Holtz Communications + Technology

There is a distinction, a not-so-subtle one, between disruption and destruction.

Social media is often touted as a disruptive influence. It’s a belief that leads many people to leap to the conclusion that social media’s unstoppable growth will ultimately destroy existing organization hierarchies and lead to new, networked models.

This assumption has a polarizing effect. On the one hand, there are people like my friend…

We hear that most companies still haven’t jumped on the social media bandwagon and we roll our eyes in dismay and maybe even a little contempt. But there are reasons companies resist getting engaged with communities. It can be seriously perilous.

Look at General Motors. The magnitude of the company’s problems have inflamed peoples’ passions; our emotional reactions to its situation—and how GM responds—will forge…

Ten years ago today, The Cluetrain Manifesto was unveiled. Since then, it has been held up by many as truth writ large. Others dismiss it is impractical, unrealistic, unworkable. In the middle are those who find wisdom in the Manifesto but wonder what all the fuss is about.

Lost in the debate about The Cluetrain Manifesto’s value, though, are the 95 theses that…

It has been a long time—November 1, 2007, to be precise—since I’ve been able to point to an investor relations effort that has embraced social media. That was when I posted an excerpt of an interview Neville Hobson and I conducted with Lynn Tyson, Dell’s VP of investor relations, who had launched the Dell Shares blog. In the interview, Tyson told us there weren’t many…

About 18 or 19 years ago, scorn was heaped upon me when I insisted that pretty much every company would need to adopt email and provide employees with email addresses. I got the same reaction 12 or 13 years ago when I proclaimed all companies would require a presence on the World Wide Web. Today, email and a website are…

I’ve been there. You’ve been there. You’ve been asked to execute a simple idea, but everyone from legal to branding has to make a change, as if failing to make a change somehow signifies that they’re not doing their jobs. When you’re living it, it’s frustrating, even gut-wrenching. When you see it like this, though, it’s funny. Tell me you didn’t laugh out loud.