Archive for June, 2009
June 29th, 2009
Technology has come a long way in my lifetime. Before my digital camera, I had a 35mm; before that, I had a 110mm and a Polaroid; before DVDs, I remember the Laser Discs they used in my grade school science classes—and before them, I remember VHS and Betamax tapes. And before I had an iPod, I had a CD player, a cassette player, and yes, even a record player.
I begin this week’s blog post this way because something happened last week that caused me both to remember my record player (it had Rainbow Brite on it) and to consider changing technology: Michael Jackson died.
Michael Jackson, the artist behind the first vinyl record I remember buying (it was Bad and I was four) died, and I got the news on my iPhone, via an emailed link to a post on TMZ.
The day the King of Pop died may also have been the day social media became a credible source.
I have mixed feelings about TMZ and other blogs of its nature. Part of it is my personal opinion that celebrities are people, too, and they deserve at least a little privacy. Part of it is that I’ve never found reading from a screen to be as satisfying as holding a newspaper or magazine. And part of it, too, is that for all my evangelizing that blogs are important and bloggers matter, I’m not really sure that most blogs are quite “there,” as far as having research departments and full-time news staffs and careful editors and all the other things that newspapers employ to make sure they have well-written, well-researched, timely news stories. But without all of these limitations, blogs do have something that traditional media does not: the ability to break news as it’s happening and to go viral with it. (Some would argue that they also have the ability to break the news without the constraints of journalistic ethics—the downside to social media’s speed.)
All of this comes on the heels of the Associated Press’s recent, and very strict, social media guidelines issued to its staff. Guidelines that more or less ensured that the news agency—one of the nation’s largest—would get scooped by social media on one of the biggest pop culture stories of the year. It’s not that I don’t think that mainstream media outlets shouldn’t have waited before officially reporting the news… it’s just that I don’t think they should have held back on the speculation. A Tweet from an AP writer (on a personal or official account) saying: “Michael Jackson reported dead of cardiac arrest (unconfirmed); stay tuned for more details…” (at a whopping 93 characters, including the ellipsis) would have kept the outlet from looking like it had fallen completely behind. A more direct Tweet saying: “Yes, we’ve heard the MJ rumors. Waiting for confirmation before we officially report,” (at a mere 85 characters!) would not only have acknowledged the initial report but would have given the AP’s official stance on reporting the news—namely, that they (unlike blogs) were awaiting official word from a credible source. They might not have been the first to report the news, but there would have been an air of legitimacy to the AP’s Tweet that was lacking from TMZ’s series of blog posts on the subject.
But instead of being able to comment on rumors, the staffers at the AP (and, to be fair, seemingly all major traditional news outlets and bureaus) had to sit on their hands while social media beat them to the punch—and, to add insult to injury, they had to concede in their eventual articles that TMZ was on the story first. It was amazing to see the “big dogs” of traditional media begin sentences with “According to TMZ…” or “Celebrity blog TMZ reports…” because for the first time it showed that the media was conceding the power and influence of its nontraditional sister outlets. After all, when the news broke, people weren’t clamoring for the evening editions of their local papers. They were turning to Twitter and blogs.
I don’t necessarily think this is the harbinger of Associated Press 2.0—but I do think that it’s a sign that traditional media has a lot of catching up to do. After all, things have changed a lot since 1987, when my mom took me to the record store in Bassett Center Mall to buy Michael Jackson’s latest LP. We have embraced the MP3 as a sign of changing technology… maybe we should embrace the blog, too.
Image credit: Flickr user bernissimo, used under a Creative Commons license.
June 26th, 2009
On Wednesday I traveled to NYC to attend Matthew Bishop’s interview with Jacqueline Novogratz from the Acumen Fund. I follow Matthew on Twitter and of course have been reading The Economist for many years. As a matter of fact, when ELISE launched Paul Polak’s book Out of Poverty—which is coincidentally coming out in paperback this fall—The Economist favored Paul’s approach to poverty alleviation over the advice Muhammad Yunus presents in Creating a World Without Poverty.
I digress.
The Wednesday event at 92Y was an opportunity to listen and watch Matthew interview Jacqueline in an intimate and informative setting. Her life story is interesting: her immigrant father who encouraged her to interview at banks after graduating from college; her time at Chase Manhattan; and her eventual decision to bring those banking skills to help impoverished women in Rwanda, thereby making financial institutional history. Also interesting were her thoughts on “creative destruction,” and Acumen’s position on “patient capital.” I purchased her book The Blue Sweater and definitely plan on reading it…perhaps after I finish Matthew’s Philanthrocapitalism!
Jacqueline discussed how fanatical an idea it was back in the eighties to convince Rwandan women to raise $10,000 to start a fund. And, how her subsequent work starting Acumen was similarly unchartered. She is now helping to build a global innovation fund. This is again “changing the game” and fixing something that can be improved.
When Jacqueline was talking about the “truth in the passion of the entrepreneur,” she might have or could have been talking about herself—but, her words resonated with me, as I am now on my second company and understand that you need to remind yourself every day of your original design and determination. Building an organization from the ground up is not easy. And, it is common for even the best of us to ask if we wasted time or “three years of my life” laying the groundwork for later success. ELISE too is creating new systems: the type of PR and marketing firm that I am committed to engages empirically-minded people who are bright and interested in developing and launching innovative brands and products. And, then helping to publicize those achievements. We are the type of people who are concerned about clients but also naturally interested in the world around us. We learn as we work. And, we read Matthew Bishop’s writing and travel to NYC to listen to Jacqueline because we count ourselves among the lucky few who are paid to pursue our passions.
June 23rd, 2009
Over the weekend The New York Times ran a story about Ray Bradbury, a science fiction author best known for writing Fahrenheit 451, and his views on the closing of California libraries due to floundering taxpayer dollars. Coincidentally, I had visited the Chester County Library on Sunday.
Being a recent college graduate, I am not that far from the days of holing myself up in a study room at the university’s library. But it has been years since I had to use an encyclopedia to research something. Most of my time spent in Villanova’s library was spent with headphones on, coffee at hand, books spewed about long tables and laptop opened to my email, just in case. Looking back on it, there was no need for my Internet to be connected if I were truly studying. Like Mr. Bradbury had said in the New York Times article, “The Internet is a big distraction … it’s distracting. It’s meaningless; it’s not real.”
While I do agree that at times I get very distracted by the Internet, I don’t agree that it is not real. The Internet has become a means of universal communication. It has changed the way that we interact with each other. Even the ways in which PR professionals operate have changed—press releases and traditional media kits, for example, are used less and less these days. The utilization of social media, however, is demanded daily. Within the last year I have seen many print publications go under, due in part to the high demand for information shared over the Internet through blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
While I enjoy the efficiency, ease, instant gratification and the rapid messaging of the internet, I cannot say that it will be the place I go to when I want to read a poem by Walt Whitman or research where to go while I plan my upcoming visit to Sydney, Australia. For those items, I, like Mr. Bradbury, still enjoy going to the library and perusing the aisles of worn-out books and old wisdom.
June 18th, 2009
The New York Times this week launched its You’re the Boss blog for small business owners to share successes and defeats, and I will certainly be a reader. I think the concept captures what running a company is like, as everyday is filled with successes and defeats, and when the former outnumber the later, you have a good day. Finding people to share this ride with is difficult, and I am hopeful that a strong community will form around this NYT blog. Small businesses are a formidable force, as we comprise 40 percent of all companies in the U.S. And, each day with the failure of more companies and more layoffs, statistics suggest that many people are asking “What color is your parachute?” and launching a business.
For me, having a great staff helps and working with interested and committed clients is what gets me out of bed in the morning. All three—the boss, staff and clients—have to be dedicated to success, or the defeats will dominate the equation.
2009 is a year when ELISE will not allow our scales to be tipped. We are doing what most marketing and business analysts suggest: “invest in yourselves.” We have moved to a bigger, quieter office with as much homage to brick and natural wood as our last place. (What would an East Coast office be without these structural elements?) We have also decided to devote more time to social media and to opening up the personality of the firm to a broader audience: we launched this blog to share our successes and defeats, and you can find us on Twitter (@ELISE215) and Facebook. It is our hope that you will take the time to turn our posts and tweets into conversations with comments and replies.
Indeed, being an entrepreneur is a cool thing to be. And, perhaps a female-run small business is just that much cooler, but ultimately our community will define our success and in this year of investment, we will all be leaning on each other a little more.
June 15th, 2009
It took me a while to break down and start using Twitter—and even now, it’s only for ELISE work and not for my personal life. In 2007, when the service launched, I wasn’t interested: something about several-times-a-day updates about my life seemed invasive… and completely uninteresting. (What was I going to do? Tweet about my cats and the sandwich I had for lunch?)
But Twitter has evolved from more than an outlet for narcissism or self-importance: it’s fast becoming a valuable tool for monitoring and influencing conversations and disseminating important news quickly. And those people who have the most influence and share the most information are now part of Twitter’s elite A-list.
The New York Times yesterday ran an article by Noam Cohen and Brian Stelter called “The Tweet Smell of Success,” which analyzed the increasing pervasiveness of Twitter and how fame can be brought to Tweeters through this list, comparing being named a top user to being mentioned in Walter Winchell’s column in the days of yore. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but there’s definitely something to be said for having your Twitter account recommended, whether on the A-List or by other Twitter users. We saw this first-hand last week while Carrie was on the ground at the Games for Health Conference in Boston: a couple of #followfriday recommendations, a couple of re-tweets, a couple of tweets about the conference itself… and suddenly our follower base grew. We’re not close to the tens of thousands of followers some of the Twitter users in the Times article have, but we’re getting there. Thanks to all of the @ELISE215 followers who are along for the ride.
June 12th, 2009
When I was a kid, my parents wouldn’t get me a Nintendo. My father didn’t understand why I didn’t want to go play in the treehouse he’d built us. (In retrospect, I don’t understand, either.) He’s an active guy who always discouraged us from sitting around all day, so video games were out of the question. But I have to wonder about whether my dad would have changed his tune if the type of games available today had been released back in the eighties—the games typically classified as “exergames” or “active games.” Using a Wii Fit or playing Dance Dance Revolution still would have meant being indoors instead of climbing trees, but I would have been doing anything but sitting down.
Working on games-that-might-get-the-Mr. Ivey-seal-of-approval are a number of developers attending the 2009 Games for Heatlh Conference, which kicked off yesterday in Boston and continues today. But exergames (like the one pictured above) aren’t the only topic being discussed: there are also panel discussions on using games as cognitive and physical therapy, and even developing games to train medical professionals. Whether you’re a gamer, a health professional, or both, the conference is worth checking out. It’s a little late to make it this year, but you can follow conference updates on Twitter using the #gamesforhealth or #g4h09 hashtags. (Be sure to follow Games for Health founder Ben Sawyer while you’re at it, too!)
June 10th, 2009
Earlier today, the NCIIA announced the 2009 winners of its annual BMEidea Competition at the MD&M Conference in New York City. The awards are meant to honor top student innovators in the field of biomedical engineering.
First place, a cash prize of $10,000 went to Stanford University’s Lab-on-a-Stick project, which is a simple, affordable method for diagnosing illnesses with a disposable “stick” pre-treated with assorted protein receptors. Second place ($2,500) went to the University of Cincinnati’s SurgiSIL—a single-port laparoscopic tool that can reduce the risk of trauma, decrease healing time, and hide a single surgical incision in the belly button. Third place ($1,000) went to a Brown University team working on a rapid and accurate method for assessing Vitamin D levels.
The NCIIA has more information on their site here. Congratulations to all the winners!
June 8th, 2009
Over the next two weeks, ELISE communications will be traveling up and down the East Coast. With events in New York City, Boston and Alexandria, Virginia, ELISE is keeping busy.
This week ELISE will be in New York City on Tuesday and Wednesday, attending the NCIIA’s BMEidea Competition. We are excited to see who the first place winner will be!
Then, on Thursday and Friday, ELISE will be in Boston helping out with the fifth annual Games for Health Conference. The conference brings together a diverse set of health and technology professionals in a city known for its bustling game development and health care industries to discuss how interactive video games can advance health and health care solutions.
Next week Carrie has been asked to participate on a panel—organized by Berrett-Koehler—to help authors promote and grow their business. We will be there on June 19. The event is hosted by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).
With all this traveling, it’s a good thing we are finally settling into our new office on Church Street. We’ll post photos of our new space soon!
June 5th, 2009
Although the sLowlife exhibit at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) Museum opened earlier this year, it’s only recently been warm enough in Philadelphia for the plants displaying the characteristics described in sLowlife to get planted in CHF’s front gardens.
And so yesterday, a team from Fine Garden Creations was out in the rain planting Coleus Garnet Robe—a red-leafed, non-flowering cascading plant that shows a strong gravitropic response as it grows down over the planter—and Oxalis Regnelli Pink Princess, a flowering plant with garnet leaves that demonstrates circadian rhythms by folding its leaves up at night. ELISE was out there, too: not planting, but hanging out with our clients at CHF and snapping a few photos. Check them out on our Flickr page—and be sure to visit CHF tonight for their First Friday Manual Science event, where you can learn to make botanical sunprints. More details here.
June 3rd, 2009
Last November, while using CisionPoint to research London-based media outlets for a holiday press push for a Lemelson Foundation and Freeplay Foundation initiative, we noticed that Londonist was listed amongst the outlets in the database (which also included traditional heavyweights like The Observer and The Times). This interested me, personally, because not only were we actually planning on talking to Londonist’s editor about Freeplay’s Lifelight product launch, but also because (as a matter of disclosure) I edit, in my spare time, one of Londonist’s sister sites on the Gothamist network, Phillyist.
You see, it’s through Phillyist that I first began to receive press releases, media alerts, and pitches. Phillyist was my entrée into public relations and by the time I started working in the field myself, I had very strong opinions on how I liked to be pitched as a blogger, and therefore I had very strong opinions on how I should reach out to bloggers once I came to ELISE and became the one doing the pitching.
Londonist was one of the first blogs we researched on Cision, but it was not the last. And each blog we research on the service comes with this statement: “The fundamentals of working with bloggers are the same as with traditional journalists at traditional media outlets: respect their schedules; take time to read their material to learn their interests; and only contact them if/when they want to be contacted.” And treating them as anything less than journalists isn’t just a sign that you’re behind-the-times; it can also be a public relations nightmare. (Take it from Target—your rejection of bloggers can land you in the New York Times, and not in a positive way.)
As such, here are a few things you’ll never, ever, hear us say here at ELISE communications HQ, even though, as a blogger, I know that the sentiments exist elsewhere:
- “Online-only press will not be permitted at this event.” (Just saying that opens you up to a world of speculation in the blogosphere, all of which will be negative. Just because bloggers aren’t invited to your event doesn’t mean they won’t write about it. Think of it as Sleeping Beauty—nobody likes being un-invited to a party, and it could come back to haunt you.)
- “We’re going to hold off on pitching to bloggers while we wait to see if any of the big papers bite.” (Bloggers have the potential to reach a much wider and more engaged audience than traditional media does, and blogs aren’t limited to word counts or column widths, meaning your story is much less likely to get bumped and much more likely to run promptly.)
- “They’re only bloggers; we can pitch them last-minute.” (We understand that bloggers have lives, too. Just because they have the potential for instant publishing doesn’t mean that they don’t need advance notice about an event or press conference.)
- “We don’t need to research bloggers as thoroughly as we need to research traditional journalists.” (In fact, bloggers require more research—most bloggers write about what interests them, and pitching off-topic or out of their areas of interest can put them off your story, and worse, can put them off any future pitches you may have for them. And unlike with traditional media, there’s often not a senior assignment editor to run to when you’re being ignored.)
Bottom line: Respect the medium and respect the writer. And if you do those things, they might say some really nice things about your clients. Still not sure? Just check out our results:
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