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Archives for February 2011

Social Media & Global Democracy

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It took one sentence to prompt this post – “Why ‘21st Century Statecraft’ – the idea that America can use the Internet to influence global events – is more dream than reality.”

I’m going to write first with my immediate stream of conscious reaction to this powerful statement, and then I’ll read the article from which I extrapolate – Bloomberg Businessweek, Feb. 7-13, 2011, “Opening Remarks: The Fallacy of Facebook Diplomacy” by Brendan Greeley.

I am bi-cultural; born in the U.S. of a Persian father and mixed-heritage (German/Irish) Midwestern mother. When I lived in Iran as a kid, the country was on the way to westernization aka freedom.  The Shah, weak monarch puppet of the United Kingdom and U.S., was loosening the strict codes and feeding the yen for a democratic monarchy by hordes of students who demonstrated powerfully en masse, and their voices were heard. Educators ruled, and students attended  university in droves with the promise to make a better life and get a ticket to the promised land – the U.S.A.

The Empress basically banned the chador, and women wore the latest Parisienne fashion in short skirts, lots of ruby lipstick, eye liner and shadows with heads uncovered to the chagrin of clerics who believed women unequal and inferior to men (still to this day).

We lived a happy life as children in Iran with no television and no telephone.  We drove an American Chevrolet which was considered high luxury. We had to hire a housekeeper who essentially taught my baby sister better Farsi than she spoke English.

My mom made us peanut butter from scratch, and we loved her homemade pizza, too (our favorite meal). We used foil and straws to make garland for our pseudo Christmas tree (there were no pines in the desert), and Mom bought ornament kits so we could make our decorations.

The hostage crisis in 1979 and revolution thereafter stole those freedoms – for women to attend university alongside men; for students to demonstrate on streets; for women to choose which attire they wore; and something we all take for granted – handholding.  Those events uprooted families throughout the country, and it impacted who I became as an adult.

While attending the University of Wisconsin at Madison, I easily hid my heritage; when asked, my name was of Italian descent.

The most recent elections in Iran a year ago were fueled by social media; the world watched, and the people of Iran took to the Internet buoyed by global support and cheers of encouragement for freedom – all in silence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and elsewhere with people they had yet to and would never meet.

We gave the Iranian people false hope, yet we gave them hope. Then, it was all taken away; the bloodshed a black mark on freedom and the Green Revolution.  Now, we watch and add our tweets, posts and remarks of encouragement to Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and other developing nations soon to come.

The desire for freedom fueled by social media and Internet ubiquity is palpable when we engage with emotionally charged activists who bravely tweet and Facebook.  Those who present their true identity on social media are forever tagged by cyber police.

Until you get a flavor of what’s over the mountain, you live comfortably within your boundaries. I understand.

~

Now, let me read Mr. Greeley’s piece and see what he’s intended for his opening remarks to this week’s issue of Bloomberg Businessweek. I offer these direct extrapolations that give credence to my personal musings:

  • “America would take sides by building tools to route around censorship.
  • A country that would deprive its citizens of information, the Secretary of State argued, would deprive them of a market advantage.
  • The dissident who organizes on Facebook, for example, leaves behind a map for security to follow.
  • Facebook is not staffed up to fulfill its new accidental mission.
  • The Internet is American in origin and spirit; it is one of the best expressions of what the nation’s economy, and yes, its government can accomplish. America’s instinctive support for the right to speak and assemble can be hard to square with its need for stability. That’s as true online as it is on the street.
  • We like to make the world a better place, to mold it in our image.”

~

Read the article; it’s well worth pondering. Think once when you meet a global compatriot on social media whether you’re supporting their cause for freedom with hope and encouragement or stoking the flames for what may not be on the other side of the mountain.

(photo credit: sexysocialmedia.com)

Be Everywhere on Social Media, Just Like Gini

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credit: wholenewweb.com

This post is about Gini Dietrich, a woman I’ve never met, spoken with, hired, been hired by, or referred business to. (She is founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich.) Yesterday, she impressed me so much I have to tell you about it. Mind you, yesterday was not my first introduction to Gini; here’s my full disclosure:

  • I subscribe to her Ad Age Power 150 (and other accolades) Spin Sucks blog via email.
  • When she posts a vlog on YouTube I generally take a look and send a comment in return (have told her she’s the most natural on camera I’ve seen).
  • I first interacted with her on a blog chat for Headway Themes with Danny Brown where she was answering questions about public relations and I was stepping on  her toes alongside (however, I didn’t “know” her then).
  • I tweet her on occasion, and she responds.

So let me tell you why I say you ought to be like Gini (not Mike); she’s everywhere on social media, and if that doesn’t do something for brand and image, I don’t know what does.

  • On Feb. 3, 2011, I first received Danny Brown’s blog post by email and it was on being a CEO, written by Gini Dietrich. In this piece, Gini spoke about how she tried to conduct diligence on how to be a CEO and realized it was up to each person’s style.
  • Spin Sucks arrived in my box, and I watched Gini’s wobbly video taken up and down blizzard-hit Chicago’s Southport Street (my favorite haunt for food, friends and shopping), so I posted a snark about her videography on YouTube (she had already warned us).
  • Then, Sarah Robinson’s blog series arrived via email, “Get Your Shit Together,” and guess who guest authored? Well, Ms. Dietrich, of course.  If you read nothing else from these links, I encourage you to plug in to:
  • Sarah Robinson. I just began to interact with her for the first time this week and stumbled on her blog series; it deserves high kudos. I am incredibly impressed, from merely three days, with her marketing prowess as a coach and her lineup of venerable authorities, herself included, for 28 days this month.
  • Read Gini Dietrich’s guest post on Sarah’s blog series yesterday (link above). It gives an amazing perspective about how she accomplishes all she does throughout the day and still makes time for her husband, exercise, running a company and taking videos with her dog on a snow day all while no longer working weekends.

Wait, I’m not done.

  • Throughout the afternoon, I saw Gini’s comedic banter on Twitter, and I had to insert myself into one thread as she was “fighting” with Les McKeown, Sarah Robinson’s first guest author in her blog series. We four exchanged a tweet or two, and it lent me some laughs for the day.

In a conversation I had with a new Twitter colleague soon-to-be featured on Momaraderie, I learned that Gini had even referred business to Ivonne Vazquez who offers virtual assistant services.

Where I’m going with this is not necessarily what you think (The Gini  Dietrich Fan Club?). It has more to do with whose social media branding and public relations model you might emulate, and I’m suggesting an authority and influencer right here.

While I’ve not engaged on Arment Dietrich’s Facebook page, it exists, and it’s chock full of tips and interactive questions for all audiences. So, she’s got the primary bases covered – an award-winning blog, an interactive Facebook page, a YouTube channel, vlogs on a weekly basis, a Twitter community with genuine engagement, guest posts on other highly acclaimed blogs, and the list goes on although this is just what popped into my purview on Feb. 3, 2011.

It takes extreme amounts of time to make an impression like this. Is my impression measurable? Until I wrote this blog post, I can guarantee Gini, Sarah, Danny, Les, Ivonne, and anyone else had no idea I had even read their materials yesterday as I didn’t post a comment on anyone’s blog (merely the YouTube video).

While public relations practitioners have struggled with measurement our entire lives, this type of social media measurement is absolutely up for grabs, too. Over the course of one day, my silent observations about Gini Dietrich exponentially increased to become an explosion and result of this post. How do you measure that? Kind of reminds me of that archaic advertising rule we learned in college oriented to 9 impressions to begin paying attention and 27 impressions to make a purchase?

My conclusion from yesterday for any of us practicing our professions is this:

  • Social media begins with community and until you create one you’ll not have the opportunity to engage beyond your own protected and comfy confines. Not only does social media require engagement, it also requires listening.
  • The audiences you attract when engaging in social media will run the gamut from students, newbies, peers, competitors, employees, stakeholders, media, customers, and hopefully a business prospect or two to help monetize. When you hold a position of authority, it’s important to respond genuinely to your community because everyone wants a piece of the star.
  • Being prolific is not necessary; being thoughtfully relevant is.
  • The balancing act each of us manages is precarious. Know your own limits and set boundaries. When idle and unproductive engagement happens more often than not, then it’s time to rethink strategy and look at the conversations and with whom.

What other thoughts resonate with you about the Gini Dietrich Social Media Model? And, let me  please remind you of my disclosure above – I’ve never been hired by Gini, spoken with her, met her, or sent business her way. When I see something that needs acknowledgment, then that’s the gift I give.

Momaraderie Is Kudos For Working Moms

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From a tweet between tweeps, I came up with this idea for a little peer-to-peer support for we working professional moms. I suggested I’d do myself first, but instead I’m making my inaugural Momaraderie post about a woman I admire for her marketing prowess and support of other women in her community and online.

Please meet Michelle Quillin, co-owner of New England Multimedia:

Michelle came to my attention nearly a year ago. I saw her tweets about her business and then I invited her comments on my blog. After months of tweeting acquaintance and her acceptance as a core team member of The SMB Collective, Michelle has become a tier-one participant in my social media world. I finally had to speak with her, and in the last month, we connected our voices.

Here’s what I admire about Michelle:

  • She runs her business, New England Multimedia, with her husband Scott, and Michelle is a learning sponge soaking up social media engagement for their growing business every day. As a result of her efforts in 2010, their video and website production house had its best year yet in growth.
  • Michelle is mom to Christa, now 20, and a “Mom” to other young women she mentors, who’ve come into her life through youth ministry. Michelle and Scott have taken in teenage girls who needed a place to go for love and support when they were having problems at home (two of them are featured in Michelle’s personal profile picture on Facebook).
  • She’s also contemplating the critical care of a sibling in need in her home.
  • She worked outside the home while Scott started New England Multimedia. Michelle was a waitress in a tourist village, because it gave her the hours and daily cash  to get up and running and keep food on the table.
  • She avidly promotes her community in Rhode Island lending support and volunteerism for not-for-profit organizations and promoting them all over social media
  • Michelle’s Facebook page for their company is one to follow and participate in – she engages in a genuine way each day and the questions she asks may or may not have anything to do with an end game. I like that.
  • No one offers the support and encouragement that Michelle does. She frequently lends positive feedback and even pushed me to do a video (which I shared and she fell off her chair about).

There’s so much more to learn about Michelle; however, this is what I’ve gleaned, impressively, from follows, online engagement, tweets and one phone call ever.

Congrats, Michelle, for being a role model for we working professional moms in continuing to push an image and brand that has nothing to do with motherhood and apple pie and everything to do with professionalism in business.

If you’d like to suggest another professional working mom to feature right here, please share; there are millions of women in this world, and we need to meet half of them!