Social media

When a monumental yet tragic story breaks -- like the alleged civilian killings by a U.S. service member in Afghanistan – it’s almost disturbingly fascinating to watch how coverage unfolds in this era of fast-paced digital journalism. Within just one week after the story broke, we had read detailed assessments of at least five to ten potential contributing factors to the rampage. We had become familiar with the blog entries of the accused’s wife (“The Bales Family Adventures” & “BabyBales”), been exposed to court records showing multiple financial and legal missteps by the soldier, and heard from his disbelieving neighbors. On social media, we witnessed a virtual war break out between those deeming Bales a war hero and those who proclaimed him a terrorist. All of this transpiring before the suspect was even charged with a crime.

Today's topic is one that's been top of mind for me for some time now. Happily, the stars have aligned, my brave little blog post has made its pilgrimage from brain to desktop to world-wide web, and my bout of blogger's block has ended. For this I have to give credit and thanks to:

1) The free block of time on today's calendar.

2) David Michel Davies (@dmdlikes), ex. director of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS), and founder of the Webby Awards for his presentation at the "Webby Talks" DC stop at the National Press Club.

3) And to industry friend and colleague, Tom McMahon, for inviting me to said Webby Talks event.

According to a recent CNN article, Twitter has become the latest battleground between the Taliban and NATO. While @ISAFMedia – the press office for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) – routinely posts NATO’s operations updates, the organization’s virtual spokesperson also spends a good deal of time casually bantering with other Twitterers. And exchanging jabs with @ABalkhi – the self-proclaimed “Voice of the Jihad” who tweets on behalf of the Taliban. Besides routinely shooting down each other’s propaganda, they've recently become engaged in some Twitter tussles of a more personal nature, leading followers to watch in amusement and, in some cases, to wonder aloud why NATO’s press office continues to engage with the enemy.

When marketing practitioners discuss the tools of the trade amongst ourselves, we usually manage to keep the customer in mind. We do care about the fact that someone has to earn the money we spend, and we need to produce measurable results. To get there, we may recommend a certain level of print or online investment to get certain shares of voice, or certain mixes of tactics to get viral effects. But we also know clients have budget, culture and operation limits that can make these targets impossible. Those limits can force us to re-focus tactics around events (like tradeshows) or calendar cycles (like peak quarters) that tend to drive sales outcomes.

When you’re launching a new product or service, parked in your head is a pretty clear picture of your customer – where they live and work, what they eat and wear, even how they shop. You craft elaborate plans to convert their needs into action, based on what you think is sound research and solid process.

But what happens when your customer changes in unexpected ways? What do you do when recession forces you to rethink who they are – especially when their new home isn’t home at all?

In an industry that’s constantly changing, I always find the fresh ideas of recent college grads to be a welcome perspective.

In this day and age of Twitter and YouTube, words and images about celebrity shenanigans and baby antics can spread virally and globally like wildfire.  Fortunately, so too can vital news and information about crisis situations, much as the recent -- and still unfolding -- natural disaster in Japan has demonstrated.