San Diego Press Club Social Media Presentation

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The San Diego Press Club hosted a social media presentation last night on the subject of social media.

The panel included me (Julie) representing (W)right On, Caron Golden who blogs for San Diego Foodstuff, Indra Gardiner who is COO of agency Bailey Gardiner, and Ron James who is launching San Diego News Network to rival SignonSanDiego.com.

It was a full house and people were extremely interested in Twitter. There were a few people who already knew Twitter quite well (these include @gbatuyong who was live Tweeting -- *hooray* -- and @thoughtshappen).

As promised to attendees, I've uploaded a copy of the presentation I shared on social media.

Social Media for San Diego Press Club

View more presentations from Julie Wright. (tags: social media)

San Diego's Growing Twitter Community

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If you didn't already know this, San Diego has a great, enthusiastic and powerful Twitter community.

Currently, the city is ranked 13th worldwide for its Tweeples' activity.

The top Twitterers in this region are also some of the top in the world. Twitter Grader refers to them as San Diego's 'elite' Twitterers. @marismith, for instance, is ranked #1 in this region and in the top 100 of all ranked users.

Naturally, many of the people most active on Twitter are 'social media mavens,' so I personally suggest that if you're looking to keep your Twitterstream fresh, diverse, and relevant, be careful not to jump in by following only the top Twitterers. You'd be missing out on a lot.

Mix it up with great San Diego attractions and venues like @gaslampquarter or news media like @sdut. Or how about both with @sdtips which combines local travel tips, news and a lot more. Or journalists like @dodgemedlin who you can always count on to post topical and timely links.

Follow San Diego Metblog authors like @juliewright (me), @thepegisin, @viss, @morrisato and more.






There are personalities to follow here too like @chriscantore who's a fount of local music knowledge and as entertaining ever. Or @sddialedin if you're looking for recommendations on the local music scene--in real-time, by the way, which often means 2 a.m. for her. If classic rock is more your bag, you can't beat @sdradio for his encyclopedic knowledge.

If you're a morning person and preternaturally perky, you'll enjoy the good natured posts of @marismith (see link above), @sugarjones, and @lotusamy.

You can stay connected to the city of San Diego via @mayorsanders.

And if you're interested in San Diego's culinary community and what's fresh, follow @carondg, @aliceqfoodie and @pinchmysalt.

I suggest you chase those food posts down with a beer post or two from @stonegreg of Stone Brewing and @beermolly.

If you're interested in San Diego's biotech industry, follow @sdbn. And if you're interested in the future and health of its fast food industry and leading spokesperson, follow @jackbox (who's apparently in a coma but you can count on his staff to keep his account updated.)

It really helps to get out and meet your Tweeps in person, and for that, you need to follow @jbruin who organizes San Diego TweetUps like the one last Saturday night that brought out over 200 people. Read her blog post and see pictures too if you wonder what a TweetUp looks like. http://www.meetup.com/sdtweetup/ (I wish I could go but I have a 'thing'... I just love saying that.)

This list is just a start. I'll try to share more links to local San Diego Tweeps in the future. And I encourage you to share your favorites by commenting below or reaching me on Twitter @juliewright.

Jack in the Box 'Hang in There Jack' misses the RSS feed

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See yesterday's post if you missed the ad that Jack in the Box ran during the Superbowl. This post is 'part II' or 'the morning after.'

By Feb 2 in the morning, it's clear the www.hangintherejack.com site has a lot of great multimedia and much of it in YouTube format. I believe that all of these videos were posted during and immediately after Superbowl but because the site couldn't handle the traffic, I, like many, couldn't see them.



The 'creative' on the site is fantastic. And that's why I believe it deserves better tactical execution in social networks and that some of the missed opportunities here border on egregious (let alone the $3mil required to have bought the original ad space.)

The site encourages you to make a video response, comment on the videos and order anything off their menu (in lieu of flowers). But there's one H-U-G-E element it's missing and that's an RSS feed. A simple little icon that allows me to subscribe to this blog. That's out-and-out crazy and another big sign that the people behind the campaign don't understand social media.

Another sign? The Facebook page has one update since yesterday and the Twitter accounts are still at odds with @hangintherejack providing fresh, timely updates to 35 (?) followers and the @jackbox site doubling its followers again to over 1400 despite publishing only one update.

Seems this is an advertising driven campaign and expensive TV airtime will be used to push people to www.hangintherejack.com. Meantime, inexpensive and more personalized social media marketing and engagement will be foregone or done haphazardly as the advertising executives learn on the job. (Hey, in these rapidly evolving times, we're all learning by doing, but what small fee could have paid to have a social media consultant contribute to this promotion.)

I am curious to learn what agency is behind the promotion because my money is on a traditional ad agency that has talked its client into an 'interactive' campaign without fully understanding what an interactive campaign should look like in 2009.

Jack in the Box mascot massacre hit or miss for social media

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In a $3 million Superbowl ad, Jack Box gets hit by a bus--his condition, serious. The commercial ends with the url www.hangintherejack.com. Problem?

Well, the promotional website crashes. And, worse, the Twitter account, @jackbox, was not being maintained for the first 30 minutes after the ad.



Unlike @overstockdotcom or @scottmonty, who manages social media for Ford, Jack in the Box was silent in social networks in the aftermath of its major advertising campaign launch of 2009.

In today's connected world, that's a huge missed opportunity to connect in real-time with fans of the Jack advertising, product and mascot.

Even nearly one hour after debuting the ad, the last Tweet Jack showed was that he was off to his ill-fated lunch with executive Phil, the website was still crashed, and no updates were available on the company's Facebook page.

Finally, while the Superbowl was still in progress, a Twitter post was generated by 'Barbara,' Jack's assistant, with an update and more promised.

And following the Superbowl, the website came back up. I couldn't see the multimedia on the site for whatever reason and the only other options were to order something from the menu in lieu of flowers or follow the Twitter or Facebook accounts. In the wake of the commercial

We'll see whether the campaign becomes a social media phenomenon. If the folks behind it adopt some of the approaches that made the Mad Men characters so engaging and fun for people to interact with, it could redefine the meaning of "being hit by the proverbial bus"--at least in advertising circles.

Get well Jack!

Evolution of Dance Star Launching Sequel!

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His dance-craze video has been viewed nearly 110 million times on YouTube, and soon Judson Laipply will launch his sequel live on YouTube and show a sneak peek on the Today Show. PC World got the story while covering the Consumer Electronics Show (CES09) this week.

read more | digg story

Hitting Pause in a Fast-Forward World

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As communicators -- PR people, marketers, media, bloggers -- we're inundated with incoming and outgoing messages. Keeping pace is hard enough, but it's also not enough. We must stay ahead of the curve.

In this day and age, that's what our clients, readers, and viewers expect of us. We live in a hyper-connected world and are navigating it at hyperspeed.

Is it any wonder that from time to time, a communication goes awry or a message astray? In this communications environment, the unglamorous 'check and balance' has been run roughshod by the fast and the furious.

It reminds me of the character Toby, in my favorite TV show, The Office (yes, I'm finally making the connection to the photo above!). He's always trying to put the brakes on his boss Michael's ill-conceived ideas. But the office group-think and Michael's impatience always trump Toby's protestations, and Toby is the office buzzkill. It's good comedy, but it's a reminder that what's popular or fun is not always right or appropriate.

But, back to the real world and what happens when the checks and balances aren't adhered to: The New York Times had to post a retraction yesterday for running a letter to the editor that was supposedly from the mayor of Paris. It was critical of Caroline Kennedy and her senate seat run. New York Times letters are supposed to be verified with the author before being published. This one was edited and emailed back to its sender; however, it was published eventhough the sender -- who, of course, was not the mayor of Paris -- never responded to the Times.

This reminds me also of the French-Canadian DJs posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy who got past the checks and balances that should have been protecting U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin from such embarassment.

And, I'm wondering, to borrow a phrase from the French, if "c'est la vie?" I hope not. And as communicators, I think it's imperative that we keep one finger on the pause button, ready to push. Communication is often defined by what you don't say, and keeping quiet can often be the best course (see our blog post from yesterday for more on that topic.)

This season, The Office brought Toby back from Costa Rica. I'll take this as a sign that we're ready to slow the pace down, increase our control over communications, heed and head off problems before they get bail-out big, and live with making unpopular decisions rather than living with disastrous consequences.

What's a Social Media Maelstrom?

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There have been a few 'flaps' that have started as the result of a blog post, comment or social media campaign gone wrong.

In November, it was the Motrin Moms, mothers reacting to Motrin's promotion associating 'baby wearing' with pain and a fashion statement. It was meant to be a light and fun viral post, but the reaction it got was just the opposite. Here's what it looked like when Twitter exploded with moms' reactions:

(This chart is generated by Twitscoop a powerful tool for keeping an eye on what the Twitterverse is discussing in real-time. Last week, it was how I learned about the passing of a good friend's well-known mother and that Mats Sundin had been traded to the Vancouver Canucks--the latter which got me cited in the Vancouver Sun's tech blog.)

If you're interested in learning more about the Motrin Moms backlash, there's a great blog post by Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang's blog. Here's the original animation captured via YouTube for posterity, although Motrin took it down shortly after it launched.




This morning there's another example of a social media backlash. This one is the reaction to a guest post by a blogger's boss, and his readers are not welcoming it. The acting CEO of an organization in Washington D.C. called the Center for American Progress Action Fund made a four-sentence post on a blog by employee Matt Yglesias this weekend defending a partner called Third Way that Matt had previously criticized. I don't know either group, or I didn't know either group. But now I do because of her ham-handed communication that like many missives at the heart of a scandal or a crisis had "unintended consequences." Meant originally to appease the partner, what it actually did was anger everyone else. With nearly 500 comments and counting, here are the unintended messages it sent:

m Says: December 21st, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Was this really necessary? if I remember, all yglesias said was that Third Way was more a messaging outfit than a policy research institution. that isn’t controversial or false - it is true.

KCinDC Says: December 21st, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Well, we have learned that Third Way is apparently thin-skinned enough to demand that CAPAF commandeer the blog and post a ham-handed disclaimer late on a Sunday night.

Bill Says: December 21st, 2008 at 10:59 pm
If it’s Matt’s blog, it’s his blog. He should correct factual errors but no one should ever step in and offer a groveling CYA post. That’s just disgusting.

lowellfield Says: December 21st, 2008 at 11:53 pm
How could a person who thinks this post is appropriate also be the CEO of CAPAF? Completely bizarre.

The Motrin Moms and this post above both had something in common. They happened on the weekend, with no one monitoring and no one managing the issues.

Social media is a 24/7 environment. So take care to avoid unintended consequences in your communications, but also resist the urge to launch any kind of campaign or missive going into the weekend without plans to monitor and manage the reactions in real-time.