NevOn

Imagine if Chevron had used a blog instead

Listening this morning to a BBC World Service radio interview with Peter Robertson, vice-chairman of the Chevron oil company, I was struck in particular by his commentary about a website where the public can join Chevron in an online discussion about the future of energy.

Overall, I found it a fascinating interview, with its discussion of wide-ranging topics including the future of energy, the evolving role of the energy industry (the oil companies) and corporate social responsibility. From a PR point of view, I think Robertson did a pretty good job for his company.

Concerning the online discussion, Robertson was talking about willyoujoinus.com, a website sponsored by Chevron, that's facilitating some discussion about the future of energy and what people think about it.

From a broad look around the site, and judging from the detailed information in Chevron's Community Guidelines page, this is actually a substantial undertaking (and clearly part of a broad public affairs effort):

The willyoujoinus.com discussion forum was created as a place for individuals and groups to exchange ideas on important energy issues. It is also a place for users to read, consider, respond, and perhaps be inspired to take individual or collective action in an environment of mutual respect.

To contribute your opinions, you have to register. And your comments are moderated:

Experienced outside moderators have been assigned to ensure that postings are relevant and appropriate, and otherwise meet the site’s community guidelines as described below.

All postings will be reviewed by moderators and published on the site within 24 hours if determined to be within these guidelines.

That's fine - comment moderation is hardly unheard of and, as long as the policy is clearly stated, unlikely to confuse participants nor set any wrong expectations.

The concept of this effort by Chevron - provide a place online where people can participate in broadly open discussion on a topical issue - is very good, precisely the kind of thing where a blog could work well as that place for open, even if moderated, discussion.

But willyoujoinus.com is not a blog. Instead it's a beautifully-designed and clearly well thought through corporate website with some blog-like naming (the words 'post' and 'comment' are used, for instance).

It's gatekeeper heaven, too, with its completely un-blog-like methodology of contributing your opinions via a web form that goes off to some unknown person or group of moderators  - what Chevron describes as "experienced outside moderators" (without giving a sense of who these people are: could be the PR agency for all I know) and, elsewhere in the site, as "contracted specialists in community moderation" (sounds scary!).

Imagine if Chevron had used a blog instead. With RSS feeds. With trackback capability. It could certainly still require registration and login in order for anyone to participate, and have comment moderation.

Most important, though, a blog could give this place personality and authenticity - two of the attributes which it currently and starkly lacks. And identify who the moderators are. Build some trust.

You're about 80 percent there with this, Chevron. Why not go the full 100? Put your pedal to the metal!

Engaging podcasts from IBM

I've been subscribed to IBM's investor relations podcast series "IBM and The Future of..." since IBM started this series last August.

Eleven podcasts so far, each one providing a worthwhile learning experience on wide-ranging topics relating to society, business and technology.

The latest one, IBM and The Future of Privacy, is a great example of how any organization can use this medium to address what might seem to be a pretty dry subject in a way that captures and holds a listener's attention. Engages the listener, in other words.

From the broad communication point of view, this series also demonstrates how podcasting can subtly reinforce a company's credibility and authority about the subject being addressed. And it doesn't matter how big or small the company is - you don't need to be a global corporation like IBM to realize the benefits from podcasting.

Not only that, it enhances one's overall perceptive view of that company and how it gives you another choice of getting hold of information and opinion in a way that gives you additional insight into the company and some of its people.

If the podcast is also one element among other open and connected communication channels - as is the case with IBM - then you have another good foundation for building sustainable relationships with your audiences (who then become participants).

Worth subscribing to.

Related NevOn posts:

• IBM's credible message: Blogging means business
• IBM starts investor-focused podcasts
• IBM publishes guidelines for employee bloggers

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Blair and Cameron podcast firsts

You know podcasting has now definitely entered the mainstream when two politicians - one a Prime Minister no less, and both leaders of their parties and members of the government - use the medium in conjunction with two national newspapers to convey particular messages to voters in the UK.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Blair was interviewed by The Sun newspaper in that paper's first podcast. He uses the medium to talk about cleaning up anti-social behaviour in towns and cities (a hot political issue in the UK at the moment).

On Tuesday, new Conservative Party leader David Cameron became the first UK political party leader to record a podcast by using The Daily Telegraph's regular podcast service (which the paper launched in November) to speak about broader political issues and attacked Blair's anti-social behaviour plans. Unlike Blair's podcast, Cameron's was not an interview - he simply talked during a seven-minute segment in conversational style.

Initial impressions - Blair's interview doesn't sound that different to the type of scripted interview you'd hear on the radio. In contrast, Cameron's delivery sounded spontaneous and informal.

A very interesting development in communication in UK politics.

Shel and I will be talking about these podcasts from the communication perspective in today's edition of For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report podcast, which we'll be recording this evening Amsterdam time.

[Update] In a comment to this post, Niall Cook points out that the first leader of a UK political party to do a podcast was, in fact, Charles Kennedy of the Liberal Democrats. Kennedy did six podcasts in April and May 2005 - that's eight months ago - during the UK general election campaign.

So much for journalistic fact-checking - the Telegraph says quite clearly in its podcast that Cameron is the first party leader to do a podcast. Clearly not so.

FIR Interview - Gerald R. Baron, author, "Now is Too Late" - January 11, 2006

In this edition of For Immediate Release podcast interviews, Shel enjoyed a 55-minute conversation with Gerald Baron, author of the crisis communications book, "Now is Too Late: Survival in the Era of Instant News."

Download the conversation here (MP3, 21MB), or sign up for the Interviews RSS feed to get it and our future interviews automatically. For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.

About our Conversation Partner:

Gerald Baron is the founder and vice president of Audience Central with involvement in thought leadership around public information management and crisis communications. Mr. Baron founded AudienceCentral shortly after his role as spokesperson during the Olympic Pipeline rupture and explosion in 1999. He is also a contracted PIO for the Shell Puget Sound Refinery and other clients. He has been involved in producing crisis communications plans, as well as conducting numerous drills and exercises for various crisis scenarios.

Mr. Baron has been in marketing and public relations for over 24 years, serving as president of Baron & Company. He was a regional magazine publisher, co-founder of a successful vertical market software company and a university professor. He holds an MA in Communications from Wheaton College and Doctorate of Humanities (Honoris Causa) from Trinity Western University. He has written three books including "Now is Too Late: Survival in an Era of Instant News," published by Financial Times/Prentice Hall in 2003. He is a frequent speaker at national public relations and industry conferences.

Interview Segment Time Points:

• 00:21 Shel introduces the interview
• 00:56 Gerald runs down his background
• 03:55 Gerald's business focus, including crisis communications
• 05:15 Gerald defines "crisis"
• 06:13 Can you plan for a crisis?
• 08:41 Gerald pinpoints the changes to crisis management since the introduction of the 24-hour news cycle
• 09:31 The key implication is the difference in the speed with which information travels
• 12:23 Gerald talks about when he wrote his book and the update he's currently working on
• 12:56 Blogs are now in the picture as a big part of the post-media world
• 13:45 Gerald addresses the significance of blogs on crisis management
• 14:50 Some crises -- like the "60 Minutes II" crisis at CBS -- are generated by blogs
• 16:15 Organizations are now the broadcaster; we don't have to rely on the media to get our information out
• 17:00 CBS should have engaged bloggers
• 18:59 Gerald discusses the mishandling of the West Virginia coal mining tragedy communications
• 22:38 The balance between accuracy and speed: Accuracy shouldn't always come first
• 23:46 Overcoming the time lags caused by review and approval processes
• 26:07 Public react to crises emotionally
• 27:52 News is now infotainment; fear is an important element of how news is conveyed
• 29:25 Should a company take advantage of its own blog in a crisis?
• 32:32 Should companies with blogs allow comments during a crisis?
• 35:53 Shel asks about companies that complain about the time and resources required to monitor citizen journalism and other consumer-generated media
• 37:42 The age-old principles of crisis communication still apply
• 40:50 It's important to conduct crisis drills with the leadership team
• 44:51 Online crises should be addressed the same as you would address a media crisis
• 48:08 Gerald uses the Apple iPod Nano crisis as an example
• 48:53 The importance of dark or crisis-ready sites; Gerald's PIER product accommodates this
• 52:10 PIER is a virtual communications center for crises and emergencies
• 53:26 Gerald says the second edition of his book will be out in two months
• 53:32 About this podcast and where to find For Immediate Release
• 54:43 Where to send comments

Podsafe intro music - On A Podcast Intrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Oil blaze communications challenge for Total Oil

I'm following the still-breaking news about the massive oil terminal blaze in Hemel Hempstead in the UK that started on Sunday - what some reports are saying is the biggest fire of its type in Europe since 1945 - and thinking about PR.

In an event that's making news headlines worldwide, this has all the potential of being a significant PR crisis for Total Oil UK, the oil company who owns the terminal. And there continues to be speculation in some news reporting as to what caused the blaze. An accident? Terrorists? (that's generally discounted now.) Someone being careless? Something else?

Inevitably the company is under pressure to answer such questions, to which they're remaining tight lipped at the moment.

There's also the question of the environmental impact, even though experts say there's little sign so far.

So as firefighters still try and get the blaze under control and as a massive pall of smoke drifts across southern England on the way to France, I wondered what Total Oil were doing from the PR point of view.

Well, a lot. Judging from the media information on Total's website, they have a well-oiled (no pun intended) crisis communications plan that they implemented pretty speedily.

The site contains detailed information about the terminal, contact phone numbers and the texts of press releases that report concisely on what's happening and what Total are doing to keep oil and petrol supplies going. With so much information being reported in the media (and in blogs), a lot of it conflicting, it's good to see the company's calm reporting on this site.

A difficult time for Total's communicators.

Telling the EU what we want

What do online Europeans want from an e-enabled government? asks William Heath:

Public sector computerisation will cost Europe €88bn in 2005. But did we ever say what we wanted? Are e-government projects designed for citizens? Do we use them? Will they make life easier and meet our needs? Should we trust them? Unless we ask, how can they give us what we want? Thinking and saying what we want is more fun than griping, and more constructive too.

Let's blog this online, here. I've got a chance to collate and present the results to Ministers and senior officials at the EU e-government summit in November.

Let's tell them what we want!

Heath is chairman of Kable, a UK-based provider of public sector research, publishing and event services, and the firm sponsoring the Ideal Government Europe blog. The initiative was announced by Kable on 14 September.

If you want Heath to tell Europe's ministers and top e-government officials what you actually want, this is the place to do it. You can sign up to be an author on the blog or just leave comments. Either way, you can contribute.

(Hat tip: Loic Le Meur)

Celebrity self destruction

BBC News: Fashion store H&M has done a U-turn and says it will drop Kate Moss as the face of a campaign after drug allegations. Tabloid newspaper claims that Moss had snorted cocaine initially led H&M to condemn the British model but vow it would continue using her. Many of H&M's customers are teenage girls and the chain said in a statement that Moss was "inconsistent with H&M's clear dissociation of drugs".

A dilemma for any company with a high-profile A-list celebrity who makes the new headlines for all the wrong reasons, even more so for a publicly-listed company like H&M with a strong sense of corporate social responsibility.

It gets worse, though, as a BBC News report today says:

Supermodel Kate Moss is to be investigated over claims she has taken cocaine, Scotland Yard has said. Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur ordered an inquiry after newspapers alleged the model used illegal drugs. It has not been confirmed whether police will interview Moss, who has refused to comment on the claims.

Kate Moss also has contracts with Coty, Chanel, Burberry and Dior - companies with strong brands and market images.

If all these companies as well as Moss' publicists and the Storm model agency have crisis PR plans, now's the time to be ready.

New blogging white paper from Edelman and Intelliseek

Edeman and Intelliseek have just published their latest white paper on word-of-mouth marketing called "Blogging from the Inside Out: The Rise and Effective Management of Employee Bloggers."

The 22-page PDF document is a rich source of information that includes:

• Original data on the role employees play in shaping corporate reputation and on the frequency with which bloggers discuss their employers
• Examples of how companies around the world are leveraging CEO and employee bloggers for internal purposes
• Perspectives to consider when crafting your organization’s own employee blogging guidelines
• Excerpts from existing employee blogging guidelines and policies
• A glossary of often-used terms in the blogosphere
• A list of must-read blogs for communicators

I don't yet see a link to download it on either Edelman's or Intelliseek's website, nor in Employee Engagement, the blog penned by Christopher Hannegan, director of Edelman's Employee Engagement Practice.

I'll update this post with a download link as soon as that link is available.

This white paper is the second in a series of such papers from the two firms, the first being Trust MEdia (PDF download), published in April.

[UPDATE 9 Sept] The white paper is now available for download here (PDF). I notice a text change - the paper is entitled "Talking From the Inside Out: The Rise of Employee Bloggers." A different focus than the title of the PDF I received by email from Edelman on Sept 6.

Plain speaking on Katrina by New Orleans mayor

It's a very clear and simple message: "Get off your asses and let's do something and let's fix the biggest goddam crisis in the history of this country."

Powerful, emotional plain-speaking from Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, in a 13-minute interview yesterday with New Orleans radio station WWL-AM.

This is a very angry man, a politician who through extraordinary circumstances has driven a wedge through PR spin and meaningless press conferences to make an impassioned and very public plea to his country's leadership to, well, get off their arses and help people.

Towards the end of the interview, mayor Nagin says that he'll probably get into trouble because of what he's saying. I think he's untouchable precisely because of what he's saying, a truthful reality that anyone can clearly see and especially those poor souls in New Orleans itself.

How to listen:

• Streaming audio (.asf file format, so works in Windows Media Player)
• Download the MP3 for your iPod (3.2 megs)

Mainstream media worldwide has copious coverage on the human aspect of this tragedy - the BBC in-depth Katrina coverage has to be the best out there.

Other news that I've spotted this morning, linked to below, include a great initiative by IABC to offer free job postings for communicators in the IABC Job Bank, a worldwide network of volunteers connected by Skype, estimates of the economic cost of this disaster, a warning about Katrina email scams, and much more.

Does Europe need an EFF?

If we don't let the politicians know what we're worried about, we'll inevitably end up stripped of the rights we presently have, says Nicole Simon.

Prompted by a call for support for a UK-based tech/civil liberties organization by Cory Doctorow, Nicole has just launched a pledge to garner support for establishing such an organization at a European level.

So Nicole's idea is to try and set up an equivalent of the US Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in Europe.

Although I agree with Nicole - better to try and do this for Europe as a whole than just for one European country - I have some small concerns about the whole EFF model. And while I would support an effective initiative that seeks to safeguard an individual's rights to free expression, It seems to me that the EFF has some odd ideas on the differences between such rights and the responsibilities of individuals.

I'm referring in particular to the EFF's support for the international bloggers’ bill of rights which includes a list of organizations "...that have fired, threatened, disciplined, fined or not hired people because of their blogs." If only it were that black and white!

I suppose a basic question arises - Do we need a European EFF? Well, if you read any European newspaper at either political extreme, you'd probably say yes. Personally, I don't subscribe to some views that life is just a big conspiracy with all the politicians and Big Business out to screw the Average Joe. Yet I do subscribe to the view that each of us does have the right of freedom of expression. With that right comes some clear responsibilities, too, especially relating to respecting the rights of others. But this isn't a political blog, and I don't do politics here.

Still, I support Nicole's idea which is why I've signed the pledge even though the idea is nothing more than that right now - an idea. You have to start somewhere and if more people are willing to sign on for a concept that has little substance yet, and then be part of shaping it, then maybe this might grow and actually have some influence.

Little acorns, etc.

Technorati: DigitalRightsEU, EFF