Feingold clicks with blog fans
There is an interesting article in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about Presidential hopeful Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) popularity in the blogosphere. Excerpts are below:
On His Popularity:
“In an online poll last month on the nation’s most widely read liberal blog (DailyKos. com), Feingold led the Democratic presidential field, picked by 30 percent of the 11,000-plus people who visited the Web site and voted.”
On Tactics:
“To cultivate such support, Feingold has an Internet coordinator on his political staff, consults with a team of Internet advisers, has held conference calls with Democratic-leaning bloggers, offers downloadable video podcasts, and allows supporters to vote online for which congressional candidates should receive contributions from Feingold’s political committee.”
“Feingold also frequently posts his own comments on liberal blogs, blasting the Bush administration and accusing his own party of timidity on such issues as the Iraq war and the USA Patriot Act.”
On Limits of a Blog Strategy:
“But Dean’s collapse in 2004 also has colored the debate over the role that online activists could play in the next presidential contest. While some view the Internet as above all a democratizing force, others see it as polarizing as well, fueling candidates who tap into the passions of activists and ideological voters but not the broader electorate.”
“‘It’s great, because it creates a lot of energy and helps broaden a movement, but the downside is you can also get pulled in a more extreme direction,’ said Erik Smith, who worked in the 2004 race for both Dick Gephardt and a multimillion-dollar independent Democratic ad campaign.”
Technorati Tags: Feingold Politics Election Presidency
Do PR firms blog? Not so much
Update: We have added a page to our Wiki that serves as a running list of PR firms that blog. If you aren't listed, please feel free to edit the Wiki and add yourself. Original post follows.
For years I've watched some of the best, brightest and biggest PR firms in the world get the web wrong. Traditionally, most large PR firms have viewed the web as a designers medium, housing their interactive capability in their creative department. The design folks would come in and build a website, and then move on to their next project like they would if they were designing a postcard. The result is website as online brochure. Slick and shallow. The other result is PR firms full of account managers that don't know much about the Internet. Due to the blog craze, I think a light has gone off for many large PR firms and, at the very least, they are talking about the web differently. But given what I've observed over the years, I'm skeptical. As Mark Rose writes in this piece, "Big PR agencies are like super tankers; they are set on their course and they take a super effort to navigate a new direction." After reading this post from last summer, I decided to do a quick survey of the 20 largest PR firms (adjusted down to 18 since two of the firms on the list I have were acquired) and see if they had blogs on their own corporate sites. Here's what I found:
- Four of the 18 firms have fully functioning blogs that have been updated in the last two months (Burson Marstellar, Edelman, Hill & Knowlton and The MWW Group).
- Twelve of the 18 firms didn't have a blog that I could locate through a Google search or off of their main corporate sites (APCO, Brodeur, Cohn & Wolf, Fleishman-Hillard, Golin Harris, Huntsworth, Ketchum, Manning Selvage & Lee, Ogilvy, Porter Novelli, Ruder Finn and Weber Shandwick).*
- Two firms put up blogs but have neglected them (Schwartz Communcations and Waggenner Edstrom).
I'm not one of those people who believes that every company needs a blog. Not having a blog is preferable to having a bad blog. For some companies, it just doesn't make sense. I also know that many of these firms that don't have corporate blogs have individual employees that maintain personal blogs. But I do think the decision to blog makes a powerful statement about where your priorities are and where you think the world is going. And I think its obvious that the ability to implement a successful blogging strategy for yourself is a pretty good indication you can implement one for a client. *Note that Ketchum has this site which looks like a blog but is really a marketing piece and Ogilvy has this list of blogs. Update: I found that the Horn Group has a blog as well. I updated the post here with more data. Technorati Tags: PR Edelman Burson Fleishman Hill & Knowlton
“Wisdom of Crowds” (cont’d.)
In a recent post, I breifly mention the notion of a smart crowd. I started to talk about this in the context of Web 2.0, the term coined in large part by Tim O’Reilly. He identifies a number of principles to help explain what this is. Omitting the more programming specific, he describes Web 2.0 as applications as platforms, continuously updated, centered around deep data, where participation is central and users call the shoots, which get better as more users take part, and harness the collective intelligence of the users. For example, eBay, Google Adsense and maps, Wikipedia, Flickr, BitTorrent, and blogs (especially with the advent of RSS, permalinks, and trackbacks.)
O’Reilly does make reference to the wisdom of crowds, in talking about “harnessing the collective intelligence” of the user community. So what doe this have to do with the media?
Well imagine starting with news feeds, such as Reuters, the AP, ESPN, etc. Enable users to add content to these stories, and allow the user base to vote on the top stories — sort of like a Web 2.0 attempt at USA Today.
NewsVine is trying to do this. The site is in private Beta currently. Send me an email or leave a comment if you want access – I have a few invitations left. Will be very interesting to watch over time.
What is the Origami Project?
Microsoft has launched a teaser website promoting the release of something called the Origami Project on March 2nd. There is ongoing speculation on some well read blogs about what exactly The Origami Project is. Engadget actually dug up pictures revealing it to be a personal device. My two cents: the “Touch Me” reference on the website is a pretty clear indication that it has something to do with touchscreen technology – I say its a touchscreen controlled media player. Regardless, Microsoft has gotten people’s attention.
I think its fantastic that Microsoft is using word of mouth marketing to generate buzz prior to the official launch. However, they could have done more. The Flash piece on the Oragami website isn’t all that interesting and the site doesn’t give you anything to do beyond subscribing to a RSS feed. They could have given away advance samples to the first 500 people who registered or at least added an email sign up. Something more. A smaller company without Microsoft’s brand would have to do a better job to get people’s attention. Who knows though, the site teases at a three week online campaign, so there may be more to come.
Update #1: Here is a video of the device – looks like a small tablet PC. Video is also available here.
Update #2: Here’s a story detailing what it is in more detail.
Multi-Touch Interaction Research
Single touch screen displays are pretty common at museums, airports, bookstores, etc. But the technology hasn’t been there for the kind of multi-touch interfaces hinted at in movies like Minority Report. Researchers at New York University are working on it and have a great video demonstrating what’s possible.