Not too long ago, my dear friend Hugh MacLeod (@gapingvoid) and I set out to explore a new world of visual communication that combined an intentional form of written storytelling illustrated through clever yet pithy cartoons. That work was originally brought to life in #WTF (What’s the Future of Business). The engagement around Hugh’s work eventually spilled over from print to online with readers sharing their favorite Hugh cartoons via Tweets, Instagrams, Vines, Pinterest, et al. We were inspired to…
The Rules of Smarter Engagement
To celebrate the release of my new book, The End of Business as Usual, I recently hosted a discussion on behalf of Vocus on how businesses should rethink a marketing-driven social media approach by not just engaging, but activating a market-driven strategy defined by smarter, more meaningful engagement. More than 1,000 people attended the event and while I tried to answer every question, many were left unaddressed because of time constraints. This post tackles some of the recurring questions we…
The Year of Understanding Influence
2010 was the year where we revisited not only the definition of influence, but also deeply explored its meaning in today’s social economy. What represented an ongoing series of virtual global summits on the topic, influence was scrutinized as a way of better understanding its role in new media. It goes beyond academic study however. Influence permeated the realm of the masses and suddenly, we the people, were gifted with the opportunity to voice what moved us. In doing so,…
Exploring and Defining Influence: A New Study
Influence is bliss… The socialization of media is as transformative as it is empowering. As individuals, we’re tweeting, updating, blogging, commenting, curating, liking and friending our way toward varying levels of stature within our social graphs. With every response and action that results from our engagement, we are slowly introduced to the laws of social physics: for every action there is a reaction – even if that reaction is silence. And, the extent of this resulting activity is measured by…
What Makes an Influencer?
Influence is the subject of some of important conversations lately. Each time we surface questions, answers and new thinking that starts to reshape the landscape for how businesses view, define, and embrace influence. The socialization has democratized content and equalized influence. As such, we are at the inception of an an era when everyday people are presented with an opportunity to earn authority, trust, and leadership based on their actions and words. I’ve partnered with Vocus to take the conversation…
Learn, Discuss, Debate The Social Media Press Release Live on March 4, 2008
There is certainly no shortage of discussions related to the Social Media Release. It’s like that old saying. For every one person who speaks up, you can bet that it represents a greater collective of sentiment within the public. So, for every post or article on the Social Media Release, you can bet that there are countless PR veterans, emerging professionals, and students are who are intrigued, confused, supportive, or against the notion of a new platform for sharing, distributing,…
The Evolution of Social Media Press Release Distribution and Technorati Tags
As the future of Social Media Press Releases takes shape, it will take a community effort to keep it on track as well as encouraging mass adoption. As part of the Social Media Club along with Chris Heuer and many others, I’m surrounded by industry visionaries who are pushing the movement forward, while also broadening the overall industry opportunity for Social Media in online public relations. Weāve also recently formed a Working Group to help establish an industry standard for…
Vocus Acquires PRWeb – PR 1.0 + PR 2.0 = New Media Relations
…well that’s until New Media Relations becomes PR and the next big thing becomes NMR. Today, Vocus announced that it acquired PRWeb. Now things are getting very interesting! Thanks to Jason Baptiste, co-founder of Weblogwire for sending along the information. Hey Jason, keep up the visibility and the PR for the PR! Maybe youāre nextā¦. Vocus snagged PRWeb (an alternative news and information distribution service) for its proprietary SEO tools and team of specialized editors that deliver a unique level…
