Archive for 'TweetBeat'

Jun 10

How a Heckler Out Slicked BP

3 Comments Written by in TweetBeat

We all know that BP is inept at plugging an oil spill a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. But what about capping a fake Twitter feed that is spewing tweets almost as fast? It turns out that they are failing at that too.

Shortly after the deep-sea leak began a tweeter pretending to be BP’s global public relations team sprang up. His spoof was so side-splitting and healing to a horrified world that he quickly amassed thousands of followers. Now, thanks to BP, he’s getting even more attention. (Notice how I’m writing a blog that I never would have if BP would have reacted differently)

BP recently made a classic mistake. Instead of disarming and diffusing the heckler by embracing him, they fueled the fire by demanding that he publicly declare the account to be phony. He complied all right. Now, his bio field reads, “We are not associated with Beyond Petroleum, the company that has been destroying the Gulf of Mexico for 52 days.” Touché!

If BP’s public relations team wanted to fare better than their floundering CEO in the eyes of the public, they should have made a huge donation to the heckler. He is smartly funneling the money he makes on the stunt to help the oil saturated region, which will help him fend off any litigation.

By fessing up to the fact that they have been pretty easy to make fun of recently, BP would have earned a lot of respect. Instead, they only solidified the perception that they are standing on top of one of their oil rigs looking down at the rest of us drowning in their disaster.

How to handle a heckler in the realm of social media is counterintuitive for companies. The natural reaction is to lawyer up, but what works is coming down to meet the crowd.

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Jun 17

Live Tweets from Conference Suites: Help or Hindrance?

7 Comments Written by in TweetBeat

I was at the Communintelligence conference on internal social networking today. My mouth hung open as I looked across the sea of open laptops and heard a cacophony of typing punctuating the voices of the presenters. I felt like I had landed on Planet Rude in the distant future where no one could focus on anything but themselves. What in the world were they all doing? Checking email…working on a presentation….surfing the internet. I had to peek over someone’s shoulder to find out. They were tweeting!

Exponentially Extending a Speaker’s Reach with Tweets

At first I felt sorry for the presenters. They must have been frustrated not to have everyone’s full attention, right? What I quickly realized was that people in the audience were tweeting quotes of the presenters to their followers. Why would the speakers complain? The audience was exponentially extending their reach with their tweets. In fact, after the keynote presenter was done talking, she started tweeting too!

I must admit I have mixed feelings about this trend of conference tweeting. I certainly understand why the organizer of the conference, @jgerst, would like to live tweet, but does everyone need to?

What do you think?

As a audience member I found it distracting, but as a public relations consultant, I see it as an opportunity for my clients to extract more value from their speaking engagements. Also, as an avid user of Twitter, I have been on the receiving end of tweets from other conferences, and I have found them to be very useful.

Tell me your opinion. Should conference attendees live tweet away?

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Jun 12

Twitter: Retweet Robbery a PR Problem

0 Comments Written by in TweetBeat

Have you ever been robbed of a retweet on Twitter? I discovered this phenomenon after I began searching on strings of words from my tweets, in addition to my Twitter handle. I found numerous instances of people tweeting my content, but not mentioning my Twitter name. I didn’t think too much about it until a reporter, probably as an oversight, tweeted my client’s content without listing his Twitter name. In cases like this, tweets without the proper accreditation become a public relations measurement challenge.

Chris Curran, the CTO of Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, is a dream client. He has fully committed to Twitter. He tweets frequently, he shares his blogs, retweets the tweets of reporters and peers and engages in conversation with other high profile executives. In fact, he recently created a list of CIOs who tweet at his impressive blog, CIO Dashboard. The list has generated interest from inside and outside of Twitter, including from a prominent technology reporter. After I emailed it to him, he tweeted it and let me know immediately. I was grateful for his effort, but I must admit that I was disappointed that he didn’t include my client’s Twitter name in his tweet.

To help remedy the loss, I sent the reporter a tweet, instead of an email, that thanked him for tweeting the list and included my client’s Twitter name in my response. As a result, I encouraged the reporter to begin following my client and took another opportunity to tweet the list.

Have you ever been robbed of a retweet? Does retweet robbery bother you?

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May 15

Replacing CNN and Email with Twitter

1 Comments Written by in TweetBeat

As a public relations consultant, I am an information addict. I used to spend hours watching CNN as I emailed my clients and reporters, obsessing over every story and digging deeper into the issues online in outlets like BusinessWeek and USA Today. But it struck me today that I haven’t watched CNN in months and I barely have email to check anymore. I am so enthralled with using Twitter as my information gathering and connecting resource that the days of CNN, even email, are a distant memory.

In my day-to-day routine, I have replaced broadcast anchors with much smarter print reporters with their own Twitter broadcasting networks. Instead of feeling completely disconnected and disenchanted with the TV, I interact with editors and reporters via Twitter like John A. Byrne, the Editor-in-Chief for BusinessWeek.com and Del Jones, the leadership reporter for USA Today.

Not only do I have access to the stories that they tweet, but I converse with them about the content and help them grow a following by retweeting their tweets. Rather than emailing them, I use DMs to let them know what’s going on in their areas of interest and to cultivate a friendship.

What about you? What tools are you finding falling away now that you have Twitter in your life?

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Mar 31

Almost 700 Media on Twitter and Counting

1 Comments Written by in TweetBeat

Yesterday two earthquakes shook Twitter. The first was the realization that we all knew before anyone else that there had been an earthquake in California. Instantly, tweeps in San Jose and San Francisco tweeted, “Earthquake!” As always, breaking news alerts lagged behind.

The second happening that rocked Twitter’s world, or at least the PR professionals and reporters who use it, was the official launch of a new media database of reporters who have Twitter accounts. The list was created by @prsarahevans, @skydiver, @melissahourigan, @edunigan.

Yesterday the list comprised almost 500 reporters. Today, it’s almost 700. Given the explosive growth, it was only a matter of time before someone raised concerns over PR people using the list to abuse reporters. But instead of a reporter introducing the point, it was a fellow PR professional, @kamichat.

In my opinion, Twitter is a golden opportunity for a fresh start between PR and reporters. For the first time, I feel I can really show reporters that I am not one of those PR people who call them over and over again to ask if they received my fax, but I am the kind of professional who will retweet their tweets. I am not the person who will pitch them something completely off topic, but I will send them tweets related to their beat. I won’t call them, but I’ll DM them.

For anyone who is considering using the new Twitter media database to spam reporters, I say remember that Twitter is self-policing. Reporters can always block you. My goal is that they follow me because they consider me to be a useful resource.

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Mar 26

Be a Twitter Wingman; Soar to New Heights!

0 Comments Written by in TweetBeat

I’m of the Top Gun generation. I know what it means to be a good Wingman. Whether it’s flying a plane or landing your buddy a date, most people understand what it means to be a reliable Wingman.

If you really want to be helpful to reporters and cultivate relationships with the most connected tweeters, retweet their tweets! If you really want to be helpful to your clients, retweets their tweets! If you want to build your follow list, retweet everyone’s tweets!

Be a good Wingman and you’ll soar to the height of Twitter popularity.

twitter-bird

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Mar 16

Should Your Logo Tweet? Would you send a Robot to a Cocktail Party?

1 Comments Written by in TweetBeat

Twitter has one rule that I find frustrating, but completely necessary. Once you are following 2000 other Twitterers, it forces the number of Twitterers who are following you to catch up. When you do achieve an equal balance of following versus followers, you must maintain a 1:1 ratio as you ascend in visibility. As such, I am constantly fine-tuning my follow list to maximize my Twitter time, which I believe increases the quality of my experience, so I don’t mind too much.

When I am itching to follow a new find, I make a beeline to the generic brands for rapid unfollowing action. Having a brand not backed by one person sending tweets is like sending a robot to a cocktail party. I do not hesitate to unfollow a logo.

I have seen media outlets take three different approaches to the logo issue. Many send generic news blasts. Boring. The Chicago Tribune created a Twitter character, Coloneltribune, interesting. I find Businessweek.com’s approach to be most effective.

Rather than having a generic account, John Byrne (@johnabyrne), the Editor-in-Chief for Businessweek.com, serves as the source and advocate for the outlet’s hottest news. He is out there mixing with the people and promoting his work as he should be. To top it off, he encourages all his reporters to serve as Wingmen, retweeting his tweets, as they should be.

I feel like setting up a generic Twitter account is like dragging dirt from the past into our brand new house of communications where we are all on equal footing.

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