Twitter is all about: "You have to know that Twitter is a conversation." I agree. Rule number one: Twitter is not solely a "broadcast" tool. If we use it for that, we will be ineffective. As one SID I talked to recently said--"We're using Twitter but we have no idea how effective it is because nobody is tweeting back." I got news for you--if they're not tweeting back or talking about your tweets, you're not going taking full advantage of the power of the 140 characters. BTW-a tool like Tweet Beep could really help here. It monitors mentions of tag words and your Twitter account name for you. That way, you can get a better idea who's talking about you.

On the other hand, Etan Horowitz, a technology writer for the Orlando Sentinel said, "Newspapers have lost readers and Twitter helps gain those back.--just being there in that space." This is the other side of the argument on "broadcasting" on Twitter. It is an effective tool to increase exposure. I have a hunch that is what most of us are banking on with Twitter use.

But, I'm still watching closely. I follow a lot of university SIDs, coaches and programs on Twitter to see who is using it effectively. There are two I really like at this point: dukeblueplanet (tweets from Duke's head of basketball operations) and UWBadgersdotcom (Wisconsin's athletic dept. tweet). Both have a lot of links to engaging videos, podcasts, articles, etc. My favorite coach is still Bruce Pearl from Tennessee. The guy is so transparent, it's wonderful. John Calipari gives me a headache--his tweets are as cheesy as he is. SIDs may want to keep a watchful eye on what their coaches are doing if you worry about reputation matters--one coach I follow tweeted about the best happy hour in town--not that there's anything wrong with that. But if recruits or recruits' parents are following, you might want to re-think a post like that.

All in all, there is power in the 140 characters if we can learn to use it to our advantage. Thoughts?

Just Past Joe's Crab Shack

One of the nice things about traveling is that you can post a blog entry on something off the subject. Even though I have purposed to write about the ongoing saga of integrating new media into an old profession, I am stepping sideways for a moment to produce another endorsement.
When in Long Beach, CA...

Last night, after a long day of Disneyland and packing up the container for Boston, we headed out to find Joe's Crab Shack. I had a disconcerting experience trying to eat at a Joe's in San Antonio and I wanted to give them a second chance. And, I wanted some seafood, and, I wanted to sit on the water.

We got there about 6:45 and were told there was about an hour and a half wait. I'm too old to eat that late, so we thanked them and left. As we were leaving, an ambulance and fire truck were pulling up and paramedics were heading into the restaurant. Maybe it was for the best...

Anyway, we had seen a sign at the corner of the marina for a place called The Crab Pot--it's also a chain, but there are only four restaurants in the chain. Sounded like seafood to me, so we kept going and eventually found it. Only a 20-minute minute wait there if we would take whatever seating was available first, so we headed to the bar area to wait. First great sign was a huge firepit in the bar with people enjoying their wait time, sipping whatever. We settled in...

About 20 minutes later, our name was called and we were ushered outside on to the deck overlooking the bay. Great spot and they had some of those tall heaters out there so I didn't even need my jacket. We decided to order one of the "feasts" on the menu--the Pacific I believe. First, the waitress covered our table with a large chunk of butcher paper, as they dump the whole feast out on your table and let you dig in.

When the feast came, it was a large pot of king, dungeness and snow crab, mussels, clams, oysters, corn on the cob, sausage, boiled red potatoes and skewers of halibut and salmon. Seasoned perfectly and cooked beautifully. They left the pot as it was the waste container for all the shells, etc. We dug in.

We had a great time eating, visiting, watching the sunset. What a find...great waitress, excellent service, good food, good fun. I have now let go of my need to eat at a Joe's Crab Shack and am a convert of The Crab Pot. If you are ever in Long Beach (or Seattle or Bellvue or a couple other towns), you need to find this place and check it out. It's just down the road past Joe's Crab Shack.