Image via CrunchBase The BBC has made a draft of its revised editorial guidelines available online as a PDF for public consultation.
This is first time the public have been consulted on the BBC guidelines, which are updated every five years.
In the 190 page document includes a short paragraph on the use of material from social media services, such as Facebook or Twitter. Section 7.4.8 in the chapter on privacy reads:
Although material, especially pictures and videos, on third party social media and other websites where the public have ready access may be considered to have been placed in the public domain, re-use by the BBC will usually bring it to a much wider audience. We should consider the impact of our re-use, particularly when in connection with tragic or distressing events. There are also copyright considerations.
As far I can tell, this is the first time the BBC has codified its approach to social media. I couldn’t find this in the existing editorial guidelines.
The guidelines are in line with the advice issued last year to BBC journalists over the ethical use of social media material.
via reportr.net
Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category
Why Would I Say to “Stop Talking About Social Media”?(Louis Gray)
Why Would I Say to “Stop Talking About Social Media”?
Two weeks ago, the second in a pair of guest blog posts from me for Brian Solis’ PR 2.0 site suggested that people should “stop talking about social media and go do it already”. For those of you who know me, and this blog, you know we actually use (and talk about) social media quite a bit. This blog has become something of a jumping-off point for new social services and applications. Sometimes, if lucky, I can even find some valuable tips and tricks to help you find the best places to find information or distribute it. So why the seeming contradiction? And why did my content end up on Brian’s site?
Second answer first – Brian is nearing the completion of yet another book, and simply needs to focus, so he reached out to a number of people who he thought could provide value to his site when he was otherwise occupied. FTC disclosure be darned, Brian is a good relationship for me to kindle because not only can he help provide me access to early-stage startups I like to cover, but he also occasionally can find panel opportunities for me to participate in. It’s a win-win type of relationship and practically everyone I know respects his work. So when the opportunity came to help a friend out, I did (free of charge).
In July, I wrote the first post: The Influencer’s Dilemma: The Battle For Mindshare Amid Media Turmoil. I hope to talk more about this at length soon. But two weeks ago, I wrote the piece that gained a lot more traction, titled, Stop Talking About Social Media and Go Do It Already. This isn’t to mean that we should stop using social and media right next to each other in a sentence, nor does it mean that I am begging people to stop talking about Twitter and Facebook and all their favorite networks. While a dramatic reduction in discussion there wouldn’t hurt, I am not saying that either.
Here is what I believe.
I believe that these “new” networks and new activities are becoming essential practices for people in businesses of all industries. I believe that people who are not utilizing social media are going to lose out to people who do. In 1999, at my first job, we had a phrase we used, called “Get Web or Get Out“, suggesting that if you were not participating, you soon wouldn’t be part of the game. The same is true with social media.
But I also believe that these current “new” practices will be commonplace soon enough. Just like you don’t hear about e-mail experts and typists and voice mail specialists in this day and age, so too won’t you hear about Twitter aficionados and Facebook Fan page mavens in the years forward. Over time, these skills will blend into the marketplace. This will mean a likely cessation of the discussion of these practices, and more of a head-nodding situation.
Like you, I frown upon the titles of “social media expert” and “social media guru”. I’m not all that fond of “community manager” either, which may sound shocking. I get the need, but I fear for those titles in a fast-moving world. (See also: Social Media Experts are the New Webmasters from July ‘08)
We run the risk of believing our own kool-aid and starving of oxygen in our own bubble if we focus too much on the technologies that enable us to do things than us actually accomplishing these goals ourselves. When I do focus on the technologies and the networks and the services that are in this market, and I bring them to you, it is because that is the role I play as an early adopter and tech geek blogger. But when I take the tools to work, it’s all business. Most people won’t care how the task is accomplished, only that it gets done. So yes, I love the communities. I love many of the tools. Social media makes sense. But let’s focus on results.
My thanks to Brian for the opportunity to guest post. Hopefully more are coming. via feedproxy.google.com
Not Just for Developers Anymore: New York Times Launches Custom Times Feeds( Frederic Lardinois)
The New York Times just released an interesting new tool that allows users to filter articles from the newspaper’s website by tags and keywords and turn them into custom feeds. While developers could already build similar tools on top of the paper’s Article Search API and TimesTags API, the new Custom Times Feeds give everybody the ability to create persistent searches based on their personal preferences.
One neat feature of the application is that users can’t just search by keyword but can also copy-and-paste the URL of any New York Times article into the search field. The software will then automatically suggest new search terms based on the tags the New York Times editors added to this post (and which are normally hidden).
Interesting, But Intentionally Limited
Sadly, though, the tool is also still somewhat limited. It doesn’t for example, support Boolean operators (AND, OR, etc.) in queries. Adding additional search terms simply restricts searches to articles where both terms appear. There is no option to turn this around and make the query an ‘or’ search. All of this wouldn’t be a problem if the app allowed users to then combine different feeds, but this isn’t an option – though you could obviously use Yahoo Pipes or a similar product to combine these feeds yourself.
According to the Times, these limitations are intentional and meant to “keep the application simple and approachable.”
If you are only interested in receiving updates about a very limited set of topics, then setting up a tab in Netvibes or iGoogle for a number of custom feeds is definitely an interesting proposition. On the other hand, you could also get similar and more customizable alerts from a wider range of publications through Google Alerts (though Google won’t help you to find appropriate keywords) or a real-time service like Lazyfeed.
The NYTimes is a syndication partner of ReadWriteWeb.
I’m A Social Media Castaway(Jorge Escobar)
I’m A Social Media Castaway
This is my first post in a month and I wanted to look back at what’s happened in the social media environment in the last 30 days.
Basically, nothing.
The truth is I needed a break, because (I’m sure you’ve heard it before) keeping up with social media can have its toll on your productivity.
Sometimes I think the whole thing goes out of hand.
You need to be up to speed with hundreds of friends, keep with hundreds of feeds, update your blog several times a week, and then there’s work and family.
I felt guilty, lost and anxious. What are they talking about? Do they miss me?
But I needed to get things done. There was a huge relaunch happening. A new project being developed. A site that was closing.
Today I feel more balanced.
It’s true that FriendFeed’s sale to Facebook kind of tripped this whole process. One month later, I see things in perspective, and I think it was a good thing.
What have I changed in the last month in terms of my Social Media approach?
First, I have made my Facebook Page the root of my short Social Media broadcasts. Using the Facebook Twitter App, I send this comments out to my Twitter followers and Twitter then posts to FriendFeed (and by the way, Facebook is really slow these days).
For my Google Reader Sharing, I’m using Facebook’s Notes App and made it read the RSS feed from Google Reader, and thus, each time I share an item in Google Reader, it gets posted (eventually, not PuSubHubbub there) to my Facebook Page, which then pushes to Twitter, which then pushes to FriendFeed.
If your head is not spinning by now, you’re a true Social Media warrior.
Has it been worth it? Absolutely. I got a lot of work done, and even though I popped in to Twitter and FriendFeed here and there, I feel like I kept up to date with my friends, even though not with the same intensity as before.
And what do I recommend for you to do? Reduce the number of people you follow on Twitter (make sure you read my post about it first), try to leverage Google Reader’s new social tools, following a handful of great people and reading what they share, instead of reading yourself 1,000+ items each day, and try to limit the amount of time you spend on Social Media sites. I’m checking in the morning and in the afternoon about half an hour each session, catching up and interacting with people.
And If you feel you need to disconnect, do it. You’ll see things in a better perspective when you come back.
We’ll all be waiting for you.
Who dominates on Social Networks? Males or Females? (Via Zee)
Brian Solis, a globally recognized expert on online PR and Social Media, compiled a set of statistics from a number of the most popular social networks using Google Ad Planner. The stats showed estimated figures for unique visitors, reach, page views, total visits, avg visits per visitor, avg time on site, age and gender, household income and education level.
The post is a terrific source of data (bookmark it) and aside from the dominance of the older generation over the younger, one of the most significant pieces of information to result from the research is the gender gap on most social sites. To illustrate the gender slant, data visualisation site Information is Beautiful put together a fitting diagram. And if you’re still unsure which sex dominates the social networks, the title should make it perfectly clear.
Advertising Agencies And Social Media: A Culture Clash(Jason Falls)
Advertising agencies around the country are trying to figure out social media. How do we do it? How do we sell it? Do we have to?
The answer is probably yes, you do have to if you want to continue to offer a full range of marketing services to your clients, and bill appropriately. Some agencies are doing a good job adjusting, hiring smart social media thinkers and getting smart about social media quickly. Others are still cocking their head sideways like a puppy trying to figure out a vacuum cleaner.
Sadly, many ad agencies never figured out Interactive, let’s call it Web 1.0. Now you add a layer of Web 2.0 or social media on top of that and many agencies and their respective creatives (art directors, copywriters, designers) and clients services folks are rendered dumb struck at the thought of all things digital.
Their problem is that there exists a culture clash between ad agencies and social media marketing. The difficulty is the result of both philosophical and tactical problems. The good news is problems can be solved. But it will take some work.
The Philosophical Problems
Social media is, in many ways, the antithesis of advertising. Advertising is one-way communications aimed at large groups of consumers. Social media is two-way communications that requires listening as well as speaking. It can also be said that social media is a multiple-way communications method as brands can speak and listen, but also watch other consumers talk to each other. An agency’s creatives and strategic planners suddenly having to factor in listening and observing to their communications process after decades of just shouting from the roof tops presents a seismic culture shift.
Social media is also about building relationships. Advertising is about driving people to a buying decision. In fact, I would propose that in most cases, advertising has nothing to do with a relationship. It’s all about persuading someone to take action, not discussing the decision-making process and becoming a trusted resource for the person choosing. As Chris Heuer says, good marketing today doesn’t try to sell the customer on something. It tries to help them buy it.
Similarly, it can be said that the essence of social media, in many ways, is good customer service. I would propose that, with exceptions certainly, advertising agencies have never cared about serving the customer. They care about making the sale. Advertising is most often used to drive customers to purchase, not care for them after the fact.
So, philosophically, advertising and social media are very different. Creatives, client services folks, account planners and the like are being asked to undertake a new method of communications that runs counter to everything they’ve ever been taught.
The Tactical Problems
Peel off a layer or two in the social media and advertising comparison and you start to see some of the real reasons ad agencies struggle with social media. Please note that I offer these opinions as generalizations but not as blanket statements. There are lots of creatives, planners and the like out there who understand the social and digital worlds. While I’m sure I may furl a brow or two with this, I’m applying general truths I’ve seen through experience working for and with and asking questions about several advertising agencies over the last few years.
First, advertising creatives are taught and still primarily focus on TV, print and outdoor advertising. Despite the media trends, art schools either aren’t pushing students hard enough toward web-centric, or even web-inclusive, work; or many of today’s creatives are lost in filling their “book,” not realizing digital is the type of compelling art agencies are in desperate need of.
Also, art directors and designers are often focused on the art, not the experience. User experience, whether tactile and off-line or virtual and on-, creates compelling engagement with consumers. Art often times is just pretty.
Interactive or digital (website and application development and programming) professionals typically come from technology backgrounds driven by code and algorithms. They’ve got the function down pat but lack the creative side, or form, to produce effective work.
To make matters worse, creative teams of art directors and copywriters are sent to brainstorm and create campaign elements but Interactive folks aren’t invited to the creative process. The creatives don’t come up with compelling interactive because the web is an afterthought. The interactive folks don’t come up with compelling interactive because they aren’t trained as creatives or they were excluded from the conceptual development process altogether.
Client services and account planning isn’t taught to think web first and often just assumes someone in the interactive department will handle guiding those decisions. The creatives think someone in the interactive department will do it, too. The interactive department is under the impression the creatives are developing the concepts and wait to be told what to build. The ball gets dropped and interactive ideas are added to the concept at the last minute with little to know strategic tie to the overall concept.
Don’t you find it strangely ironic that while most people in the typical advertising agency these days know little about digital and interactive, not to mention social media, that every advertising execution contains one consistent feature besides the logo: The website address?
Another tactical problem is that social media revolves around content creation. Not only are ad agencies not capable or prepared to create the volume and type of content required to populate blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter, YouTube and more, but social media content must be nimble, quick, conversational and responsive. What little advertising content is produced has to be run through proofing 47 times before it sees the light of day.
Providing content for clients is also antithetical to the philosophical tenants of social media. If I’m engaging in a conversation about a product as a consumer, who is a more trustworthy person to engage with, the brand manager for the product or some account guy at the ad agency that represents the product? The client is always more qualified to be the person or persons engaging with consumers about the brand.
Content creation also doesn’t scale well and is problematic for billing. Let’s say you have 20 brands producing social media content and you hire two people to produce that content. Depending upon the brand, audience and strategy, if they’re doing a good job, they’re producing an average of a blog post, Facebook content, several Tweets and perhaps video, images or some other type of content for each client every day. Can you write 10 blog posts in a day?
And how about this billing scenario: Let’s say a full-time agency employee producing content for a client is working 10 hours per week on that client’s social media efforts. They’re billed out at roughly $75 per hour. At that rate, which is conservative in price and volume, you’re billing $36,000 per year for their services as an agency. At the same time, you can go out and pay free-lance bloggers $25 per post (and that’s on the high end in most circumstances) and produce a similar volume of content for $6,500 per year (a blog post per day, five days per week, which is an aggressive clip for many agencies). How will you answer your client when they call you with a big, “WTF?”
These are the major challenges that face advertising agencies as they transition to owning and embracing social media. There are others.
Solutions
Solving the problems does take time and resources. Education is going to play a major role. In order to expedite the list and open the comments for building blocks to add to these ideas, here is a brief list of what agencies can do to integrate social media into their service offerings and disciplines:
1. Embrace client websites as an opportunity to engage and build relationships with customers
2. Make content portable so customers can consume it where they choose, even on mobile platforms
3. Prioritize search engine optimization. People start their web interactions with search the vast majority of the time.
4. Learn that well-done search advertising and email marketing campaigns have conversion rates that dwarf those of your ROI numbers on billboards and TV spots.
5. Use social media tools internally to collaborate on projects.
6. Use those same tools to collaborate with your clients, extending the educational experience to them.
7. Read industry blogs.
8. Bring in social media consultants and educators to teach everyone, not just your interactive department, how social media can improve their productivity and outputs.
9. Incorporate social and interactive experience into the hiring requirements for client services and creatives.
10. Watch what other brands are doing on the social web.
11. Embrace the enthusiasm of your resident social media advocates by having them teach you social while you teach them strategic thinking.
12. Understand that mass media still has better reach but use that reach to build communities around your brands, driving consumers to brand engagement points through social media.
Now it’s your turn. What else can advertising agencies do to turn the corner on social media expertise? The comments are yours.