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traditional media

Consequences of the Social Web

by Nate Riggs on September 10, 2009

If you watched President Obama’s address to Congress last night, or have been following the news today, you probably know that Republican lawmaker Joe Wilson screwed up.  Badly.  Fueled by a disagreement with a statement Obama made on Health Care Reform and illegal immigrants, Wilson shouted, “You lie!” directly at the President.  His statement was heard by the entire crowd, and by a national audience tuning in on broadcast media.  Obama, being known to be bluntly direct in his own communication, promptly responded, “No, I don’t”.  The short silence was deafening.

Ouch.

But how bad is ouch?  What are the consequences of screwing up in the public forum, when we live in an age of new media communication where everyone is a potential publisher?

First, the Associated Press reported that Wilson’s official site received so much traffic that it crashed.  It’s still down, as of writing this post.

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Congressman Wilson is also on Twitter (in reality, it appears that someone from his staff tweets for him).  His profile was, and continues to be, bombarded by comments deploring the outburst.  A Twitter Search for “Joe Wilson” brings back 1,445 results as of 1:03 this afternoon.

Interestingly, the page updates every minute, increasing by 30-50 indexed results each time.  What does that mean?  Simply, it means that the conversation is still going.  Hordes of people are still talking about Joe Wilson and the incident on Twitter.  Good, bad or ugly.

A Technorati search for “Joe Wilson” brings back 5,026 indexed results as of 1:10 PM today. If you visit the link, you’ll notice that some posts flog Wilson for his actions, while others support the Congressman – and flog President Obama for his ideas on Health Care Reform.  Either way, the blogosphere has been flooded with conversations, reactions and opinions on the matter.

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So what?
Obama’s address aired on national broadcast media at 8 p.m. last night.  While I don’t have the exact time, Wilson’s comment was made somewhere in the middle of the speech.  That means in less than 18 hours, Wilson’s presence (or footprint) on the internet has been changed forever.

I’m not very political-minded, nor have I ever had much desire to get involved in politics.  It’s simply a personal choice.  And up until this morning, I honestly had no idea who Joe Wilson was.  I sure do now.  First impressions are powerful…

Does speed and reach of the social web ever scare you?


PS.  To Congressman Wilson’s credit, he immediately and, in my opinion, genuinely apologized for his poor judgment and bad form.  He did so publicly, and according the the Associated Press, he also made attempts to personally apologize to President Obama, though he was not able to reach the Oval Office directly.  Sometimes people screw up.  Wilson did some keen damage control by being transparent and keeping communications open during his personal crisis.

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Brand Ownership

by Nate Riggs on September 1, 2009

I’m happy to be speaking tomorrow morning.

A group of smart business people involved with Ohio Web Leaders will wake up early to allow me to share some ideas on how they can start Building Brand YOU.  (BIG thank-yous to Tom Augustine & Amy Marshall for the invitation.)  We’ll be talking about everything from what’s behind brands, to strategy and outposts, as well as some of the benefits of investing time and effort in digital self-branding.

One of the most compelling arguments for self-branding is that the content you create online is critical in establishing a context for building relationships, especially when you are using technology to communicate across geographical distances.  But more on that tomorrow…

Shift in Ownership
In the Old West, brands implied ownership.  Red hot branding irons were used to permanently mark cattle with symbols, so others would know to whom and where they belonged.  Good for the cowboys, but likely unpleasant for thePicture 23 cattle, right?

Brands have changed since then, and there are literally millions of ideas out there on what a brand is and what brands mean.  Adding to the mix, here’s my take:

A brand is a collection of content in the form of stories, experiences and media, that creates a perception of a company, product or individual in the minds of the consumer, to evoke an emotional response.

Thoughts?  Am I close or completely off-base with what you think about a brand?

One of the key questions today, related to brands, lies in ownership?  Does a brand still signify ownership? If so, who are the owners of a brand?  Really. In terms of media, there is quite a contrast from the old school mindset to the new school mindset in regards to brand ownership:

Picture 13It’s important to remember that we have seen a major shift in media over the past few years.  Today’s media is built on a foundation of widespread accessibility and ease of use.

It used to take the a significant amount of dollars, time and skill to reach  millions upon millions of people with a given message.  It used to be that you needed to be a famous celebrity or high profile executive leader to have an opportunity to get your face in front of a national or international audience.

Today, any video that is interesting enough to spread can literally be seen by millions of people overnight on YouTube.  Today, power bloggers and Twitter users have overshadowed journalists and become celebrities in their own right, using social media outposts to communicate ideas to mass audiences AND engage them in conversations.

Today, just about anyone and everyone with an Internet connection has the power to draw attention to a brand – good or bad – and influence people.  Increased media accessibility has made this the easy part.

Make sense?  Disagree?  Do you feel like you own a brand?

P.S. The event tomorrow was sold out due to the size of the room, so I promise to post a video of the presentation tomorrow with some of the ideas I’m going to share with the group.

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Social Web Visibility Helps Create Traditional Media Awareness

by Nate RiggsAugust 12, 2009

Seth Godin would agree that Jake Shimabukuro is the best in the world. Jake is a Ukulele Virtuoso. Once you hear him play, you’ll get the picture as to why he is worth talking about. Jake uses Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, iLike, a blog, and social media tools that help make his music and brand story visible to audiences around the world. Jake has built a Total Internet Presence.

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