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Let’s talk about Fear. Why are social network media so feared? It’s about losing control and what happens when college leaders feel that they can't control the medium.
In the not-so-old days, college marketing and PR folks would write a news release and send it to the media (newspaper, radio, television and the occasional magazine). At that point, the power would shift from message creation (you and your college) to message filtration (the media). A good relationship with the media would increase the likelihood of coverage, which is why so many of us spent time cultivating good relationships with the reporters, producers and editors of our local media. We were “greasing the skids” for coverage in good times and creating a thin protective coating to slow negative coverage in bad times.
But the best part? It was when the article or story ran. It came out of the mouths and off the fingers of the news media so it had the patina of media credibility. It had been vetted by the media and was pronounced “true.”
In search of this coverage and the “Truth Patina,” Presidents joined local organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis and others) where the editors and publishers hung out. They served on committees and worked side-by-side with them. It was hoped that between the personal relationship PR staff had with reporters, and the President’s relationship with publishers; our colleges had done what we could to shape messages and coverage.
The impact of this media cultivation was small in large cities (it used to be difficult to schmoose a reporter from the L.A. Times) and huge in small towns (a single advertisement in a weekly newspaper could generate great love and affection).
So what does this have to do with fear? In the new world of social media, your college still sends out news to the world (via Facebook or MySpace or Twitter or Your Blog, or Someone Else’s Blog or…. ) but now the people who choose to read it, interpret it, respond to it, and pass it on are beyond the power of schmoozing. You and your President and Board don’t know who they are (or even if they were EVER at the Rotary meeting).
This is the moment of Fear. The basis of the Fear is the reason why so many schools hesitate, reject and, well, “fear” social networking. It is the total lack of control and the realization that your messages are going out to your community wrapped in no other credibility but your own. And once you send it, who is it really going to? We know for sure that it is NOT the newspaper readership; THAT is certain). Beyond that, what they choose to do with the message is up to them, putting it completely out of your control. They may pass it on as truth, ignore it completely, or write an article flaming you AND your college. They cannot be schmoozed, spun or even predicted. That is why we fear social media.
The truth about past media is that the reality of control was always an illusion. You never REALLY knew what the newspaper was going to print or the television and radio stations were going to air. Furthermore, among the people who listened, watched and read these news reports, you never REALLY knew how they were going to take them. The response, good or bad, happened in days or weeks, rather than minutes and hours. And that is what you have really lost with the advent of new media: time, not control.
The reality is for the first time you really can get a message to your community (assuming you have built your online community) unfiltered by the media. It is your story, told by you. For the first time, you can hear the responses from that community quickly and make small changes in your approach, rather than dealing with a huge issue “out-of-the-blue,” that has been brewing for months. For the first time, you can have your pulse on the community without sitting through hundreds of chicken dinners. Unfiltered, real time, direct: That is what you get with social media.
What you lose is the luxury of perfection and the old news cycle. You don’t have two days. You have two hours. You can’t sit in a meeting all morning without someone having an eye on the social media stream. Too much can change in that time. You seldom can take the time to write the article or the response “perfectly” because in this new “digital grapevine,” speed counts.
The appearance of totally losing control is an illusion. The reality is that you never really had it. Now, for the first time, you can. The days of media credibility are waning. It is better for you and your college to create the message, put it out there directly and back it with organizational credibility. This can happen only if you learn to communicate to your real world communities via your online communities. You can create and maintain your own media channel, direct to the hearts and minds of your community, but only if you let go of the fear and embrace the new media. Carpe diem. |
Thursday August 13, 2009 1:00 pm CST
Notes from the Edge:
Lack of control can conjure up feelings of fear even in some of the most self-assured people. Whether we are talking about our company or our persona, this fear can intensify when delivering a message. In this day and age, we are all unofficial news reporters. Direct access to the world’s “global grapevine” is like a tsunami hitting hard and fast, and if we are not careful, it can spin wildly out of control.
For example, it was recently reported that there was a mysterious video containing footage of professional basketball superstar, Lebron James, being dunked on by a Xavier College sophomore basketball player during a pick up game at a Nike, Inc. basketball camp. James, arguably the most popular professional athlete in his sport, and Nike immediately confiscated any and all videos that existed. While Nike may have thought they were merely protecting James’ image, they may have actually produced a far greater negative affect. Hypothetically, imagine that James and Nike did not confiscate the mysterious video. The video gets posted on YouTube and from there, is cast to the world through tweets, twits, blogs, bogs, and anything else you can imagine. For thirty-six hours, it becomes the Web’s most talked about video. Then, like every other Internet buzz story, it simply dies. James’ and Nike’s lack of control for the situation and the video have now turned it into an infamous Internet legend.
There is simply no way to gauge or predict how the world will interpret our message or what they will do with it. If we can accept this fate, then we must also realize that gone are the days when we could sit and stew over every single word we write. We live in the “now,” and because of the technology we have been blessed or cursed with, one imminent truth remains: an “almost" perfect message today is far better than a perfectly crafted message tomorrow.
Andrew Hughes - Interact Communications
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