Are all of your Facebook status updates products of rigorous review processes by your communications, legal and policy departments?

Does the above result in social networks in which you’re only posting one or two times per week?

Then maybe social media isn’t for you (or your company.)  Or, more to the point, maybe your organization needs a communications climate change.

If you think the above examples are overly-exagerrated, think again.  Unfortunately, we’ve run across several organizations in recent weeks where those examples held true.  And yet these organizations were left scratching their heads as to why their online communications programs weren’t bearing fruit.

In their minds, they needed to invest more money in bells and whistles.  New apps.  Fresh widgets.

Wrong.

It’s not about the widgets.  It’s about the content.

We’re living in the age of real-time, folks.  While that may sound scary, it’s reality.  Are you ready to adapt?

It may only have been a few years ago that you had the luxury of spending an entire afternoon running your press releases through a groupthink approval process before hitting the send button on your fax machine.

But times have changed.  We have to be able to react within seconds, not hours.

And different communications platforms require different discussions.  People on Twitter and Facebook don’t simply want focus group-tested talking points.  They want a discussion.  They want a conversation.

So, what we normally tell organizations is this: either change your communications climate, or stop embarrassing yourself with a failed social media experiment.

Otherwise, you’re throwing good money after bad, and tarnishing your brand in the process.

Are you read for the climate change?

“Email is probably dying.”

Forgive us if we’re skeptical.

While nobody can fully predict what new technology will take hold over the next few years, email is still the fabric that holds together online communications.

For example, Ms. Sandberg should look at her own company.  In fact, Facebook would be a whole lot different without email.  Where do friend requests, event invites and messages end up?  In both your regular email and Facebook inboxes.

Whether or not Facebook launches its own version of email — it’s still email.

Facebook also recently launched a new partnership with Yahoo! in which those with Yahoo! accounts can fully integrate the Facebook experience into their email.

Other newer social networking tools (and, yes, email is a social networking tool) also heavily rely on email.  Twitter, for example, relies on email to deliver you direct messages and new follower alerts.

Further, take a look at this recent study that finds the great majority (58%) of Americans start their day with email — as opposed to 11% starting it with Facebook.  Those numbers could change in the coming years, but those current numbers don’t make it seem as if email is going anywhere anytime soon.

Will email change?  Yes.  Will it adapt?  Yes.

We already see how Gmail users’ experience is changing — with the integration of Google Buzz, Google Voice and evolution of Google Chat.

Yahoo! is changing, as well, with its Facebook integration.

So, yes, email will change.  Email five years from now may look much different than it does today.  But that doesn’t mean it’s dying.

It’s adapting.  And it’s a bit too early to predict its demise.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of listening in on a Bulldog Reporter teleconference featuring social media/tech evangelist Robert Scoble, entitled, “2010 Tech Trends and Tactics.”  (You can view the live tweets here.)

What made this teleconference so interesting is that here you had Scoble — a journalist (yes, bloggers are journalists) who is also a brand unto himself — talking to PR flaks about how best to utilize new online tools to engage the media.  I say this is “interesting” because not only are many of these PR folks the same people who are pitching Scoble on their clients’ new apps and wares — Scoble is out there using these tools to build his brand.

But I digress…

The key issues that stuck out for me from the teleconference were the following:

• Know what your story is first and know how to tell it.  That will determine what tools to use. As I’ve written here previously, content and message should always come before tech.  Too many people worry about their “Facebook strategy” or “Twitter strategy” before thinking about their content strategy.  If you don’t have a compelling story — there isn’t a tool in the world that’s going to help you.  Scoble hits the nail on the head with this one.

• Blogs are still the best way to tell a story. Of course, I’m not surprised that Scoble (a blogger extraordinaire) would say this, but he’s correct.  Tools like Facebook and Twitter are great — but blogs really allow you to expand the space in which you can tell your story.  As Scoble pointed out, frequent, unique, compelling content on your blog is also the best way to pump up your content’s SEO value.

• The most effective PR “pitches” Scoble gets are from friends or fans recommending products, rather than press release and pitch calls. This really reinforces the idea that modern communication is about authenticity.  It’s not about slick taglines.  Your product has to be good.  Your service has to be solid.  If those two principles are in tact — your product will create buzz organically.  No amount of tweets or status updates can cover up for a crappy product/service.  And the buzz you create is the best PR you can generate.  More so than any press release you can send to journalists like Scoble.  (Could the press release really be dead?)

All in all, a worthwhile teleconference.  Thanks to Bulldog for putting on the teleconference — and thanks to Scoble for participating.

Is there a department for social media at your company?

I guess the better question to ask — should companies have a social media department?

Mashable delves deep into this question in a recent article from their series on Social Media for Business Leaders.

In this crazy out-of-control world of social media — where the structure is open and expanding everyday — businesses are striving for ways to set organizational structure.

This article notes that social media is a natural extension of both marketing and public relations.

But a recent study from Econsultancy found that of the companies surveyed, 35% of companies managed their social media resources under the digital marketing team.  PR/communications departments managed only 21% of respondents, with 19% say that social media was managed by a cross — functional team.

In the Mashable article they interviewed some media professionals and consultants to find out their thoughts on what department ultimately “owns” social media.

Click here to read the full article and find the answer to the burning question.  Which department owns social media?

We recently posted about “Getting Started on Facebook” — taken from our new e-book, “The Press Release is Dead.”

Facebook, of course, should not be the center of your media initiative, but its huge size forces you to at least consider participating, regardless of what type of business you run.

But, many brands are putting an awful lot of time and resources into Facebook, which is perhaps justifiable based on these Facebook stats.

Your media strategy, however, should be multi-faceted and shouldn’t focus on any one medium — least of all Facebook.

Does your business think tons of your customers should become fans of the company’s Facebook page?  If yes, you might want to rethink your expectations.

Collecting fans on Facebook can get addictive. Don’t make collecting fans a hobby like a child collecting comic books.

You do not want to just focus solely on collecting fans. You want to engage the fans that you have and move beyond simple wall posts.

If you’re going to go to the trouble and expense of engaging with your customers in your media efforts, you must give them the tools for supporting your brand.

Consider posting more photos, videos, links and other content.  Check out some good Facebook pages from our previous post on Getting Started on Facebook.

Facebook provides an exceptional opportunity for visibility, Google Indexing, live search ability, and fan engagement – wether you are a small business or a large brand.

While this is all great and should be part of your overall media strategy — lets focus on engaging the fans you already have.

I have a couple questions for you.

How many Facebook fans do you have?

What do you want your Facebook fans to do?

If you do not know the answer to the second question (What do you want your Facebook fans to do?) then you need to figure this out soon or you will never engage your fans and grow your page.

You are not alone, for most this is the biggest weakness for company-based media programs.

Here are some ways to activate and engage your fans:

• Content, Content and More Content: Provide content that your customers can use as tools to help promote your business for you.  Something as simple as a printable coupon, brand stories and content that you have already created for your newsletters, advertisements and other businesses promotions.

• Tie it All Together: Make sure all your media channels know about each other.  It is like a “cocktail party” and you need to introduce your Twitter fans to your Facebook fans, YouTube videos and Flicker photos.  Make all these media efforts work together and not unrelated.

• Interact and Converse: Our company’s principal, Curt Mercadante, has discussed how companies need to stop using online tools as a one-way communication device — and start engaging in conversation, networking and providing real value.  Curt terms this the “Benefits of Engagement” (BOE).   Start to understand your fans/followers and read what they are saying and engage with them – by creating content or messages that are relevant.

• Exclusive Content: That’s right, more content!  Give your fans and friends access (via link on Twitter or Facebook or your blog) to sneak peeks at your new product. Or a new website. Or your companies new TV ad. Just making them feel like part of the team will go a long way.

Is your business taking advantage of Facebook? How important is it to your overall media efforts? What advice do you have for activating your fans/followers?

One of the most frequently asked questions of marketers looking to engage with “social media” tools is: what’s my return on investment (ROI)?

The number of blogs (and even books) that have been written on this topic is seemingly endless.

I think we should stop looking for the “ROI” and instead start talking about “Benefits of Engagement” (BOE).

Click here to read more.

Visit this new campaign at OperationTweetfront.com — which is designed to raise vital funds for Operation Homefront of Illinois.

OH-IL provides emergency assistance and morale to our troops, to the families they leave behind and to wounded warriors when they return home.

While these heroes are risking everything to protect us — the least we can do is help protect their families.

For every person that retweets the message at OperationTweetfront.com between now and midnight New Year’s Eve — our firm will donate $2 (up to $2,500) to Operation Homefront of Illinois.

All you have to do to help a wounded warrior is re-tweet the message at OperationTweetfront.com. It’s that simple!

Thank you for your support, and we hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

• Loneliness can spread through social networks?
• It’s about engagement — not eyeballs
• Great presentation on social media tools and government affairs

When then-candidate Barack Obama delivered his A More Perfect Union speech on race in March 2008 — it was viewed on YouTube by more than 6 million people.

Talk about by-passing the so-called “mainstream” media.

The fact is, online video is becoming one of the most powerful communications media in the world.  Take a look at these key findings from comScore’s August 2009 Video Metrix report:

• More than 161 million viewers watched an average of 157 videos per viewer during the month of August.
• 81.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• 120.5 million viewers watched nearly 10 billion videos on YouTube.com (82.6 videos per viewer).
• 44.9 million viewers watched 340 million videos on MySpace.com (7.6 videos per viewer).
• The duration of the average online video was 3.7 minutes.

So, you work at a small business or non-profit.  You don’t have the resources of Barack Obama or a large corporation.  Can you use online video successfully, too?

Absolutely.  Because, while many different people and organizations are posting and watching many different types of video content — we find (for our clients) that online video is a wonderful tool for doing one of the things that works best online:  storytelling.

Earlier this year, we posted our video interview with Bryan Quigley of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform — an organization that is using online video effectively to tell the stories of real-life victims of lawsuit abuse.

In his great new book, Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk explains how he has used online video to showcase his raw, energetic personality to build his father’s small liquor store into the multi- multi-million dollar online phenomenon WineLibrary TV.

This past week at the Public Relations Society of American 2009 International Conference, we heard from a variety of speakers who presented case studies on their effective use of inexpensive online video:

• Luann Lawrence, vice president for university advancement at Oregon State University, described how the university is using user-generated videos from students and alumni as part of their successful “Powered by Orange” online campaign.
• Lt. Col. Gerald Ostlund, webmaster and chief, OCAR, at the U.S. Army Reserve, described how his team’s weapon of choice is the Flip Cam — telling the stories of their soldiers through simple, unpolished videos such as these.

As you can see, it doesn’t take expensive cameras, lighting equipment and a makeup artist to produce great video content.  All it takes is a Flip Cam, or an iPhone camera, or whatever video camera you have  — and good content.

As Lt. Col. Gerald Ostlund said during his PRSA presentation:

“There is a place for polished video, but it isn’t in social media.”

We couldn’t agree more.  We have a number of current and potential clients who worry too much about camera angles and lighting.  It’s like the traditional PR flak who is still focused on the font and margins of his press release.

What matters is the content, plain and simple.  So how can you tell your story, or the stories of your members, customers or fans?

• If you’re a local Chamber of Commerce, how about doing quick, 30-second videos of your local member business owners at your events, allowing them to tell their stories, promote their businesses, and plug the Chamber in the process?
• Running a political campaign?  Empower your supporters by asking them to submit their own user-generated videos telling everyone why they support you.  Trust me — it will be much more compelling than your candidate telling the world how wonderful he/she is.
• A local non-profit?  Take your camera around (to those willing to do it) and get video of the people served by your organization, telling their stories and showing your current and potential donors exactly why their contributions are so vital.

Your blog, your Facebook page, your YouTube account — whatever online tools you use — are the best storytelling media ever developed.

But, like with everything else, the tools don’t make the story — the storytellers do.

The packed rooms for each of the social media panels I attended today (which far exceeded attendance at other sessions) is further proof that PR professionals have the desire to engage with these new tools — even if all of them aren’t quite certain how to do it.  (Although I will say that the large quantities of attendees live tweeting all proceedings today shows that many are already engaging quite aggressively.)

The big themes in all of the sessions I attended today were authenticity and engagement.

We live in a time when (as we’ve written about here before) submitting a press release and putting it out on the “blast fax” does not suffice for a successful communications program.  We need to engage in a variety of new realms, using a number of new tools.  And, whereas the PR relationship model used to be engagement with the media — PR pros now must re-learn to engage directly with thousands of people.

We can no longer just be bystanders who throw out pitches and press releases.  We have to be actively involved in the conversation.

Solid, crisp, journalistic writing skills are as important as ever — but we have to learn to make our content fit a variety of new media, and be “sharable” and “re-tweetable.”  Rather than mere broadcasters, PR professionals must become storytellers — but always allowing the audience to become involved and, yes, even to become part of the story.

In one of our sessions today, Lt. Col. Gerald Ostlund, social media guru for the U.S. Army Reserves, shared some great case studies of how they are reaching a wide audience and having a real impact by a) telling stories through the eyes of their soldiers, b) doing it with a budget of almost $0 and, c) showing the power of a simple flip cam.

Ostlund is one of the many presenters today who showcased the importance of authenticity.  Using raw, unedited online video to tell stories.  Staying away from “slick” in favor of quick, dirty, and real.  As Ostlund said:

“There is a place for polished video, but it isn’t in social media.”

I wholeheartedly agree.

The PR profession is at a crossroads.  It must adapt its decades old model to fit the new media environment — including not only how media is consumed, but how we deliver it directly to consumers, voters, employers, et. al.

As Daryl McCullough, CEO of PainePR said today … quoting the great Jedi prophet Yoda:

“Your must unlearn what you have learned.”

With that, I leave you with the following video interview with Brian Solis, editor of PR 2.0 and president of FutureWorks, who also presented at today’s conference.  Thanks to Mike Smith for conducting this interview:

Click here for Part II of this interview with Brian.

The Associated Press reports:

Technology stars, pundits, and entrepreneurs joined the Internet’s father on Thursday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his culture-changing child.”It’s the 40th year since the infant Internet first spoke,” said University of California, Los Angeles, professor Leonard Kleinrock, who headed the team that first linked computers online in 1969. Kleinrock led an anniversary event that blended reminiscence of the Internet’s past with debate about its future.

On October 29, 1969 Kleinrock led a team that got a computer at UCLA to “talk” to one at a research institute.  Kleinrock was driven by a certainty that computers were destined to speak to each other and that the resulting network should be as simple to use as telephones. US telecom colossus AT&T ran lines connecting the computers for ARPANET, a project backed with money from a research arm of the US military.

Watch this related video from AP on the Web’s anniversary:

Not a long post here, but I did want to reference my prior post about the need for my health club to take their communications online.

I’m pleased to report that, as of last week, they began aggressively promoting their new Web site in fliers throughout the club.  In addition, they’re up on Facebook — providing helpful updates about their hours, class cancellations, etc.

They still have to get their site to improve in the search rankings, but this is a good first step for them.

Kudos, Morris Athletic Club!

Pitaro echoes many of the same themes we shared in our previous post on “pay-for-content”:

Many companies are trying to protect their bottom lines by putting up pay walls. However, this plan ignores two simple facts: (1) consumers are also struggling during these tough economic times; and (2) no matter how many businesses charge for online content, there are always going to be free competitors that will attract those same users.

We absolutely agree.  If it was just News Corp. vs. New York Times vs. The Washington Post, then pay-for-content might be viable.  But current technology has allowed thousands and thousands of flowers to bloom from both non-profits, for-profits and citizen journalists who all compete for readers with these media behemoths.

As Pitaro states, these free content competitors do pose a problem to the strategy of the “pay-for-content” folks.  And, we we stated in our earlier post, the pay-for-content folks create opportunity for those of us producing free content.

Oh, and by the way, a recent Rasmussen poll shows that almost half of American Internet users think “pay-for-content” is a “loser” — largely because they’ll be able to “find quality news content without having to pay for it.”

The memory of September 11, 2001 is still crystal clear.  Turning on the TV as I got dressed for work, I watched the Today show team react as the second airplane hit the tower.

Today we remember those who were brutally murdered on that day, and we also pray for and recognize those who have died in the defense of our freedom, and those who still sacrificed to defend it today.

There are many ways to honor our military.  One way is by supporting Operation Homefront-Illinois — a vital organization that provides support to the families of military men and women deployed overseas. Please consider making a contribution to OH today.

What do I mean?

Well, more than one of my clients has insisted on responding to a blog post, or a letter to the editor, or even a Tweet with a press release (or, in some cases, a press conference.)

I have to remind them of a simple rule I like to follow:  respond in the forum in which you were attacked.

Otherwise, you broadcast the initial attack and introduce it to an audiences who never would’ve seen it.

If someone attacks you or your company in a letter to the editor — respond with a letter in the same paper (if you feel, strategically, that a response is even warranted.)  If someone attacks you in a blog — respond directly to that blog.  Attacked on Twitter?  Respond on Twitter.

I was delighted to read in the recent issue of PRSA Strategist that this strategy was followed recently by Domino’s Pizza.  In this case, Domino’s Pizza had to respond to a viral YouTube video of two Domino’s employees allegedly doing disgusting things to a pizza (the video actually turned out to be a hoax.)

I urge you to read the full post to see the detailed response of Domino’s to this crisis, but one of the great things they did was to focus their response in the forums in which they were maligned:  the blog that initially posted the video; YouTube; and, Twitter.

One of the foundations of their response was a YouTube video by the company president (with a great title: “Disgusting Domino’s People – Domino’s Responds”) that has garnered more than 750,000 views to date.

In following this approach, they effectively managed the crisis by communicating to those audiences that actually were aware of the video and discussing it.  They didn’t broadcast the crisis to whole new audiences that wasn’t previously aware of the video.

They engaged in the discussion where it was actually occurring.

Good job, Domino’s.

But that was then.  Now, McCain is a Twitterholic.  He’s got more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter — and even did a Twitter-only interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last March.

In his recent interview on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (below), he discusses his Twitter exploits and the vital role that Twitter played in the recent Iranian election protests:

Do you think the below (disturbing yet funny) video is what they had in mind? Not sure what’s more disturbing: the lyrics, the melody or this guy’s pajama pants:

Now, the Christian Science Monitor editorial page is calling for Twitter to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. I’m not sure if we agree with giving them that prize — although the Twitter team certainly would be as deserving (if not more) than some recent recipients. However, we did want to share with you the first several paragraphs of the editorial, which are very powerful and on point:

The video gave substance to what seemed so far away. We saw the look in her eyes as they went lifeless. We heard the sounds of her friends and family as they begged her to hold on. And she became the personification of the struggle for democracy in a country where voices for freedom are quelled.

Her name was Neda Agha-Soltan, and without Twitter we might never have known that she lived in Iran, that she dreamed of a free Iran, and that she died in a divided Iran for her dreams.

Neda became the voice of a movement; Twitter became the megaphone. Twitter is a free social-messaging utility. It drove people around the world to pictures, videos, sound bites, and blogs in a true reality show of life, dreams, and death. Last month’s marches for freedom and the violent crackdowns were not only documented but personalized into a story of mythic tragedy.

When traditional journalists were forced to leave the country, Twitter became a window for the world to view hope, heroism, and horror. It became the assignment desk, the reporter, and the producer. And, because of this, Twitter and its creators are worthy of being considered for the Nobel Peace Prize.

As the editorial page states, Twitter was merely a megaphone that allowed the dissemination of the content and voices of protest in Iran.  As such, we disagree that Twitter is the “assignment desk, the reporter, and the producer.”  Those jobs will always belong to the people who produce the content — the brave citizen journalists.

In our opinion, Twitter is akin to the camera, the microphone, the television and the radio.

And we’d rather the Nobel Peace Prize go to these brave citizen journalists — rather than the mere tools they used.