A friend at Ogilvy recently sent me the article “In Praise of Obscurity” by Clive Thompson of Wired Magazine. In it, Thompson makes the case that social networking begins to break down when the number of Twitter followers gets too large. He argues that when a person (or organization)’s account grows to a certain size, the account holder becomes de-humanized and “larger than life.” The audience members begin to monitor themselves, afraid they’ll say something stupid. It’s almost as if Thompson is comparing Twitter to a college classroom – people rarely speak out in a large lecture, intimidated by its size, yet feel comfortable voicing an opinion in a more intimate small classroom setting.

While I find Thompson’s ideas interesting, I’m not sure that I agree with them. First of all, I don’t agree that a larger audience is a bad thing. More followers on Twitter = more people hearing your message. At the end of the day, for a marketing professional, that’s a good thing (assuming your message is carefully planned).

It is also important to remember that Twitter is an online space. It is one thing to enter a large classroom filled with bodies, where you can actually see how many people will listen when you speak. Though a large number of followers on Twitter may be easily noticeable, a number on a screen is far less intimidating than physically seeing that many people in a room. While I think it is highly unlikely it will stop people from tweeting at all, it may encourage them to think before they speak (well, type) – which is a good thing. This will limit the people who respond on a whim and in the end encourage a more intelligent discussion.

I’d love to hear what the rest of the Young MC community thinks about this. Is a large number of followers a blessing or a curse (or neither)?

But in this day and age, you know John Daly wouldn’t keep his displeasure confined to his own home.   On Tuesday, Florida Times-Union reporter Garry Smits published an article detailing all of the trouble Daly has gotten into over the years.  The first paragraph starts off with a bang:

The PGA Tour ordered John Daly to undergo counseling or enter alcohol rehabilitation centers seven times, once disciplined him for hitting golf shots off the top of a beer can during a pro-am and cited him 21 times for “failure to give best efforts,” during Tour events.

Daly’s PGA Tour file had just become public record, which is why the story is coming out now and not years ago.  Well, Daly didn’t like this so much and after shotgunning 14 Coors Lights (presumably), he headed to Twitter to air his greivances.  He included the reporters cell phone number and urged his followers to “CALL & FLOOD his line & let’s tell him how WE feel.”   You can hear him “explain” why in this interview with ESPN.  He basically just pimps his Golf Channel reality show and makes the decent point that the reporter’s cell phone number was included at the end of his article, so it’s not a huge deal that he included it.

The Tweet has since been removed and now the Golf Writer’s Association of America has asked the PGA Tour to discipline Daly.  I mean, come on.  What is the PGA Tour going to do to Daly that they already haven’t done at least a dozen times?  This is the least of his egregious infractions.   Despite that, it was a pretty childish action and Daly deserves the criticism he gets for this.  But, then again, I wouldn’t really have it any other way.

This Ad Age piece does a nice job laying out what Toyota has done in the social media space and how critical it is to the future success of the brand. According to the article, the company has “actually grown its Facebook fan base more than 10% since late January.” That’s pretty impressive given you’d expect it to stay flat at the very least.

I spent a big chunk of time working on a corporate campaign where I was responsible for crisis communications and issues management strategy. And I’ve worked in a war room (a few actually) doing the whole rapid response thing, so I can certainly appreciate what Toyota is going through. I really liked this inside look of its team’s operations:

Toyota’s been able to be so aggressive in social media largely because around Feb. 1 it created a social-media response room, always staffed with six to eight people monitoring the online conversation and responding at all times. It’s answering consumers on its four Facebook pages; it created a Twitter chat with Jim Lentz, Toyota Motor Sales USA president-chief operating officer; and it created two new platforms, one with Digg and the other on Tweetmeme called “Toyota Conversations” to aggregate online chatter and allow Toyota to respond directly. Mr. Frisbie said the Digg dialogue attracted nearly 1 million views in its first five days after launching Feb. 8.

This is just another great example of how valuable social media really is and truly demonstrates the evolving landscape. Five or ten years ago, who would’ve thought a leading car manufacturer would be using Facebook and Twitter to manage a crisis? And who would’ve thought it’d be so integral in maintaining brand loyalty and engaging with people who really matter in this situation—their customers? As that Aladdin soundtrack hit put it best, it’s “A Whole New World” out there.

Nothing is private anymore.

“I have missed the Kentucky — South Carolina game that started at 9:00.”
- Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) during a Senate debate that ran until midnight

“In terms of the actual celebration, it’s not exactly something uncommon in Canada.”
- Steve Keough, Canadian Olympic Committee spokeman, on the Canadian women’s hockey team’s celebration after winning gold

Classy or classless? Your thoughts?

“It’s easy being Vice President — you don’t have to do anything.”
- Joe Biden, before the health care summit last week

“We were thinking of a toga party.”
- Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, joking with stockholders about how the company plans to spend its $25 billion cash reserve

“Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to commercial. Somebody help me.”
- Conan O’Brien, via Twitter; he pulled in over 100,000 followers within the first three hours of creating the account

Hilarious quote, but pretty amazing stat too.

“I’d go to the mall and see women and imagine them without faces.”
- Frank Chiafar, a Stamford, CT police officer who was diagnosed with PTSD after he responded to the emergency call last year about the chimp who clawed a woman’s face off

 “I’m living proof that you can survive without sex for that long.”
- Jim Gibbons, Nevada governor, acknowledging he hasn’t been intimate with his wife or any other woman since 1995

Way to stay the course…

“Homey made this bed; now he has got to lay in it.”
- Stephen Baldwin, casting blame on President Obama for “the way things are” in the U.S. during his remarks at CPAC

You should try to be more like your brother. He’s a lot cooler.

“I actually don’t have a job description. But if I had one, I am sure I would have overstepped the boundaries.”
- Yvo De Boer, U.N. climate chief, who has been accused of favoring developed countries, after announcing his resignation following the Copenhagen summit

“I am aware my expiration date [as a model] is long past, but a slight acknowledgment that I wasn’t the bathroom attendant would have been nice.”
- Paulina Porizkova, former Vogue cover model, after being ignored by the Vogue editor in chief in the restroom

“I married a guy, he killed himself, I inherited everything. That’s the way it goes.”
- Courtney Love, who claims her former in-laws are trying to take custody of her child as a way to get money from her

At the moment, Young MC is working with Sitar Arts Center to provide communications support surrounding the Center’s 10th Anniversary Gala in April, as well as to increase overall awareness of the organization throughout the Washington area. From media relations to marketing, Young MC will partner with Sitar to ensure a successful event in April and raised visibility for the Center.

We’ve already had a lot of interest from many of you, but we’d love the help of any and all who wish to contribute. Email us to join the effort and learn more.

So as I signed into my Gmail account last week, I was prompted to sign up for what looks like Google’s latest attempt at social media.  Never one to not at least sign UP for the newest social media platform, (I do at least have a twitter account despite my slow sign-on to actually tweet about things…) I decided to give it a try. I love gmail and the gchat feature and usually have mine open throughout the day so the thought of something that was embedded in a service I was already using regularly was very appealing. In theory it sounds pretty cool.  Plus, with so many people already signed up and using gmail on a daily basis, with the press of a little button, they will automatically be thrown into the world of Google Buzz.  But I guess that means however, I will only be connecting with my friends who actually have a gmail account. Sorry friends who are still using hotmail and yahoo, I guess you are out of luck.

The confusion for me came once I pressed that accept button. What I found was a weird mix and combo between Facebook and Twitter.  At first glance, Buzz was basically Twitter, with a comment and similar function to the Facebook status updates.  Easy enough. But with Google Buzz out for two weeks now, I still am just not feeling it. I am constantly seeing the new Tweet/ buzzes whatever you want to call them pop up throughout the day and since it is already linked to my gmail I am always checking them.  But for me, I feel like my Google Buzz has been taken over by the couple of people who have actually figured out how to link Google Buzz to their Twitter /Facebook accounts (which I hear has problems all in its own).  

For instance, currently my Buzz has like 25 posts in a row by the same person.  I like this person just fine but am honestly getting a little annoyed that her face just keeps popping up over and over again. I get it. You like to Tweet/Buzz whatever a lot but I would like to see my other friends once in awhile and I don’t think that Buzz right now has the greatest filter feature if any at all.  I suppose I could limit her in some way, I’m sure they have that feature, but that is just another step and process that Google hasn’t really made easy. AND to add to the mess, there is no word limit, you can post whatever you want which is great in theory, but ends up just being messy and hard to follow.  

So the verdict is still out for me. I think I need some more time for Google to work out some problems and for me to play around with the features.  What do you think? Is Google Buzz a good addition to the social media world or just another thing we now have to follow to see status updates?

WHAT:  Ad2 DC’s Water Cooler Wednesdays
WHEN:  Wednesday, February 24, 2010 from 6:30 – 9:30 pm
WHERE:  Porters Dining Saloon, 1207 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
METRO:  Dupont Circle or Farragut North (red), Farragut West (blue/orange)
COST:  FREE! (no registration required; just show up)

DC Council Member Michael Brown is the latest to be hit with the typo arrow. And this one was pretty sharp. A misspelling in the headline of a press release is bad enough, but to misspell “literacy” really sucks for that guy.

But as DCist pointed out, at least this happened on a Friday when it’s less likely to be as widely picked up. Thanks to us and others alike who will ensure the shame is spread far and wide… May this be a lesson to you all!

Check out more photos here.

And that’s great. I’m all for personal growth and professional advancement. But there’s a fine line to be mindful of and the right balance to strike when it comes to our self and our company’s brands. This recent article (subscription required) in PRWeek explores blogging policies and industry-related content creation and how companies react to such personal branding initiatives.

John Bell, global MD of Ogilvy’s digital practice, says: “We value thought leadership. It builds the profile for Ogilvy. It builds business for the company. The personal brand of many of our team members… is a form of thought leadership and it does benefit us.”

If your side-ventures interfere with time management in the office, client relations or work performance, then I can see where issues may arise. But I’m with Bell, I think an employee’s personal brand really does (if done correctly) demonstrate initiative and thought leadership in a particular space. Granted, you can’t bad-mouth a client or disclose too much about corporate strategy, but intelligent, compelling pieces certainly add value to you and your company. It can help drum up new business, solicit media coverage or simply help grow your network.

Those of you who participate in or contribute to industry-related blogs or sites, what are your thoughts? Should a company monitor or even dictate policy surrounding an employee’s personal brand?