Making Something From Nothing (and Other PR Blog Jots)

Empty Calories
Twist Image
Mitch Joel examines the concept of the slang term “boliao,” which is often used to describe viral online content that, while heavily viewed and passed around, is essentially nonsense. He wonders how marketers can tap into the audience for such content, if at all. After all, we know that viral marketing is tough to create from scratch—it needs to happen organically. Should marketers bother themselves trying to get involved with content creation when the content is completely lacking in meaningful substance? “The question becomes: what are Marketers supposed to do? If Boliao is something that millions of people are engaged with, and it has no substance… where will this lead us? We’re already struggling to explain to clients that you can’t buy or create something viral – it has to have elements of raw emotion that piques people to spread it. Now, we’re faced with the next generation, and it’s actually based on creating content that has no substance, value or true meaning beyond just enabling the consumer to waste their time.”

Twitter Lab
Chris Brogan
Citing the idea of the “wisdom of the crowds,” Chris examines the concept of Twitter as a laboratory for ideas, arguing that by building enough smart contacts, the exchange of ideas can lead to exciting new collaborative projects. He uses as an example his recent Tweets about his thoughts on games, and the vastly useful and interesting responses from his network. “People are watching. They’re getting it. People are there to help and participate, and if something resonates, often times, they’ll jump right into it and help define it. Why? Because it’s exciting to be part of something, and it’s always fun watching someone get excited about a project.”

Blogtopia?
The Buzz Bin
Geoff Livingston posts a thoughtful piece about the online community as a form of Utopia, where mutual respect and understanding rule the day—even when bloggers may fiercely disagree. He is quick to note that while the Utopian ideal seems to apply to the technology and PR community, the larger blogosphere is a turbulent, sometimes hateful place where flaming, bullying and even violence can be commonplace. He argues that the vastly different communities existing online can be brought together with common goals. “For the most part everyone stays in their own yard focused on their interests, languages, faiths, etc. It’s when we cross pollinate that the fireworks occur. The issue becomes more apparent when we have our flair outs like Kathy Sierra, and on a larger scale when cultures clash. Fractures become permanent divides, and hate and resentment become engrained deep in the souls of men and women. But with the right approach, these fireworks can be turned into opportunities. This is when healing, growth and yes, progress towards utopian ideals can be made. Openness of view and transparent discussion can lead to greater understanding.”

Whitewash
What’s Next
While she initially misidentified the country with ownership over China Airlines (it’s actually Taiwan, not China), BL Ochman makes an excellent point regarding the decision to paint over the logo of the charred remains of an aircraft that exploded on the runway last week. I found this effort to limit the PR damage the images of the burnt plane may cause quite amusing—shouldn’t the lion’s share of the crisis PR effort be spent assuring the public that the incident would not reoccur? Of greater concern to BL is China’s overall image issues of late (with a new product recall announcements and warnings cropping up regularly), which have gone from being a PR problem for the country to a threat to our safety. “Obviously, this isn't a random incident. China is the country that brings us poison pet food, poison toothpaste, poison children's medications, and most recently, poisoned toys. And those are just the products we know about.”

Beware of Too Many Breadcrumbs
Canuckflack
Following Steve Rubel’s announcement of his plans for aggregating all his online social media activity into one lifestream, Colin McKay warns against putting too much of one’s self online. He notes that everyone probably has occasional moments of regret for the levels of transparency they reach in their social media worlds (despite all the positive aspects of online communications), and wonders where the limit is in terms of how much to reveal. “I’m sure that, in some form, we all try to keep track of the personal and professional information we have made public while participating in our many social networks, 2.0 widgets and transitory communications like twitter. At some point, all those digital breadcrumbs can be aggregated into a loaf of information. At what point to you pinch off access to that loaf?”