October, 2006 | Social Media University, Global (SMUG)

Southwest Airlines: Nuts about Blogging

Shel introduced Southwest Airlines as a “best practice” company when it comes to blogging, and Paula Berg’s presentation was a really helpful example of an official externally facing corporate blog. The blog has been an excellent way of getting feedback from customers (on the non-assigned seating policy, for instance.) Better than a focus group.

This does take time, however. The blog is moderated to screen out vulgar and obscene content, for Spam, and also they don’t allow customer service issues comments, because those issues are handled individually and receive an individual response. They have 20 bloggers who do two posts a month, and they have a day-long approval/editing process. Legal doesn’t review anything, but Paula does a report to management every week.

Technorati: Southwest Airlines, Blogging

My Lunch Meeting Yesterday

To show just how simple and easy it is to post to a blog, I’m doing this one in the middle of my presentation at the ALI Conference in San Francisco.

I had planned to connect with Tom Grams of TVGrams Digital Media when I came to San Francisco. Tom has an extensive background in cable TV, including launch of the Discovery Channel and several others. He’s a pro who understands the cable industry and has connections, so he is consulting with various organizations on how they can best use video.

Now he’s working primarily on non-linear video channels. A linear channel is one like ESPN or The Weather Channel that feeds a continuous stream of content. Sirius and XM satellite radio are other examples of linear models of content delivery, in the audio realm.

Here’s an example of including an image from the web.

ESPN

The problem with linear channels is the demand for content is insatiable. When a channel is 24/7, the amount of content needed is immense.

The other reality is that to have a channel like that on a cable system or even on a satellite radio or TV system, you need to have a minimum critical mass of viewers or listeners in order to be economically viable. A few hundred or a few thousand viewers can’t pay for the “shelf space.”

With non-linear delivery methods, such as podcasts, vlogs, blogs, broadband video channels or cable VOD (video on demand), a smaller niche audience is OK. And instead of dumbing down the content to reach a mass audience, it’s actually better to be more technical, because the people seeking out this content have an interest.

Now in a gratuitous use of video for no particular purpose (except to show how easy it is), I will incorporate a video segment from our lunch that I uploaded to YouTube earlier in this presentation.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ngwjpF4Jw]

Blogging Myself

During the pre-conference seminars and the first day of this conference, I have been blogging the presentations other people have been making for three reasons: as my personal note-taking device, to give my Mayo Clinic colleagues a reference resource on these topics, and to make the information available to my fellow conference attendees and any others who might find it valuable.

So now, given the fact that I’m doing the presentation, it’s kind of difficult to blog it contemporaneously. That’s why I did it in advance. Here’s my prediction of what I will be discussing. And if I’m wrong, this should be a good resource anyway. That would be the best of both worlds, because it would mean what we discussed was more valuable than what I had planned.

I define new media broadly, as anything that doesn’t require an FCC license or buying ink by the barrel.

As Shel Holtz says, new media do not replace old media. They are supplementary and complementary. And given the relative audience sizes, traditional media are still more important than new media, and should be the primary focus. Rocketboom, for instance, has a worldwide audience about the same size as what WCCO TV has in the Minneapolis-St.Paul DMA alone. But if we can pursue new media in a way that opens opportunities for mainstream media, that’s the smartest way to go.

New media (audio and video files on the web) have led to significant traditional media stories, such as this one:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaaAYVUWP0I]

Just as important is being smart about production, to get as many media applications out of a single video shoot as possible.

I talked with Shel just now about how to get “Add to Del.icio.us” and “Digg This!” added to my posts, and he suggested that FeedFlare, which is available through feedburner.com (also free).

Even though they are not technically blogging or podcasting, innovative use of the web relating to a big story can help facilitate major news coverage while minimizing the burden on the people involved in the story. Here’s one example of a web update site used in this way, and here’s another.

Here’s the big wrap-up:

Everyone who is here today has already invested significant time (2+ days) and money (travel, lodging, conference fees) to learn about new media. It would be a shame

Get a FREE RSS reader and subscribe to some feeds (like this one)
Get iTunes (FREE) and subscribe to some podcasts, including For Immediate Release
Start a FREE personal blog and experiment with links, comments and trackbacks
Open a FREE YouTube account and upload a video
Try Flickr or another FREE photo service
Get Audacity to record audio FREE
Incorporate these assets into your blog so you better understand the possibilities for your business

Thursdays with Morri…

…and Corinne, and Norma, and Caitlin, and Tom, and Jen (help me out with the rest of the names, dudes.) Some of you have handwriting on the sign-up sheet that indicates you may have a future in medicine.

Morri is Morri Chowaiki from San Diego, and he is working on an interesting vitamin site. He mentioned that he’s been on the web ever since Al Gore invented the internet. He has some other interesting projects in the works, and I’ve got another suggestion for him: the Chowaiki Wiki.

Our Dine-Around session at A. SaBella’s was a good time for all, I think. We discussed our airline horror stories, children and the expectation thereof, and when ingestion of contaminated seafood makes it wise to seek immediate medical attention.

Thanks to all of you for your company and conversation. And thanks to Melissa and Amy for making the reservation and offering the opportunity.

Jeanette Gibson (Cisco) Presentation

Here is Cisco’s on-line press room.

Jeanette cited a September 2006 report about the influence of blogs on purchase decisions.

Cisco provides some corporate blogs with approval of the company. Otherwise people can go to Blogger or WordPress to do their own blogs. One example of their Cisco-hosted blogs is the one on High Tech Policy. They want to have at least 3-5 members of a team to ensure that the blog won’t die on the vine. Here is the complete list of Cisco blogs.

Event blogging is an interesting concept, which they have put up for two weeks around an event. The limited time frame is appealing to the legal group, and the blog is promoted at the event. I don’t know if I like this idea. It seems like an anti-Long Tail concept, if what goes up there disappears after just a couple of weeks.

Having a blog in the newsroom, on the other hand, seems like a great idea.

Jeanette’s Key Takeaways:

Technorati: Cisco, Blogs, PR