I love JibJab.  The bottom line is, JibJab’s funny, because there is truth in what it says.

For those unfamiliar with JibJab, it’s best described as a web site that serves up humor through a satirical look at the world.

It generally has a non-partisan political flavor to it and that’s another reason why it’s funny — it doesn’t limit itself to a political philosophy.  Everything is fair game.

So what does this have to do with Turning News into Knowledge?  Well, its latest and greatest Flash production has to do with the news, and it’s hilarious.

It’s called What We Call The News and it highlights in a funny and satirical way what I have blogged about and others such as David Mindich have been saying all along — you have to sift through a lot of garbage to get to the real news, and that isn’t good.

That said, here at MediaMiser, not only do we still have to sift, but we also have to somehow take into account the garbage that is considered news.

29 March 2007 | General Information, Media Analysis, New Media, Trends | 1 Comment

The other day a discussion arose here at MediaMiser about the usefulness of corporate blogging. Our director of finance raised the issue that for many organizations blogging could be perceived as a non-revenue generating activity.

For our company, maintaining a blog is a no-brainer. Not only do we analyze traditional media, such as print and broadcast, we also analyze new media content such as blogs. So it’s important that we understand the medium (blogosphere) intimately. One of the many ways to do that is to maintain our own blog.

So again, for us it was easy to justify. But what about other corporations? What’s in it for them?

Almost all mature or reasonably sized corporations should have a corporate blog if they care about branding. Yes, blogging can be time-consuming and can even seem like a chore at times. But if your organization is active in branding itself, a blog can be an important tool.

When discussing this concept the other day, I recalled an English history course that I took at university. 

One day our professor asked the class why the British Navy ruled the waves the way it did, which, ultimately helped make Britain the world power at the time.

The answer was not because it had the best ships or the smartest people. It was because its ships were always kept at sea, while other countries kept their ships in the safe harbors of their ports when not needed.

Because of this, the British Navy was always ‘ready, aye, ready,’ while other navies needed time to find their sea legs.

The corporate world, and life in general, is no different.  To be good at something, you must constantly be doing it. This is where blogs come in.

At some point in an organization’s life-cycle, it will require evangelists to promote the general concept of the organization or its products and services. Generally, at most companies it’s the founders that evolve into this position, while other people grow into management positions.

At this point the evangelists become one with the brand and they must have the credibility and ability to properly articulate the essence of the company.

In this way, blogs provide the sea legs for the evangelists, while at the same time building their credibility and, by extension, the credibility of the company.

Blogs force the evangelists to be constantly communicating and organizing their thoughts. The more they blog and are forced to think, the better they become at articulating the brand. Plus, if the blog is being properly promoted, the evangelists’ credibility grows. And as many companies will tell you, their strength is their people. 

As for blogs becoming a time-consuming chore, the more you blog, the faster you get.  And if your blog is set up properly with the right processes in place, it shouldn’t take up much of your organization’s time. I think our finance director was convinced. We might even see him start posting here in the future!

23 March 2007 | Advertising, New Media, Trends | No Comments

I’ve been reading some interesting blogs in regards to the Microsoft Vista launch, and  have noticed the benchmark of the Windows 95 launch often gets brought up — especially since sales of Vista have reportedly been slow.

First of all, there are no comparisons between the launch of Vista and the launch of Windows 95. Microsoft threw the kitchen sink at Windows 95. It did things such as advertise on well-known landmarks all over the world, and spent millions of dollars for the right to use The Rolling Stones’ song Start Me Up.

Marketing and PR budgets aside, I think the landscape has changed since the launch of Windows 95.

Computers are no longer a novelty; they are a necessity. People won’t upgrade to Vista as quickly, as Aiden Kenny pointed out from his blog.

I imagine that the majority of the consumer market is going to migrate to Vista by upgrading their hardware rather than purchasing the boxed OS off the shelf at PCWorld.

My take on that is, most people won’t jump before they look. Computers are so pervasive in everything we do, people can’t afford for their machines to be down and, as a result, take upgrading their computers very seriously. Because of this, people will do their research.

For this reason, perhaps instead of simply trying to hype its product, Microsoft needs to hit the trade journals and other periodicals that are read by the folks who sell the hardware. Because if you can’t get buy in from them, people won’t make the leap. In this case, the sales people responsible for selling the computer hardware have a big say, and solution providers, such as Microsoft, need to convince them there is a real reason to upgrade.

Also, solution providers have to start looking outside traditional media and start targeting influencers in the social media sphere — namely blogs. After all, not only are blogs tremendously effective at influencing consumers, but the media is also using them for research purposes.

9 March 2007 | General Information, Advertising, New Media, Trends | No Comments

Last week, NHL general managers scrambled to make some last minute tweaks to their hockey clubs in advance of the trading deadline on February 27^th. Some teams were ‘buyers’ looking to shore up for a long Stanley Cup run, while other teams were ‘sellers’ looking to trade in some of their current talent for future prospects/success. And while every team had a different role to fill, it would seem that they were all looking for, or had found, some ‘grit.’

In an analysis of all major daily newspapers in Canada, the word ‘grit’ was found in 662 articles in relation to NHL trades in the days leading up to and following the trade deadline — Feb. 24 to Feb. 28. And a similar search in Google News during that same period revealed another 231 articles. Being a close follower of the NHL, I’m surprised that so many general managers have ‘found’ players with grit…considering that it is such a hard commodity to find (confession: I cheer for my hometown Ottawa Senators who have been accused of lacking grit in playoff run after playoff run). But, I guess when pressed by the media it’s an easy fall-back for GM’s to say that their newest acquisition has that intangible grit. This spring in the chase for Lord Stanley’s Cup we’ll find out who really found what they were looking for.

5 March 2007 | General Information | No Comments

As the chief developer at MediaMiser, some days I get overwhelmed when deciding what to do next when it comes to building our enterprise solution.  There’s so much to do and so much information that I want our software to analyze.

That’s where planning and prioritization come in. For the most part, we have done a good job in this area. We give our customers what they need to get good value out of our solution and make informed decisions.

It’s no different when it comes to evaluating any marketing or communications campaign.  When I was first introduced to communications, I was taught the R.A.C.E. acronym - research, action, communication, and evaluation.

Most public relations professionals have no problem with the first three parts of that acronym; however, most fail at evaluation - partly because it’s an afterthought. Some, however, don’t know where or how to start evaluating, so they quickly become overwhelmed at the prospect of doing so, and end up failing in their efforts.

Evaluation shouldn’t be an afterthought. Benchmarks and other evaluation tools should be planned out up front, before you start your campaign. 

And remember, you don’t have to wait until the end of a campaign to start evaluating. All great tacticians should be able to adjust their plans in real-time, and good organized information is the key.

28 February 2007 | General Information, Media Analysis | 1 Comment

On Sunday I stumbled upon a story in the Toronto Star by the paper’s faith and ethics reporter, Stuart Laidlaw, titled Christ’s tomb found?

Talk about an attention-grabbing headline. It struck me as something you’d see in the tabloid racks at your local grocery store. But this was the Star, so I read on.

The article reported how documentary director Simcha Jacobovici and Titanic director James Cameron planned to shake the Christian world to its core by revealing that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a son, Judah, and that they had evidence of it in the form of the ossuaries in which Christ’s family was buried.

My first reaction was ‘wow.’ But this was soon tempered by my urge to verify the nuances of the story by looking at other sources.

I used Google News to source other stories dealing with the same issue. I found an article in an Israeli e-zine, Ynetnews, titled ‘Jesus’ burial site discovery is just PR spin. This article took another approach to the story by reporting the view of a dissenting Israeli archeologist, Professor Amos Kloner.

Even though the Star article did mention Kloner and even quoted him, it’s interesting to see the different impressions that each article leaves — or attempts to leave — on the reader. The Star’s article gives you the impression there is good chance the tomb of Christ has been found. However, the Ynetnews article gives you the impression it’s all just a hyped-up marketing ploy designed to promote a documentary.

This is an excellent example of why it’s important to monitor the media and not just assume everyone will report the news in the same way.

I’ll be interested to see what comes out of Jacobovici and Cameron’s much anticipated news conference revealing some of the findings. Whatever the truth may be, their timing is impeccable. Not only is The Da Vinci Code still fresh in people’s minds, I also noticed chocolate Easter bunnies being neatly stacked at our local grocer.

26 February 2007 | General Information, Media Analysis, Trends | No Comments

When should your organization pay attention to blog coverage or commentary? How can you tell when a blog has momentum?

First of all, you should track all blogs that are related to your organization — no matter how small a following they may have. After all, if you can find someone talking about you, so can anyone else.

Plus, the reality is traditional news outlets are losing their influence.

According to media expert and author of Tuned Out, David Mindich, media coverage is becoming more personalized.

Opinions leaders and influencers are becoming more numerous, diverse and harder to track. To be effective in this new media era, where Britney Spears’ latest hairstyle is worthy of front-page coverage, communicators of all kinds must learn to adapt. And the best way for them to do so is by increasing their reach and having a better understanding of issues through vigilant media monitoring and analysis. After all, half the battle of communicating is learning how to listen.

Furthermore, as blogs emerge as a key influencer, key metrics such as reach might have to be augmented with Google PR ratings and server requests.

23 February 2007 | General Information, Media Analysis, New Media, Trends | No Comments

The astronomical dollar figures aside, I’m really starting to think Google’s acquisition of YouTube makes sense. More and more, I find myself searching for information on YouTube as I would normally do in Google. Don’t ask me why, but the other night my wife and I were having a conversation about that somewhat infamous scene from the movie Three Men and a Baby which featured a boy ‘ghost’. She had never seen it, so I went to YouTube and found it immediately. It made me realize that YouTube has now become top of mind when I’m looking for information, much like Google became about five years ago.

20 February 2007 | General Information | No Comments

We have added a new glossary item to our popular PR and marketing resource center at http://www.mediamiser.com/resources/prglossary/newswriting.html. Take a look. It’s all about print media news and newswriting terms.

16 February 2007 | General Information | No Comments

After reading a post by Chris Clark at the Blog Herald, I started thinking about how people conduct themselves not only in public relations, but also in business in general.

Chris wrote about how he was disrespected by someone trying to blatantly promote something through his blog through a posting. Essentially, they attempted to deceive him by pretending to be adding to the discussion, but in fact, they were just providing spam to sell a product.

Personally, I think if most people tried to be more upfront with all their dealings, whether it’s PR, business, or even personal life, they would have a better chance of being successful.

If you’re not upfront or you are trying to be deceptive, as Chris Clark felt of the person who posted a comment to his blog, you are disrespecting the other party. In the case of the rogue commenter, he wanted free advertising for nothing.

At its core, most PR activity is about business and when you engage in business with someone, it needs to be mutually beneficial. To achieve this, fairness needs to prevail. If it doesn’t, it could lead to more than bad feelings.

The commenter, who attempted to spam Chris Clark’s blog, lost respect and potentially his reputation. In the process, he also wasted Chris Clark’s time.

The other issue I want to rouch on, which wasn’t discussed in Chris Clark’s blog, is the notion that PR professionals always have to communicate through every different type of media. There is something to be said about being selective.

Let’s face it, the reason the commenter posted spam to the blog was because the blog was there and the commenter didn’t think it through. If he had thought it through, he might have instead posted ads on Google, which is a medium geared more towards his objective of selling stuff.

Even good PR professionals make this mistake. When it comes to traditional media, everyone loves to get coverage in print and when they do, it’s seen as a big victory.

However, just because print media usually has a broad circulation and is high-profile, it’s not always necessarily the best way to deliver a message. You can’t always control how your message is disseminated, and you’re not guaranteed of reaching your target audience.

For example, if an organization is dealing with a community issue, why must organizations and community groups deal with each other through the media? Why not communicate through a town hall?

If you can do it, communicate directly to your audience. If you’re being transparent and honest, people might not always like your message, but at least they’ll respect you, because you are respecting them.

15 February 2007 | General Information, New Media | No Comments