Chip Griffin: Pardon the Disruption

Tech Blog Jots for November 30

The latest daily summary from the CustomScoop team...

Americans Are Becoming More Social Online
GigaOM

A new report suggests that Americans are using the Internet significantly more than a year ago, especially for social purposes. Liz Gannes highlights some of the studies key findings. “The percent posting photos and blogging have seen the most noteworthy gains, both more than doubling over the last three years… The internet is also encouraging social activity offline, with 20.3 percent taking offline actions related to online communities, and 64.9 percent involved in social causes that they didn’t work on prior to participating online.”

HuffPo to Feature Original Reporting
BuzzMachine

Huffington Post, an extremely popular left-leaning political blog, will soon feature original reporting, according to the New York Times. Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine sees a growing trend. “The HuffPo editor, Melinda Henneberger, comes out of Newsweek and The New York Times. Note again Washington Post political editor John Harris and a colleague leaving for an online effort. All three quickly say that there’s nothing wrong with print — nothing, clearly, except that they don’t see a bright a future there. Note, too, that it will soon be more difficult to tell the difference between old and new, as blogs add reporting and reporters blog. It’s all news.”

NFL, Verizon FiOS to Offer Games Online
Broadband Reports

Beginning this evening, Verizon will begin testing a service that would bring NFL games to FiOS Internet subscribers. Broadband Reports points out that this just one part of a growing relationship between the two parties. “This new deal makes Verizon the only incumbent offering live NFL games via broadband. The timing of the deal comes as major cable networks battle with the NFL over the cost of carrying the NFL network. Verizon also struck a deal to offer the NFL network via FiosTV, as well as NFL Network programming to both Fios and DSL customers.”

VC/Business Issues

Spokeo Brings All the Social Networking Sites Together
VentureBeat

Matt Marshall argues that young people are the engine behind the success of the numerous social networking websites. A new aggregator for social sites invented by students at Stanford, Spokeo, helps users bring all their social networking sites together into one page. “It is another one of those things that seems so obvious, and helpful: It gives you a way to import, into one page, all of the postings your friends have made at about 20 popular social networking sites. In other words, it combines Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and all the others into one.”

Edgeio is Closer to Becoming the Online Real Estate Classifieds
VentureBeat 

Venture beat reports that real estate website Edgeio is attempting to clean up the regulatory issues faced by online real estate listings.  Currently, websites “must have a direct relationship with an agent or with a regional MLS in order to show detailed data on homes…Edgeio seems to be doing an end run around this system, but legally. Chief executive Keith Teare told VentureBeat Wednesday it has acquired the assets of Adaptive Real Estate Services, a company built over the past several years by father and son team Robert and Peter Meyer — and which has patiently built up relationships with brokers and agents in 70 of the top MLS organizations — and equivalent to about 70 percent of the MLS network nationwide. It has about 1.5 million homes listed for sale in the areas it covers. This means Edgeio can show these 1.5 million homes in its search results, and let users drill down to see the data details hosted on Web sites it has relationships with. And going forward, other brokers and dealers can opt into Edgeio’s network.”

PR Blog Jots for November 30

Below is today's update from the CustomScoop team...

Time-Warner "Cheats" On YouTube to Promote Superman DVD
PR Squared

Todd Deferen examines corporate “social media malfeasance” in his latest post.  He references the recent Edelman/Wal-Mart “flogging” scandal, but points to another example of a corporation attempting to “cheat” at social media to promote its products, as Time-Warner has done recently with popular video site YouTube.  “Apparently Superman's handlers at Time-Warner created THOUSANDS of fake YouTube accounts... which were then used to subscribe to the "supermanreturnsdvd" channel that had been posted to the site.  The majority of these THOUSANDS of newly-minted account-holders had never seen the trailer that they "favorited," nor was there any evidence that they were actual YouTube users (no "friends," no other "favorites," etc.).  By being able to claim 8,000+ "subscribers," though, Time-Warner is able to claim that the "supermanreturnsdvd" is among the top-ranked channels on YouTube.”

Is it OK to Use Social Media to Sell Products?
BL Ochman’s What’s Next Blog

BL Ochman is also thinking about the use of social media as a subversive marketing tool in her post today regarding an Italian liquor company that has set up fake profiles on YouTube, Myspace and other social networking sites to promote its brand. “What are the ethical issues in fake social network profiles? Is it ok to have a fake character front a campaign as long as it's clear it's not a real person? How does Campari's Hotel Camparicampaign compare to the Edelman Wal-mart flogs? Read/Write Web blogs's Richard MacManussays the Campari fake social network profiles make him uncomfortable, as they do me. The agency that created the campaign says the fake profiles drive traffic and sell product. I think this campaign is just as unethical as Wal-mart and other flogs. And that it abuses the trust upon which social media is built. What do you think? Hotel Campari, which promotes the Italian liquor, includes a website, where a blindfolded host recommends that you immediately go to room 23. The flash-driven site, which is not work safe, features Selma Hayek. A fake MySpace profile is fronted by 28 year-old "Red Passion"; who also has a fake flickr site and a racy, masked, YouTube video that's been downloaded 17,291 times. As you can see, they covered the social network bases.”

Speech Regulation on the Internet a Threat to PR?
Online Public Relations Thoughts

Jim Horton examines a recent speech by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is calling for regulation on free speech on the Internet due to its widespread use by terrorist organizations.  Horton fears such action would further stymie PR communications efforts and solidify marketing as the preferred corporate method of communicating with the public.  “The internet is a free-for-all and as such, there are those who exploit its freedom far beyond what is safe for society. Having written that, I'm concerned that regulation of any speech is a situation in which it is easy to go too far. There is a deep-seated desire to control what is being said about oneself and institutions. That is why advertising has been and will be the preferred method of communication from corporations and other institutions over public relations. It is also why so much of PR today has descended to mere publicity and message-pushing rather than give and take. Most marketers don't want to hear from citizens: They want citizens to hear them.”

In Media Training, "Engaged Discussion" More Important Than Talking Points
Common Sense PR

Eric Eggerston’s recent post argues that traditional “key message” technique for spokespeople is no longer the most effective means of communicating.  He instead argues for an “engaged discussion,” in which the spokesperson speaks plainly to engage the media rather than using rehearsed scripts. “The era of “the message” is past. Throwing your rehearsed, pat statement into the predictable media coverage is at best a holding action, regardless of which side you’re on.  Replacing it is engaged discussion, where the subject of the interview isn’t afraid to answer questions directly, using plain language…Engaged discussion can backfire if you get trapped making statements you don’t want to make. But that’s not the fault of the technique. That’s just a mistake in how you apply it.  The payoff can be huge, if other organizations are fronted by robotic automatons, and yours is represented by someone who looks, acts, and talks like a human being.”

Key Message Points Still Important, As Long as they are "Value Based"
Communications Overtones

Kami Huyse rebuts Eggerston’s assertions regarding messaging, stating that while rehearsed talking points are no longer as effective, integrating values-based messages into corporate communications is still vital.  “While I agree that manufactured statements are becoming passé, I think it is important for an organization to communicate its character effectively. I don’t think “winging it” is the best plan. Unfortunately, the three message format, with extensive rehearsal to teach executives to bridge to these pre-determined messages, is starting to become less effective as journalists and the general public sees through the tactic.  Instead, it is many messages, both spoken and unspoken, which help to inform our impressions of a person or company. I think the evolution of the key message should be to communicate our corporate/organizational values over specific message points, using examples to drive home the point. In this way, the messages we send can form a harmony of sorts, much of like music, with each note or message contributing to the thesis of the entire piece (if you don’t get the musical reference, don’t fear, the next part is very practical).”

Tech Blog Jots for November 29

From the team over at CustomScoop:

“Google Answers” No More
Search Engine Watch Blog

Danny Sullivan is surprised by Google’s decision to shut down Google Answers.”Killing off the service, which never seemed to catch on much, certainly will help Google seem like it is focusing efforts toward more needed areas. But it still feels like an odd, almost surrendering move in the face of Yahoo Answers being such a success.”

UK Press Complaints Commissioner Calls for a Voluntary Blogger Code
Scobleizer

A UK official has caused a bit of stir in the blogosphere by suggesting that blogs be covered by a voluntary “code of practice.” Robert Scoble and others laugh of the idea as unrealistic.“Heck, we can’t agree on anything, including the definition of the word ‘blog’ so you think you’re going to get us all to agree to a code of practice? Yeah, right.”

Wal-Mart Launches Movie Download Store
Gizmodo

Louis Ramirez highlights news that Wal-Mart is attempting to maintain its 40% market share in DVD sales by launching a new video download service. “The way it works is you buy a DVD at the store and then log onto the Wal-Mart website to get your download (each DVD will have a sticker with a URL and promo code that you punch in to get the process going). Then for $1.97 you can download a version of the movie that'll play on a portable media player or for $2.97 you can download a version for your PC/laptop. Cough up $3.97 and you have the right to play it on either of the two. According to Wal-Mart, this gives buyers the freedom to choose what they want. Personally, I prefer to rip copies of any movie that I own and play them where I want, but that's just me.”

Bit Torrent Signs a Series of Partnerships, Expects Substantial Funding
GigaOM

Om Malik believes that Bit Torrent’s recently signed partnership agreements with several major media companies will enable the peer-to-peer distribution company to raise between $15m and $25m in funding. “BitTorrent has not yet launched its long-awaited video store. Perhaps this latest funding will boost the company’s e-commerce rollout. BitTorrent spent some of the year announcing truces and partnerships with Hollywood, but it has been quiet lately.”

AT&T Launches HDTV via DSL
IP & Democracy

AT&T has taken a step forward in the triple-play “race against cable” by finally offering high definition television. However, IP & Democracy notes that the service is only available in one Texas market, and the blog wonders if AT&T can easily carry the offering in other areas.”It took a long time for the company to rectify the HD problem even in San Antonio. It’s not entirely clear that it’s an easy feat for the telco to offer a rich menu of video, voice and increasingly higher-speed broadband services, which is what AT&T must do if it wants U-verse to be a viable competitive alternative to cable.”

Are Green Businesses the Way of the Future?
Entrepreneur

Amanda Kooser explores the future of environmentally-friendly business and entrepreneurship. She points out that when retail giants like Wal-Mart are selling organic cotton t-shirts, it becomes obvious the trend to be green is catching on.  Many say that small businesses/entrepreneurs have an advantage to be able to provide even more to their customers as the final decision with which company they might do business with could come down to which business is more “green” in its practices. “A few steps to take when making the green plunge with your business are…seek your niche, be an example, educate, [remember] your customers are your best marketers and find colleagues who are on the same page. People who are imbued with this kind of spirit have an incredible imagination to rebuild the value chain and inspire their customers in the process." 

The War of Black Friday vs Cyber Monday
FastCompany

Most of us know exactly what Black Friday is, the biggest shopping day of the year. Now that the Internet has taken us by storm and many people use it for online shopping (58 percent of all online shopping is done in the workplace) the Monday after Thanksgiving has become known as Cyber Monday. This year, sales totaled $687 million, up from $484 million last year.  But aren’t people working?  No matter, 88 percent of Cyber Monday shoppers made purchases from the office.  “Black Friday's storefront shoppers have slacked by about one million consumers since last year, Cyber Monday welcomed two million more shoppers to the Web this season.”

Mobile Devices Get Java RSS Feeder
MicroPersuasion

“Newsgator has rolled out a beta RSS reader for phones that support J2ME (a flavor of Java). This includes Blackberries. The reader is in partnership with Freerange Communications and syncs up with Newsgator's servers. This ensures that what you read in one place won't show up in the other. Newsgator launched a reader for Windows Mobile devices earlier this year.”

Can Authenticity Be Faked?
A VC

Authenticity is a key aspect in successful businesses, A VC questions whether it can be faked.  He thinks it cannot be faked and points to successful businesses like Digg, Delicious, Flickr, and Craigslist as being truly authentic. “We define authenticity as that intangible feeling you get when you come across a service that does exactly what it is supposed to do, is novel, true to itself.”

PR Blog Jots for November 29

My team at CustomScoop prepares daily internal blog updates on various industry sectors to help keep us all smart and up to speed on what's going on.  I find them very helpful and plan to try to post some of them here on Pardon the Disruption each day.  The two sectors I plan to share for now are high-tech and public relations.  Below is the first installment of the PR edition.

Edelman CEO Misguided In His Calls for Credible Advocacy? (Strumpette)

Amanda Chapel questions a recent blog post from Richard Edelman in which he discusses the challenges of working within social media due to the need for total transparency and “credible advocacy” on the Internet. According to Edelman, “we have to move beyond a position of agent or broker. We are now responsible for the quality of the information and the integrity of the vehicle, because our content may be going directly to audiences, as well as through the filter of independent media. We should offer access to data on both sides of an issue. Content needs to be real. Authenticity and attribution are expected.”  Strumpette rejects this notion as being the opposite of true public relations.  “PR as credible advocates? Please. Someone shoot me. I am begging you!... In PR, we try to think of ourselves as lawyers for cripes sake. We pride ourselves in being objective agents. As such, taking money to devise a strategy to influence a target group... is NEVER going to be appropriate in a total access - totally exposed - society. The internet is summarily rejecting PR because they/we no longer have an institution - the media - to shield from the inevitable consequence of fraud and manipulation.”  

The Difference Between PR and Marketing (Online Public Relations Thoughts)

Jim Horton explores the differences between public relations practitioners and marketing professionals, using an example from the U.S. Army’s latest recruiting devices. The Army is using a video game that simulates the use of new, high-tech military equipment. Game designers are questioning the Army’s decision to never allow the player to lose against the enemy. Horton sees it as a classic marketing vs. public relations question: “This is the kind of conundrum in which PR practitioners and marketers should end up on opposite ends of the spectrum. Practitioners should side with the game designer, and marketers with the Army's decision. Why? A PR practitioner should trust that individuals can make up their own minds when presented with facts persuasively. A marketer is intent on selling and will take shortcuts to do so. A PR practitioner should be worried about false depiction and its effect on reputation. A marketer is focused on moving players from screens to recruiting stations…The point is at the heart of what marketers and PR practitioners do, there is a fundamental difference. Each discipline views the world in its own way. Marketers train to complete transactions. PR practitioners train to explain accurately, protect reputation and complete transactions. Both should reach the same end point if they do their jobs right, but marketing wants to get there more quickly. Given the pressure the Army has to recruit, it will favor marketing's approach more often.”

Wal-Mart's PR Campaign Paying Off (Common Sense PR)

Eric Eggerston links to a Forbes report showing that Wal-Mart has been selected by survey participants as one of the top “socially responsible” corporations in the U.S.  Given its previous PR struggles, Eggerston credits the efforts the company has put into improving its image with the change in perception. “Forbes Magazine reports that more Americans named Wal-Mart as a socially responsible corporation than any other American company. Given that Wal-Mart is the second largest corporation in the world, it’s not surprising that it would show up in the survey. The fact that it outranks any other company is surprising, says pollster Charles Fombrun, given the negative publicity the retailer has received about its business practices and treatment of employees.  Perhaps the public relations campaigns are paying off. A recent effort to improve the retail giant’s reputation emphasizes some environmentally friendly products offered at Wal-Mart. After years of ignoring its critics, Wal-Mart is making a concerted effort to improve its image.”

Spammers Using Social Media (Media Culpa)

Kullin reports on the latest in spam technology using social media sites such as Digg. “After social media comes social media spam. Niall Kennedy tells the story about how bloggers are gaming the system on sites like Digg in order to generate clicks on Google Adwords for high-paying words like teeth whitening, weight loss and dental plans.”

Traditional PR Still the Best for Entertainment Industry (The Flack)

Peter Himler reports on the latest clients picked up by entertainment PR giant Steve Rubenstein, such as the recently scandal-plagued Michael Richards.  Himler points out that the traditional methods of PR are still the norm for celebrity career rehabilitation, as “new PR” has not yet crossed over into that aspect of the industry. “Lest you think that social media and Web 2.0 PR will supplant traditional modes of media/public engagement anytime soon, look no further than Rubenstein's highly touted new clients: Kramer and Toosa. Don't expect to see the creation of personal weblogs, Technorati-tagged news releases, Digg or del.icio.us posts, or even blogseeding here. The tried-and-true method of leveraging mainstream journalists to garner sympatico coverage remains very much in vogue.”

When Should I become an Entrepreneur?

I got a great question by email a few days ago.  The email was from a college student who has been offered a job with a consulting startup but a friend is lobbying him to start their own company.  His question: "Is it better to roll the dice as early as possible, or go out and get some industry experience first?"

To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart (who famously opined forty years ago on the subject of obscenity): I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.

In other words, there's no right or wrong answer as to when to become an entrepreneur.  But here are some questions to ask yourself.

• Are you in a position to work brutally long hours, devote tremendous enthusiasm, and risk virtually everything you have (financially and personally)?  While I think it is an exaggeration to say you can lose your shirt in a startup, you can lose just about everything else.  Startups are hard financially and personally.  You pour all your time and money into something that may or may not ever be successful.  A lot of people may not understand that, but to entrepreneurs, it makes perfect sense.
• Do you and your partners have a great idea that solves a real problem?  Don't start a company with a really cool idea unless you understand how it will be used in the real world.  There's lots of gee whiz products out there, but to be successful you need to create a product or service that leaves people wanting to come back for more.
• Do you understand the problem you're solving and how you're solving it?  Nothing will kill a startup faster than a group of founders that don't understand what they're doing.  Now that's not to say you need all the answers.  Being a first-time entrepreneur is a serious learning experience and anyone who thinks they're truly prepared for it is kidding themselves.  There are so many new challenges you will face that you can't help but learn on the job every day.  But you still need to truly understand the problem you're solving and how your technology works.  Otherwise you'll be wandering in the wilderness unable to make decisions about how to find your way home.
• Is the problem one you've experienced yourself so you can develop and sell from the heart?  You need to understand the problem you're solving and how you're doing it.  But it is even better to solve a problem you yourself has experienced.  It's very hard to jump right in and solve a problem for a pet owner or a musician if you can't stand animals and the only music you know is the stuff you sing in the shower.
• Do you have one or more partners willing to go in with you?  Especially as a first-time entrepreneur, you don't want to go it alone.  You need the support of someone else to tell you you're crazy.  Or to keep your spirits up when you think things are headed for failure. And to give you a second opinion and bounce ideas off of.  Plus, if you can't find anyone willing to be your partner, the idea may not be that good anyway.

The bottom line is there's no right answer as to when to start.  When you're younger and unattached, it is easier to take risks.  You have boundless energy and enthusiasm.  You have yet to be made cynical by life experiences.  You don't yet know enough to question risk-taking.

With more experience, of course, you have a better professional network to tap into.  You have seen how more companies run and what they do right and wrong.  You have broader domain experience in whatever industry you've been working in.  You probably have some money tucked away to use to help fund the startup.

There have been plenty of successful entrepreneurs with and without experience.  You need to decide for yourself when you're ready and when you have the right idea to execute.