How do you explain the calm and cooperation that was everywhere in evidence during the wind up to the Hawaii tsunami alert? Social media has earned a spot alongside our government planners and traditional news media. The user-generated messages supported both of those organizations on a second by second basis.

If you think about the mechanics of panic, it largely stems from a lack of information and and abundance of misinformation. When we leave things to people’s imaginations, it tends to bring unfettered “awfulizing” and a survival-based focus on worst case scenarios. Here are several use cases from the past 12 hours here in Hawaii where the free flow of information both locally and globally served to keep both panic and perhaps a tsunami at bay.

Distributed Reporting:

Extended Family:

Across Time Zones:

Instant Publishing:

Hashtag Aggregation:

Truth in Reporting:

Shared Warnings:

Uplift and Closure:

UPDATE:

Aloha,

About a year ago I founded the Hawaii Chapter of the Social Media Club. It is part of a international nonprofit organization of social media practitioners and exists to develop and share best practices and ethics on the social web. One of the first goals we had was to get the word out in the community about our organization. My fellow volunteer and Program Chair Tess Staadecker came up with the idea to hold a contest and offer six months’ support to local nonprofit. We would walk them through the stages of setting up the social web assets.

About the Contest
It was a great idea! We had 15 applicants and over 1000 votes. The winner was a small nonprofit based in Hana, Maui, supported by Rick and Kirsten Rutiz to teach the high school youth about construction. They then build housing, gardens, arts centers, and wheelchair ramps in the community. Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke did not have a blog, or a Twitter account, or know anything about Facebook or RSS, but they did tap into their network of friends, who used word-of-mouth marketing to tell a wider circle of friends, and take them to the winning position in the contest.

But First! A Word for Our Sponsors!
We were very grateful to have the support of a few sponsors in this effort as well – as we didn’t plan on the winner coming from a neighbor island, though we did open the contest to all Hawaii nonprofits! Hawaiian Airlines, Bare Feet Studios (yours truly), and the Prince Kuhio Hilton Waikiki provided transportation and lodging for Rick and Kirsten over the six month support period. We also implemented a lot of technology – and on two occasions beamed in Rick and/or Kirsten live via video chat. We are ever grateful to the ING Direct Cafe for hosting our monthly meetings free of charge, enabling us to do the same for you.

So what did we accomplish?
Our primary goal was to get Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke excited about sharing their stories with the world, so the world can support them in their mission. to this end, we all were incredibly successful. Our roadmap, was one that any nonprofit can follow along. We provided over 60 hours of free consultation and training, much of it open to the public at our meetings and in follow-up emails. Here is what all was created:

• A new identity, perfectly suited for use on numerous social networks, and including a new web address, “hanabuild” which is easier and shorter than their full Hawaiian name and is being used for digital branding.


• A new web site using WordPress, the best-in-class blog software, including an auto-generated RSS feed – so you can subscribe to their site! Their version one web site was nice but they could not edit it themselves, the navigation was limited, and it was not as friendly to the search engines as their new site. Their URL went from www.hanabuildingprogram.com to www.hanabuild.org. It is shorter and we made sure that nick name was available as a UIRL as well as on all the main social networks before we started this entire process.


• A Twitter account: @hanabuild. They are learning how to use hashtags, to communicate with others directly and indirectly, how to follow conversations, and how to search for related topics. We also hooked up their Twitter and Facebook accounts so the content cross-posts to both social networks.


• A Facebook page. They learned that people are on many different social networks, and so it makes sense to have a presence where your fans are. Rick’s daughter actually got this started, and we trained them in how to use Facebook.


• A Flickr account. Photos are such an important part of telling a story, and this building program has loads of them! By learning to post their pictures on Flickr, find friends, tag the photos, and join groups, their photos can have much more impact than if they were just on the web site. We also added a Flickr badge on the main web site, to make sure any new photos on Flickr are cross-posted to the web site.


• A Skype account for live video chat. Kirsten actually jumped into this during the contest! We had asked all of the entries to attend our May meeting and give a brief presentation about their nonprofit. Kirsten could not arrange to fly over on short notice, but she was willing to learn how to set up her computer for video chat! We have since done a few training sessions via video.


• Videos posted to blip.tv and a YouTube channel is in process. I like to say if a photo is worth 1000 words, then a video is priceless. Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke has been lucky to have some video support and we have posted those videos to YouTube and Blip.tv. We have also trained them in how to create their own movies, and hope the teenagers in the building program will soon be helping out with all of these social assets.


• Added a PayPal Donate Button. With the increase in traffic coming from the various social networks, we wanted to be sure supporters could easily contribute to the nonprofit. We have a Donate button on every page.

This truly is just the beginning though – now the folks at Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke aka HanaBuild can continue using the tools to tell their stories. Key to this is scheduling time each week to attend to the various conversations and communities to which they now belong as well as adding new photos, new blog posts, and new videos. I invite you to connect with them and help us support their ongoing accomplishments to the community of Hana!

Aloha,

I was invited to speak last week at the Sales and Marketing Executives meeting here in Honolulu, which featured Governor Linda Lingle as the keynote speaker. The topic was “Using Social Media to Differentiate.” I have posted my presentation file at Slideshare and also uploaded the five video episode snips I created to represent a few of the many case studies in the talk.

You can view the slide show here.
You can download a PDF of the slides here.

David Jones v Microchip

Watch the original video from David Jones.
Watch the original video from Microchip.

Blendtec Listens to & Surprises Customers

Watch the original video.

Johnson & Johnson Shares Even the Bad News

Watch the original video.

Gary Vaynerchuk Says Stop Waiting

Watch the original video.

The US Navy’s Social Media Policy

Watch the original video.

Video Case Studies: Links to downloadable files
David Jones v Microchip
Blendtec Listens to and Surprises Customers
Johnson & Johnson Shares Even the Bad News
Gary Vaynerchuk Says Stop Waiting
US Navy’s Social Media Policy

Does it feel like 1999 all over again?

Remember when you didn’t think you needed a web site because you had a brochure?

Confused by all the hype surrounding blogs, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook?

Then Social Web Bootcamp is for you. It’s a one day program that takes you from the 30,000’ view of how things work all the way down to live demos for creating a blog, a Twitter account, and setting up your social networking identity.

Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time: 9 am – 4 pm
Place: ING Direct Cafe – 1958 Kalakaua Ave, Honolulu, HI

A decade ago when the internet was really taking off, I used to tell people not to feel pressured to get a web site for their business. After all, I said, the internet is not going away and you have time to figure things out.

I no longer say that.

Now, I tell people that the longer they wait, the steeper the learning curve. New interactive web applications are being created every month. Everyone can be a publisher. You no longer control access to information about you and your business. It’s been building for several years, and now we’ve reached critical mass.

If you are still trying to figure out what all this is or what it means to your business, or how and where to get started, we’ve got a program for you. Plus, you receive a $30 discount as a member of the KnowHow Cafe mailing list. Please visit our sister site, KnowHow Cafe to read more about the Social Web Bootcamp and register.

I hope to see soon!
Aloha,

As I have been discussing here in the past few months, the issue of payola, pay-per-post, freebies, and other incentives by marketers to entice blog coverage has come under review of the Federal Trade Commission. They have published new rules covering paid reviews and celebrity endorsements. The vote was 4-0 in favor.

Keep in mind, that just about all of us can be defined as “celebrities” when it comes to the internet. (Insert smiley face here.) In case you want to catch up on the back story:
Paid Bloggers Get Google Downgrades
Mahalo Mr. Solis (for talking about blogger payola)
Social Media Ethics: A Glossary

From the FTC Filing:

The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act. The notice incorporates several changes to the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers. The Guides were last updated in 1980.

I’ve posted a link to the actual filing after the jump so you can read it for yourself.

It will no doubt be a challenge to enforce this but the FTC recognizes what many of my blogger associates resist: that receiving compensation does affect coverage. At the very least, without compensation or freebies there is far less likelihood that said blogger would be paying attention to said marketer. And in today’s Attention Economy, attention is a most valuable commodity.

I am all for co-creative collaborations between brands and bloggers. I have a long record of encouraging brands to work with new media creators for the better bang for their buck than with traditional media. But we’ve got to stop thinking that just because many of us brought ourselves up by our boot straps, that we are somehow immune to influence. If anything, all of our free contributions to brand awareness makes us more vulnerable to seeking compensation and creating blurred lines of coverage IMO.

View the FTC legal filing on Scribd. I think it is up to both bloggers and marketers to develop their policies and share them publicly as applicable. What do you think?

Aloha,

We have the antidote to yesterday’s post on how to learn what you don’t know!
We are launching a new business that is all about training. We’ve helped out clients be incredibly successful on the web over the past 14 years, and we want to share this knowledge with others. We also want to do it for a lower price than our private hourly rates and we want to be able to reach many more people.

Because our phone keeps ringing (and that takes us away from actually building the site!) we are holding some live classes here in Honolulu in the interim.  Please join our mailing list to stay informed of updates and go check out the three classes we are offering in July 2009 for your education and business benefit!

Please use promo code “bfs” and receive a free eBook on Online Identity when you join the list. It’s the first place to start when getting active on the social web. Or as The Week would say, “Boring but Important.”

We can also bring private, targeted classes to your office or association too.

A Reason to Visit Hawaii?
Maybe this would be a good time and reason to book a trip to Hawaii. Airfares and hotel rates are down; I would be happy to connect you with my many tourism colleagues who would be delighted to personally assist you. Here are just a few:

Hawaii-Aloha.com - Ask for Bruce Fisher; or on Twitter
Starwood Hawaii - Ask for Candice Krauto; or on Twitter
Hawaiian Airlines – Follow them on Twitter too
Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio

The Hawaii Restaurant Association is holding a 90-minute seminar today (at 9 am and repeated at 2 pm) on “Social Networks: What it’s all about” to help its members and other businesses here in Honolulu understand about Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks. I will be speaking, along with Mark Johnson of logicspin and menumill. I’d like to give a shout out to Alan Hoki and Chrissy Mitchell of the Hawaii Restaurant Association for pulling this seminar together so quickly and to Morton’s Steakhouse for hosting us all.

I’ll also be moderating a panel of four local restauranteurs who have started using the social web:
Ed Morita: @nctrnlbst, Longhi’s, www.bakershours.com; you can also watch a short video here as Ed explains how he uses Twitter and Flickr to attract customers
Sean Priester: @TopofWaikiki and @pacificsoul, Top of Waikiki
Bill Tobin: @tikisgrill, Tiki’s Grill
Monica Toguchi: @HighwayInn, Highway Inn Restaurant and Catering

Mark (mostly!) and I put together these links for the attendees and all of you readers to be able to explore more. Pull up a chair – there’s a real reading list here.

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT:
Real Time Search – Social Mention
Track what people are saying about you, your company, a new product, or any topic across the web’s social media landscape in real-time. Social Mention monitors 80+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc.

Find, Follow and Share Comments — BackType
Unlike Google alerts, it tracks blog comments.

New Media Chatter: People Are Talking…Are You Listening?
List of tools and strategy to monitor your brand/company online

OTHER TOOLS:
Social Media Club – Hawaii Chapter – free monthly meetings to learn about and share best practices in social media

KnowHow Cafe – Online and live seminars on using the social web; get a free eBook on “Online Identity” by joining the email list. Essential information before you start signing up for various social networks.

Lots of links here for social web restaurant review sites.

Check here to see if your desired screen name is available on several web sites at once.

Facebook Toolbox 101 with additional supporting links.

Google’s Local Business Center

A Social Media Glossary » The Buzz Bin – Common terms in social media

Sarah Austin’s True Beginner’s Guide to Getting the Most Out of Twitter – Free ebook PDF

ESPECIALLY FOR RESTAURANTS:
Choosing from the Social Media Menu for Restaurants – Branching Out: The Maples DMG Blog –

Social Media for Restaurants – Social Media Explorer; Good list of tools/resources for restaurants starting in social media

The Social Media Club is an international organization with over 40 active chapters, whose goal is to develop and support best practices in the use of social media. Bare Feet Studios’ partner, Roxanne Darling, launched the Hawaii chapter in October 2008, in conjunction with Podcamp + Wordcamp Hawaii.

The Hawaii chapter meets on the second Friday of each month. Be sure to check the web site for details on the upcoming event.
www.smchawaii.org

Please join the mailing list if you would to receive meeting announcements. You can unsubscribe at any time and your email will not be sold or shared. Only email is required though we appreciate you adding your additional information.

Many thanks to the Pacific Business News and the Star Bulletin for covering the recent So Much More Hawaii fam tour with mainland bloggers. I started this writing as a comment on PBN, but I have a rule that when my comments exceed two paragraphs, I move the conversation over to my blog for clarity and for support. (Plus, the Star Bulletin did not allow comments on Ms. Schaefer’s article and PBN does not allow links in their comments – both of which limit the conversation and tend to make me a little grumpy.) As I understand it, this blogger trip is not the first time Hawaii tourism has paid for blogger fam trips – though it is the first official blogger tour and significant campaign of which I am aware. Paying people to come here and write about us has its own issues that I addressed here and here.

Measuring Social Media Campaigns
I agree with Derek (a commenter on PBN) on the point that internet-based marketing campaigns can be far more measurable (and accurate and targeted) than traditional print, radio, and tv-based initiatives. He was responding to this item in the PBN article:

It is difficult to measure the effectiveness of online marketing, but Lu said it may be beyond calculation.

A lot can be measured ex post facto but some of the more critical elements require set-up in advance, not least of which is doing some baseline measurements “in the space” to compare pre and post data. The better social web monitoring services also cost real money, in addition to the time it takes to set them up.

The Hidden Costs of Social Media Campaigns
I am really proud of Christine’s persistence and the state’s willingness to dip their toes in the water. The additional collaborators (hotels, Hawaiian Airlines, Avis & the bloggers) all gave from their pockets to support Hawaii tourism – of which they are a vital part. This was a low-risk venture and hopefully a terrific learning opportunity for people new to social web marketing. This model may not be replicable or scalable though. My concern is that since it was done on the fly (and on the cheap), it may be hard to truly get a sense of what is possible on the social web.

Nonetheless we produced Podcamp Hawaii last year on the fly and on the cheap with outstanding results! (It’s how Christine Lu came to meet Nathan Kam who represents HVCB and David Uchiyama of HTA.) We had over 400 live attendees, thousands more who joined us via live video stream from around the world, and our “tag” – the short label referring to our event (#pch08) – was the #1 trending topic on Twitter for a day (in the world!) and #2 on Flickr (in the world!). We made a huge dent and had people all around the world dreaming about being in Hawaii. We had the support of HVCB, the HCC and many other local businesses. We gave them each a custom landing page on our site – a place to talk directly to our audience – and hundreds of additional blog posts, twitter messages, videos, live stream banner ads, etc.

There is no Podcamp Hawaii 2009 though – despite the hugely positive response. It’s a lot of work for a group of volunteers. I personally logged over 200 hours of my time producing the event – 100% volunteer for this community service. The tools are often free, but the time commitment is substantial with social media.

It is an age old dilemma – people want to try “new” things with very little investment. If it’s successful, it is part luck and part skill. If it’s not, pessimists think they prevail when in fact not enough was invested to make a dent. Remember, blogging has been around for 10 years now; CNN uses the same software Christine used to build the blog; etc. In reality, these are not “new” technologies.

We Are Beginning to Understand the Value of Online Networks
The Harvard Business Review has been covering the social web for years now. I tripped across this article from 2001 (!) today, pointing out the exponential value that is accrued within self-organizing, peer-to-peer online networks. Author David Reed, who called them “GFN’s” for group-forming networks, actually began his research in 1997 and states:

I’ve been studying GFNs for the last four years and have come to realize that they require a whole new way of measuring network value. Indeed, I think companies that can capitalize on the power of GFNs will gain the strongest competitive advantages that the Internet has to offer.

Caveat: I know Christine Lu and several of the bloggers personally and have been trying to persuade various tourism entities to learn more about the social web, Here’s just one recent example. The interactive web is not easy to understand from the outside, just like most foreign cultures. In this “place” there are people issues as well as software and technology issues, thus making “understanding” a daunting task to be sure. OTOH (on the other hand) it is a very open, embracing environment though and “newbies” are always welcome!

Want to Learn More?
Our local chapter of the global Social Media Club meets once a month and our meetings are free, open to anyone, and feature informative speakers and excellent networking. Our next event is Friday, June 12th at the ING DIRECT Cafe in Waikiki. Come join us, and learn why the Club’s tagline is, “If you get it, share it.” This month’s topic is “Online Reputation Management.”

Shane and I are also launching KnowHow Café – a place to learn more about the social web, online productivity, audio and video podcasting, blogging, Twitter, and more. Join our email list to be notified of upcoming online and live, in-person classes. Use the promo code “bfs” to help us know where you heard about us. We are mid-way through a six week course called “Getting Started on the Social Web.” I’ll be posting more about that in the coming week, time permitting! Once again, time is a critical resource on the social web.

With Aloha,

I sometimes chide my business audiences when I am speaking from the podium with this question:
“Now, why don’t you have your own internet TV show/channel?” When you consider that only a few years ago it was impossible for anyone except the big media outlets to broadcast video content, and now you and I can do it for almost nothing, it is quite mind-boggling. Of course, that is why so few have jumped on board – and why the opportunity for those who do is quite extraordinary.

If you are a “solo-preneur” aka one person band, you can easily have a talking head show filmed from your desktop. If you are a larger company, you have tremendous assets at your fingertips, not to mention stories to be told, brands to be built, and customers to be educated and entertained.

Here is some newly released data to continue the discussion:

From Podcasting News: Internet Video Platform to grow 400% in 4 years

Worldwide shipments of devices that support Internet video consumption will nearly quintuple by 2013, according to electronics industry analysts iSuppli, spurred by an increase in consumers’ broadband Internet access.

Edison Research has been studying the internet podcasting phenomenon (this applies to audio and video content), and their data have demonstrated continuous growth. (See bar chart above.)

Consumers Expect to Find Their Content Online • Broadband access is now the norm, and weekly online audio and online video usage have reached critical mass • Media not meeting consumer expectations will suffer as their brand-loyal users will find other options far more easily

If you think online video is not applicable for traditional brands, consider that CBS News today has launched a live stream channel on uStream, and the traditional health care company, Johnson & Johnson, has had a YouTube channel for over a year. Thanks again to Rob Halpert for being a guest speaker at Podcamp Hawaii. And for you audio and/or CSI fans, the F.B.I. has several audio podcasts. That’s the official Federal Bureau of Investigation – not the guys “From Big Island” as reads a popular t-shirt here in Hawaiʻi.

Aloha,