Speed and the Barrier

How do you manage a ‘social media’ campaign? The breaking down of barriers that Internet communication has encouraged is probably faster and more fundamental than many communications managers realise. One major problem is the challenge of speed – you can no longer take a few days to respond to a media enquiry while your exec finishes travelling or deals with ‘more important’ business. In a social media environment, people expecting total access and answerability from your organisation are beating on the door right now. There’s no gatekeeper anymore, remember?

It’s also worth bearing in mind that social media is user-driven so you’re leading a conversation and, like all conversations, it will have ebbs and flows. You can’t expect relentless positivity but are aiming to have an overall dialogue that puts your position and proposition.

Another issue facing social media campaign managers is that of approvals. In the old paradigm, your agency made sure that every single communication was approved. It would never do, for instance, for the agency to be speaking in your place. And agencies, for their part, wanted to be indemnified from clients’ actions and liabilities. If you’re running a campaign that cuts across websites and interactive, ‘social’ media, someone needs to be posting, responding, commenting, Tweeting, filming and uploading content on your behalf. And that either means that you, as a campaign ‘manager’ need to be 100% engaged 24x7 in your campaign or you need to redefine the rules so that your agency has a wider scope of responsibility, empowerment and response-ability. That means you have to let your agency take more risks on your behalf, and therefore that your agency is sufficiently indemnified to take those risks. Dispensing with indemnity can be an expensive game for the hapless communicator.

Likewise, you need to be sure that you’re working with an agency that understands those risks, that gets where the pain points of social communication lie, but also that understands the issues of corporate governance in this changing environment as well as new expectations of corporate behaviour. It can be a complicated trade-off – ensuring that the company is answerable at every level and yet also responsive at every level, that it is transparent and yet decisive and that it communicates with its stakeholders appropriately, despite the immediacy and ubiquity of online ‘social’ access.

This piece originally appeared as one of the chucklesomely named 'A Moment with McNabb' columns in Campaign Middle East magazine.

Snow!

No words.

Amazing pictures in both the Gulf News (800g) and The National. Apparently only the second time this has happened in recorded history!

Sexist

Look, I know I go on and on about radio advertising in Dubai. But this is really too much.

Man: (sings) Happy anniversary to you!
Woman: Thank you honey!
Man: Now, close your eyes! I have a surprise for you.
Woman: OK!
Man: Open your eyes! You wanted a new refrigerator and washing machine. Here they are!
Woman: Wow! A new LG steam washing machine and a side by side refrigerator. Can we afford both?
Man: Of course! Exchange any old washing machine or refrigerator and bring a new LG washing machine or refrigerator. As part as part of their five year leadership celebration, LG is offering three exciting rewards. We also get an extended warranty on LG home appliances.
Woman: Wow!
Man: Plus we get free one year's supply of detergent powder for washing machine and a microwave oven for the fridge
Woman: Fantastic! Honey, this is the best anniversary ever!
Man: Add magic to your festivities with LG's exchange offer! Pre-register by calling blblabla. Conditions apply. LG. Caring for you in every way.

I shall refrain from adding any comment beyond noting that the woman sounds like a helium breathing chipmunk on speed and the man is excruciatingly wooden. There are no typos, this is an accurate transcription apart from the word 'steam' which I can't quite make out but which sounds like steam.

Law

A great day for press freedom in the UAE?

The UAE media law passed through the Federal National Council yesterday and the newspapers, struggling to find any positive angle on the story, can only reiterate that the new law means that journalists won't face jail terms 'for carrying out their duties'.

The draft law just needs to be ratified by the cabinet and the President to pass onto the statute books. There has been a great deal of unhappiness expressed by the newspapers over the new law, which replaces the positively archaic 'old media law' of 1980. You can find an e-copy of the old law here and wonder for yourself at how much has changed. Or then again, perhaps not.

I tried, but failed, to find a copy of the new law anywhere, but The National does give more information on its provisions that anyone else today. Sure enough, the law stipulates fines of between Dhs 50,000 to Dhs 1 million for, to quote the Khaleej Times: "...newspapers or the rest of media, or the employees of the same receiving aid or donation, or similar benefits from foreign entity without the permission of the Council; repeating publishing or launching press campaigns with bad faith, and after being warned by the Council, in a way that demerit the reputation of the country, or its foreign relations and contacts, or violates its public order, or distort its national identity; publishing news that mislead the public opinion, in a way that harm the national economy of the country; carrying false news with knowledge; violating the conditions and restrictions stipulated for practising media activities governing the licence in regard."

The law would be enforced through the courts and not by the National Media Council (NMC), which drafted it. Journalists and editors alike have expressed dismay at the lack of clarity in the law. The editorial in today's The National makes the point: "Yet the new press law, approved yesterday by the FNC and sent to the cabinet for ratification, is unclear about what a newspaper can be punished for, and how it defines whether a newspaper has published information damaging to the country’s reputation or economy. The financial system should react to just the kind of information we print in our business pages every day. And if we are not distributing information that influences the choices people make in the marketplace, then we are not doing our job."

As far as I can see, the law makes no reference to the 'e-world' and remains firmly rooted in the idea that 'the media' is content produced by licensed entities that squash ink onto dead trees and that would be held to account according to the terms of their trade license.

Where does that leave someone writing a blog, commenting on a forum or posting up to You Tube? Where does it leave the UAE's fast-growing band of Twitterers or the groups of unhappy residents airing their grievances online? Where does it leave someone posting a comment to a blog, tagging a photo, founding a snarky Facebook group (like this or this!) or publishing an e-book?

It leaves us all relatively unsure of quite where we stand, that's where, with a court system that has no provision in law whatever for online activity, a judiciary that is unlikely to be trained or cogniscent of online systems and a minimum fine of Dhs 50,000. Oh, and that's assuming that a 'blogger' will be treated as a 'journalist' and not just an unlicensed entity.

In short, I suspect it rather leaves us all, journalists and others, exactly where we were in 1980, except that now we (possibly) can't go to prison - until, of course, we can't find Dhs 1 million and then we'll presumably be banged up anyway for defaulting on the fine.

BTW, I am mildly surprised that none of our media have pressed the point about the media law and how the National Media Council views the online world. It's really quite important, chaps...

Free

The UAE Journalists' Association has told the mighty Gulf News (800g) today that it will provide legal support to bloggers facing legal action in the UAE 'provided they abide by the ethical and professional rules of the profession'. The piece comes as part of a spread on press freedom and the state of media in the United Arab Emirates.

"The new policy helps in improving the quality of blogging in the Emirates and enhances the transparency and the credibility of news reporting on cyber sites. The only condition on the bloggers to avail themselves of the services of the association is to identify themselves clearly and follow 9 ethical rules in reporting or casting their views, including offering a level playing field for different parties related to the issue of reporting.'

And what, you may as, rules are they? Thanks to GN, we find out that they are:

"Bloggers should refrain from using inflammatory language or tarnish the credibility of an establishment or individual without substantial evidences. Those who continue casting their views under vague identities will not be able to seek the association's help."

So no more anonyblogging, folks. Not if you want the help of the UAE Journalist's Association, anyway. 'Vague identities' are out. I wonder just what a 'vague identity' is...

Or 'tarnishing the credibility of an establishment'. That's a nono, too. Damn. So no criticising any companies, then. Hands off HSBC and Al Habtoor, Alexander. Let alone the RTAs and EIDAs that make our lives so very wonderful and joyous.

There's no mention of what precisely the '9 golden rules' are but I did post here about the UAE Journalists' Association Code of Ethics, which is a list of 17 rules. Strangely, it's not available on the UAE Journalists' Association website which is, incidentally, only available in Arabic. So I guess you might as well just pick the 9 you like best from that list and abide by them, folks.

Interestingly, there's also quite a grumpy editorial from GN's editor-in-chief, linked here, which is worth a read, flagging up major concerns with the much-awaited new UAE media law. I do recommend a read of this piece most heartily:

"Furthermore, the long-awaited new press law, currently under consideration to be issued soon in its final version, has failed considerably in addressing the needs of the journalistic body and the changes that have taken place so far in the country."

Hot stuff indeed from Abdul Hamid Ahmad about the new draft law that, among other things, replaces a prison term for journalists (and bloggers, then?) with a million Dirham fine.

Bye George

I'd just like to say goodbye to George Bush.

Goodbye, George Bush.

Just before he goes, here's a chance to reprise one of my favourite things written about him. I'm sorry it's written by me, but a chap's gotta give himself the occasional pat on the back, no? It's here: I do hope you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I'm sorry about the insanely heavy weight of expectation on Barack Obama's shoulders. I hardly dare to think that anyone can live up to all that. But if he comes through and is a decent, straightforward man with a gift for oratory and backed by a strong advisory team that he has the guts to go with, then he'll be a million times better than the bumbling hick cretin that has done so much damage to our world in so many ways.

The invasion of Gaza now stands as the last shameful act in a shameful and venial Presidency. It is a fitting testament to the man who chose to be the puppet with the fat fingers of right wing America up his arse.

WOMAD

ADACH 2 WOMAD!

Yayyyyy!

According to today's thunderous Gulf News (650g), WOMAD is coming to the Emirates! A three day world music festival will take place in Abu Dhabi in April, put together by the organisation to promote 'world' music set up by the rather talented Mr. Peter Gabriel. WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) has been breaking new artists from around the world, and particularly its more far-flung locales, for something like 26 years now. Everyone always goes on about how it discovered Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou D'Nour, but I've always been more of an Afro Celt Sound Machine fan, myself.

The National adds that the festival will start with a gig at Al Ain's Al Jahili Fort but, like GN, gives no dates for the 3-day festival.

This is a real coup for the chaps and chapesses over at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and should be a truly fantastic event. We await dates and acts - but this is potentially a great platform for the region's more 'traditional' musicians, as well as artistes like Toufiq Faroukh and even possibly bands from the region such as Arab/rock fusion outfit Blend...

PS: Anyone interested in WOMAD and the gigs can log into www.womad.org and get on the mailing list or wander around in the forums and bibble about music and stuff.

Yes we can!

Does anyone know who's trying to block the desert stretch between Dubai and Sharjah? It's really most odd that anyone would go to these extremes just to stop a few people in 4WDs taking a short-cut.

As I've mentioned before, there are extensive earthworks out there right now that look more like trench warfare than a few hundred yards of sandy snicket - ditches and high piles of sand interspersed with a huge number of concrete barriers that stretch for kilometres along the Sharjah side of the border. Every day someone finds a new way through, every day the JCB moves in and either piles huge heaps of sand or dumps a few more concrete barrier blocks on it.

But we're still getting through. For now. It's become a source of perverse satisfaction to beat 'em, to tell you the truth...

Not what it says on the box

Some may remember the mad, frenetic dash to get my first book, Space, to the top of the pile over at Harper Collins' authonomy peer-review writers' website.

The rationale behind authonomy seemed simple enough. Using language like 'Publishing contract, anyone?' (that language has since changed, incidentally, to 'Get Read. Get Noticed. Get Published'), authonomy allowed writers to post up some, or all, of their books and then solicit votes from other users of the site. The more votes you get, the nearer to the top of the pile you get. And if you are a 'top five' book at the end of the month, your book is forwarded for review to a Harper Collins editor.

Now Harper Collins is a huge publisher that doesn't even look at unsolicited, unagented manuscripts. And most unpublished writers would chop off their left legs to get their work in front of an editor (it's a date!) at a publishing house as powerful as HC. The expectation is that if your book's any good at all, you'd get asked for a 'full read' (heavy petting) or even get through to negotiating a contract (you're smoking a fag together by now).

But it turns out that HC was just teasing. I got to the top of the pile thanks to the support of a huge number of people, many of whom were genuinely impressed and amused by, and liked, my book. I enjoyed myself immensely doing it, by the way.

Like other people who've made it to 'the editor's desk', I put a huge amount of effort into it. And don't get me wrong - I've learnt a huge amount from the experience and made some really cool contacts and pals as a result. So for that, I can only thank HC for the site.

But the HC review of my book (next to the gold star on the book page) was slapdash and odd. And many other writers who'd got to the top of the 'greasy pole', as some called it, got the same feeling. Now, over 25 chart-topping reviews, five months, into the exercise, HC has not asked for ONE full read from a writer whose book reached the top, let alone taken anything further to any degree.

Yesterday, HC sent me a note offering me the chance to put my books up as POD (Print on Demand or Publish on Demand) books on authonomy. Soon, according to the email, all books on authonomy will be available as POD books but for now only 'a few early adopters' have been offered the opportunity - and a 'gift' of the first 10 books free.

Working with blurb.com, authonomy will add a button to each book's page, which currently allows you to read the book, watchlist the book or back the book. They'll add 'buy the book'.

Which potentially means that the whole exercise was purely about populating a new POD site with a community of unpublished authors who can now upload their books to sell them, at an unusually expensive cost to the author per book (limiting the profitability for the writer), to people who come clicking to the site.

This was arguably never about publishing contracts or talent spotting. It was never about 'Beating the Slushpile', as authonomy claims in its graphics and claimed in its original 'blurb'. It was about creating a POD site so that Harper Collins could hedge its bets against the 'new revolution' of Internet based publishing and digital publishing.

Worse, the exercise exposes some interesting values from HC and its approach to social websites. At no stage did it share its roadmap with the writers populating the site. At no stage did it seek our input, advice or approval. It just rolled out what it was giving us and we were expected to be pathetically grateful to receive it. All the way to the offer to become a POD book and sign away our rights in return for being part of a huge publisher's experiment.

Many of the writers I know on authonomy are disappointed, upset and angry at the move. It's not why we went there (there are established and, from a profit sharing point of view, better POD sites out there) in the first place. And people feel that while it's maybe not been directly dishonest, HC has hardly been transparent about its intentions for the site and the writers (some 3,500 and more) who have put their work on it.

And HC certainly hasn't been inclusive at any level - in fact, it communicates with the people on the site either through a sysadmin's alias ('Rik') or the alias 'authonomy'. We've never seen people - even the editors who review the books are anonymous. I'm sure HC thinks its being terribly funky and Web 2.0, but it's not. It's missed the first rule of these types of engagements with a community. Foster a community, be part of a community, engage with the community.

HC hasn't, because it doesn't respect that community enough. Lets face it, we're just wannabe's on the slushpile anyway. But I rather feel that it might just find that community pushing back a little now. Many people have had enough of being treated like the carvers in front of Gormenghast - even more so when it's become clear that the Groans don't want any of our carvings.

Someone on the site asked recently, 'Is authonomy a con?'. I'm afraid my answer is 'yes', I feel it rather has been.

PS: HC asked that I keep their offer to myself for the moment. I don't feel able to respect that request.

PPS: Authonomy-topping author Dan Holloway's manifesto for changing publishing is here. It's got some good thinks in it...

Webcam

A Webcam over Gaza.

You can go here and get a tiny little idea of what it must to be like to sit in your building and look out over a city that is slowly being blown back to the dark ages.

A normal looking city. Pretty Jordanian, really, no?

Full of ordinary people. Families. Decent people. Good people. Bad people. Smart people. Dumb people.

You know, people.

They've been living in blockade for 18 months. A blockade, effectively sanctions, that has been more tightly applied than those of Iran or, back in the day, Iraq. A blockade that has been so absolute, it has even included banning media and cutting off supplies of fuel to the only power station. Food is scarce and fuel to cook it on even scarcer. Now the water shortage is starting to bite deep.

So they can only sit by (because there is no work) and watch the black plumes of smoke rising over the buildings, watch the occasional streak of silver in the sky, the rumble and the little puff before the sound wave of the explosion hits. And then watch as the puff turns into black, roiling clouds of smoke that will rise up into the dirty air and smear across the skyline.

Now you can join them. Leave the camera on in a tab so that you can listen to the traffic noise, the honks of lorries and then the crump of high explosive and the sirens that follow it.

Now you, too, can be in Gaza.