Comments on: Great discussion at [grow] on Social Media dissent http://www.communicationammo.com/pr-2/great-discussion-at-grow-on-social-media-dissent/ We help people and organizations make their communications more effective and measure the results. Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:09:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Sean http://www.communicationammo.com/pr-2/great-discussion-at-grow-on-social-media-dissent/comment-page-1/#comment-207 Sean Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:51:22 +0000 http://www.communicationammo.com/?p=206#comment-207 Jim, thanks for the comment. I love "...social media will surprise those who underestimate it and disappoint those who overestimate it." There are so many critical issues to discuss and debate in this space. Did you happen to catch Clay Shirky's essay (reported by Ethan Zuckerman) about the business of newspapers? http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/09/22/clay-shirky-and-accountability-journalism/ And, this piece from TechDirt on why traditional media is losing the game? http://techdirt.com/articles/20090921/0227066261.shtml Social media presents major issues of authority and accountability -- as I have said for a while now. Jim, thanks for the comment. I love “…social media will surprise those who underestimate it and disappoint those who overestimate it.” There are so many critical issues to discuss and debate in this space. Did you happen to catch Clay Shirky’s essay (reported by Ethan Zuckerman) about the business of newspapers? http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/09/22/clay-shirky-and-accountability-journalism/

And, this piece from TechDirt on why traditional media is losing the game? http://techdirt.com/articles/20090921/0227066261.shtml

Social media presents major issues of authority and accountability — as I have said for a while now.

]]> By: Jim Savage http://www.communicationammo.com/pr-2/great-discussion-at-grow-on-social-media-dissent/comment-page-1/#comment-206 Jim Savage Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:30:54 +0000 http://www.communicationammo.com/?p=206#comment-206 Sean - Good post. There's an interesting interview with GM's Bob Lutz on their use of social media at www.thetruthaboutcars.com. GM, for all their faults, was into this early and the car makers are arguably at the vanguard (look at Scott Monty at Ford and many others). From a business standpoint I don't think there is a strong sense that social media are some sort of panacea - at least there shouldn't be. Really, they are just another means of conducting the conversation, appealing to certain market niches (dare I say publics?) who assign a high credibility to firms that do this stuff "for real". Like anything else, social media will surprise those who underestimate it and disappoint those who overestimate it.... Actually, the fact that some highly credible social media types don't want to be associated with journalism or PR is a sad reflection on our professions. I'd argue journalism had since the 70s rather put itself on a pedestal in the US - back in Blighty journalists call themselves "hacks" for a reason - so perhaps this is merely a long overdue come-uppance, but for PR I think it is really unfortunate, as the flourishing of new media gives us in the PR world an opportunity to truly define ourselves a technology-neutral strategic communicators and break free of the tactical press-agentry mould at last.... Sean – Good post. There’s an interesting interview with GM’s Bob Lutz on their use of social media at http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com. GM, for all their faults, was into this early and the car makers are arguably at the vanguard (look at Scott Monty at Ford and many others). From a business standpoint I don’t think there is a strong sense that social media are some sort of panacea – at least there shouldn’t be. Really, they are just another means of conducting the conversation, appealing to certain market niches (dare I say publics?) who assign a high credibility to firms that do this stuff “for real”. Like anything else, social media will surprise those who underestimate it and disappoint those who overestimate it….

Actually, the fact that some highly credible social media types don’t want to be associated with journalism or PR is a sad reflection on our professions. I’d argue journalism had since the 70s rather put itself on a pedestal in the US – back in Blighty journalists call themselves “hacks” for a reason – so perhaps this is merely a long overdue come-uppance, but for PR I think it is really unfortunate, as the flourishing of new media gives us in the PR world an opportunity to truly define ourselves a technology-neutral strategic communicators and break free of the tactical press-agentry mould at last….

]]>