In the beginning....

In the beginning, I was not very impressed with Facebook. To be honest, I thought why waste my time reading about someone's lunch...unless of course that person provided a restaurant recommendation or a recipe. But no, people were posting such inane trivia as "I ate a salad for lunch."

Over the past year, however, I've become a fan. I had to learn as much as possible about social networking for the work I do - marketing communications. Every client and potential client I come into contact with wants to know how they can use social networking to further their message delivery. But, that's for another day. Today, I want to begin telling just a little about Facebook's (FB) "good works."

I'm an animal rights advocate - so much of my FB time is spent encouraging rescue and adoption and ending animal abuse. Last week I received the following post on FB:

URGENT DUMPED SENIOR DOLLY NEEDS A HOME!!!! QUEENS,NY
MARCH 15, 2011 Queens, NY *Senior Declawed Girl Dumped in Dumpster* PLEASE, if anyone has room or can help this kitty, contact: Valerie voula@nyc.rr.com It just Doesnt End... ***Over the weekend, this cat was found after having been locked in a cat ...carrier & dumped in a commercial dumpster in Long Island City. Luckily a man found her & pulled her out of the dumpster where she would have been compacted & killed. She must have been in the carrier for a long time. When she was rescued, all she could do was drink water because her stomach had shrunk. Despite all that she had been through, the second she was let out of the carrier she climbed into our arms & started purring. We have named her Dolly. She is 12 years old, declawed & in great health. She has a slight eye infection that is being treated now with antibiotics, but other than that she is in perfect health. She's got many more years left. She loves to be held and is a purr machine. She is extremely gentle. She made no fuss at the vet's office, not even when they drew her blood. She really is the sweetest girl! Because she is healthy & seemingly well-taken care of, we think that her owner had died & Dolly had been put in carrier & dumped with the rest of the trash. She is living in a crate in a hallway because the people who are caring for her are allergic. She really deserves a loving home. Please if you know someone who can give this old girl a warm, comfortable home & the love she so deserves, she's worth it. Unlike the inhumane person, who considered Dolly, worthless trash to be squashed & compacted, we know she is a sweet, gentle soul who deserves to be a treasured lap cat, living her golden years in comfort. She wasn't really into getting her picture taken because she was so busy trying to get us to pet her! If you know someone who can foster or adopt Dolly, please email me: voula@nyc.rr.com Please help as well by forwarding this email. Thank you!

There are many "animal people" on FB - and the response was terrific. We all wanted to find a loving home for this sweet kitty.

And now the good news.

The following note greeted me first thing this morning:

Hello all

Dolly wanted me to let everyone know that on Sunday, 3/20/11 at 1PM, she will be heading to her new home in Jersey City!!!!! Her new brother will be home to welcome her!

Thank you again for all your emails & all your concern & especially for wanting to help save this sweet girl. Dolly sends you all giant purrs. Dolly's new dad is thinking maybe a Facebook page for all her new fans! Will let you all know. Please update any Facebook links & such - Dolly is going to a loving home!

Have included a pic of Dolly's gorgeous little sweet face on the night she met her new dad!

Giant purrs.
Dolly & Valerie

I'll share more animal advocacy information and success stories as time goes on. For the moment, I'm thankful that in 2011 we have a tool such as FB to help make good things happen.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

In 2011, as we view the position of communications on the national and world stage and our role as social marketing communicators today and into the foreseeable future, we are reminded of the words of Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

As technology advancements continue to evolve, giving us near limitless communications tools and the opportunity to share information and deliver messages around the globe in a matter of seconds (or less!), we think –
Yes - it truly IS the best of times for information sharing and delivering public information and communications.

In 2011
• We can broadcast the announcement of a medical breakthrough across the world in seconds
• Physicians can collaborate with their counterparts in other cities, other states and other countries in real time to share clinical data or conduct patient consultations, improving quality of care and reducing cost.
• We can see the devastation of an earthquake in Japan while it is still happening.
• A NYC oncologist can deliver a seminar to medical students in classrooms at each of the top medical schools throughout the country without leaving his office
• A journalist in Montana can conduct a face to face interview with a a protesting educator in Wisconsin while looking outside his window at the snow capped Rocky Mountains.
• We can create and disseminate a video about animal cruelty to millions of people via the web in less time than it takes to write and distribute a flyer to people in our town.
• As a result of social media, a North Carolina researcher is able to collaborate with a researcher at CalTech (California Institute of Technology) via one of many social networks that specifically serve the research community, like ResearchGate (www.researchgate.net ).

And yet, while it is the best of times, we sometimes wonder if for communicators, it is the worst of times.

Every day, each of us in this country is subjected to thousands of marketing message impressions – some say over three thousand. A 2004 Yankelovich study showed that nearly two-thirds of Americans felt bombarded by too much advertising and marketing, that most of it was irrelevant to them, and that marketers didn’t treat them with respect. The messages vie for our attention. They compete with one another to be the most noted, the loudest, the most engaging, and the most important. And frankly as consumers, we can’t absorb them all, let alone be influenced by them, let alone actually respond. Our brains sort them as they arrive, a kind of message triage. Which are the ones we need? Which are related to what we care about or the way we live? Which are really helping us? We have learned not to respond to instructions; we must be persuaded. We have learned to resent messages that don’t seem to understand our needs and our values. We have learned to distrust sources to which we feel no relation. We ignore anything that doesn’t immediately show us personal benefit. So every day we run the risk of completely missing important information because of this overwhelming volume, because it’s so hard to see what’s truly important. Our first reaction is to ask why we should care, and the communicator’s first responsibility is to provide an answer to that question. Without it, the dialogue stops before it has even begun.

The challenge of delivering social marketing-based communications outreach and relevant messages in 2011 is considerable. By nature, the message broadcasts information to a group of people, not an individual and may be seen as irrelevant to individuals who need to hear it. It may ask for behavior change, not necessarily through an immediate action but through attention over considerable time – and our attention in this society is a commodity in short supply. Often, the information comes from the government, and may be viewed by some communities with distrust. It is about research or medicine, or safety, or security, or cruelty -- topics that may make us uncomfortable, so we choose to ignore them. These messages require great care if they are to be heard and understood, and not merely delivered.

So - how do we cut through the clutter, and demand the attention of those that need to hear our messages. I'm hoping to post my thoughts and those that come to me from others over the ensuing weeks!