It’s a fascinating time to be in Washington, DC right now.  The first 100 days of any new administration (sort of a fake deadline, but one that the media loves) is always a time of intense focus.  And it is true that when a President’s popularity ranking is high, THAT is when it is time to expend political capital in the capitol (could not resist a short grammar lesson on what is a pet peeve of mine).

So President Obama is going to try to ramrod some rules and legislation through, most Democrats will support him and there will be wailing from the Republicans. Happens every time.  Lots of rhetoric that people dissect, but I ignore.

So since I am sure that President Obama is reading my .rss feed on his $3,300 mobile device (what a commercial for the company), I harken back to what I think are the fundamental keys of acting in such a way to gain public acceptance — and that is the Arthur Page Principles.

In 1927 (this is not a typo), Arthur Page, a former VP for “American Telephone and Telegraph”) set our the fundamental principles for what has become the modern-day public relations practice (and I consistently argue, the basis of both offline and online- the Page Principles).  Here’s my combination of Mr. Page’s advice along with my unsolicited input for the incoming administration as well as the new Congress.

• Tell the truth. Let the public know what’s happening and provide an accurate picture of the company’s character, ideals and practices. [My note:  Nothing could be more true for me.  Most people feel that politicians don't tell them the truth.  If you are going to raise my taxes, tell me.  I am a big boy].
• Prove it with action. Public perception of an organization is determined 90 percent by what it does and 10 percent by what it says. [My note: If you are worried about "the little guy" or the unemployed, isn't it a little incongruous to spend millions on an inauguration, even if it is paid for with private money?  What if one -- just one -- incoming President said that the best way to thank supporters would be to donate the money what would have been spent getting drunk and shouting (and I have been drunk and shouted at inaugural balls) and start some sort of job retraining center for the unemployed?]
• Listen to the customer. To serve the company well, understand what the public wants and needs. Keep top decision makers and other employees informed about public reaction to company products, policies and practices. [My note: In this case, the "customer" is the American public and you are going to get 300 million different opinions.  This one is a little harder, but there has to be a better way to listen/govern than opinion polls].
• Manage for tomorrow. Anticipate public reaction and eliminate practices that create difficulties. Generate goodwill. [My note: This actually fits pretty nicely with "political capital."  Generate good will amongst supporters and hurry up and spend it.  But I am also curious if things like "manage for tomorrow" include the looming social security problem that no one wants to talk about.]
• Realize a company’s true character is expressed by its people. The strongest opinions — good or bad — about a company are shaped by the words and deeds of its employees. As a result, every employee — active or retired — is involved with public relations. It is the responsibility of corporate communications to support each employee’s capability and desire to be an honest, knowledgeable ambassador to customers, friends, shareowners and public officials. [My note: Not a lot to say about this except that how many times has an administration come to town and said "THIS IS GOING TO BE THE MOST ETHICAL ADMINISTRATION IN HISTORY!"  'Nuff said.
• Remain calm, patient and good-humored. Lay the groundwork for public relations miracles with consistent and reasoned attention to information and contacts. This may be difficult with today's contentious 24-hour news cycles and endless number of watchdog organizations. But when a crisis arises, remember, cool heads communicate best. [My note: Remember Ronald Reagan, his good humor and charm that earned him the nickname of both "The Great Communicator" as well as the "Teflon President?" ]

Just my thoughts, but it still amazes me that a set of guidelines that were laid out more than 70 years ago would still be SO relevant today.

Mark

At the request of my pal and blogger extraordinaire, David Wescott (wow – I’m not one line into this post and already I have used five French words – touche!) I wanted to offer some thoughts and open up a discussion thread for how the Obama administration may change “things.” I have put “things” in quotes because I want to keep the floor open for comments and ideas.  Since I get to go first, here’s my thinking:

Social media, social media, social media.

Am I clear?  Good.

Just last week, I did a Media Bullseye Radio Roundtable on “the First Internet Election,” and while we are several months away from getting hard numbers, one can draw a dotted line (in pencil) to social media and voter turnout.  Don’t put it in pen, yet because we don’t have any hard numbers yet. This morning’s Boston Globe reported that voter turnout was NOT at an all time high:

Turnout in last week’s election increased from four years ago but fell far short of some forecasts largely because many Republican voters either stayed home or left blank the presidential section of their ballots.”

So what will change?  Well, by now, we have all seen Change.gov, “..for the Office of the President-elect and Office of the Vice President-elect, as recognized by the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, as amended (3 USC 102 note).  There’s a first and an indication that President-elect Obama will turn more to delivering information to an increasingly Internet-savvy populace via social media.  Cool.  But here’s what I wonder.  You can’t just go and register a political site (let alone build it) in a day, so someone was working on this puppy for a long time.  Within the government, because that is the only way that you can get a .gov domain.

Quick bipartisan note:  The Republicans have a site, too: Republican for a Reason.

Second,  the Wall Street Journal reported in November on how President-elect Obama made tremendous use of many social media tools during the election, including Twitter, Facebook and email and text alerts.  As someone who draws a paycheck from Uncle Sam, this is harder to do from within government, but I think that President-elect Obama at least grasps the concept that government can be more efficient by delivering information to the populace via social media tools.

Well, memes are supposed to be short, so I’ll stop here and leave it to other, smarter minds to continue to conversation.  So consider yourself tagged:

• David Wescott of “It’s Not a Lecture“
• Jenn Zingsheim of Custom Scoop
• Geoff Livingston of the “Buzz Bin”
• Cheryl Contee of “Jack and Jill Politics”

Start memming, folks.  And the one, super-smart guy who I left off of my list is my pal, Jason Falls, who last time I tagged him for a meme, wrote “My Hatred of the Memes is Overcome Only by my Liking the Memer.“  Lesson learned, Jason.  One bitch-slap is all I need to get the message.

C’est bon!

Mark

I have a love-hate relationship with politics, and I get jazzed about social media.  In the Media Bullseye Radio Roundtable I did last week, all of us predicted that we won’t have solid analysis for probably a few months in terms of the “youth vote” – what so many people are attributing to the rise of social media.

I have been watching the tea leaves a little, and thanks to Neville Hobson’s Tweet today, discovered that according to Valleywag, Obama’s Twitter account has gone silent since Election Day.  So before you guys start jumping all over me about transition, etc., don’t think for a minute that President-elect Obama was himself tweeting over a cup of joe (the plumber?) in the morning.  Valleywag says:

He didn’t even use Twitter to announce his transition website, change.gov — and what is Twitter for, really, if not spamming your friends with your latest URL? There’s no better sign that his 127,196 followers have been pumped and dumped.”

What I found equally interesting is that Newt Gingrich now has a Twitter account.  By all accounts in the use of social media, the political Left is WAY ahead of the political Right, but the next two years are going to be interesting.

Imitation is the best form of flattery.

Mark

Like many other people who are my peeps, I start my day off with some online news, peruse a couple of blogs, check Twitter (my tweeps), and sometimes even jump over to Facebook.

But I think that I am going to opt out of social media for the next month or so.  For me, it’s pretty simple.

I am hatin’ the hatin’.

Believe me, I am a First Amendment guy.  Most of the free world does not enjoy the freedoms that we do (read: China) when it comes to expressing individual opinion, especially via a vehicle that is targeted for mass distribution, like blogs, Twitter or Facebook.  But for me, it’s depressing as hell to open up social media tools and see so much venom spewed regarding the upcoming elections.  Again, see above — I am a First Amendment guy — but I am so tired of reading what are supposed to be either pithy or downright mean-spirited comments from both sides of the political aisle.  It’s a depressing way to start the day.

For example?

• “If I was [sic] John McCain, I would have insisted that the debates not be shot in HD.”
• “All of the McCain-Palin signs have gone missing from my neighborhood. And I thought Obama transcended politics.”
• “My neighbor got a new McCain-Palin sign. In fact, now he has two. Take that Obama sign stealers.”
• “Example #4980 why Congress is broken: The bailout vote was technically on the “Paul Wellstone Mental Health & Addiction Equity Act of 2007.”
• “Is the economy fixed yet?”
• “Is there anything about McC that you find NOT hypocritical lately?”

All of these represent Tweets or status updates that I have seen in the last week – hence, my decision to try to Opt Out of Ugliness.  You see, I have lived and worked in the nation’s capital since 1987 and have never — ever– seen such venom on both sides of the political aisle.  I am pretty sure that it was always there, it is just that the social-media-Hyde-Park-Speaker’s-Corner-Soap-Boxes did not yet exist.

So for all of you out there who are exercising your constitutionally-given right to express your political views, have at it.

But I can’t believe that I would EVER quote him — but of all of people, Howard Stern often said “if you don’t like what you are hearing, turn the radio dial.”  So for a while, I am out of the ugliness.

Mark