China will win

Hong Kong rocks. Walk in between the countless towers and feel the throbbing and buzzing. Honkers describe Singapore as dull. My first impression of Hong Kong was “messy”. Chaotic. But now I believe that it’s cool. Hong Kongers are cool and über-trendy, Japanese-style. You don’t find that in Singapore.

The economy is strong and businessmen powerful. Just last week the Wall Street Journal launched a city edition, featuring the most influential CEOs. The Hong Kong Power list has been prepared by my team of fine Media Analysts. Fancy that. These are things we are doing. Even Bloomberg was mentioning it.

The main motive for the trip was a workshop with PR people. We talked about digital media, measurement and reputation. How do Chinese companies curate their brands? It’s very simple. They are hiring armies of internauts to spread positive comments on Twitter, Facebook or whatever. The government does it. Even a simple golf club is doing it. In China there is a perception that the web can be controlled and so they act accordingly. Sometimes even by hacking sites of western companies. But for that you better ask Julian.

It’s time for the social media rock stars

Here we are. Finally there seems to be a real demand for Social Media strategists as more and more companies figure out that it makes sense to have dedicated staff who understand Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the alike. Some companies pay even US$ 120k and more at director level according to this interesting background story published by Businessweek.

It sounds so like a new “New Economy”:

“A swarm of self-proclaimed social media rainmakers has appeared at job interviews, aiming to parlay a high number of Facebook friends or Twitter followers into salaried positions with benefits—all of which is vaguely reminiscent of the frenzied hiring during the first Internet boom in the late 1990s.”

Most likely companies won’t be fooled again this time as there are now clear expectations linked to these jobs:

- Reputation Management and Metrics: A broad range of tools allows tracking of Social Media mentions and puts it in relation to the industry peers. But even more important: Companies want to know how their brands are being treated. How to respond in the case they have been damaged?

- Social Media Marketing: The company is reaching out to the influencers and makes them brand advocates. How to engage and maintain this relationship?

Felix Salmon looks at how the age of Twitter is changing corporate communications: Good for PR, bad for journalists.

“What’s more, Twitter gives companies the ability to speak directly to the public without going via journalists (or even mere bloggers); and it also allows them to keep tab on what the public thinks without using journalists and media commentators as an imperfect proxy. Public relations is, after all, the art of relating with the public: journalists are just a means to an end. And the public has never been as easy to relate with as it is now, in the age of Twitter.”

It will be crucial if the company is able to maintain this constant dialogue with the public and to have an adequate infrastructure in place. Salmon is optimistic as he believes that executives like Twitter, and they want to keep the company’s presence high profile because other executives are looking at it as well - in a similar way they are looking at the Wall Street Journal. Looks like there is a bright future for qualified Social Media experts.

The era of the cloud 2

I'm still typing this blog comment on my laptop, but both blogs as well as laptops are "old school" again. Just read a remarkable article from Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff. According to him we are just transitioning to the "Cloud 2" and the iPad, on sale this weekend, is the most obvious manifestation.
From Pull to Push: "Pulling" information from databases and newspapers is declining, our friends and trusted sources push the news to us instead. Information appears in streams and feeds. The prevailing tools are Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

I'm currently receiving three different information feeds, a "paywall" feed, that I'm getting via Factiva, a blog/web feed on Google Reader and a Twitter feed, where I directly follow thought leaders of the areas I'm interested in. With this I feel prepared for the era of the Cloud 2. Just need to upgrade my hardware...

Update: In the same context, Jeff Jarvis is commenting on one of Benioff's postulates, the move from creation to consumption. It is nothing else than a strategy of the media companies to regain control about the democratised social media space. The iPad "does not include a simple (fucking) USB port, which means that I can’t bring in and take out content easily."

From this angle, apps are also appearing in a negative light:

"This shift to apps is a move in precisely the opposite direction. Apps are more closed, contained, controlling. That, again, is why media companies like them. But they don’t interoperate — they don’t play well — with other apps and with the web itself; they are hostile to links and search."

The iPad is the Trojan Horse that lures us into the paywall castle, with the gates firmly shut down.

Twitter's intrusion into the newswire business

Is Twitter turning into a powerful newsfeed, instead of just being a “social network”? Reuters contributor and blogger luminary Felix Salmon makes an interesting point. Celebrities, thought leaders and experts in no matter what bear the brunt of the Twitter action. Average Joe and Jane limit themselves to following passively in lieu of acting and growing their network.

Professionals, like journalists and analysts are also increasingly making use of the social feed that offers a direct line to the sources.

How does that affect the traditional newswire business? It will be struggling, as intermediaries are apparently no longer needed. I saw that Reuters, one of the endangered species, just released new social media guidelines. Some highlights of what could be a role model for the industry:

- Journalists should not forget to break the news always first on the wire, and not on Twitter.

- Always be aware of the possible reputational risks. As the journalist is employed by Reuters, unfortunate posts can backfire on the brand. Line manager approval is therefore required.

- There is a risk that personal data could be exposed. Sources could be revealed to competitors if they are followed or friended on Facebook.

Reuters also explicitly encourages its journalists to use social media and to capitalise on the advantages. Because at the end it will allow the promotion of own work and it helps shaping the image of a trusted and competent news brand. And that’s what is selling.