SMC in DC - January meeting
The Washington crowd got together at Ogilvy last week to discuss all the cool-and-happening things in new media. The conversation spanned from how to amend a company’s Wikipedia entry to a description of strange occurrences in Second Life. (Quote of the year: “They’re not attached to anything.” … “They never are.” And yes, you had to be there.)
Allow me to address a few housekeeping issues up front before I present a run-down of topics covered at the meeting. When writing about this event at your own blogs, please remember to use the tag “SMCDC” to connect your post with others in the same discussion. Also, a reminder from Tiffany Baxendell Bridge, please join the SMC DC mail list. Thank you to the folks at Ogilvy for offering their space for the meet-up and leading such a great discussion. The next meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 22, at Edelman at 1875 Eye St. NW, Suite 900.
The meeting featured some great discussion, and I will attempt to do it justice, but naturally feel free to flesh out my notes with remarks of your own in the comments. After making sure everyone was generally on the same page regarding what social media is, the more issue-oriented conversation ensued.
Wikipedia
The group discussed the process involved in correcting an entry in Wikipedia and the possible conflicts that could arise. If inaccurate information is present, how should a company approach fixing that? The general consensus was that it boils down to how you’re going about it and what your motive is. It was also recognized that it depends on the company in question, as the public may be more sensitive to that sort of action from some organizations more than others. Key takeaway: Tread lightly. Be open and honest.
Influencers?
A great point was raised in terms of businesses communicating with or monitoring blogs: don’t just focus on those big “influential” blogs. It’s important — and oftentimes very rewarding — to embrace and connect with smaller blogs. Essentially, everyone who is talking about the business is important and should be considered. Key takeaway: Every voice matters.
Web 2.0 vs. the World
Through a question directed at Aussie Paull Young, who is currently traveling the globe on a sort of blogger-world-tour, the group discovered that the rest of the world has essentially skipped over Web 2.0. (WHAT?!) They have skipped this new Web boom and gone straight to mobile. In some respects, it makes sense: computers are much more expensive than cell phones. Key takeaway: Are we seeing the sunset of the Web?
While plenty more was discussed, I will ramble on no more and just wrap up with a few links (nowhere near exhaustive) that were tossed out during the conversation.
Also, Adagio Tea was mentioned as being a great case study of a company that is doing very well with their online efforts — very complete and original.
And one last quote with regard to people sharing their lives online, from Tiffany, “Perhaps it’s not the death of privacy … just the return of judgment.”
