I attended a seminar by emarketer predicting that video spending for online advertising/visibility is expected to double in the next two years (even faster growth for mobile video). We already know that video is the most powerful way to tell your story and build brand experiences online. Very soon it will be necessary just to compete for attention.
Facebook Timeline Changes
Facebook now requires business pages to follow the Timeline format and automatically switched it for you over the weekend. If it caught you by surprise, here are some of the major changes:
• Cover and profile photos: the cover photo will be the large photo across the top of your Timeline page, whereas the profile photo is the smaller photo that will appear on wall posts/comments (like they have in the past); Cover photo: 851 by 315 pixels, Profile photo: 180 by 180 pixels
• The new “About” section format: now in the front/center of the page, right under the profile photo – all information remains the same, just a location change
• Milestones: companies are able to add milestones to the Timeline that can easily translate your brand’s history
• Tabs: the tabs on the left side of a company business page will now be moved to the top right and called ‘apps’ – and Timeline only allows 12 total apps
• Here are two examples of brands that have switched from the page to Timeline format:
o https://www.facebook.com/subway
o https://www.facebook.com/ford
Bravo Delta
I am 1,000,000 mile flyer on Delta Airlines and soon will be one on United once they complete their mergers. But last night, December 7, 2011, I saw something happen in an airport that is absolutely new and amazing.
It was a typical flying day,New Yorkwas all messed up, lots of cancellations and holds, and I, of course, had to be there that evening. I arrived at the airport 90 minutes early, made it through security, got to the gate and my cell phone rang. It was a happy androgynous voice from Delta Airlines telling me my flight would be delayed about two hours, no further explanations. That was my last contact with the Delta androgyny.
Two Delta reps showed up to stand at the boarding counter and provided absolutely no information whatever. The guy in the red coat, probably a supervisor, had an accent so dense, combined with practically swallowing the microphone, that no one could understand what he said even if you three feet away at the counter. He looked out the window with his back to customers and continued speaking. The woman gate agent was so nervous, due to growing customer agitation, that half the time she spoke, her voice dropped off even though her lips were moving.
Despite the delay the crowd seemed really quite docile, but concern was growing. Then Delta dropped the hammer. LaGuardia had called a ground stop, which tossed out every airplane’s schedule with absolutely no indication of when things might begin again. Now a buzz was really beginning. That’s when the miracle occurred.
The captain of the flight came off the plane up the ramp and came to the rostrum. He took the mic and calmly, adding a couple small jokes, explained what was happening. I have not seen this happen in 35 years of flying. Everyone quieted down, and many gathered around the rostrum to listen more carefully. In a couple minutes he explained the situation, told us that the ground stop was a very serious indication, but he was determined to get the plane and all of us out of there if it was at all possible.
Calmness reigned. But, the miracle continued. The Captain stayed in the boarding area visiting with customers, holding a couple babies for pictures, and even walked one or two older customers down to the Delta customer service desk. We were now more than two hours late.
After about 30 minutes the Captain, still in the gate area, got a phone call on his cell, went to the rostrum and told everyone his plan. It took 20 minutes to board the airplane; we sat on the tarmac for another 20 minutes or so and finally took off fromNew York. The flight was smooth but the weather inNew Yorkwas really bad. It took two nerve-racking tries to land the plane.
I told the captain as the passengers debarked, that his performance inMinneapoliswas amazing and enormously appreciated. Yeah, the landing was tough and scary, but this day this man earned his pay on both ends of the flight.
They didn’t give his name, but it was daily Delta flight 2296,Minneapolisto LaGuardia, 5:14 PM (theoretically). I told the pilot I hoped somebody would remember how he handled this flight, the crucial role the captain played in calming concerned passengers, and that maybe this ought to be taught in Captain’s school. It was pure, powerful leadership in action.
Bravo Delta Airlines.
Cyber Criminals Outsourcing Money-Collecting to Mobile Operators
From Gail Reese, Security Intelligence Analyst at Cox Enterprises through ASIS International:
Cybercrime has come a long way since it was mostly a digital form of vandalism. It has developed into a criminal business operated for financial gain and is now worth billions.
In its Community Powered Threat Report for Q3 2011, AVG focuses on some of the most notable cybercrime developments in the last quarter.
Stealing Digital Currency
Digital Currency has become very popular in a short time. Facebook Credits, Xbox Points, Zynga coins and Bitcoin now play a vital role in a multibillion dollar global gaming economy. Far from being just of virtual value, many of these currencies are actively traded for real currency. This has not gone unnoticed by cyber criminals, now aiming to steal digital wallets from people’s computers. In June a digital wallet containing close to US $500,000 was stolen when someone broke into the victim’s computer and transferred most, but not all, of the money out of his wallet.
Outsourcing the Hard Part, Collecting the Money
In a bid to outsource the hassle and risks of collecting the money, cyber criminals are moving beyond credit cards details and are increasingly using mobile phone operators to do the collecting for them. A criminal might install a Trojan on to a victim’s Smartphone that sends premium SMS messages when the owner is asleep. They might use a Face book scam to get hold of people’s phone numbers and sign them up for an expensive monthly phone charge. A victim’s mobile operator will process the charges and transfer the money to the criminal organization, even if they reside on the other side of the world. If and when a victim notices the charge and the mobile operator is alerted to stop processing payments, considerable amounts may already have been stolen. If the amounts are small enough, many victims may not even notice for months.
Eavesdropping on Android
With Android taking almost 50 percent of the world’s Smartphone market share, it is no wonder that cyber criminals consider the platform an attractive target. Most Android malware focuses on making money from premium SMS. However, in July AVG investigated a Trojan that records a victim’s phone conversation and SMS messages and sends them to the attacker’s servers for analysis to identify potential confidential data. This clearly demonstrates the power of modern mobile operating systems but also the tremendous risks unprotected mobile users are open to.
Other key findings in the report:
• Rogue AV Scanner is currently the most active threat on the web
• Exploit Toolkits account for over 30% of all threat activity on malicious websites (‘Fragus’ is most popular, closely followed by ‘Blackhole’)
• Angry Birds Rio Unlocker is the most popular malicious Android application
• The USA is still the largest source of spam, followed by India and Brazil.
“In Q3 we started to see a clear trend in cybercriminals shifting their focus to simplifying money collection,” said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Chief Technology Officer, AVG Technologies. “Well-organized criminal gangs are now letting mobile phone operators handle the money collecting part by focusing on mobile phones and setting victims up for charges that will appear on their phone bill some time later. Not only is it a lot easier, it also scales to tremendous volumes making money by stealing small amounts from very large groups of victims.”
A recent report authored by the research agency The Future Laboratory reveals that while cybercriminals and malicious programs are becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect, users are, alarmingly, becoming the weakest link as they are less vigilant about protecting their online devices. The combination of these two factors presents a potentially disastrous cybercrime scenario.
For more details about each of these threats, download the AVG report.
Obama’s Own Words Diminish His Leadership
He may have the most negative leadership style since Jimmy Carter.
Here’s how he talks (From his speech to the 93rd Annual Convention, American Legion, Minneapolis, August 30, 2011.
“Don’t give up!
We Americans have been through tough times before, much tougher times than these. And we didn’t just get through them, we emerged stronger than before. Not by luck. Not by chance. But because in hard times, Americans don’t quit. We don’t give up. We summon the spirit that says, when we come together, we choose to move forward together, there’s absolutely nothing we can’t achieve.”
68 words, 8 negatives. Mobilizing language is the most powerful tool any leader has. Obama has shown a consistent pattern of disabling his most significant ideas and constructive concepts with needless, negative, demotivational language.
Here’s what he should have said:
Customer Service is Dying in America, But It Can Be Revived
When you hear companies mindlessly bloviate about their customer service, you really sense the fix is in and you’re interests, needs, concerns and problems are out . . . way out. The relentless and continuing degradation of “customer service” began accelerating about 10 years ago. There seems to be more talk about customers i.e. delighting them, surprising them, enchanting them, 110 percenting them, yet actual corporate, agency and organization behavior is delivering the opposite. Here are some of the goofiest example examples:
Unforgettable Advice
This week’s blog post on career advice was written by Samantha Bergner, RMPR intern.
At a recent RMPR meeting we wanted to reflect on the career advice from employers, teachers and friends that has stuck with us and how we have applied it to our professional development. Read more »
Netflix to Customers: Up Yours – Why Phony Corporate Apologies Backfire
As I read Reid Hastings’ letter to customers, in what appeared to be an apology for the price increase mess, my expectations were met immediately with disappointment, then disbelief.
Here’s a smart guy who shot a huge torpedo into the guts of his company, watched it blow up, and is still assessing the damages. So, he decides that what his departing customers need to hear, rather than an apology, is a bunch of management school gibberish that fails to answer two big questions: What were they thinking? And Do they really care anyway?
Instead of apologizing (although Hastings uses the word three times), working to mollify both the thousands who have left, and the thousands who will leave, he writes a letter that says essentially,” I love myself. I am really really smart and you should love me too. Let me count the ways for you.”
On Lessons Learned
This week’s blog post on lessons from our past was written by Andrew Bradfish, an RMPR intern.
During a recent RMPR team meeting, a spur-of-the-moment conversation about difficult situations we’ve encountered at past jobs allowed us to reflect on lessons we’ve learned and how we apply them everyday in our jobs as public relations professionals. Keep reading to learn more about our past lives and how we apply them to our jobs today!
Chief Integrity Officer is Tailor Made for PR
The PR profession suffers from schizophrenia. On the one hand, PR people want to be at the table making decisions and guiding strategy with the boss in good times and bad. On the other hand, many want to serve as the guiding conscience of their organizations.
So far, the record for the profession in either arena is mixed. There have been some successes, some strikeouts, some absolute no-hitters and some MIAs. That’s because business and other leaders have lost or ignored their responsibility to build and rebuild integrity as a workplace principle — a workplace guiding force.
Legislators continue to pass laws imposing extensive compliance requirements and an ever-increasing stack of regulations, restrictions and oversight requirements, in addition to internal and self-imposed monitoring. Virtually none of these can restore public, investor, employee, customer or individual trust. Restoration of trust begins by focusing and rebuilding the most essential element of an ethical reputation: integrity.
The foundation for integrity is organizational trust.