Is Twitter just Reuters of the Digital Age?
An interesting article appeared in Gigaom a couple of weeks ago on how Twitter is developing compared to other social network sites. They argue it’s hard to have a conversation on Twitter – therefore it’s not a social media network but more of a news communications tool – I tend to agree. Whether it’s news being shared between particular communities all with something in common or a big news story breaker – it provides latest information in a sound bite way. If you try to hold a conversation on Twitter, you quickly give up as the number of characters simply doesn’t allow for it. So it’s not really a conversation tool, Twitter’s more about sharing points and latest info. It allows users to send information quickly to a large group of followers whether those followers are looking for personal updates or details about a news event like the earthquake in Japan.
Quite rightly Gigaom asks is Twitter in reality the Thomson Reuters of the digital age providing an information service that advertisers and knowledge workers are willing to pay substantial sums for. I think it’s more interesting than that, but we shall see.
Social media sites are walking all over UK laws
To say that our current laws and jurisdictions can’t cope with global social media sites is becoming more and more self-evident with the latest football scandal which escalated over the weekend. Whilst the name of the footballer was revealed via Twitter and abroad, the English media were enforced by the injunction to stay schtum. It’s clear that our laws will need to be changed to embrace our new global world of communication and social media.
Whilst said famous footballer tried to obtain a High Court order asking Twitter to reveal details of users who had revealed his identity, legal experts claim it was doomed to failure because the High Court in London has no jurisdiction in California where Twitter is based.
There was an avalanche of online publicity with 100s of Tweeters repeating his name which was further reinforced when the Today programme, BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs show appeared accidentally to reveal the footballer’s identity – BBC correspondents then tweeted his name making matters worse. As the Scottish Sunday Herald also revealed his name, it’s quite clear that the our global world that shares news online cannot be restricted by injunctions. The law needs to be modernised because enforcing injunctions and controlling the media can’t last.
Communications today is about relevance say Brodeur
A great blog from Andy Colville and our friends at Brodeur on the changing world of communications and how ‘relevance‘ now sits at the core of their agency’s mission. Brodeur is committed to helping clients become—and remain—relevant in an increasingly noisy and turbulent environment. Relevance moves people from passive to involved and actually gets them to act. As we know, simply shouting louder does not make you relevant. For communications to succeed in today’s rapidly changing communications world – campaigns have to be ‘relevant’. Here in Europe, onechocolate is doing something similar – listening to each client’s particular communications challenges and then delivering campaigns that have them joining the important conversations and getting them talked about in all the right places. Like the blog Andy and good luck with the new vision, it’s very exciting.
It’s only a game
It never ceases to amaze me, particularly around World Cups, how much running a successful agency is like managing a great football team.
So, for example, it’s no good having a team of star players if they don’t work well for each other. Building a team around a couple of top talents most often only works for a game or two (or a season or two in league terms) before the star(s) lose their touch and often fall foul to ego (and in the case of footballers women apparently). You need balance in the team. Not all of them can be the hero striker nor can they all just chase after the ball and hope for the best (ringing any bells here, England). A great team works for each other built upon respect and understanding for the roles that they individually play. And a lot of success is based on talent plus sheer hard work and practice, practice, practice. The story of Beckham’s heyday free kicks goes a long way here.
It is also about evolution in the team and flexibility. What may have worked one, three or five years ago changes as other teams’ change and tactics evolve. I’m guessing Cappello should be taking note here too.
And the best thing about getting management insights by football is you get to watch a great game at the same time. Try it and see.
