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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Three signs of change

The end of the year brings three profound examples of the mainstreaming of social media.

First, there’s the Frozen Pea Fund and all related conversation around Susan Reynolds’ battle with breast cancer. Thousands of dollars have been raised through ad hoc campaign that cost essentially nothing, based on a connection made with people who had never met Susan personally. The grass roots campaign involved blogs, Twitter, Flickr, Seesmic and heaven knows how many other social media channels. Absent so far: mainstream media. (Chris Brogan has written great summary of the whole effort, which Neville and I will cover on Monday’s FIR.

Shel Holtz

Next, Buckhgham Palace announced the launch of a Royal Channel on YouTube. Queen Elizabeth will use the channel to distribute her annual Christmas message. It’s worth noting that Dwight Eisenhouser was president of the United States when the Queen issued her first Christmas message. At that time, the usefulness of television was still an open discussion topic. Now, Elizabeth has moved beyond TV, reaching directly to the people using a medium that may well get more attention than a traditional TV message might. (The BBC has this story. Neville will add his thoughts on Monday’s FIR.)

And speaking of YouTube, it has also become a preferred channel for everything from mea culpas to public responses. All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens has taken to YouTube to issue a denial that he used steroids (he was listed in the Mitchell Report). As recently as a year or two ago, Clemens would have made his statement on TV, probably in an interview (he’s still planning an interview with Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes”).

That’s the thread the connects each of these stories. Clemens, in order to reach his fans, would have had to seek out an interview or issue a formal statement to the press; Queen Elizabeth would have had to go on TV and hope people would watch the live address; and the backers of the Frozen Pea effort would have had to spend a fortune on promotional materials to get the word out. Today, they can reach their audiences directly and effectively. In 2008, expect more mainstream figures and organizations to communicate directly through these channels as a supplement to or instead of traditional media.

12/23/07 | 9 Comments | Three signs of change

Comments
  • 1.Shel - the Frozen Pea Fund did in fact merit a hit on BBC online. I saw it there the other day.

    Ike | December 2007 | Birmingham

  • 2.Thanks, Ike. I monitor BBC in a couple places, but it didn't come through my feeds; also didn't come up on a Google News search. I suppose none of these monitoring tools are perfect!

    Shel Holtz | December 2007

  • 3.Here Here Shel, if it's good enough for the Queen, it's good enough for me. Ron Paul's $6 million is also another milestone for those looking for support on social media use.

    My hope is mainstream also sees the social progress that can be made using the tools and not just the potential money, convenience, and cost efficiencies of social media.

    Your book on transparency I'm sure will touch on how social media can impact the culture of a company, not just how it uses the technology.

    I also added a comment regarding the use of social media in healthcare to the Stop Blocking group on Facebook.

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5037838826


    All the best,

    Albert.

    Albert Maruggi | December 2007 | St. Paul

  • 4.YouTube is a strange bird. I spent a great part of this last year advising people not to use it, because I was coming from the point of view of media makers who were seeking to make their content their product. But as the year moved on, YouTube became more and more part of the fabric of what people thought about when they thought about video online.

    My daughter sits with her Mom and watches YouTube videos about animals, cartoon snippets, and other topics of interest (supervised- let's not get crazy here). I find all kinds of good content on there now, when I'm willing to search until my eyes bleed.

    You're right about using YouTube and other tools for social media outreach, and how it's changing the game. And I didn't use steroids. : )

    Chris Brogan | December 2007 | Massachusetts

  • 5.Shel, thanks for mentioning the Frozen Pea Fund. To clarify, BBC picked up the TechCrunch story (12/21, Can you spare the odd pea for a good cause?)and placed it on the front page of their Technology section on the day we launched. The kind folks at Radian6 have offered to help us track coverage, and I'm reading the first report now. To my knowledge there has been no MSM coverage, but we hope to rectify that over the coming weeks.

    The entire project was put together in less than a week, with no budget, no biz plan, no marketing campaign - just a handful of us social media types who love Susan and wanted to do something. We decided to put the FUN in fundraising because that honors Susan's spirit.

    If you have any questions about the Frozen Pea Fund, I'd be happy to talk to you.

    Connie Reece | December 2007

  • 6.Thanks, Connie.

    Neville and I covered the campaign on today's FIR, but I think an interview with you would make for interesting listening, especially after another couple of weeks to see what kind of momentum the campaign has gained. Are you game to be interviewed on FIR?

    Shel Holtz | December 2007 | Concord, CA

  • 7.Shel, it would be a pleasure to be interviewed for FIR about the Frozen Pea Fund. I look forward to it.

    Connie Reece | December 2007

  • 8.Youtube is not only a site for fun movies anymore. A coalition between Youtube and CNN wants to put political and electoral movies online to give the public free and fast access to these. Maybe this way we will be able to make better choices in the future being better informed about our possibilities.

    Backgammon | January 2008

  • 9.Hello,
    This is David Neff over at the American Cancer Society. Thanks for helping us the spread the word about something that effects thousands of women every year. Breast Cancer is treatable when caught early.

    Thanks,
    David

    P.S. If your coming to SXSW hear us talk Frozen Peas at our Interactive Panel.

    David Neff | February 2008 | Austin, TX

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