K Street Cafe

In Times of Unrest, Social Networks Can Be a Distraction (New York Times)
When it comes to advocacy, are social networking sites causing us to talk more and do less?

Digital Watch: Search and Email Still Reign Online (PR News)
According to a recent Pew Research study, you may want to think twice before investing your entire marketing budget in social media.

Twitter Grows Public Policy Team With Former FCC Staffer Colin Crowell (techPresident)
Twitter and Facebook are both adding former Congress staffers and policy makers to strengthen their corporate team.

How to Create a Facebook Fan Base to Drive Social Advocacy (ClickZ)
Check out this free white paper from ClickZ, which will give you a better understanding of brand marketing and an approach for understanding the value of earned and paid impressions in a social context.

How to Use Current Events to Create Content (SmartBlog)
Running out of content ideas to post on your social media sites? According to Jesse Stanchak, “The key here is finding organic, relevant connections to your industry and your readers.”

Nonprofits: Forget ROI. Here’s A Better Way to Measure Social Media (PR Daily)
For some organizations, it doesn’t exactly make sense to measure ROI when determining whether social media is being utilized effectively. Check out this article for a different approach to measuring social media success.

Controlling the Social Conversation (ClickZ)
Like it or not, “the illusion of anonymity online gives consumers a louder more daring voice, and the medium of the Internet allows for amplification of that voice for better or worse.” Find out what you should do when the dialogue in your social media community turns sour.

10 Things Google+ Does Better (PR Daily)
10 good reasons you should think about starting a Google+ page today. Check out this page to learn what Google+ may mean for political advocacy and campaigning.

Cross posted from Security Debrief

The Bay Area Transit Police, amusingly known as BART, show that law enforcement still doesn’t understand the value — and challenges — of social media. The police force reacted to planned flash mobs — protests organized rapidly through social media platforms, Twitter foremost among them — by shutting down cell phone service in the BART stations. Hey, if you can’t talk to one another, how are you going to organize, right? Thank God BART wasn’t around when the Founding Fathers were trying to hammer out the U.S. Constitution. Perhaps the transit agency would have drummed the unruly bastards out of Philadelphia before they could dream up the First Amendment.

You can understand why the transit police were frazzled. There is no question that social media has made communications easier, quicker and more effective. By and large, this is a good thing, put to good use by millions around the world daily. Unfortunately, there are people who put this new generation of communications to bad use, too. And the advent of flash mobs is an example of how social media can be used for hooliganism (I’ve always wanted to use that word) and criminal activity. Just look to Great Britain, where so-called protesters are protesting very little other than doors and windows as they smash them in and loot stores. Power to the people.

However, social media — including flash mobs — is also used for noble causes and nonviolent protests. Just look to the Middle East and the Arab Spring. Look to Iran. Admittedly Iran was less flash and more of a truly spontaneous movement, but new tactics such as flash mobs will become increasingly common as protestors in authoritarian states seek ways to make their voices heard while minimizing persecution from state police.

What law enforcement, national security agencies and others in positions of power over civil liberties must understand is that while social media is a new medium of communication, it is still a medium of communication, protected by the Constitution. If the protests in San Francisco were violent and posed a threat to public safety, then BART had a duty to manage the situation and protect the public. Protestors have no inherent right to endanger the safety of commuters in a busy subway station any more than shout fire in a theater. (more…)

by Patrick Hynes

Cross-posted from The Daily Caller

Despite the successful and headline-grabbing launch of Google+, only 13 members of the U.S. Senate and 15 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have established profiles on the new social networking site, far fewer than the number from each chamber who are active on Facebook and Twitter.

Google+ launched in July to much fanfare and within three weeks had attracted 20 million users in the U.S. Some technology pundits have labeled it a “Facebook killer.”

Congress’s slow adoption of Google+ comes as a surprise because the new social networking platform contains at least one unique function the others do not: It allows users to segregate relationships into “Circles,” meaning members of Congress can isolate constituents from other followers. Heavy social networking “spam” from non-constituents is a significant frustration for members and their social media staffs.

“Just the other day, someone posted on our Facebook wall that she wished my boss was her senator,” a Hill press secretary told me.

A recent study by the Congressional Management Foundation reports that members of Congress and key staff have embraced social media as a tool to communicate with constituents. But privately, many also complain they receive too much pre-packaged “Astroturf” in the form of canned Tweets and Facebook wall postings. In many cases, these communications come from people far away from the members’ districts or from undetermined locations. Google+ Circles allow members of Congress to target their communications directly to people in the states or districts they represent, while ignoring communications directed at them from people outside their states or districts. (more…)

Six Myths of Social Media (CRM Magazine)
Saurabh Mittal debunks several common misconceptions of social media management and offers some tips for optimizing your organization’s online presence.

How to Participate in a Tweet Chat (PR Daily)
Themed hashtag conversations or ‘Twitter chats’ can be a valuable advocacy tool. Check out this article and learn how to host one of your own.

How CNET Grew 5X on Facebook and Twitter Without Ads (ClickZ)
In just over nine months, one person at CNET was able to grow the company’s Facebook fans from 69,000 to 428,000. Read Nathan Bransford’s tips on posting to social media to maximize followers.

Protests, Flash Mobs Spark Controversy Over Communications Crackdowns (National Journal)
Social media-organized flash mobs have been cropping up around the world. Should the US government be able to meddle with communication networks (effectively limiting free speech) if people are using them to ‘incite imminent lawless action?’

The Purpose-Driven Website (ClickZ)
Is the content on your landing page ‘mission critical’ and easy to navigate? Find out how to make your website’s structure and content optimal for any user.

Social Video Can Build Awareness, Advocacy For Luxury Brands (Luxury Daily)
Regardless of whether you’re running a marketing campaign for luxury brand, all marketers should be aware of the ‘four As’ of social video creation and distribution.

Why A Post-Riot Social Media Crackdown is Doomed to Fail (Silicon.com)
Steve Ranger offers some commentary on what might happen if social networks are ‘interrupted’ by UK government officials.

12 Ways to be Likeable on Facebook (PR Daily)
Up your “likes” by responding to comments (both positive and negative), sharing multimedia content, giving away value, and more.