andy giefer

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Google Ubiquity: Should We Be Worried?

Mar 4, 2010 at 11:23am

Google homepage

I confess I'm a bit of a Google fanboy. I'm the last one to get paranoid about privacy concerns even as the GOOG becomes ever-more pervasive.

But then I read The Onion article Google Responds to Privacy Concerns with Unsettlingly Specific Apology, a brilliant piece of satire that shines a light on the fears some people have. Do we have good reason to feel unsettled?

Here's a summary of the things Google "knows" about you if you use their services. I use quotes because it really means Google stores or has access to this information.

Google "Knows"
- What you're searching for (Google.com).
- What your search history is (Chrome, Google Toolbar).
- Where you live (Google Maps).
- What your house and neighborhood look like (Google Maps Street View).
- Where you are now (Google Maps Mobile).
- What local businesses/places you might visit (Google Local).
- Who and about what you email (Gmail).
- Who and about what you chat (Gchat).
- What your phone usage is (Droid and Google Voice).
- What you're thinking (Google Buzz).
- What your plans are (Google Calendar).
- What you buy plus credit card info (Google Checkout).
- What you're selling (Google Adwords).
- What's in your personal documents (Google Docs).
- What photos you view and post (Picasa).
- What videos you view and post (YouTube).
- What your interests are (Blogger).
- What's on your hard drive (Google Desktop).
- What your medical history is (Google Health)

In reality, of course, Google is not tracking your every move. I believe it when they say they only use the data they collect to improve and personalize search results and to serve relevant ads. It's not in their business interests to be viewed as big brother.

For me, it's more a sense of awe than worry. I'm in awe of how all-encompassing Google has become in a relatively short time. And I'm in awe of the huge responsibility they have to keep our personal data private and stored safely in the cloud.

Still, maybe it's all too much and you want to opt out of Google. The Onion shows how Google can help you with that too:

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tags:
google, humor, news, privacy, social_media, technology, video,
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Tapping into Awe

Mar 2, 2010 at 10:53pm

What type of information is mostly likely to be shared online? University of Pennsylvania researchers studied The New York Times most emailed articles and found that awe-inspiring content is the most likely to go viral. Dr. Jonah Berger explains why:

Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion. If I’ve just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want to talk to others about what it means. I want to proselytize and share the feeling of awe. If you read the article and feel the same emotion, it will bring us closer together.

In other words, we are driven to share and connect around emotionally powerful content. Awe is an “emotion of self-transcendence, a feeling of admiration and elevation in the face of something greater than the self.” That's emotionally powerful stuff.

Many of the articles classified as awe-inspiring came from NYT's science reporting. It's probably not surprising that topics such as evolution and cosmology inspire awe. One of my favorite videos of the past year was A Glorious Dawn (with 3 million+ views) from the Symphony of Science series. I challenge you to watch it and not be filled with a sense of awe and/or wonder:

Can brands inspire awe to spread their own messages? Short answer, yes. One way to do so is to piggyback on a significant cultural trend that your brand is a part of, so long as it's not overtly self-serving. Note that you never feel you're being marketed to during this awesome Socialnomics video. If you did, it wouldn't have had the same level of viral success.

It's arguable whether brands themselves can be awe-inspiring but it is easier to spread positive word-of-mouth about brands that strive towards a purpose larger than themselves. Google stakes an ambitious mission, "to organize the world's information," and their efforts toward that goal have been pretty damn awesome.

How can brands tap into awe? Who is doing it successfully?

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tags:
content, news, pr, science, social_media, technology, viral,
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4 Questions to Ask Before Your Next PR Hire

Feb 19, 2010 at 9:40am

In the spirit of HAPPO, here's a look at some questions to ask when considering you next PR hire. My responses as a candidate in Minneapolis/St. Paul follow. If you like what you read, let's get in touch:

andy@andygiefer.com
@andy_giefer
LinkedIn

1. Do I need a traditional PR person or a someone with a broader skill set?

While traditional PR skills are still important, technology has infinitely broadened the scope of the field. Is it important that your hire is skilled working outside that traditional box?

My abilities reach beyond traditional PR. Over six years at an integrated agency, I demonstrated expansive skills including PR, digital/social media, creative and strategic thinking, writing and branding. I'm also someone who's driven to enhance my skills and develop new ones as PR evolves.

2. Am I committed to the strategic use of digital and social media?

As the social web becomes the center of gravity, PR is poised to capitalize. Are you on board with this shift? Will your next hire be ready to make it happen?

If you're looking for someone to immediately take advantage of social media, we should talk. My passion for and knowledge of social eliminate the learning curve. I'm prepared to strategically build, implement and manage programs from day one.

3. Am I looking for a cog or a linchpin?

A cog is a replaceable gear in a machine. A linchpin, in Seth Godin's parlance, is someone indispensable. Which will your next PR hire be?

I'm driven by a desire to help others, do meaningful work, teach, learn and provide great ideas. I'm not interested in the cog life. I try make myself a linchpin through exceptional results, insights and productive collaboration with smart people.

4. Do I have a sense of humor?

If your work culture is rather buttoned down, your PR candidate should fit that mold. If you believe that humor, personality and fun are prerequisites to creativity, make sure your next hire  does too.

While I do work hard, I'm not someone who gets accused of taking myself too seriously. I want to work with fun, interesting people with an opinion and a story to tell. I believe that kind of culture ends up producing the best results.

What are you looking looking for in your next PR candidate, and do I fit the bill? If so, let’s talk soon. Reach me at:

andy@andygiefer.com
@andy_giefer
LinkedIn

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career, pr, social_media,
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The Purple Paradox: Could social media help the Vikings get a stadium?

Feb 18, 2010 at 12:27pm

Note: I'm an open-minded sports fan who ponders the stadium debate from time to time, and who does client work for SavetheVikes.org. Views expressed here are mine alone.

Although the Vikings enjoy a rabid fan following and stellar television ratings, the on-field love has not translated to a new, publicly funded stadium as it did for the Cowboys.

It's a contradiction I call the purple paradox. And it has me thinking, could the team use social media to move the needle of public opinion in its favor?

Of course, passions rise when you get into the politics of publicly funded stadiums. I'm not going there with this post. Instead, I'm interested in how the team could use social media to make a stronger case to the public in their stadium drive.

If you were in their position, what would you do?

Start by aspiring to a vision greater than the Vikings organization. The best way to gain traction in social media is to do something remarkable or unexpected. Beyond the known benefits like keeping the team in MN, construction jobs and possibly attracting a Super Bowl, how else could the stadium serve the greater good?

Yes, the new stadium design is green, but what if it actually generated energy and gave back to the grid? What if the new stadium and surrounding development consisted entirely of local/sustainable business? What if rural or impoverished Minnesotans had better opportunities to use the facility? Whatever it is, if the public is going to help pay for it, the Vikings need to find more ways to do remarkable things for Minnesota.

Open conversation to the community. Closely related to the first point, this is about crowdsourcing the vision. Ask for ideas from the public to make the stadium a truly remarkable addition to the community. Hold live or online forums to discuss what we want Minnesota to look like and if/how the stadium and team fit into that picture.

Let the public in on the decision making process as much as possible. Look at the Pepsi Refresh Project  or the Open Government Initiative as examples of how to solicit the best ideas.

Use players to break the tension. No, the players shouldn't be directly pimped for the stadium effort, but when the debate gets heated, the team's personalities (and there are some great ones) could bring some levity and goodwill to the situation. Imagine pulling off a series of online videos in the same vein as the SportsCenter commercials while poking fun at the Metrodome and the entire stadium situation, you'd have a decent chance of viral success.

Showcase team's current and future good works. Let's face it: Vikings players have never had the squeaky clean image that the Twins enjoy. Yet when you look at the Vikings' community and charitable efforts, they're quite impressive and have actually grown under Wilf's ownership. The problem is few people know about the positive things the players do for the community.

Capture some good, entertaining video of these efforts and start pushing it out through the team's social channels. Players should also be encouraged to get social by talking about their outreach efforts through Facebook, Twitter or personal blogs. Also, start asking what else the players could do for this community. What if each player chose a social entrepreneur to invest in?  Plenty more ideas could be generated through crowdsourcing.

Tap into the passion of fans. Get fans thinking more about what the team means to them beyond Sunday afternoon entertainment. There are strong currents of pride, family and community running through the fan base. What if you offered a platform for fans to tell their greatest, funniest or strangest Vikings memories? The public could vote on their favorite videos and winners could get season tickets.

The team's Facebook page has about 360,000 fans, not to mention the many unofficial pages out there. Why not try to start a meme? For example, think of the one thing you'd miss most if the Vikings left and make that your status 

Those are just a few ideas. If you have more, I'd love to hear them.

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tags:
pr, social_media, sports, vikings,
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Posterous Blogs in Minneapolis + St Paul

Feb 5, 2010 at 10:56am
With more and more local tweeps taking advantage of Posterous, it would be nice if we had a place to find each other.

That was the inspiration for this list. It covers a broad swath of media, marketing, pr, social, and tech types. If I missed you, leave me a comment or send a tweet and I'll add you. I'll also be turning this into a Twitter list.

Aaron Weich: Aaron Weiche

Albert Maruggi Albert's Posterous

Andy Giefer: Andy Giefer

David Brauer: dbrauer's posterous

Don Ball: CoCo

Doug Hamlin: Doug Hamlin's Brain

Jason Barnett: Jason Barnett

Jon Gordon: Jon Gordon

Julio Ojeda-Zapata: Bombi(llo) 

Katie Schutrop: Katie's Posterous

Louise Dengerud: Louise's Posterous

Peter Fleck: Peter’s posterous

Steve Borsch: SteveNet

Tim Brunelle: Tim’s posterous

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tags:
blogging, minneapolis, Minnesota, posterous, social_media, st paul,
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3 occasions when it's ok to be a social media tool

Feb 3, 2010 at 8:42am
Tool by brandi666.

Greg Verdino recently wrote a smart, meaty post called The social media deadzone: why only tools focus on tools. His point is that we need to put strategy before social tools (some of which may not even exist in 12 months) to achieve objectives. While I mostly agree with Greg, there are situations when it's advantageous to say, "ready, fire, aim." Sometimes in social media, being tool-focused can work to your advantage.
1. When you're a total social media newbie: this is the best time to go ahead and be a tool because it gets you excited about social media and motivated to develop a strategy. Sure, you're bound make some mistakes. But people are more forgiving of rookie errors and at least you'll get to know the lay of the land. And if you're a local business, it's possible you're not even popping up in local listings and reviews on Google, Bing, Yahoo or Yelp, so it's worth your time to get the ball rolling with those even if the strategy is not yet in place. You'll also want to reserve your preferred username across several popular social tools before someone else does.
2. When you have to experience it to get it: some social tools you have to dive into before you really understand their potential. In fact, a tool such as Twitter could actually alter your PR, customer service or sales strategy when you see how powerful it is. Once you do get it and understand the rules of engagement, it's much easier to be strategic about it.
3. When you're a victim of paralysis by analysis: the constant stream of voices (mine included) offering social media insights and advice can get a little overwhelming. Too much analysis can lead to paralysis. And when you overthink this whole social media thing, you could start to question your strategy or take yourself too seriously. That's when it's time to turn off your analytic mind and just use the tools in front of you. Get involved, try new stuff and have some fun with it instead. Ironically, doing so is likely to feed right into your strategy.
Do you agree? Can you think of other times where it pays to be tool-focused in social media?

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tags:
local business, social_media,
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5 Underrated Benefits of Social Media Marketing

Jan 28, 2010 at 12:47am


Photo Credit

The business benefits of social media are well established, but there's also a large set of of peripheral benefits that don't get much attention. I'm thinking of those many overlooked things that you need to do well in social media. For example, SM:

1. Asks you to do something remarkable: Mediocrity doesn't go very far in social media. You need to offer something remarkable that people love. That could be design or service or charitable giving or a sense of humor. But it has to be worth sharing.

2. Makes you a WIIFM (what's in it for me) superstar: Social media provides a constant reminder of who your customer is and that your efforts must pass their WIIFM test (i.e. why should they care about you?). That close customer contact can make you more comfortable walking around in their shoes, helping you apply a customer-centric approach to all your business practices.

3. Holds you accountable: Did someone have a bad experience with your business? Well, social media means no more sweeping it under the rug. There's a good chance that customer will call you out on social networks or review sites. And, believe it or not, that's a good thing. That accountability is your added motivation to apologize, fix the problem, do better next time, and be a better business in the long term. Not to mention, it's the right thing to do.

SM also puts a premium on honesty. Audiences see through unsubstantiated claims and anything that smells inauthentic or automated. Your best bet is to be real.

4. Requires you to master time management: Social media can eat large chunks of time in your already full day if you're not careful. Scheduling in SM forces you to prioritize, be disciplined and make better use of your time. 

5. Makes you a better writer: Formal business writing has its place, but it's not social media. Your audience wants personality, and you have plenty of opportunities to develop your own engaging conversational voice through SM. Mastering that kind of writing will pay off, and not just online. Plus, Twitter will give you a good handle on pithiness, which comes in very handy.

Got more to add to this list? I'd love to hear them.

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business, social_media,
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The Future of Work is Both Self-Directed and Social

Jan 14, 2010 at 9:05am

On the platform, reading by moriza.
Photo Credit

You can feel it coming. A time when more and more of us are working independently or co-working, or are with smaller organizations, or socially-designed businesses. A time when collaboration occurs between individual practitioners as much as it does within company walls. It's not here yet, but it's around the corner.

Why? Because technology is toppling the barriers to entry. Because many of the resources of the large corporation are now available to the individual. Because small means nimble. Because the social web will allow us to collaborate beyond existing notions of an organization.

We are moving towards a knowledge economy where success is less dependent on physical resources. Success in the future will depend more on whether or not you can be both self-directed and collaborative within personal and social networks.

Of course, large corporations aren't about to go away, but the self-directed/social future affects them as well. The movement towards performance-based systems such as ROWE (results only work environment) plus leaner staffing and contract work mean that you have to be self-directed and socially savvy to do your job and advance your career.

Self-directed/social-oriented work is a positive thing. It rewards traits such as:
  • Passion: do great work and share it with others because it's a labor of love, not because you are told to.
  • Discipline: focus and produce even without direct pressure from colleagues.
  • Knowledge: acquire new skills and information without being told to do so.
  • Network: harness the power of personal and social networks to your professional advantage.
  • Organization: independently manage projects and your work/life balance.

Passion is the most important of these. When your work is self-directed, the social pressure to produce falls away. You soon find out whether you really are passionate about the work you're doing because it'll be reflected in the results you produce. It's a great test of whether you really enjoy what you do. Hopefully, it means more of us are doing work we love.
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tags:
economy, employment, social_media, technology,
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The Role of Social Media in Job Satisfaction

Jan 12, 2010 at 11:05am
America's job satisfaction has reached an all time low, a recent study concludes. This isn't just a recession-induced anomaly. Satisfaction has been dropping for more than two decades. Among the reasons cited is that fewer workers consider their jobs to be exciting, and the trend could stifle innovation, competitiveness and productivity.

Enter Dan Pink. He believes that employers are using all the wrong motivators with today's workers. Numerous social science studies have shown that to solve complex problems, the old carrot and stick approach does not work. Traditional pay-based rewards and punishments might produce results for straightforward, small scale assignments, but fail miserably for the kind of right-brain problems that many workers now face.

As Pink explains in his book and TED presentation, business must use the science of motivation to get the most out of employees in the new economy:

So what are these motivators that are proven to work? According to Pink, they are:
1. Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives.
2. Mastery: the desire to get better at something that matters.
3. Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

As I see it, social media use in the workplace is vital to all three of these motivators:

1. Employees show autonomy through social media because they:
  • Stay connected to their social and professional network.
  • Share ideas and feedback with industry peers.
  • Speak candidly about their company and its products/services (up to a point).
  • Reach out to customers/clients/partners in an open environment.

2. Employees attain mastery through social media because they:
  • Expand their knowledge base through peer networks and organizations.
  • Are more attuned to competitors, innovations and trends.
  • Enhance skills in areas such as customer service, branding and public relations.
  • Drive innovation and improvement through crowdsourcing. 

3. Employees find purpose through social media because they:

  • Provide value and put others first.
  • Champion the good works and higher goals of their employer.
  • Are part of professional network that strives for excellence.
  • Share thoughts, opinions and ideas that help others improve.

Sadly, a majority of companies ban social media use on the job. This is a shortsighted move that only helps to speed the adoption of smartphones (I know several people who use smartphones to get around strict workplace rules).

Companies can't and shouldn't try to stop social media use on the job. Forward thinking employers will turn social to their advantage as a tool to motivate, recruit and retain talent.

 

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tags:
employment, jobs, social_media,
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Should today's communications practitioner be a specialist or a generalist?

Dec 10, 2009 at 11:45pm

355/365 - April 24, 2009 by meddygarnet.Photo: meddygarnet

A wise man once said that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

But today, communications practitioners have access to such a bewildering array of tools, they never have to reach for a hammer unless it's the best thing for the job.

So the question is, with all these tools at your disposal, do you diversify your skill set, or keep hammering away? Are you a pr, ad or web professional, or some kind of multidisciplinary guru? (I'm mostly directing this towards solo practitioners, startups, small agencies.) Arguments for both approaches:

Arguments for Specialization
1. My positioning is tight: I own a niche that fills a very specific need for clients or future employers.

2. My expertise is deep: I know my subject matter as good as anyone and I can authoritatively blog, present or give an interview on it.

3. My community is my toolset: What I don't know I can collaborate on or outsource to my network.

Arguments for Generalization
1. My door is always open: I can take on (and get paid for) almost any job that a client or employer throws my way.

2. My theory is we're in an age of "good enough": We've entered an era of conversational marketing that's filled with free, easy-to-use online tools and user generated content that makes much of the "professional grade" content that specialists provide less necessary. Besides, social media is turning all of us into internet marketers.

3. My search engine is my toolset. What I don't know I can ask google or my network about, then do it (mostly) myself.

Coming from an integrated agency background and now in the digital/social/pr realm, I fall under the generalist category. Where do you land?
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tags:
advertising, career, pr, social_media,
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Andy Giefer

Andy Giefer

Strategic PR/marketing guy with a love for all things digital. Passionate about connecting remarkable and brands and people.

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