Social media may well go down as one of the more significant inventions in history. It probably too soon to tell, but it may well be on the same scale as the invention of the Guttenberg press which democratized the sharing of information. Look at the Arab Spring in 2011 which, via Twitter and other social sites, helped people in countries like Egypt and Libya share video images and commentary from countries that rarely, if ever, show public displays of dissent.

Companies of all shapes and sizes now use tools like Twitter and Facebook to connect with customers and streamline how their companies operate. While the benefits of social media have been hard to measure, companies are beginning to see tangible results by using social media. I just read a research paper titled “When Social Meets Business Real Work Gets Done” that talks about the importance of “socializing marketing and sales assets to reduce search costs and redundant work.” The paper, authored by Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan Center for Digital Business and the AIIM Task Force on Social Business and Innovation, goes on to say that “more than 60 percent of firms who did invest in collaborative frameworks achieved big gains in knowledge sharing and communication accuracy between marketing and sales.”

Another example of the importance of social media came just last week. Citizens were able to send in questions for the President to answer following the recent State of the Union address via social media site Quora. A special page was set up to live-stream video of President Obama’s address and asked users to submit and follow questions about economic and domestic policies. How often do average citizens get to connect in a one-on-one fashion with the leader of the free world?

Yet social media has also opened a Pandora’s box of other issues.

Is private information shared via a social media outlet considered public news? For example, the recent death of Penn State’s head football coach, Joe Paterno, was erroneously reported on a student-run website called Onward State. While news organizations love to get the first to report the news, it’s critical to actually get the news right. This is an obvious goal of any news site but with instant access to information comes the responsibility of news sites and other organizations to be held accountable. In the case of the snafu by Onward State, the Associated Press cited the need for “conditions of accuracy” when the editors decided not to run the story of Coach Paterno’s death since it couldn’t get proper confirmation.

For PR pros the continued growth of and reliance on social media as a way to broadly share information has created an interesting dilemma. Some editors want to be contacted via phone calls and e-mails (in other words the traditional means of communicating). Other editors are social media proponents. Regardless of the method to contact others or share information, PR folks like us need to remember some of the core principles of media relations and journalism. In other words, get your facts straight and your story right!

To me the best use of social media for our tech clients is two-fold: create a dialogue with customers that builds brand awareness and preference, and address crisis management issues quickly to eliminate rumors and innuendo. What about you? How have you adopted social media as part of your ongoing PR campaigns?

According to research by Google, the top 10 search terms in 2011 were:

1. American pop singer Rebecca Black from the hit TV show Glee
2. Google+ social network
3. Ryan Dunn (American reality television personality and daredevil)
4. Casey Anthony (TV trial for murder)
5. Battlefield 3 (video game)
6. iPhone 5
7. Adele (pop star)
8. Japan earthquake/nuclear reactor issues
9. The late Steve Jobs
10. iPad 2

So what does all this tell us about our society? While technology is interesting and we use it each and every day, people are just as interested in reality TV and other celebrity-driven news. I’m surprised that nobody named Kardashian appeared on the list, but I’m guessing that most people have already had enough of that no-talent family. I’m also a little shocked that Osama bin Laden was not listed but maybe that story saturated the TV news so heavily that few felt the need to learn more online.

Yet for all of the paparazzi-type of headlines in 2011, the headline-grabbing news about the tech sector continued to amaze me. Tablets, eReaders, cloud computing, virtualization, HP’s demise, RIM/Blackberry troubles, and Facebook, Twitter and Google’s continued rise captured the headlines. So what does 2012 hold in store? If you are interested, here are predictions from three technology news outlets to ponder: Informationweek, c/net, and Baseline.

For me the biggest “must watch” for 2012 is the growth in use for mobile technology. Having a smartphone is fine, but having applications that allow me to not only stay connected but simplify my everyday life, i.e. mobile banking, will continue to rise.

For those of us in the world of high tech PR, I see a few key issues that are changing our workplace landscape. First, I grapple with is the constant movement within the editorial community, as well as editor’s preferences for being contacted. Do they prefer a phone call? Are they mostly on e-mail? Do they like being contacted via social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook? While these questions may be hard to answer, since everyone has their own preferences, it all comes back to the message or story you’re trying to tell.

Second, the continued rise of bloggers. How influential are they? What role do they have in traditional journalism? How can PR pros work with bloggers?

Third, while keeping up with editor’s on the move is a big enough challenge, what about controlling the flood of content? Personally I find I can only keep up regularly on a few websites. Staying up to date on news and trends is a huge challenge.

Lastly, measurement and reporting continues to be a mystery within the PR world. Is it worth collecting the number of hits on an article on a website? How much value should be placed on Twitter feeds or reposting of Tweets?

These are tough questions to answer but with our world changing on a daily basis, it’s important constantly be asking ourselves how we can improve and generate impressive results for our clients?

To me it’s all about knowing your market. How does the editor work (do they want customers or analysts?), what do they write about, and ensuring that the story I’m pitching is geared to the publication’s readership. Those elements may be obvious to some but I find that I constantly have to remind people that it’s the story that sells, not the incredibly cool technology nor the flamboyant CEO, although those don’t hurt.

I’m curious to hear from other PR pros out there. What do you see heading into 2012?

I am continually amazed at how far technology has advanced in my lifetime. Kids don’t have to practice handwriting since they type everything on a computer or handheld device. SLR cameras have taken a backseat to cameras on Smartphones. Playing basketball on the Wii seems to be more fun for kids than actually playing ball outside.

While the technology advances are interesting I find that it’s the impact that these new forms of technology have on how we go about our daily lives to be truly amazing. While we used to use a phone to speak with a specific person, now we have the ability to connect in real-time and share our experiences with multiple people.

As GigaOm blogger Janko Roettgers put it in a recent post, “It’s not about connecting with intent and purpose, but about sharing real-time experiences online.”

With that said here is my little ode to technology advances.

A long time ago, in a suburb far, far away,

technology invaded my life, and it’s still doing it today.

Atari and Commodore led the way, they opened the door for all to play.

Staring at screens without saying any words, My god it’s like the attack of the nerds!

Then cell phones appeared, and Apple’s Newton became a must.

But nobody realized that it would be such a bust.

Now into the 2000’s and past Y2K.

Smartphones became the norm, and so I junked my old PDA.

But how has technology changed our lives?

Is it for the better, or should we just run and hide?

For the past 20 years high tech has been my cup of tea.

Pitching stories for clients to secure them publicity.

And now I watch in wonder as the world changes around me.

Kids learning on touch-screens, grandparents surfing on their TV.

Connecting with influencers now dominates the PR game.

And having a blog really isn’t so lame.

So we still get coverage and write case studies galore.

The question now becomes, will social media become a bore?

For now social media is the Holy Grail,

But as history has shown, anything can fail.

So I junked my VCR and most payphones are off the hook.

Yet e-readers now dominate, wither the book?

And so new technologies will continue to appear,

and kids will adapt since they have no fear.

Technology will continue to change our lives,

Sometimes it’s so scary I’m afraid I’ll get hives.

But don’t fret and don’t fear as these changes come and go,

It’s all part of growing up, didn’t you know?

We had another successful event in San Francisco featuring John Seely Brown as part of the OpenText Purpose-Driven Speaker Series.

Brown is a visiting scholar at USC and the independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge. During the talk he shared his thoughts and research on intrinsic motivation, incentive systems, learning organizations, organizational design and facing new challenges.  He had a touch of laryngitis, but was able to carry on. His voice isn’t normally quite this gruff. The video below contains a few highlights.

By now just about everyone knows about RIM’s little mishap last week with Blackberry email. Outages like these can hurt the reputation of any company, but for a tech company I think it’s much worse, especially for a company like RIM that is all about connectivity. Just to pile on a little more, it’s even more problematic for a company like RIM that has been losing market share for a long time.

While I haven’t followed every aspect of this story nor read every blog post that is available, it’s clear that RIM made some mistakes in handling this crisis. And believe me…it is a crisis. Years ago this issue might have gone unnoticed but in today’s world, where social media rules, how come RIM wasn’t better prepared to handle the crisis?

Just like the Boy Scouts say, you need to “be prepared.” Most companies I’ve worked with have policies and procedures in place in the event of a crisis, and I’m sure RIM does at some level. Considering that RIM has experienced outages before, you’d think they would have been better prepared. And I’m not talking about being better prepared to address the technical issues but being better prepared in getting their message out to customers in a more timely way.

Why did it take three days for the CEO to post a YouTube message concerning the problems? Did RIM monitor customer reaction on Twitter or Facebook? Did the company proactively address the issue or reactively reach out to customers? I’m not sure about the answer but from an outside observer’s standpoint they didn’t seem to be prepared at all.

A few thoughts about getting your crisis management plan mapped out.

• Be prepared. Have a crisis communications plan in place and update it each quarter.
• Make sure that you now have plans in place that address social media outlets.
• Investigate the issue and get your facts straight. Guessing doesn’t make the situation any better.
• “No comment” won’t cut it. And I’ve heard that RIM takes a “we don’t want to talk to the media about anything” stand which makes the situation even worse.
• Have a chain of command of spokespeople ready. You don’t want the wrong person sharing the wrong message with the public.
• Empower your communications team to move quickly and cut through the layers of opinion and second guessing so the response doesn’t take days to materialize.

In this day and age I find it highly unusual that companies still can get caught off-guard when a crisis hits. So how should companies like RIM approach these types of very public problems? Do you think that RIM addressed the issue effectively enough to minimize the damage to their reputation?

Thanks to all of the Portland AMA members who attended the luncheon on Tuesday at Bridgeport Brewing Company.

If you were there , you know that Megan McKenzie provided a number of example of about how companies are using social media – both good and bad.  The key take away for me is the importance of building trust before embarking on any social media campaigns.  It all comes down to have a clear purpose and knowing your Why.

One of the questions that came up had to do with additional resources. For those of you who are working with your executive teams to increase social media activities, sadly there is no magic bullet.  Social media is one of those things where you gain experience by launching a program and building insight and expertise about what works for YOU over time.  It truly does not come with an instruction manual, and the landscape is changing quickly. While there are no easy answers, it does pay to stay abreast of trends and study up on what others are doing and see what applies to you.

Remember that in all cases, social media must be approached with a clear understanding of your Why along with a heaping does of quality, truth and integrity.

Here are a few resources we have found helpful:

• AdAge
• Sprinklr
• Mashable
• MarketingSherpa
• Communications Conversations
• Comms Corner
• Browser Media
• PR Daily
• Ecademy
• Social Networking Watch
• Digital Buzz
• The Next Web
• Wall Street Journal blog
• Sysomos

Here’s the slide deck from the talk Megan Mckenzie delivered at the Portland AMA’s monthly lunch meeting today. We had a great time meeting many of the smart marketing folks from around the Portland area and look forward to hooking up with you again at future events.

John Seely Brown, a visiting scholar at USC and the independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge, will be sharing his unique views on technology in the human context during his upcoming talk at the Westin San Francisco Market Street hotel on Tuesday, October 18th. His presentation is part of OpenText’s Purpose-Driven speaker series. Part scientist, part artist and part strategist, his views are unique and distinguished by a broad view of the human contexts in which technologies operate and a healthy skepticism about whether or not change always represents genuine progress. He will be sharing his thoughts and research on intrinsic motivation, incentive systems, learning organizations, organizational design and facing new challenges.

This free event is sponsored by OpenText , a global leader in content management and social software, including OpenText Social Work Place which helps purpose-driven teams assemble, stay connected, and achieve breakthrough results.

Register online at http://jsb-purposebiz.eventbrite.com/ and follow the event on Facebook.

Watch John’s keynote on YouTube here.

Michael Edson of The Smithsonian Institution gave a fascinating talk this morning at The Willard Hotel only a few blocks away from The White House on  Pennsylvania Avenue. It was fun to watch as his witty, intellectual rapid-fire talk had the entire room buzzing with interest as he talked about the unique social media challenges and opportunities faced by government agencies and non-profit organizations. The audience was so engaged during the Q&A session that we were actually kicked out of our meeting room by the hotel staff to make way for the next event!

You can check out his presentation here:

Michael Edson

Michael Edson Purpose-Driven Talk from McKenzie Worldwide on Vimeo.

Michael Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy at the Smithsonian Institution, is the next speaker on the schedule for OpenText’s Purpose-Driven Speaker Series. During his talk, Michael will unveil a series of provacative new ideas about the changing relationship between technology, organizations, and the future—and what we should do about it. Michael’s presentation and discussion afterwards should be valuable for leaders, employees, and collaborators engaged in all types of work.

You can RSVP for this event here.