Not Religious, But Not Atone Deaf

I'm not the most observant Jew.

But for one day a year – Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement – even the least religious Jews find some semblance of religion.

Or at least, self-reflection.

Which is why I thought I'd use today to atone for some social media marketing transgressions over the past year. (Fiscal year 5770, for anyone counting):

• I didn't even try opening a Four Square account. Sorry, but it still just doesn't seem kosher to me

• I didn't use Twitter more than once or twice a week. ("You never call, you never Tweet...")

• I have not yet posted a picture to a Flickr account

• My FaceBook and LinkedIn accounts each seem to have reached critical mass. I think everyone I've ever known who wants to be listed on them is on them already. The additions now come in few and far between

But beyond that, 5770 was a very good year for us all at Extrovertic. A year of remarkable growth and change.

We look forward to even better things in 5771.

-Mark

The Grand Old Party Masters New Media

Last month, a study showed that Senate Republicans are beating the pants off their Democratic colleagues in their use of social media.

John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass) are at the top of the list, followed by one Democrat, Al Franken of Minnesota, and John Conryn (R-Texas). 

And while the top spots are occupied by the GOP, with the exception of the former Stuart Smalley, the Democrats largely own the bottom. The lowest scores went to Senators Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).

Surprisingly, in the "Age of Obama," John McCain is now considered a "Social Media Genius." 

But the fact that the Grand Old Party is mastering new media may explain another trend I've picked up on.

My father, a retiree in Boca Raton, and ardent Tea Party supporter, sends me -- and the hundreds of others fortunate enough to be on his mailing list -- at least one propaganda email a day. Sometimes two, three or more.

Most of these missives of misinformation are the equivalent of the proverbial Christmas fruitcake. A check at Snopes.com will show that the same email has been passed around for years, with different names plugged in to suit the times. "John Kerry" becomes "Hillary Clinton," etc.

Often their subject lines exploit the names of celebrities. ("What Robin Williams said about Obamacare!")

When confronted with the fact that the quote didn't actually come from Mr. Williams, my father will blurt something like, "Well, it's not about who said it, but what it says." To which I always respond, "But you wouldn't have sent it if you didn't think it actually came from Robin Williams."

These viral emails are coursing through the octogenarian circuit more furiously than Metamucil. 

They cover a wide array of topics such as Obama is a Muslim, Obama is a communist, Obama is an illegal alien, and Obama is getting ready to implement martial law.

And if it is on the Internet, these folks seem to think, it must be true.

Clearly the economy and many other factors have played a role in the Incredible Shrinking Obama Presidency. 

But a well-calculated, well-organized and probably well-funded social media campaign is picking up on the anger of the masses and amplifying it.

-Mark

Doc Com

According to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than 61 percent of adults use the Internet to look up health care information and find providers.

Another study, by Manhattan Research, shows that 60 percent of physicians say they currently use or want to use social networking sites.

Health care providers today don't have the time to spend with patients like they did in past eras. And patients are feeling more and more disconnected from their doctors.

Some doctors are taking advantage of the opportunity social media provides to form more of a bond with their patients. They don't use these tools to diagnose or treat illnesses, but merely to connect with their patients in a more personal way. And to provide them with information that they know is reliable. 

The MacArthur OB/GYN group in Irving, Texas, has a Facebook page with almost 700 members. Its posts include educational articles about Iron-Deficiency Anemia, chiropractic care during pregnancy and new 4-D sonogram technology. But it also engages in chit chat, asking members what they "plan to get Dad for Father's Day." And invites them to beta test a new online appointment scheduling program. 

For women in the Irving area looking for a good OB/GYN, the camaraderie and happy, satisfied chatter of the women on its Facebook page certainly must make MacArthur an attractive practice to consider. 

Then there are the world-renown clinics that have more patients than they have beds. These are often affiliated with teaching hospitals at universities.

They don't need more patients. They need funding.


A lively, loyal and enthusiastic patient following demonstrates to potential benefactors that their money will be going to a worthy cause. A Facebook group page is an easy way to build such a community.

One of the main concerns many doctors have about dipping their toes in social media is the amount of time they themselves will have to dedicate to such an endeavor. The co-chair of a well-known treatment facility at a university asked me this very question last week.

My answer was that he could put as much or as little time into it as he wants. The agency could do the heavy lifting. And there are probably plenty of people – staff and students –who would actually find the work fun. 

It's not a return to the house calls of the old days. But social media does give doctors a way to drop into people's homes, nonetheless.
-Mark

Who Wins Before They Even Take the Field?

Is red or orange the more extroverted color?

We looked at the home team uniforms of the two finalists in this Sunday’s soccer World Cup and noticed (how could we not?) that both of those colors are pretty darn loud.

Set either one against the deep green (“vert” in French, by the way) background of the soccer field (“football pitch” to the soccer-speaking world) and the contrast is stark.

Being the competitive (and Extrovertic) gang we are, we asked ourselves: which of the two uniforms is more extroverted?

Spain’s red? Or the Netherlands' orange?

Just so you know, the animal kingdom is equally torn. Paul the Octopus in Germany has picked Spain to win, but Singapore’s Mani the Parakeet tells us the Netherlands will rule the roost. (Frankly, we think Mani is just pulling Paul's legs.)

Let us know what you think.

-Pete

Twitter Synchronicity

Last month, I experienced a moment of what I call "Twitter Synchronicity" – one of those rare times when the uniqueness or sheer scale of an event can not fully be captured and appreciated were it not for the existence of Twitter. 

(The previous time I came close to such an experience was when my wife and I were awakened by an earthquake in Italy.)

This time it was on June 11, and as I was checking my Twitter feed, I came across a tweet from someone dining at an outdoor cafe on Lafayette Street in Manhattan. Just as he was about to put a spoonful of gazpacho in his mouth, a huge horde of naked bicyclists rode by, shouting, in unison, "More ass, less gas!"

The gazpacho-sipping gentleman reporting this occurrence seemed so caught off guard, I only hope that his dinner partner was not wearing white.

Amused by this scene, and curious to see if anyone else had witnessed the same thing, I entered "naked bikers" into the window on the Twitter Search page.

I seriously did not expect to find what I found:

Seems that day was World Naked Bike Ride Day, an annual event to protest car emissions that takes place all over the globe. This year's ride took on even more significance because of the BP oil leak in the gulf.

Similar tweets (with plenty of photographic evidence) were pouring in from everywhere: Sidney, London, Boston, San Francisco, Toronto, Moscow, you name it. If a city had roads, it had naked bicyclists riding on them. 

This was my most recent experience with Twitter Synchronicity.

I'd love to hear yours.

-Mark

BP Is Not a Well-Oiled Media Machine

Clearly, a good social media policy is not going to solve BP's image problem. The company is responsible for what is already looking like the worst man-made environmental catastrophe in history. 

But where a little humility would make BP at least just a tad more difficult to hate, the company has only added insult to injury. The crap regularly pouring out of CEO Tony Hayward's mouth is almost as toxic as what's coming out of the undersea pipe.

This week's edition of Newsweek online collects Hayward's gaffes, and to say they are impressive would be an understatement. The following is excerpted from the Newsweek site:

On April 29, The New York Times reported that Hayward, apparently exasperated, turned to fellow executives in his London office and asked, “What the hell did we do to deserve this?" (A possible answer might be the company's 760 safety violations over the last three years. ExxonMobil, in contrast, has had just one.) 

On May 14, Hayward attempted to persuade The Guardian that "the Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume."

Only a few days later, he told Sky News that "the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest." That might surprise the many scientists who see the spill as a true environmental calamity, the full extent of which remains unclear.

On May 30, Hayward was less bullish and decided to play the sympathy card. He told the Today show that "there’s no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back." (He has since apologized for those remarks.)

On May 31, he told the world that ecosystem-threatening underwater oil plumes—consisting of droplets of partially dissolved oil suspended in water that many scientists have observed—do not exist. He said simply, "There aren't any plumes."

On June 1, Hayward responded to claims that cleanup workers were being sickened by the fumes from the oil they were exposed to by suggesting another possible, non-oil-spill cause.When nine workers fell ill, according to Yahoo News, he told CNN that "food poisoning is clearly a big issue."

But Hayward is not alone in his manful struggle to spin the news in the face of daunting factual evidence. His colleague Bob Dudley, managing director of BP, told NBC's Meet the Press on May 30 that "I think Tony's doing a fantastic job." To paraphrase President George W. Bush during another poorly managed Gulf Coast disaster: heckuva job, Tony.

I was at Ogilvy when the BP, Beyond Petroleum campaign was created. BP wanted to portray itself as a different kind of energy company. A greener one. 

Interestingly, the original ads in the campaign were tempered with the tag line, "It's a start." This line served as a caveat that while the company had its head in the right place, and was open to new ideas, it could only promise so much change in the short term. 

I don't know when or why "It's a start" was dropped. Maybe the company started to believe its own rhetoric. Or maybe it just thought the public was dumb enough to believe it. 

It's perfectly clear now that BP is not beyond petroleum. Nor is it beyond letting its CEO open his mouth with one arrogant statement after another. 

Maybe BP needs to try a "Top Kill" or "Junk Shot" on that leaking orifice.

It would be a start.

-Mark

Call Me Square, But I Don't Get Foursquare

Today, a friend sent me an invitation to join Foursquare.

Frankly, between Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, I feel I'm more than covered in terms of my social media coverage.

I primarily use Facebook for my personal use, to reconnect and stay in touch with people from my past and present, to brag about my kids and share the occasional joke. (Okay, I also bring in my work life by posting links to this blog. But primarily so my friends and family can get a sense of what I do for a living. I did, however, open a Facebook page for our agency, too.)

I find LinkedIn to be incredibly valuable as an alternative to resumes. I use it for looking for talent, checking on prospective clients, and seeing who's been checking on us. It's also a great place to join in business-related discussions.

As for Twitter, I use it strictly for professional purposes. If I see an interesting article about a topic that interests me, I might share it with my peers. I'll also let them know when I have a new post on this blog. And I'll occasionally use it to speak one on one with someone.  But that's about it. I never could understand those who feel the need to tweet about what they're having for dinner.

Over the years, I've received many invitations to join other social networks that seemed very similar to LinkedIn and Facebook. I even signed up for a few of them before realizing that they were more trouble than they were worth. Who has time to keep up with all these things?

I had been hearing a lot of buzz about Foursquare and knew it was different enough to merit a look. At the site I watched a video that in very simple terms, explained the purpose of the network: "Check-in. Find your friends. Unlock your city."

You use it to let others continuously know where you are and what you think of it. If you post a lot about an establishment, you may be able to earn special rewards at that place. If you are the person who posts the most from there, you are deemed its "Mayor."

I understand that I don't fit into Foursquare's demographic. I'm sure that it will come in very handy for programs that we develop for our clients. It's really kind of neat.
 
But frankly, I don't have an urge to tell people where I am. If I'm not at work, I'm probably at home. And there, I'm the "King of the Castle."





-Mark