Archive for the 'Social Media' Category

Chinese Consumers Use Social Media to Tackle Multinational Appliance Manufacturer

Published November 21, 2011 Communications Strategy , Social Media Leave a Comment
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Have you heard of “Refrigeratorgate?”

Luo Yonghao, popular blogger and owner of  Laoluo English Training School, discovered a little over a month ago that he wasn’t the only one having difficulty with the door of his Siemens brand refrigerator. Using the extremely popular Weibo (aka “Chinese Twitter”), he’s found more and more people whose refrigerator doors won’t close properly.

Early on Sunday, November 20, Luo gathered outside the Siemens headquarters in Beijing with 3 of the faulty fridges and a small cluster of protestors and media. They proceeded to smash the fridges with sledgehammers. Now, Luo didn’t want to create a public scene, so he hired someone to clean up afterwards. He was going for media attention more than public disturbance, anyways.

Now, the story is just reaching English media. Luo’s quite a character, and he’s made it his personal mission to seek justice for fellow consumers. He’s demanding that Siemens acknowledge the design flaw, apologize and offer a recall for the affected fridges.

So far Siemens of China has denied that there is a flaw in the design or manufacturing of the fridges. In October, Siemens published an offer to send repair technicians to owner’s homes to fix the faulty doors.

This story is a lot like the antennagate issue that came up with the launch of the iPhone 4 in July 2010. Apple didn’t offer a recall, but gave early purchasers a free case or bumper.

According to communications shared by Luo and reported in English on a Chinese blog (wait for it, this link loads slowly), Siemens’ PR agency spoke with Luo and discussed the issue with him. He made some recommendations for an announcement, which was then heavily spun before being released. Then the agency posted astroturf-style messages online defending Siemens.

This is all entertaining as an outsider, but this is a missed opportunity for a multinational manufacturer with a good international reputation in a gigantic market with the fastest growing economy.

Apple’s uniqueness, excellent customer service and a fantastic product easily overcame antennagate, but can a common fridge do the same?

One thing is for sure, social media is showing its ability to influence consumer behaviour in China, just as it’s shown here.

 

 

Newtonian Physics Applied to Social Media Metrics

Published October 7, 2010 Communications Strategy , Random thoughts , Social Media , Technology 1 Comment
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Some of those who know me personally might know that I began my undergraduate studies in civil engineering. I transferred out of that after realizing that engineering wasn’t what I expected and that I wanted to try other things.

On my path out of high school and in university, I had a lot of exposure to physics – particularly mechanics of the static and dynamic variety. Fancy words for figuring out the forces responsible for making things stable and stationary, or making them move.

So I said to myself, “Self, these ideas, information, memes, trends, and things we communicators work with – they all move.” Or they stay stationary. But in the fields of communications and marketing we want them to move.

I began thinking about how Sir Isaac Newton’s theories, laws and formulae for describing physical motion can be adapted to describe, measure and maybe even predict the spread of ideas through social media with some level of accuracy. I’m not sure if any of the numerous companies and individuals involved in measuring the web have explored this path. I’d love to have a conversation about it with people involved in measurement and developing tools to do it.

I’m not even sure this is a feasible concept. Particle physics and projectile motion are very different from human communication. I began from the thought that messages and ideas could be described as having paths with direction, speed, acceleration, force… but mass is my stumbling block.

If you’re interested in discussing this harebrained idea of mine, it could be a fun conversation. Or maybe there’s something to it.

What do you think? Have you ever tossed around ideas like this?

Photo credit – Claire Sutton (Flickr CC Search)

Engagement on GCpedia

Published September 2, 2010 Government Communications , Social Media Leave a Comment
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While adoption is still growing, and varies widely between departments and regions, GCpedia is an amazing tool for information sharing and knowledge transfer in the Federal Government.

What is GCpedia? – GCpedia is the Government of Canada interdepartmental wiki. It is only accessible within the GoC firewall, but can be used and accessed by employees of nearly every department and agency; but not accessible by crown corporations. David Eaves argued when it launched that GCpedia would save the public service.

I had the opportunity to create a GCpedia page for an event taking place in the coming week. The event is a mini-conference titled “Third Pillar” in support of employee engagement; the third pillar of the Clerk’s 2010-2011 public service renewal action plan. It will feature a number of panels and keynote speakers on the subject of leadership.

The GCpedia page not only promotes the event, but aims to engage people in ideas surrounding leadership before and after the event.

Leading up to the event, there have been several contributions from staff across a few departments discussing their views on leadership and leadership development. We’ve also had one comment from a senior leader within the Canadian Forces.

Discussion includes views on the necessary skills of leaders, the paths people can take towards leadership and how existing leaders identify talent in up-and-coming staff.

The page has been successful, but this is just the beginning of the “Third Pillar” GCpedia presence. After the event, we plan on posting transcripts or summaries (TBD) of the panel discussions, and maybe some video clips. During the event we will take questions via Twitter or e-mail for those who are more comfortable posting than putting up their hand. The Qs and As can be added to the GCpedia page too.

I’m excited to see what will come of this event and its online component. I think we can grow it into a great resource for public servants at all levels and all stages in their careers.

If you’re a federal public servant, and want to check out the page, go to GCpedia.gc.ca and search Third Pillar, or Troisieme pillier for the French page. (I’d link, but it’s not accessible outside the firewall, and not everyone can access WordPress.com blogs in all departments.)

Love the ads, won’t buy the product

Published July 20, 2010 Random thoughts , Social Media Leave a Comment

Old Spice got a lot of talk on the social web when they organized an amazing online ad campaign last week.

If you didn’t catch it, find information here, here and here! And here.

Or just watch this.

I’ve got to hand it to them. It’s one heck of a campaign, one of the best uses of social media in advertising, in fact. It really makes me want to support the brand.

But there’s one reason I won’t give them my money if I can help it. I’ve got a bit of a “hippy side”.

I try to vote with my wallet and refrain from giving my own money to brands that are tested on animals. Just a personal position.

I’ll stick with the refreshing mint scented body wash from Alba Botanica. If you’ve ever woken up to the smell of mint, it’s amazing. Plus, Alba Botanica doesn’t test on animals, their products are hypo-allergenic, made from natural ingredients. They’re typically found at health food stores and specialty shops, like The Big Carrot on Danforth, in Toronto.

Kudos to Old Spice and their ad agency for putting together an amazing campaign. They really do make me want to buy the product, but I likely won’t.

What’s with the App(le) Web?

Published May 23, 2010 Random thoughts , Social Media , Technology Leave a Comment
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I just read the NY Times article The Death of the Open Web after it popped up in my Facebook feed from Mitch Joel. The article draws a close comparison between Apple’s app store and the romanticization of the suburb during the 20th century. It’s a good comparison too, I really see where they’re coming from.

However I think the app store is more like the rise of the urban condominium.

Like the suburban development, they have an air of exclusivity. They’re (in theory) kept in pristine order. There’s a friendly security guard at the front desk to keep out the rabble. Clean carpets to pad your stroll to the elevator. After you ascend to your 16th floor luxury condo unit, you’re isolated from the unclean city with a clear window to look down upon it. Of course, management tells you what colour drapes you need to hang in that window.

Condo neighbourhoods, like those along Toronto’s lakeshore, are another type of urbanism, just like apps are another type of web access. Apps are tailored in every way to bring the best experience possible to your iPhone or iPad. They save time, they maintain your device’s look and feel, and optimize the content of the web for your user interface.

Apps are made to be convenient. A swipe or two of your finger,  a tap of the screen and you get the content you want.

I really doubt people are upset with the experience of the open web. They see the benefits of an application. While people moved to suburbs to escape from the city and the crowds, it wasn’t really more convenient (especially before the strip malls and box stores followed).

But I agree, there’s the potential for the “Open Web” to become ignored as users migrate away from accessing the web through their browser to using a variety of apps.

With the App Store, Android Market, Xbox Live, Playstation Network, etc, people are becoming accustomed to making micro-transactions. We’re being trained to accept these $1 or $2 payments for the content, or access to the content, that we want. And that used to be available for free.

On the other hand, while free, it used to only be available through our desktop PC at home or at work.

If I seem like I’m flip-flopping on my argument, I guess I am. I not for nor against applications. I don’t want to lose the freedom of the open web, but I like the service provided by apps. It hasn’t become a one-or-the-other issue to me yet. I’m far more concerned with issues like government censoring, what ISPs can get away with, and Copyright law. This “Open Web” argument around applications seem like a bit of a distraction from bigger issues, really.

Are you ready to boycott the app store to protect the web? Do you like the Android platform, with it’s open door policy for apps and their distribution better than Apple’s?

Restructuring the crowd

Published February 15, 2010 Communications Strategy , Government Communications , Social Media , Technology 1 Comment
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I had a brief conversation today via Twitter about crowdsourcing and its application within large corporate structures like governments. Which drew in the subject of accountability.

Crowdsourcing is not a formal process. It’s a process of inviting input from a crowd, not to take credit for the outcome but to get things done. It’s an informal focus group, or a hi-tech suggestion box.

BusinessWeek published an article in June 2009 about Crowdsourcing and innovation and how, during an economic downturn, it allows people and companies to do more with less.

People don’t contribute because they want recognition, but because they want to contribute their knowledge to help produce a valuable outcome that can be further shared. They want to be part of a community and a goal. They add their two cents because they can’t take on the project themselves, but are happy to contribute in some small way. Crowdsourcing works for these reasons and more.

Formalizing the process too much takes the umph out of it. It sucks the wind out of the sails.

So how do things work when someone needs to be formally accountable for a project that incorporates some form of crowdsourcing? Can “tried-and-true” methods of top-down accountability be adapted to horizontal practices like these? Or do some new hybrid models for accountability need to be used?

I’ve loved to experiment since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, so I say new models need to be tried. Of course good judgment needs to be exercised, but there are always newer and better ways to do things. The more a culture is open to trying ideas, the sooner they can be tested, refined and incorporated in to our books of best practices.

Imagine wide-scale horizontal participation from within your organization, and maybe from without as well, with the singular goal of making things better. It makes me bristle with anticipation and excitement because together, who knows what we can achieve?

The article in BusinessWeek brings up some important considerations around the potential devaluation of the work talented individuals do within certain industries. I’m confident that solutions will be found and balance reached.

What do you think? Can we capture opportunities to test new models of governance and focus the collective expertise within organizations, customer bases and groups of citizens?

Social transparency? How about honesty.

Published December 6, 2009 Random thoughts , Social Media 5 Comments
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The word “Transparency” is being overused by us communicators and social media folk.

What happened to words like “honest”, “candid” and “sincere”? They’re great for describing human exchanges, and they’re not used disingenuously by CEOs, elected officials and spokespeople to describe their relationships with stakeholders.

I feel like honesty, sincerity, and candidness are more closely connected with ideas of human morality. Transparency has to do with optimization; finding a balance between sharing information and protecting proprietary knowledge in order to maximize trust and minimize loss of competitive advantage or stakeholder’s personal information.

Why am I saying this?

I noticed a status post on Facebook today by a well-known person in social media who I’m friends with. They were mentioning that they tend to make the occasional negative post, or share personal thoughts differently on Facebook, because they see it as a more personal channel than Twitter. They were asking honestly if their friends and “friendz” minded this.

One of the comments in the thread beneath it thanked them for being “Transparent”.

I shook my head. I hope that it was said in jest, but for some reason I get the impression it wasn’t.

Put up your hand if your response to your spouse or significant other saying “I love you” has ever been “Thanks for being transparent”? I don’t expect to see many hands.

What about this scenario:

A good friend says “Thanks for helping out, I was having a tough day.”

Which of the following would you respond to this sincere thank-you with:

  1. It’s my pleasure, you’ve been there for me in the past.
  2. Don’t mention it, I was maximizing your shareholder value!
  3. Hey, what’re friends for?

It’s a bit of a ridiculous example, but you probably get my point. You’d most likely answer with 1) or 3) but not 2).

Keep the formal corp-speak for the boardroom.

Am I the only one getting tired of terms frequently used in government and corporate mission statements being used to describe social exchanges? Am I overreacting here?  I’d like to hear your take.

(Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amandang/)

An offer to help was fruitful

Published November 5, 2009 Government Communications , Social Media Leave a Comment
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I was tipped off by Douglas Bastien yesterday to some chatter about PWGSC on Twitter. This comment caught my eye.

Snapshot 2009-11-04 23-11-46

PWGSC is the Federal Department I work for.

I replied “@ruk Don’t know how much I can do about helping you find an interviewee, but if you tell me more, I’m willing to try to help.”

I was too late to actually help; Mr. Rukavina had gotten an interview and produced a great video profile of the Jean Canfield building in Charlottetown, PEI. The Jean Canfield building, as I just learned, is  a really cool ‘green’ building that was built by Public Works and Government Services Canada. The interview was not with a PWGSC representative but an architect from the design firm contracted by PWGSC. He does a fantastic job of explaining the many features of the building that reduce it’s environmental footprint. The Jean Canfield building is 60% more energy efficient than similar buildings in its class.

I can only imagine that time was the issue with not giving the interview to @ruk, since his video is really good press.

The video is very interesting.  I’m glad I messaged @ruk and learned about it. If nothing else, I know a little more about a project that happened outside Ontario Region where I work.

I used to monitor PWGSC on Twitter, but stopped because a) it was ‘tumbleweed’ quiet b) I switched twitter clients and forgot to set up the keyword for a live search. That’s how interesting the search had been. I’ve since resumed my monitoring.

The un-conference & government: A match made in heaven?

Published October 28, 2009 Conferences , Random thoughts , Social Media Leave a Comment
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Since I attended WIREDcamp roughly a month ago, I’ve been thinking a bit about using the un-conference model in government. WIREDcamp was hosted by the Ontario Government but open to Federal and municipal public servants, as well as not-for-profit-ers. I haven’t been able to come up with any negatives. They really do seem to be a match made in heaven. As long as you have participants open to sharing. Here are 4 reasons I think they’re a good match.

  • Governments are full of subject matter experts
  • They’re actively seeking ways to share and manage knowledge
  • The aging silos of the public service are crumbling under the weight of renewal
  • Budgets for large-scale conferences and learning events aren’t there

PodCamp, the little un-conference cofounded by Christopher S. Penn and Chris Brogan in Boston a few years ago has spread like a weed throughout North America and even across the ocean. I’ve attended them in four different cities myself – Toronto, New York City, Boston and Montreal. The same rise in popularity has happend with other un-conference ‘brands’ like BarCamp, DemoCamp and others.

If you’re new to un-conferences, here are a few basic steps to organizing one. (Not necessarily in this order)

  1. Find your audience for the un-conference
  2. Invite them to your event
  3. Get a venue, book a date
  4. Establish the rules of engagement
  5. Work with your audience to develop your agenda
  6. Provide enough guidance to make sure that your un-conference is going to be valuable to participants

That’s basically it. You might have to consider sponsors (maybe getting your venue for cheap or free). How you work with your audience to develop the agenda might vary. PodCamp Toronto organizers use a wiki to organize speakers, volunteers, etc. If your audience isn’t comfortable using wikis, you’ll need another way.

thegridAt WIREDcamp, they simply divided the room into many discussion tables. A grid marked on the wall with green masking tape represented tables and a time slots. The agenda was developed on the spot by having participants write topics on paper and tape them to the grid.

It’s too bad I had to skip the afternoon of WIREDcamp because of another work-related commitment; I thoroughly enjoyed the small, intimate and on-the-fly un-conference format.

I suggested the topic “How do you help non-tech people learn to use tech tools”. You can find the notes here. I didn’t know if anyone else would be interested, but as it turned out, a few people dropped in to take part and we had a good talk!

Also that morning, I joined the discussion on “How to manage ownership of content with multiple contributers (for the purpose of ATIP/FOI).” ATIP is short for Access to Information & Privacy in the Federal Gov, while FOI stands for Freedom of Information for the Ontario public service. These are the official systems in place for allowing the public and politicians access to government information.

This was a fascinating discussion initiated by Karl Ghiara, one of the guys behind the Federal wiki, GCpedia. This is a serious issue when it comes to furthering collaboration in the government because existing policies are not geared towards collaboration on channels that aren’t fed through top executives. I have to say, I was amazed by Douglas Bastien‘s knowledge of policy, he contributed a lot to the discussion.

Have you tried the un-conference model? I really enjoy it and think there are a ton of opportunities to employ it within government.

EA, when will you learn?

Published July 25, 2009 Communications Strategy , Social Media , video games 2 Comments
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I really don’t have a real problem with EA’s twitter contest at Comic-Con, titled “Sin to Win“. I don’t think it’s a good campaign, but I’m not offended. Booth Babes already allow themselves to be objectified in exchange for money. The social and ethical implications of this exchange are not what I write about here.

That said, I don’t see the appeal of taking my photo with a booth babe just to show my friends that a hottie touched my shoulder. What I’m saying is, I’m obviously not their core audience on this contest. (read: I’m not 14 years old).

EA has a lot of product lines, and some of them target kids and women as their core audiences. So why alienate one demographic while trying to draw on another?

Also, if you’re counting on your audiences’ parents to buy Dante’s Inferno for them, why are you encouraging them to sin? Even if it’s just a little bit of sin. Even if only 1 in 1000 parents are turned off by this contest, why do it? When I’m sure you could come up with something equally creative and engaging with better optics.

Rockstar Games could probably pull off a stunt like this. Maybe EA shouldn’t have tried.

On the other hand, the “Storm in a Teacup” might get them broader coverage than some other safe “politically correct” contest would have. Maybe that’s what they’re going for. What do you think?

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