HC+T Update: January 17, 2014

From: "HC+T Update" <shel@holtz.com>

Subject: HC+T Update: January 17, 2014

Date: January 17th 2014

January 17, 2014
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Zula could be the internal messaging app you've been waiting for

Zula lets you message with groups of 18 people -- about the number that fits around a conference table. It's not just text messages and images; you can add a poll, share an event, send an attachment, and initiate a phone call. You can even search the entire discussion thread. This could be the enterprise mobile messaging app that gets widespread adoption in the enterprise. Read more: Read the full post

Rebranding can work wonders if it symbolizes something that really is different

A tweet from New Media Expo declared that "rebranding is latin for bullshit." In fact, rebranding can be a remarkably effective tool if it characterizes something that really has changed. That's the case with Sitrion, the new name of the venerable social media company News Gator, which is no longer just about RSS. Read the full post

This week on FIR

On episode 738 of the Hobson and Holtz Report, Neville and I talk about bad real-time marketing based on the weather, how some big brands have great conversations with customers on social networks, why Reddit needs to be on your PR raider, and Clickable Paper, which could succeed where QR codes have languished. In our commentaries, we discuss the Dropbox outage, email's continued importance in marketing, the launch of Jelly, and the rise of private politics. We also have our usual reports from Michael Netzley on Asia and Dan York on tech. Listen here
Neville and I had a great conversation with Laura Thomas, who has assumed the role of Dell's Chief Blogger. Give the interview a listen
On TV@Work episode 3, Ron Shewchuk talks with ProofHQ's Erik Cullins about getting meaningful feedback from internal stakeholders. Listen here: http://bit.ly/1ad7Lv
Mitchell and Michael interview Laura mackey, social media content and influencer relations manager for a Fortune 100 company's software division, on Thought Leadership episode 5. Listen here
We've nabbed an interview with a rock star! Chuck Hester interviews Def Leppard lead guitarist Phil Collen on episode 6 of Linked Conversations. Listen here
A new podcat is set to join the FIR Podcast Network: AMP Up Your Social Media, an existing show with interviews about social media marketing, is hosted by GaggleAmp founder and president Glenn Gaudet. REad all about it.
Are you including a context analysis in your strategic communication planning? Andrea Vascellari explains in episode 11 of FIR on Strategy. Listen here

It was 20 years ago today...that the earth shook and my life changed. The Northridge Earthquake struck just after 4 a.m., while it was still dark. I lived in Granada Hills at the time, just a few miles from the epicenter. I was born in Hollywood and raised in the San Fernando Valley. I was no stranger to earthquakes, which for natives is more an occasion for wagering ("I have $5 that says it was 4.7") than for terror. But this was different. It felt as though some giant had grasped my house and was shaking it as violently as it could. Every time I tried to get out of bed (my daughter was screaming), I was thrown back down. The damage was extensive; the only dishes or glasses that weren't broken were the ones secured in the dishwasher. Around the neighborhood, houses were shifted off their foundations; chimneys were collapsed everywhere. As I recollect the event today, I'm struck by just how different the experience would have been if it happened now -- not the actual sh aking, but the aftermath, thanks to mobile technology and social media. And speaking of these topics, you can follow all the stories I collect during the week -- and from which I draw the items in this weekly summary -- on my link blog at LinksFromShel.tumblr.com.

Above the fold

That didn't take long: Jelly breaks a story

Jelly, the crowdsourcing question-and-answer app so new it still has that new-app smell, broke word of Facebook's acquisition of Branch Media the night before it was announced. Somebody asked, "what happened [to] Branch? The company has been quiet. Are they focusing on the Potluck app now?." Two of the answers said it had been acquired, though they didn't name the buyer. While most people are still trying to figure out whether Jelly has a future, "this example demonstrates Jellyâs potential," writes TechCrunch's Scott Messina. That's true even if the leak was planted, as some suggest. Brands aren't hesitating to jump on board. Home improvement retailer Lowe's has been cited by some as the first brand to jump on board; SearchEngineLands Matt McGee points to an answer from Lowe's to a question asking how to mount art on an exposed brick wall. Since then, ClickZ repor ts, the brands experimenting on Jelly include GE, Toms, Travelocity, CNBC and Kenneth Cole.

Facebook readies news reading app, trending topics

Flipboard will face some stiff competition, perhaps as early as this month, as Facebook prepares to launch its own mobile news reading app. "Paper" is a "buzzy mobile-focused news reading app that could be a mobile-only utility or "a Web experience suited to mobile devices," according to Re/code. If users adopt it, getting content into the mix will become a priority for a lot of brands. According to re/code's Mike Isaac, Paper is part of a bigger effort from the News Feed team, known as Project Reader. While the launch of Paper is still speculation, some Facebook users are already seeing a Trending section, "a new section of the News Feed which offers a personalized list of topics that are currently popular or growing in popularity on the social network," writes TNW's Nick Summers. Each trending topic is labeled with a keyword and a headline explaining why it's of interest. The algorithm that creat es the list for each user is based on interests the user has demonstrated in the past, coupled with keywords trending worldwide.

Georgia Pacific opens social media to employees

It has been the policy at paper company Georgia Pacific that employees are forbidden from posting items that "reflect negatively on GP's reputation, its product or its brands," even when workers are using their own accounts on their own devices during their own time. That may sound like a reasonable policy; it's emulated in the policies of many companies. However, it led to charges from the U.S. National Labor Relations Board that the policy "intefered with (employees') collective action rights." In a settlement with the NLRB, the company agreed to post workplace notices announcing, "WE WILL repeal our Social Media Policy and WE WILL NOT issue policies that interfere with your right to share information relating to wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment with others, including on social media sites," according to Salon. The magazine made a big deal out of the fact that Georgie Pacific is a Koch brothers company (mega-wealt hy proponents of a conservative political agenda), but the message for businesses has nothing to do with politics. Instead, it reinforces the fact that restricting employees' ability to talk about work online can get you in trouble. It's better to develop policies that provide employees with guardrails for online engagement, then train them on effective use of the tools. It'll cause far fewer problems than simply trying to bar the doors.

Below the fold

LinkedIn opens volunteer marketplace

A lot of people find and fill jobs on LinkedIn, but until now, it hasn't been the place for organizations to recruit volunteers, or for people to find the ideal volunteer opportunity. That changed with the debut of the Volunteer Marketplace, which helps nonprofits and professionals find each other. LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman explains the Marketplace's origins in an official blog post.

Pinterest tops email for social sharing

Email has hovered in third place among channels for social sharing, but in the third quarter of 2013, Pinterest beat it. "While sharing via email declined 11% year-over-year, Pinterest shares increased 58%, making it the fast growing sharing channel in 2013," according to MarketingLand. Women accounted for most of the growth. Facebook holds the top spot, followed by Twitter in second place. Read more

Social media is getting more important in B2B marketing

While social media lands at the bottom of the list of information sources for B2B buyers, in two years it'll be at the top. Currently at 31%, the importance of social media will rise to 37% for influencing purchase decisions, while the influence of editorial and vendor content will drop to 31 and 32% respectively. Social media already is more important than it used to be for IT buyers, with 86% using social content to aid in their decisions, according to a study from IDG Connect. Read more

Don't give up mainstream advertising just yet

To listen to the digerati, you'd think mainstream media was on its last legs. But a Nielsen survey found that "more than half of respondents say they trust traditional advertising vehicles -- magazines, newspapers, TV, radio and billboards -- while a trust rating of less than half was given to new media platforms. Read more

Google Now coming to Chrome

Google Now is a contextual personal assistant for Android and iOS smartphones, but it won't be confined to its mobile roots for long. Chrome Canary, a sandbox where Google engineers try out new features, currently includes Google Now, which provides reminders, updates based on your interests and other useful information via a card-like format. Read more

Online site launches print magazine

Evidence continues to mount that print is far from dead; in fact, it's finding its level. Capital New York, a site focused on New York politics (and birthed by Politico, another online property), will print 8,000 copies of Capital New York, a new monthly. Most copies will be distributed in Manhattan with the rest bound for Albany. Its purpose is twofold: build awareness for the brand while producing advertising revenues. Read more: Read more

Brand journalism site nets mainstream journalism attention

Advocate Health Care, a suburban Illinois health network, launched a content portal called Health eNews last spring. An article on how diabetics better manage their condition with daily text messages led to contact from a Chicago Fox affiliate asking to talk to someone about the story, one sign that the approach to telling its story is working. the site also led to stories from CNN, the Chicago Tribune and other media outlets. Read more

Courtney Love trial will establish a Twitter legal precedent

There have been allegations of libel via Twitter, but the case being heard in Los Angeles this week is the first to be brought to trial. Attorney Rhonda Holmes is suing Courtney Love over a tweet accusing her of being "bought off" when she declined to help Love in a case of control of her late husband's estate. While Love deleted the tweet, it loves on in the form of the many retweets it got. However the court finds will establish the first precedent about libel on Twitter. Read more

HubSpot's Blog Topic Generator isn't perfect, but it's fun

Marketing automation company Hubspot has released a Blog Topic Generator. Enter three terms and the algorithm will find a week's worth of related blog posts. I entered "native advertising," "PR" and "transparency," and got five articles I hadn't already seen dealing with sponsored content. Give it a try, ideally as a new discovery tool but at least as a diversion.

Even more worth knowing

Everyone's talking about...

The demise of SMS text messaging is just too tempting a story. A report from Deloitte Touche Tomatsu forecast a massive increase in mobile instant messaging at the expense of SMS text messaging. That's significant for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that mobile carriers make money from text messaging, whereas messaging tools go "over the top," using data services and avoiding a fee. According to BusinessTech, the report says services like WhatsApp and WeChat will account for 50 billion daily messages, while SMS text messaging will drop to 21 billion. That's still a lot, but it's a distant second place. The report also revealed the first decline in SMS messaging ever in the UK, according to TechieNews. Meanwhile, Courier News points out that text messaging will still generate the lion's share of revenue; "Text messaging is expected to continue to generate significantly greater revenues until 2018," the article says. And Forbes notes that that while the rise in the use of apps is 115%, "the largest area of growth is in 'Social and Messaging,' where the increase is closer to 150%." FastCompany provides more analysis about the possible eventual extinction of the humble SMS text message.

I speak to a group of communicators from Toyota North America at company headquarters in Torrance, California, on January 23.
I'm conducting a webinar in March for PeopleFluent. Details to come.
Next February 6, I'll speak at an industry conference for manufacturers of Omega 3 products on crisis communications. The session is in Salt Lake City.
I'll be speaking at the global intranet conference from IntraTeam in Denmark on February 26-28.
I'm speaking at a meeting of communicators from The Walt Disney Company in California on March 5.
On April 2 next year, I'll do two sessions at the Ragan Communications conference at Walt Disney World.

Join Joe Thornley and me for our 8-week interactive online social media strategy course

Thornley Fallis Public Relations CEO Joe Thornley and I are bringing our strategic social media course to IABC for the third time. We're completely revamping the interactive, online course using a new learning software tool that makes the presentations even more compelling. We're also adding interviews with industry thought leaders to the mix. There's nothing else like this course, which includes the interactive training modules, a closed Facebook group for discussions, and a weekly live conference call for real-time engagement and more information on the week's topic. Learn more and register here. Also, I'm delighted to welcome the International Monetary Fund as a new retainer client for social media consulting.

Since 1996, HC+T has helped organizations communicate effectively in the emerging online space using intranets to reach employees and various dimensions of the Internet to communicate with other stakeholder audiences.

HC+T provides a full range of services for large organizations, from speaking and training to communication audits and strategic plan development.

Visit us at Holtz.com.

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