Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are taking the world by storm. So I was lucky to spend Friday learning more at Don't Panic's Guide to Social Media in London.
I've got to know Nicky and Andy from Don't Panic over the last couple of years after they asked me to speak at the CIPR Northern Conference in 2006 - and at Don't Panic's first 'own brand' events on crisis communications in May 2007 and January 2008. (The imminent birth of our baby means I can't take part in July's crisis comms event in my second home, Leeds!) Don't Panic is a very impressive event management company that has led the way in exploring how social media is changing the nature of PR.
Friday's event was, in my view, Don't Panic's best yet on the 'new PR' and social media. Earlier events in 2006 and 2007 for Sunderland University had set the scene in fascinating and compelling fashion without quite moving from theory to 'how to' manage PR in the Facebook era. Friday's event moved things on significantly, with some great examples of how to connect with social media. It also suggested the Facebook world marked the death of command communication ('this is the truth') and the triumph of authenticity. In short, companies and political parties can't hope to control the message. Consumers and voters can now overcome any attempts to spin the message.
This has long been my view of PR. I have always urged my organisations to 'tell it like it is'. When first direct briefly pulled out of the mortgage market in April because we were overwhelmed by demand, I made sure we said sorry to customers for giving them poor service. After all, we're famous for getting it right - so why wouldn't we say sorry when we didn't live up to our normal standards?
Friday's event brought together an interesting group of speakers. My favourite was Meg Pickard, head of communities and user experience at guardian.co.uk. Meg explained the Guardian's journey to interactivity in a social media world. It was interesting that when conference chair Neville Hobson asked who blogged, twittered, was on Facebook (the list goes on), Mary's hand went up every time.
Graham Googkind from Frank PR gave some classic examples of campaigns that connected with the Facebook generation. My concern was that most of his campaigns seemed to be all about lad culture, belittling women. Perhaps that's right for his clients. It just seemed horribly anachronistic.
Is rude the new polite?
Quite a few delegates, including Stuart Bruce from Wolfstar, blogged and twittered during the event. It confirmed that social etiquette is changing quickly. Not long ago, conference speakers would have been horrified to see delegates typing on their laptops or texting on their phones or BlackBerries during an event. Now, they're delighted that their words of wisdom are reported live.
Is politics ready for authenticity?
A decade ago, New Labour was the triumphant icon of the new politics. The party engaged with voters disillusioned with John Major's Conservatives. An ultra aggressive PR operation hassled the Tories and intimidated the media. Roll forward to the present day and Labour is as stunned by its unpopularity as Major's Tories were. I'll write more about this later this weekend in a post reflecting on the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. But the lesson for Labour from the Don't Panic event on social media is that the era of brutal spin is over. That's why the crass attack on Tory candidate Edward Timson as a 'toff' was doomed. Voters will decide whether they think a candidate is out of touch. They don't need a party that has swooned before millionaire businessmen to tell them.
Rob,
As always it was lovely to see you and Leeds just won't be quite the same without you!
Good luck to you both with the forthcoming new addition,
Andy & Nicky
Posted by: Andrew Wake | May 28, 2008 at 08:42 AM