Aug
19
Posted in: Tech
Jun
29
Been reviewing relatively recent Toronto plan-undoings that involve citizens rallying around a piece of property & pushing back – online, natch. What drew me to the first was plain’ol’personal interest & proximity – the No Big Box in Leslieville campaign. Take a boo at their webpage - it’s nothing special. But it worked.
The second was brought to my attention by a clued-in-colleague with a nose for all things green’n'municipal – the Strachan bridge offered up by Metrolinx. This advocacy group’s site is even less stunning – how the heck do you navigate this thing? Who came up with that rambling acronym? (stands for “STOP METROLINX Super-Bridge on Strachan Ave”, FYI) Where do those hot models live? But it worked.
Finally, a photo-journo extraordinaire reported Home Depot’s foiled plans, which made us realize that local hardware handymen can’t do it nor can they help. Although Home Depot cited economic concerns were behind their retrenchment, there was little to no local lurv & my *super thorough* online investigation includes year+ of grumblings & mumblings…
So wha’happen?
As much as I’d love to blame the developers for not wielding flashy splashy sites to dazzle & inform residents, it’s easier than that.
There’s nothing high tech, high falutin’ or high octane about the anti-project sites & their successful offshoots – Facebook groups & online petitions.
It’s the basic call-to-arms simplicity that saved the day in the two most recent examples.
Check your options on the No Big Box site:
- Sign & Circulate a FAQ sheet or Petition (downloadable in PDF & Excel, respectively)
- Display a No Big Box in Leslieville Poster in the window of your home or business (downloadable in 2 sizes, B&W or colour, in PDF)
- Attend an OMB meeting (dates updated on homepage/only page & OMB’s website offered in case user can’t attend a ‘real life’ meeting)
Same with the Strachan’ites:
- Regular updates from municipal & provincial politicos
- Email blast cross-posted on homepage
- Drive to petition, Facebook Group, Photo Gallery of plans
Although it’s far less straightforward than the Leslieville gang, it acted as a vital hub for anyone searching for information about the bridge & immediately offered actionable tasks to affect change.
From feedback posted by the publicspaceratti after new non-bridgey-plans were announced, the community appears pretty happy with Metrolinx’s compromise.
So what can we learn from these two successful online grassroots campaigns & one scared-off developer?
You can quickly frame the discussion & perception of a project by mounting a simple online campaign HQ that offers basic information, easy-to-understand & actionable tasks, & multiple off-shoots (petitions, Twitter, Facebook groups, e-mail signups, links to authorities) for your supporters to review, repurpose & redistribute.
Developers, investors, corporations & local politicians can learn a great deal from the momentum built on these sites, the frequent maintenance, updates, engagement, as well as the clarity with which they describe a problem/plan & offer immediate levers to send feedback.
Establishing in-real-life consultations – as well as concurrent online fora – is only the first step – executing these events & maintaining the web properties has to be conducted transparently, while prioritizing frequent updates, accessibility & ease-of-use.
Easy.
Jun
17
In the midst of some eye-opening on-the-ground-coverage in Iran & reflections on social media’s use in times of crisis, Twitter‘s been lauded as a tool able to bring ‘outsiders’ into the loop with unprecedented immediacy and increasing importance. Most well-known & demonstrative of its role thus far were yesterday’s announcement that the US State Department contacted Twitter HQ to request the delay of scheduled updates to ensure continued information was broadcast from innumerable frustrated citizens & the underwhelmed disappointment with mainstream media coverage of the election among observers worldwide over the past week (a.k.a. #CNNfail).
When asked by friends to explain Twitter (often phrased as “Why the crap are you on your iPhone again, Rudey McJerkalot?!”), which happens a lot since this (flattering?!) bizarro world recognition, it’s hard to describe the scale & scope of the medium. Depending on who you choose to follow, your daily dose of information via Twitter can consist solely of leaked hiphop mixtape bittorrents, horoscopes, localvore recipes, or salacious spam.
Like blogging, Twitter’s had a tough go earning the respect of mainstream media.
Lest I sound like a mohawk’d-Misfits-lovin’-kid screaming ‘Punk’s not dead!’, with every ‘decline of the relevancy of X’ article, there’s another useful voice popping up or staying vibrant online – be it on Twitter, blogs or holographic robot interpretive dances. The bad/boring/bored robots rust – this ratio of success:fail says nothing about the medium – the same can be said for unrecorded songs, unpublished poems & unsewn outfits.
Hopefully after this week’s umpteenth demonstration of Twitter’s usefulness beyond hype-y marketing forays it’ll stop being second-guessed as a fuel source to move forward an issue’s narrative.
Closer to home, & far more capable of describing the whats & whos of Twitter, are the computer whizzes at Sysomos. Their report released on Friday is phenomenal. Some brilliant observations can be gleaned from just scanning the Summary if you’re tight for time, here are my favourites with my comments in parentheses:
- 21% of users have never posted a Tweet (Would most agree that the 1/5 ratio of ‘lurkers’ is the same for chat rooms & forums?)
- 72.5% of users joined between January – May 2009 (Mind-boggling growth rates, thanks to Oprah & Ashton)
- 65.5% of self-identified ‘PR Professionals’ have never posted an update ( hm. )
- 55% of users use something other than Twitter.com’s webpage version, Tweetdeck is #1 with 19.7% marketshare (could determine viability of pay-to-play or tiered membership offering based on how many users opt for paid mobile applications)
Hopefully the next generation of this report could examine the content overall to determine how many posts are Retweets (or ‘RT’s), sharing website URLs & messages to ask/reply to other users (‘@’s back & forth) – this might give us a better idea of how conversational the medium can be vs. the broadcast-y nature in which it has been characterized/dismissed.
On that nerdy note, I bid you adieu & hope our paths cross in music nerdery this week during NXNE
Special hat-tip to Count Gavin (a.k.a. Gavin Stephens – hilarious Toronto comic) for movie-reference-reminder….
Apr
30
Posted in: Tech
Next week, Hill & Knowlton ‘s paired up with the Empire Club for a special panel discussion on the relationship between Social Media & Corporate Trust.
One of the brilliant benefits of working at H&K is the ability to tap into the roster of creative colleagues in our offices worldwide, and to learn from our clients, many of whom operate in interesting industries, both in hyper-local or international contexts.
This event reflects the depth and breadth of experience among H&K’ers and our highly-regarded star staffers client-side. Although we often emphasise our role as trusted advisors and communications experts, we couldn’t deliver results commensurate with our high standards without intelligent, innovative and inspiring clients. In this case, we are honoured to host a timely panel on social media and corporate trust with an inspiring client on the world stage.
Recent online public relations and reputational meltdowns, from Motrin Moms on Twitter to Domino’s Pizza’s starring role on YouTube, social media is exerting its power at an increasing rate with unprecedented speed. Speaking with Suzanne Fallender, Intel‘s Manager of Corporate Responsibility (Global Programs & Performance), Peter Aceto, ING DIRECT Canada‘s President & CEO, and Canadian Business‘ Senior Writer and Editorial Board Member Tom Watson, our Director of H&K’s National Corporate Communications Practice and social media enthusiast Boyd Neil will moderate a discussion about employees, stakeholders and investors’ trust and the impact of social media on their perceptions.
Suzanne’s professional experience in corporate responsibility portfolios spans over a decade and her insights into the wide swath of international challenges across environmental health & safety, HR, legal and stakeholder relations will certainly resonate with all attendees. For more information on the work of Intel, scan the Intel Corporate Responsibility blog , one of many social media tools part of Intel’s larger strategy for improved internal and external communications
Peter’s role as the senior leader of ING DIRECT Canada has proved extremely successful, highlighted by improved customer feedback, streamlined business model and a strong team executing the company vision. His experience working on the ING DIRECT USA executive committee was beneficial to many organizations serving underprivileged children around the world, as he championed the ING DIRECT philanthropic activities.
Thomas’ recent nomination for two National Magazine Awards, of which one was a feature on the ABCP fiasco-themed Facebook group, reflects his understanding of the social media space, and its impact on coporate reputation. His writing, which has appeared in The Hamilton Spectator, the Financial Post and now Canadian Business, spans business, finance, politics and technology. An avid blogger, Thomas’ business-themed Double Take blog features posts that may not appear in the print version of CB.
More information can be found on the Empire Club site here.
We hope to see you on May 7th at the Royal York to enjoy what will be a unique conversation about trust & social media among four industries’ finest communicators.
Apr
24
Will be blogging about the thought-provoking sessions at this week’s Politics Online Conference over the weekend, but wanted to whip up a quick post about a video that’s been circulating on political blogs.
Regardless of your views on the conflict in Israel, this YouTube video, featured on yesterday’s RealPolitix (highly recommended for non-partisan-tech-related-political news), called ‘Operation Cast Lead’ is a phenomenal example of the capabilities of online videos for awareness-raising, advocacy, lobbying and message-dissemination.
This simple, but extremely powerful 5 ½ minute clip uses simple narrative & archived news clips (old hat) – but in a first-person-shooter-video-game style to speak the language of a younger online audience & demonstrate the real effects of the conflict with a great deal of statistics and facts about the ongoing impact on civilians.
I encourage you to check it out either on YouTube, or on the RealPolitix site, where you can also read an accompanying positive pro-Israel write-up (best quote from the post “It is not an understatement to say that you can learn more from this video than you can from most of the media coverage.”):
No better time to be reminded of the power of gaming & visualization/advocacy/community than a couple days before pundit-izing on panels at the Canadian Gaming Summit. If any Torontoians are geeking out this weekend, @me on Twitter & maybe we can sync up a study date – I’d love a fresh set of eyes for some PPTz 
Feb
28
Posted in: Tech
In honour of the credit crisis & financial sector meltdown, I’m declaring bankruptcy on multiple unfrequented email accts. This includes Facebook. Please be patient as some things are delayed/lost in the shuffle…meghan@withoutayard.com works best. Even better? IRL times – my 2nd fav East Coast DJ is spinning tonight….
Feb
25
Completely blissed out after having a very edu-mi-cational Tuesday yesterday. Was very lucky to meet the enthusiastic crew of EQAO with Intangibles auteur, colleague & reformed protester Boyd Neil, when we presented concepts and examples demonstrating the impact of digital media on the education sector to our province’s communications professionals.
Wrapped the afternoon/early evening on my old stomping ground, UofT campus – Sid Smith specifically. Like a reverse of Proust’s dunkin’madelaine, the 70s dystopian architecture brought back the faint whiff of Fung Mess Hall chicken fingers & recycled over-brewed coffee. Long-time-bud-turned-expert-’crat & professorial-type Josh Hjartarson was misguided enough to expose a mess of malleable minds to my mad ravings on the subject of government relations. Of course Josh was his always affable self, presenting with sharp quips, awesome examples and too-hip clips. My jokes about Napster being free when I was in undergrad were met with crickets’n'tumbleweeds. Le sigh.
Some tough queries from the always bright UofT PoliSci students that’re TEN YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME. If y’all have any queries about what I *do* in GR…fire away…or click ahoy:
Finally, the most edu-mi-cational part of the day was discovering new music & meeting new Tweeps in the 2nd Twuneup Community (Follow’em @TwunesTO). My pick out of all the the amazing cover songs? Beck+Of Montreal = AWESOME (not crystal clear recording…)
Nov
18
Posted in: Tech
No Joni or Rush in iTunes (yet) to officially celebrate. Aside from the Yankee-Doodle-ing eAdvocacy posts, wanted to share the success of a client that we’ve been very lucky to have – Molson. The Society for New Communications Research awarded both our H&K Digital Team & our talented, charming & thoughtful contacts at Molson with the 2008 Excellence in New Communications Award (blogger relations category). Please forget my breathless gushing over indie rock upstarts to recognize that this is truly huge. We were pitted against respected heavyweights, such as Edelman’s lauded US social media team and the social media pros at SHIFT Communications.
The event so nice, we held it twice – Brew 2.0 in T-dot & VanVegas – won over the SfNCR judges evaluating blogger outreach (& you might remember all the buzz that it generated in armchair quarterback vs. participant-blogger-punditry shortly thereafter? For Immediate Release Podcast? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone know the effects?) & was quite honestly, two of the best ‘working’ nights I’ve ever experienced to boot.
Let’s turn it up to eleven in ’09, then. Blogs’n'tweets’n'memes’n'dreams, y’all! Read up on Molson’s (winning) submission ici.
Nov
17
Feeling like Eloise holed up in a nice hotel for this long. Due to scheduling conflicts & miscellaneous foils, two of today’s interviews (eHealth comms pioneer & architect of major NGO’s digital strategy/re-weblaunch) were over the phone. Produced very enlightening conversations nonetheless (made for easier note taking/furious non-eye-contact-typing, too). Wrapped the day chatting in SoHo, visiting a collaborate social network for artists that’s taking community management/user engagement to the next level, growing exponentially & moving forward with innovative & useful (not just bright’n'shiny) tools for their ‘uber-users’ to beta test before full rollout.
One theme tied these very diverse chats together – know your user. SurprisingEx. Mobile platform adaptation/adoption was not a huge concern for 2/3 interviewees because: 1) they’ve got bigger fish to fry; 2) their pool of users aren’t online via mobile devices & 3) it doesn’t serve the fundamental goals of the org.
All three organizations invested time tracking metrics, studying demographics and soliciting feedback to develop a very good sense of who they were/needed to reach.
The three organizations varied in size, scope & shape bigtime. The largest, a more advocacy-focused NGO that’s registered over 300K members in its 70 years, is challenged by numerous offices mounting different campaigns & de-bureaucratizing/un-siloing an old-school site. Engaging staff at all levels to adopt/accept a new web philosophy is a work in progress. Shared colleague Collin’s phrase ‘Return on Intention’ to echo the interviewee’s explaining to colleagues that “the ‘front page’ is not nearly as important as you think it is in terms of findability or navigation.” No doubt it’ll take many eAdvocates awhile, especially if they’re in older organizations with massive press-release-filled sites, to successfully proselytize the virtues of caring about the other ROI.
Will be publishing a white-paper-style presentation after the meetings this month, leaning against developing one-post write ups for each interview, too, it already lives in GoogleDocs, couldn’t hurt to publish mini vignettes, I just don’t want to create a siloed monolitic brutal web1.0 site of my own…
Hm. What do you think I should do?
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