Social Networks

Steve Rubel, the man who once famously appeared in a BusinessWeek cover story titled, "Blogs Will Change Your Business," is no longer blogging. Well, ok, he's lifestreaming, which to a layman basically means you can expect shorter bursts of content aggregated from social sites including FriendFeed, Facebook and Twiter, as opposed to solely blog posts. The move is significant, as Rubel is the first high profile PR blogger to move to a full lifestream format. (Please correct us if we're wrong.)

As he wrote in a post explaining the move:

This site will become my primary publishing hub - my new home on the web. Meanwhile the spokes will become the social networks and platforms where we all spend time. Today that's Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed. Tomorrow, who knows. My old site will stay online for the archives but I will not be putting any more content up on the old site...After five years of publishing, this seems like the right thing to do.

Rubel stresses that he doesn't thing the blog is dead, "However, the blog format needs a reboot," he said.

RELATED: PRNewser Interview: Steve Rubel, SVP and Director of Insights, Edelman Digital

[Image: Adweek]

PR, marketing and advertising professionals are watching closely new proposed guidelines from the FTC that would make both companies and bloggers liable for any "false claims," or if the blogger failed to disclose the nature of the relationship with a company or agency behind a post. The FTC has caught on to the fact that many bloggers are being paid - either in free products/services or cash - to plug those products or services on their site.

Edelman Chicago's senior VP for consumer brands and social media, Danielle Wiley recently spoke with Advertising Age about this topic, among others. When it comes to paying bloggers, Wiley stated, "We've reached out to them [bloggers] with a product, and asked them to review it; they've come back to us and offered to do a positive review in return for pay. We don't do that. We said no."

That's not stopping several high profile bloggers from attending and speaking at the upcoming IZEAFest this fall, the first annual conference for IZEA, formerly called Pay Per Post, which pays bloggers to mention and review products and services of their clients. Among the speakers include Ford social media lead Scott Monty, President of New Marketing Labs Chris Brogan and David Binkowski, SVP, Word of Mouth Marketing at Manning, Selvage & Lee.

When asked about his relationship with IZEA, Binkowski told PRNewser, "I personally don't work for IZEA...and am going to be speaking about how Izea bloggers can work better with marketers and promote themselves while staying within the guidelines of the FTC."

He also told us that at MS&L, "we do not pay for blog posts unless the bloggers have been hired to write on behalf of a client's blog. Our firm's roots are in earned media and the online extension of our practice is no different." Binkowski did say in regards to Izea's policies, "my personal position is that provided there is disclosure there is no issue."

We agree with Binkowski's take. If the blogger adheres to proper disclosure, there is no issue, from the FTC perspective. However, bloggers and companies like IZEA will have to be extra careful with disclosure if the new guidelines are approved. Things like IZEA blogger Julia Allison's disclosure slip up last month get much more serious. Also, the bigger issue may be how the disclosure changes that blogger's long term credibility and relationship with readers, if at all.

PRNewser spoke to IZEA CEO Ted Murhpy at this year's SXSW conference, were he discussed some of these issues.

I'm here at the first 140 Characters Conference put on by Jeff Pulver in New York City. It's day two, and the group on stage is discussing digital diplomacy. If you need a wrapup of the most heated session, with Robert Scoble, Ann Curry from the Today Show, Rick Sanchez from CNN, and Clayton Morris from Fox News, the TechCrunch post by PR guru Brian Solis is the best.

On-the-floor color, and naysaying can be found within Kelly Samardak's Just An Online Minute column.

While there seems to be a never ending stream of social media consultants and agencies touting social media capabilities entering the market, there is still a lot of market opportunity.

According to a Deloitte "2009 Ethics and Workplace Survey," "55% of executives admitted that their companies do not have an official policy for social networks-and 22% would like to use social nets, but don't know how."

So, while many companies are eager to set their policies and jump in, it doesn't come without risk (obviously - what does?). Almost three-quarters of those surveyed by Deloitte agreed that "it's easy to damage a company's reputation on social media."

"While the decision to post videos, pictures, thoughts, experiences, and observations to social networking sites is personal, a single act can create far-reaching ethical consequences for individuals as well as organizations," said Sharon Allen of Deloitte to eMarketer. Dominos, anyone?

First on PRNewser: With the explosion of Facebook and Twitter among all demos, especially the young and chatty, PRNewser has become interested in what both agencies and corporations are doing in regards to employees' opinions bleeding over in to potentially sensitive company issues.

The rapid-fire nature of these networks begs the question: what guidelines are given to workers when they walk through the door and who is in control of the voice you use on social nets? (See Is Your Agency Co-Opting Your Personal Brand? for the agency take)

An interesting example of large company guidelines comes in the form of this propriatary document obtained from a J.Crew [NYSE: JCG] store employee who wished to remain anonymous. It was given to this clerk coincidentally, the same week the Domino's Pizza scandal broke.

Though it doesn't mention Twitter specifically, it seems to be the main concern as anyone with a smart phone can document occurrences or post opinions and photos in real time without the use of a company desktop.

I asked J.Crew's Senior Director of PR Heather Lynch McAuliffe a few questions about the document including whether or not it's just for the floor staff of the 300 or so stores and outlets, or if it applied to corporate people too.

McAuliffe declined, "The information that you obtained is proprietary internal company information that was provided without authorization and unfortunately we can not comment on it."

We're not sure if an incident at J.Crew could go anywhere near as awry as the nasty stuff at Domino's. It's common sense stuff and makes clear the company isn't interested in a chorus of personalities mucking around with its message. And J.Crew doesn't cultivate the racy image of a Hollister, or especially American Apparel, who might do well from some "oops" reportage of dressing room misuse.

If J.Crew's official Twitter efforts are an indication, they have a lot of work to do to shake out their social voice. McAuliffe's email signature finishes with @JCrew_Insider which stands at 299 followers, 1 following, and 7 updates at the time of this post.

The Blogging Policy document is after the jump:

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PRNewser caught up with Forrester Research SVP of Idea Development and Groundswell author Josh Bernoff after his keynote at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Social Media Marketplace event today in New York.

One of the pressing industry issues that we wanted to get his take on is the continued debate as to who "owns" social media? Ad agencies? PR? Interactive shops? All of the above? Is the question even relevant?

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[Porter Novelli CEO Gary Stockman Tweeting (we think) away. Image courtesy BusinessWeek]

BusinessWeek posted a list of 50 CEOs who Twitter today. As one may suspect, many of them come from "hip" little tech companies like Seesmic, Digg and Brightcove.

However, a few PR CEOs also made the list. Porter Novelli CEO Gary Stockman is included, despite having only 160 followers and 37 total updates. Stockman says Twitter allows PN to do "incredible things for our clients, including rapid-response consumer research, direct dialogue with stakeholders, and real-time dissemination of information, which can be especially useful in a crisis."

PerkettPR President Christine Perkett said her favorite Twitter follow is Ann Handley of MarketingProfs and that she uses the service partially because: "We've had the advantage of receiving 'first mover information' -benefiting both our agency and our clients-by connecting with reporters who often tweet about what their stories are going to be before anyone else knows about them..."

Before you relegate your social media personae to an intern, or Twintern, consider what it would look like if Jesus did so. The tone might be a little...breezy.

Social Media Jesus was created by David Seaman, online instigator and author of "Dirty Little Secrets of Buzz". I reviewed his book as part of the PRNewser Holiday Gift Guide.

Sergio Balegno, Senior Analyst at MarketingSherpa is talking at PRSA's Digital Impact Conference in New York today (hashtag #PRSAdi). He blogs at SocialTrenz, and will be covering the results of his study 2009 Social Media Marketing and PR: Benchmarks and Best Practices:

eMarketer says "PR mavens can relax, at least a little," when it comes to the ever feared angry blogger. According to research by CARMA International, "41.4% of all blog coverage of select national retailers was positive. Nearly 31% was neutral and only 27.8% was negative."

In the end, however, additional research shows that bloggers aren't driving purchases. A Harris Interactive poll reveals bloggers are rarely the first source used when considering purchasing decisions.