A few days ago, US Sen. John McCain tweeted his support when Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a "birther bill" that would have required presidential candidates to show their birth certificates.
“Proud of @GovBrewer for her veto of the ‘birther bill’ -- it was the right decision,” he posted on Twitter. His tweet was picked up on MSNBC and dozens of political blogs.
More telling, this party stalwart chose social media to drive a wedge between the GOP leadership and birther crazy talkers.
McCain is not alone. Do a keyword search for "tweet" on Politico (http://www.politico.com/) and you'll see that dozens of political figures and Presidential hopefuls, rely on Twitter to present their case – Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, Chuck Schumer and the the undaunted Sarah Palin to name a few.
So much for Social Media being a playground for 18-25 year olds and so much for its dubious impact. Even the less-well known have discovered the ripple effect of Twitter.
Point -- social media cannot be evaluated using the same rubric as TV Nielson ratings or newspaper circulation figures Doing so is a losing proposition. It puts social media at a distinct disadvantages and misses several benefits of participation in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Blogs.
Consider these benefits.
Social media is often used by TV audiences and readers of the old media to pass along stories, which implies their endorsement. Studies show that I am more likely to read and act upon an article if I receive it from a friend who I consider a leader in the field. It's the two-step communication model being played out in public.
Social media allows us to bypass the gatekeepers -- sometimes you need to get your message out now – unchanged, modified or interpreted by the editors or talk show producers. This is something we used to achieve with mat services that provided press-ready articles to newsrooms around the country.
Social media frees us from putting enormous effort into communicating routine news. For example, in the dark ages, we used to spend an inordinate amount of time on executive hire news releases, striving to get the "Who,What,Where" editor to run a line or two of a 300-word release. Now, we simply post these releases online and on social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn where the handful of people who matter will see it. And the editors are freed up too because they don't have to waste time sorting through, "I'm so exited to be joining Bloviation Incorporated..." releases.
Social media gives us fast feedback -- best bargain in market research and far more instantaneous than the old days of Broadway when the stage manager and actors waited around for the reviews to come out in the early edition of the Times.
Social media sites such as YouTube, democratize video by giving smaller companies the opportunity to demonstrate complicated products without incurring high production costs. And... the value of positive video produced by customers showing our products in action is priceless. We once worked with a defense contractor who sent DOD officials, YouTube postings by soldiers in Iraq who were using its product because the customer produced video demonstrated "force protection" benefits in such a personal way. Powerful stuff!
Social media puts us all in the conversation. The CEO who posts to his own Blog items gets direct feedback from customers -- unvarnished by PR or marketing staffers.
Social media gives the old media – as well as emerging new media outlets – ongoing access to us and our clients. The amount of time I spend calling editors (outgoing messaging) to pitch stories today is less than a tenth of what it was in the old days.
Today my job is to get the editors to come to us and I use social media to do that job.Editors who are looking for story ideas and sources troll social media sites for what they need when they need it. The more we establish our presence, the more calls we get from reporters looking for a source. It's simply the Internet version of Woody Allen's advice about showing up.
Lastly, we don't know where Social Media is going or how it will develop as a way we communicate with one another any more than we could predict the impact of the Xerox machine, Faxes and PCs during the 80s and 90s. I bet Public Relations Founder Ivy Ledbetter Lee and his pals debated the efficacy of carbon paper and the telephone when PR was in its infancy. About this there can be no debate: it is our job to be experts on communication strategy, tactics and emerging tools and that includes social media.
And besides, social media is fun, so like the old Alka-Selzer catch phrase... "Try it. You'll like it!"
Statue of President Barack Obama at the grammar school he attended when he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. Children at the school today. © 2011 Dick Pirozzolo
