Keep your effectiveness

This time of year is special in education. We see graduates give inspiring and insightful speeches for classmates ushering in new phases in life's journey. On the other end of the spectrum, we celebrate the professional careers that come to a close as friends, mentors, and leaders retire.

Earlier today I had the pleasure of listening to a few speeches given on behalf of a retiring administrator in our school district.

One of the speakers said something that struck me as being relevant for Communications/PR professionals when she said, "Ms. Miller taught me to never let go of my effectiveness."

Never let go of your effectiveness
We've all had conversations and debates about being effective communicators, running effective campaigns, and effective leadership. We can also agree there are just as many reasons as there are ways for people who cease to be effective whether it's personal (no longer being effective in a relationship) or professional (no longer being an effective employee). Photo credit: jbelluch

My advice: Make a conscious effort to hold on to your effectiveness. 

• At home, pay attention to your loved ones. Be intentional.
• At work, do whatever it takes to maintain your credibility, availability, and usability. 
• Seek opportunities to improve.
• Never stop learning and growing.
  

What about you? How do you stay effective?

The Social Web is more valuable to PR than Social Media Tools

Recent conversations and blog posts have lead me to take a step back and look at the big picture for public relations professionals using social media tools in the age of the social web. (Photo: kimberlyfaye)

The Setup
I had the wonderful opportunity to conduct a session for the Greater Fort Worth PRSA's Professional Development workshop alongside media maven, Beth Harte and school PR colleague, Terry Morawski. Morawski and I gave an updated version of our The Nuts and Bolts of Twitter presentation to the group while Beth Harte took the group down the much needed path of planning and measuring social media.

The following day, Dan Keeney posted an video interview with Beth along with a post reflecting on the PR / social media relationship, “Are We Missing the Next Big Thing Because of Our Twitter Obsession?”

...it seems to be everyone who is out there speaking to PR groups about social media. I don't hear anyone showing those of us who have a cursory level of involvement in the space anything particularly new...If the PR community intends to annex the social media space, we can't just say that we are social media counselors and then suggest that all the rules we've always followed still apply going forward. They may not. Do we really need to spin our wheels examining the tone and frequency of every blog post that mentions us? To what end? I say go ahead and engage. Just like if you overheard a conversation about your company or product on a street corner. Listen and then offer your two cents. Connect! No need to over-think it!

This prompted some interesting comments and then a follow-up post by Beth Harte, "Social media’s dirty little secret"

The dirty little secret: social media is NOTHING new. If you want to look at social media plain and simple, it’s a bunch of tools that help us to network, share information and build relationships in a different way. The concept of social media from a human relationship aspect is nothing new either. It’s business development, which comes with engagement, professional etiquette, trust and respect.

Concept vs. Tools
To me there is an important difference between Social Media as a concept and Social Media tools.  The tools are just that, tools that can be leveraged for purposes that PR people can and should be using to effectively communicate with various publics.

That Social Media is a concept - people having online conversations - is why I believe we as PR people need to be better at understanding and planning for to address business needs. The point being the social web should be approached as the mindset of sharing, openness and authenticity needed to successfully engage your communities and ultimately benefiting the bottom-line. That is much more important and valuable than any of the tools.

Anybody can open up a Twitter profile or learn how to create Facebook fan or group pages, that's not anything too special and I agree that perhaps we should spend less time patting ourselves on the back for doing so and more time figuring out why we should use these tools.

Nothing New?
Keeney points out via comments on his blog why he thinks that none of this is new since we've had demonstrated two-way communication flowing between an organization and its publics. He even references an illustration from his 2nd edition This is PR textbook from the early 80s to make his point:

However, what this illustration fails to show are the conversations and community between Publics about the Organization and the Organization's competitors or threats.Yes, those conversations between publics have always been there, we just didn't have efficient if not more effective ways to listen to those types of conversations.

The way social media or the social web as a concept is still new for some is the idea that PR people need to be thinking about, listening to, measuring and monitoring, and ultimately engaging in those conversations that bypass the traditional institutions including our organizations and mainstream media.  It is unfortunate to me that social media is thought of only as a sum of its tools as opposed to a concept with value.

Simply put:

What do you think? How would you define the differences (if any) between social media tools and social media as a concept? The comments are yours.

Last day to share your information needs with the Knight Foundation

Image by Knight Foundation via Flickr

We have less than a day left to share our information needs with a group developing quantitative research on community needs: The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy.

The Commission launched in June 2008 with an aggressive agenda to assess the information needs of citizens from a variety of different types of communities in order to make concrete recommendations to public policy makers about improving local information flow and filling the information voids. The free flow of news and information in communities is essential to effective democracy. With the digital age transforming media worldwide, reducing traditional journalism in a number of communities, the Commission is focused on how Americans will get the news and information they need to make informed decisions. 

What are your information needs?
The Knight Foundation along with PBS Engage have created a public input tool to answer basic questions about community information needs:

• Where do you find your information? Newspapers? Online? Television? Radio?
• In your local community, what kinds of information do you need to inform the decisions you make and improve your understanding of the community in which you live?
• How can local governments improve public access to the information communities need?
• Do you think everyone in your community has access to the networks they need (online or in-person) to find important information?
• How would you improve the quality of information available to the general public?

The public input period will end 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 8, 2009.

Related articles

• Knight Commission Invites Public Input on Community Information Needs 
• DRAFT REPORT: The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy (Also here)
• 24 Hours Remaining For Public to Comment on Future of Community Information Needs 
• We Need Your Input on Community Information Needs
• Help Identify the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy
• Google Is Good For Journalism