The Intersection of Online and Offline

I try to keep this blog and my “day job” separate, but my pal David Wescott of “It’s Not a Lecture” had some very kind words for me in a post yesterday that merit a big “thanks”:

Kudos to my old pal for being named Director of New Media for the Securities Exchange Commission. We don’t work together anymore but I’ve enjoyed keeping up with him on Twitter and his blog. I don’t typically say nice things about Republicans, but here goes:

Under Chairman Cox’s leadership, Mark Story has helped usher in a new chapter of communication and accountability to a government agency that is widely perceived to be as “old school” as it gets. Mark is creative and dynamic and I think he’s going to help companies make their financial information more clear and accessible.”

These words of praise are truly meaningful because, trust me:  David gets it.  He is one of the leading political, mommy blogger and social media experts out there.  And he learned it the same way I did:  by trying stuff and figuring it out.

Thanks, pal.  And go Sox!

Mark

Hi everyone,

Below are the slides that will guide our lecture for Week #6.

Mark

I have gained semi-notoriety this week because of my online-based apology tour, having said stupid things, apologized and my idiocy was well-documented and forgiven on CareerDiva.net, the New York Times, and I even did an interview yesterday with the Washington Business Journal (no link yet because it will be a couple of weeks, but you can count on my self-promotional side to pimp that too).

I have a semi-foul mouth, which has been curbed only through my parenthood, but for those of you who have read this blog, you’ll note that when I become particularly exasperated by something that I think is inane, my usual response is:

“Jesus.”

Well, now I have either an outlet for that, or an e-portal which may just ensure my eternal damnation.  Tech Crunch reported recently on the launch of Gospelr,

…a microblogging platform for people who want to share thoughts, ideas, words of encouragement, prayer requests, daily scripture readings, and oh so much more.”

I am honestly not here to praise or condemn this, but one of the questions that I get asked frequently and was asked yesterday during the interview was “What is the next BIG THING?”  Some people B.S. (there’s that foul mouth again), their way through this, but my answer was simple:  Anyone who tells you what the NEXT BIG THING is is lying.

An example of this is the fact that Gospelr is based upon the Twitter platform and represents a segmentation of the Twitter audience.  A year ago, who predicted that Twitter would launch, crash (literally), an then crawl back into our waiting arms?  And what about that stupid whale?

I think that Gospelr represents the fact that microblogging has now become so intertwined with our lives, we’ll begin to see more and more platforms that are targeted towards a particular segment of the of the  population who share common interests.  Now THAT’S interesting.

I’ll avoid all other commentary as to minimize the flaming comments that are undoubtedly headed my way.

Mark

I had always hoped to be in the New York Times, but perhaps under somewhat different circumstances.

I wrote about it last week “I Was Wrong - Sorry Eve,” but the New York Times’ Marci Alboher picked up on the email blogging exchange that Eve Tahmincioglu and I had, which ended up with my feeling like a lunkhead.

Marci wrote a balanced, fair piece:

All this transparency and accountability led to a happy ending. Mr. Story did a follow-up post of his own, calling his original post a “cheap shot” against Eve (as support for this, he admitted that some of his own readers agreed with Eve’s original premise) and apologized to her. Eve included his apology in her follow-up post.

In addition to learning a few lessons about taking ownership for your words online, I also discovered a possible cure for social networking overload in Mr. Story’s original post — social networking aggregators, a new type of site that has sprung up to help people keep up with multiple social networking communities at once. Clearly, I have to get acquainted with these sites.

Thank you, Marci for providing balance and a measured tone — both of which would have served me well a couple of weeks back.

Mark

I hear a lot, both in the online and offline environments, terms that confuse the fundamental role of public relations with other similar communications functions.  Terms like “marketing public relations” certainly does not help clear up any of the confusion.

In my mind, to be a good public relations practitioner, you have to understand the fundamentals of what you are doing.  You are not shoveling information down people’s throats, or probing their subconsciousness in an attempt to get them to buy that new Mercedes.  If you are blasting our press releases by the thousands, you are not practicing good public relations.  Really.

My three favorite definitions of public relations come from:

• Cutlip, Center and Broom (text): “Public relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends.”
• Webster’s – “The art and science of developing reciprocal understanding and goodwill.”
• Public Relations News – “Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest and plans and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

There’s a lot to like in these definitions like “publics upon whom its success of failure depends,” “reciprocal understanding and goodwill,” and I really like the last one that classifies public relations as a management function.

What is common in all of these is the two-way nature of the relationship.  Sure, you might be talking, but you damn sure should be listening as well.  Think about the companies that have depended upon us for the societal license to operate (tobacco companies, chemical companies), that, due to public pressure, have changed the fundamental way that they do business.  So the important part of either online or offline public relations is the reciprocity:  if you are not talking to the your publics — and listening — and responding or acting — you are not doing it right.

P.S. - Just to stir the pot a little, I have listed a group of associated items that public relations, — in its purest definition –  IS NOT.   Feel free to comment early and often.

• Marketing
• Lobbying
• Spin
• Advertorials
• Publicity

Mark