2009 will most likely be remembered as the year that the Internet expanded beyond the tech set as more people flocked to the web to search and share information — largely due to the growth of social media and the rapid advancements in mobile handheld technology.

Whether in news, entertainment, sports or politics, just about everyone launched a Twitter account this year. At the time of this post, Ashton Kutcher topped the list with 4.2 million followers with Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, John Mayer, CNN, Twitter, Ryan Seacrest and Kim Kardashian rounding out the Top 10 Twitter users.

Facebook, with 350 million users, was the top search term in 2009 and hit #1 for the first time as the most visited site in the U.S. on Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Every minute, 20 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube and in 2009 the site served an estimated 75 billion video streams to 375 million unique visitors. According to the New York Times, “the average YouTube user watched 83 clips in October, compared with 53 a year earlier.” Also, with over 3.8 billion search queries on YouTube in 2009, it became the 2nd largest search engine behind Google, beating out Bing and Yahoo!.

On these sites, and countless others, users commented, shared, posted and even reported on their own in real time. Many news stories started online before making their way into the “mainstream media” and some merely took on lives of their own as the Web augmented coverage and reach.

In discussing some of the most memorable over the past 12 months with friends and colleagues, I decided to compile them in an end of the year list. So, here we go. Below is my Top 20 Social Media News Stories of 2009 (in chronological order).

1. Sully Lands on the Hudson
1/15/09 – A couple weeks into the new year, it seemed that there was apparently another tragic accident involving airline travel. Yet this time, it was an epic and heroic tale about Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, a skilled former USAF fighter pilot who landed US Airways #1549 on the Hudson River in New York after birds flew into the plane’s engines causing them to stall. Sully managed to successfully guide the plane in a textbook water landing (assuming there is such a thing), avoided Manhattan, saved the lives of everyone on board, then assisted the crew in evacuating more than 150 people to safety. Many first learned of the story from Twitter. The first photo after the incident emerged via TwitPic from Janis Krums who witnessed it and tweeted while aboard the ferry that was on its way to retrieve the passengers and the crew. An amazing story indeed.

2. Walking in Memphis
1/15/09 – Ironically, on the same day that Sully landed in the Hudson, former Ketchum VP James Andrews caught quite a bit of online heat when he disparagingly tweeted about Memphis after meeting with clients from FedEx — which is headquartered there. In an apology he later posted after FedEx voiced their displeasure, Andrews explained that he posted the comment after an interaction with an “intolerant” person and claimed that his sentiment was not aimed at the entire city. Either way, a good lesson that what you say, even in 140 characters or less, could certainly cause quite a stir.

3. Christian Goes Bale-istic
2/2/09 – While filming “T4: Terminator Salvation” at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, actor Christian Bale totally lost it after the director of photography accidentally walked onto the set, allegedly “ruining the shot.” Though the flare up actually occurred in July 2008, audio of the incident surfaced in February 2009 and spread quickly online. Warning: Strong language. Not appropriate for kids — or rational human beings who choose to respect each other regardless of one’s lot in life.

4. Susan Boyle’s Dream
4/11/09 – An unlikely star was born on “Britain’s Got Talent” when Susan Boyle, a Scottish woman, stepped to the microphone to perform. Given her plain appearance and shy demeanor, several snickered as she spoke with the judges about why she chose to appear on the British talent show. However, jeers turned to cheers just moments after she started. Boyle wowed the audience with her booming voice as she sang her version of “I Dreamed a Dream.” Several versions of her performance quickly made their way to YouTube and one post alone currently has more than 35 million views. According to Wikipedia, “Boyle’s first album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released on 23 November 2009, and has become Amazon’s best-selling album in pre-sales.” Billboard also reported that “The arrival of ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ … marks the best opening week for a female artist’s debut album since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.”

5. Dom-Oh Nos!
4/13/09 – Anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant knows that there are strict laws that govern food preparation and safety procedures in an effort to protect the health of the patrons. Most of us understand that despite the best of intentions, health codes aren’t always followed to the letter 100% of the time. However, Kristy Hammonds and Michael Setzer, two employees from a Domino’s franchise in Conover, NC took that to a new level when they videotaped themselves deliberately performing unsanitary acts with food items and cleaning supplies in the store’s kitchen, then uploaded the clips to YouTube. Though the two claimed it was a “prank” and that they never actually delivered the food, they were still fired and faced felony charges for their actions. Once the video gained attention through Twitter and YouTube, it began to also dominate the search engines and Domino’s Pizza was immediately confronted with a public relations crisis that threatened the reputation of their 50 year-old brand. Domino’s spokesman Tim McIntyre aptly summed it up when he commented, “We got blindsided by two idiots with a video camera and an awful idea.” Patrick Doyle, President of Domino’s USA issued a video response and the company set up a Twitter account @DPZinfo to field inquiries though it looks like they have since moved over to @dominos. In December 2009, Domino’s launched a new marketing campaign in celebration of their 50th year called “The Pizza Turnaround” where they claim they’ve reinvented their pizza recipe (and possibly their tarnished image) from the crust up.

6. Dude, Where Are Your Followers?
4/17/09 – Besides being married to actress Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher is probably best known for his role as Michael on “That 70’s Show,” his prank TV show “Punk’d” and movies such as “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and this past summer’s release “Spread.” Kutcher gained early popularity on Twitter and in April, took on the Cable News Network (CNN) in a race to be the first Twitter account to reach 1 million followers. Who would’ve thought that @aplusk would be able to top the cable giant (and everyone else in the Twitterverse) but alas, he did. And, as mentioned above, he still sits atop the Twitter throne as the most followed at 4.2 million. CNN is ranked #7 with 2.8 million.

7. Iranian Election
6/12/09 – Perhaps the most compelling and meaningful global use of social media in 2009 occurred when Iranians took to the streets in protest after the 2009 presidential election results in Iran. Mainstream media was slow to provide coverage and the government run media operation in Iran was obviously not going to profile any form of dissent for the world to witness. So, the protestors turned to the Internet to tell their stories. Dave Levy and I co-authored a piece that ran in PRWeek called “Twitter Revolt Against Mainstream Media” where we wrote, “The crowd felt a sense of entitlement for news they wanted covered, and it left the media world playing defense to users who had turned the trending topics sidebar on Twitter’s home page into their own headlines; a user-generated ‘above the fold’ that reflected the group’s dissatisfaction through leads like #CNNFail. Twitter became the instant ombudsman for the media establishment, holding media accountable for what they were – or were not – broadcasting.” The impact online was massive. Twitter delayed their scheduled site maintenance because of the important communications role it was playing. Twitter users changed their profile photo green to demonstrate their support and updated their “Location” to Tehran in an effort to confuse Iranian authorities searching for dissidents. Obviously, the future of the Iranian people still hangs in the balance, yet many Americans are better informed about their plight under a controversial dictator and stand in solidarity with them in their quest for peace and freedom.

8. Saying Goodbye to the King of Pop
6/25/09 – Clearly, the death of Michael Jackson would have been a worldwide story even without the Internet. However, TMZ was the first to break the news that the pop singer had died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50. The Web traffic surrounding his death was massive as millions flocked to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs to share, comment and learn more. Facebook slowed but held its own. Twitter traffic caused the site to temporarily fall — even the Fail Whale ceased to make an appearance — but the “Michael Jackson” related tweets would top Twitter trends for weeks to come.

9. United Breaks Guitars
7/6/09 – While traveling on a United Airlines flight in 2008 with his band “Sons of Maxwell”, musician Dave Carroll overheard fellow passengers commenting that United baggage handlers were throwing guitars around the tarmac. Attempts to alert the flight attendants were met with indifference. Upon landing, he learned that his $3,500 Taylor guitar had been broken during the trip. After nine months of back and forth communication and failed attempts to obtain a satisfactory resolution, United finally refused to take responsibility or provide any form of reimbursement. So, Carroll wrote a song called “United Breaks Guitars” and produced a video and, of course, posted it to YouTube. It was an instant hit and stirred up additional ire among airline travelers.

10. Erin Andrews Stalked
7/16/09 – ESPN reporter Erin Andrews went public after video of her naked in her hotel room surfaced on the Internet. The video was secretly shot without her knowledge from a video camera set-up to record her through a peephole. In December, Illinois businessman Michael David Barrett pleaded guilty to interstate stalking. He admitted that he followed Andrews and stayed in hotel rooms next door on three occasions. He shot two videos of her while she was nude and was accused of posting them online, as well as attempting to sell them to TMZ.

11. Dancing Down the Aisle
7/19/09 – After the popularity of the December 2007 “Baby Got Back” wedding reception choreography video, it was only a matter of time before others would follow suit. This past summer, Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz treated their wedding guests to a real show when the entire wedding party — seven bridesmaids, five groomsmen and four ushers — danced down the aisle to Chris Brown’s “Forever” during their ceremony in St. Paul, Minnesota. The “JK Wedding Entrance Dance” even served as inspiration for Jim and Pam’s long awaited wedding on NBC’s “The Office.” In December, another wedding video was posted to YouTube featuring Dana Hanna, a groom who paused during his the middle of his wedding ceremony to update his Facebook marital status and tweet out from the altar.

12. Healthcare Town Hall Protests & SEIU “Thugs”
8/2/09 – In the wake of the conservative Tea Party movement, President Obama and the Democrats continued to try and sell their proposed healthcare program this summer. Several Members of Congress hosted town hall meetings back in their districts alongside Obama Administration officials to answer specific questions and solicit feedback from constituents. Perhaps unexpectedly, many turned out and the discussions were quite heated — and posted on YouTube. U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius were booed in Philadelphia at one such meeting after their comments about the bill’s length and the need to move fast. In the Tampa Bay area, approximately 1,500 showed up for a “pep rally” co-hosted by the SEIU and attended by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor. One of the attendees, Barry Osteen, was pushed and slapped by Obama supporter Karen Miracle after debating her husband, Garry. “We have the best health care system in the world and I’m completely happy with what we have,” Osteen said. The violence escalated further when Kenneth Gladney, a self-described black conservative, was physically beaten by SEIU members after U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan’s town hall meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. The video of Gladney’s attack generated almost instant online outrage that prompted some select mainstream outlets to cover the story.

13. Fired on Facebook
8/14/09 – In my opinion, one of the cardinal rules in social media is to avoid publishing anything online that you wouldn’t say in person. A British woman learned this the hard way after she posted comments about her “pervvy wanker” boss — perhaps forgetting that they were “friends” on Facebook. Of course, he saw the post and responded to her rant via the public Facebook thread. He hit back pretty hard, got a little personal and eventually fired her. And yes, he’s serious.

14. Undercover at ACORN
9/9/09 – Wikipedia describes the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as a liberal collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocate for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. In recent years, the organization has come under fire under allegations of voter registration fraud and embezzlement. In an attempt to expose ACORN’s possible unethical and illegal practices, filmmakers James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles teamed up in an undercover sting operation and blogged about it on Andrew Breitbart’s site BigGovernment. While secretly videotaping a meeting with ACORN staff members in Baltimore, Giles posed as a prostitute seeking counsel on how to manipulate the tax code to hide her profession. O’Keefe passed himself off as a pimp looking to funnel proceeds from a brothel full of underage, illegal immigrant sex workers into a potential political campaign. In both cases, two ACORN staff members were complicit in their efforts to assist O’Keefe and Giles in supporting their illegal activity and subverting the law. Though the story initially gained little attention in the mainstream media, the first two videos rapidly gained steam on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. As news of the scandal grew, the U.S. Census Bureau and the IRS both severed ties with ACORN and eventually both the U.S. House and Senate voted to cut 2009 taxpayer funding of the embattled organization.

15. Best Award Show Interruption of ALL TIME!
9/15/09 – No one quite knew what Kayne West was thinking when he jumped up on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards to interrupt Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video. He grabbed the microphone out of her hand and exclaimed, “Yo, Taylor! I’m really happy for you. I’ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.” Everyone was stunned, including Beyoncé. Swift’s confused reaction was short, but classy. Meme sites soon popped up such as this Kanyegate Tumblr feed and ImaLetYouFinish where users can upload their own Kanye-isms. There was also this Kanye-Obama-Wilson mash-up remix which was quite clever. Regardless of one’s opinions on the quality of the music videos, just about everyone was appalled at West’s behavior – including President Obama who off-handedly called the rapper a “jackass” after the incident. Since the remark was caught on tape during an off-the-record portion of a CNBC interview, ABC reporter Terry Moran prematurely tweeted but later deleted begging the question as to whether anything is really off-the-record these days.

16. Meghan McCain TwitPic
10/15/09 – Can’t the daughter of a former presidential candidate and current U.S. Senator lay around her home in a low-cut tanktop, read a little about Andy Warhol over takeout, snap a picture of it and upload it to TwitPic without being called horrible names? Evidently not if you’re last name is McCain.

17. College Sock-Her
11/5/09 – Elizabeth Lambert, a junior defender on the women’s soccer team at the University of New Mexico was captured on video being physically abusive on the playing field vs. BYU in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament. Lambert (#15) was caught tripping, elbowing and even pulling one player to the ground by her hair. Two BYU forwards/midfielders, freshman Carlee Payne (#7) and junior Kassidy Shumway (#21) seemed to be the primary targets of her attacks. Video of the unsportsmanlike behavior was posted to YouTube by the Associated Press and earned Lambert an indefinite suspension. According to Lambert’s player bio on UNM’s GoLobos athletic site, she is “is majoring in University Studies with a focus on Occupational Therapy.” Ironic, considering her opponents will probably require physical therapy! The best response, however, came from Payne: Scoreboard! BYU won the match 1-0.

18. Vetting Crashers
11/24/09 – The saga of Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the White House party crashers, seems to get more bizarre as time goes on and we may never know all the answers. Apparently, bluffing their way into the White House State Dinner without an official invitation is just the tip of the iceberg. A video of the Salahi wedding (with 1,836 guests) sets the stage quite nicely. Then there were stories of unpaid bills around town, followed by accusations of fraudulent charities via polo matches to save a family owned winery, lies about Michaele’s past (aka Missy Holt, if that is her real name) as a former Redskins cheerleader — all leading up to their quest to appear on the reality show “The Real Housewives of DC.” Sadly, it appears that the only thing real about these two is how much trouble they got themselves into after posting photos of their White House breach on Facebook which provided plenty of fodder in feeding the media frenzy surrounding the details of this still-developing story.

19. Tiger Woods
11/27/09 – Yet again, it was TMZ, the Los Angeles based celebrity gossip site that beat out all the other outlets by reporting that Tiger’s injuries were not caused by a car accident while behind the wheel of his SUV but rather “were inflicted by his wife, Elin Nordegren.” According to reports, she and Tiger were arguing after she had learned about his extramarital affair with Rachel Uchitel (as well as others, we’d learn about later) and an altercation ensued. In the absence of actual B-roll footage to visually support the story, a Taiwanese news station used animation to dramatically reenact the event during their broadcast. Though it’s in Chinese, the images seem quite realistic and probably not too far off from what actually happened that night.

20. DC Snowball Fight
12/19/09 – In late December, the Washington, DC area was hit by a major snowstorm that made its way across the east coast. Total snow accumulation varied between 12 and 22 inches in some areas when it was all said and done. Hashtags such as #snOMG, #thundersnow, #blizzard and #snopocalypse dominated social media sites across the region. Then, someone came up with the idea of organizing a good, old-fashioned neighborhood snowball fight at 14th & U Streets. Word traveled quickly online and about 150 DC residents gathered for the epic showdown. Though the battle was intense (in a lighthearted way), people did take timeouts for passing cars and to help bail vehicles out of multiple snowbound predicaments. Police officers soon arrived on the scene to monitor the activity. A red Hummer H2 pulled up and the driver was none too pleased when snowballs descended upon him and his vehicle as he stepped out. Turns out that he was an off-duty DC detective and one point, drew his sidearm which prompted chants of “You don’t bring a gun to a snowball fight!” and “Fenty killed Christmas!” directed at the Capital City’s current mayor. The situation was eventually resolved by the authorities and much of the event ultimatlely played out on YouTube before making national news the following morning.

I’m sure there are other stories, so feel free to comment and provide links below. Happy 2010!

Well, sort of. I started using Hootsuite, a web based Twitter app, in mid-April 2009. I like many of the site’s features, especially the ability to schedule tweets, manage multiple social media accounts, monitor keywords and track link stats via their propietary URL shortener ow.ly. Get it? Hoot as in “owl.” Pretty clever and just as effective as bit.ly, though I use that occasionally, as well.

At any rate, I have become pretty reliant on Hootsuite and use it almost exclusively when tweeting from my desk. When on Blackberry, I use ÜberTwitter which also offers built in bit.ly URL shortening functionality.

Basically, I was curious to see which of my tweets generated the most interest in 2009. The challenge, however, comes in determining how to measure that. The closest I can estimate is by looking at those with the most clicks.

As mentioned in a previous post (TweetLevel: Ratting Twitter’s Influence), I try to strike a 30/30/30/10 balance between politics, communications, personal and miscellaneous tweets. Given the link popularity, looks like that strategy has worked pretty well.

Here’s how they stacked up in 2009:

1. http://ow.ly/dWXc
   Arlington (Va): The Rap http://ow.ly/dWXc So when people tell me Remy where you calling from? I say a straight up thug town called Arlington 
   1083 Clicks

2. http://ow.ly/NYZ5
   TMZ reporting that actress Brittany Murphy, 32, died this morning after suffering full cardiac arrest http://ow.ly/NYZ5
   1023 Clicks

3. http://ow.ly/HDqs
   Congress’ Best (And Worst) Committee Web Sites http://ow.ly/HDqs (via @nationaljournal) Reviewers @sheiladcusa @cheeky_geeky @JohnWonderlich
   847 Clicks

4. http://ow.ly/HZFW
   Tiger Woods, Obama On Golf Digest Cover Together (PHOTO) http://ow.ly/HZFW
   750 Clicks

5. http://ow.ly/AjxV
   George W. Bush Secretly Visits Fort Hood Victims http://ow.ly/AjxV
   671 Clicks

6. http://ow.ly/s1pr
   @DanaPerino is all fired up! RT @rooseveltroom VIDEO: Unfit to Host? http://ow.ly/s1pr #olympics #chicago2016 
   217 Clicks

7. http://ow.ly/kutI
   Ex-Bush flacks find footing http://ow.ly/kutI w/ Ari @DanaPerino @ScottStanzel @TonyFratto @ksullie Nice pic, Dan B! (via @politico) 
   167 Clicks

8. http://ow.ly/ufHl
   VIDEO: Liz Cheney, Bill Kristol and Debra Burlingame launch new group “Keep America Safe” http://ow.ly/ufHl
   136 Clicks

9. http://ow.ly/gO4a
   Goodbye to dot com domains? Yes ICANN! http://ow.ly/gO4a But @Slate says don’t do it!
   122 Clicks

10. http://ow.ly/40Pp
    Why Google Wants You To Google Yourself (TIME) http://ow.ly/40Pp Interesting take on the future of the “vanity search”
    109 Clicks

My two most popular bit.ly links were retweets (RT) that generated 680 and 143 clicks each which would’ve placed them at #5 and #8 respectively on the list above.

http://bit.ly/10nuR7
Take Action on Climate Bill http://bit.ly/10nuR7
680 Clicks (client)

http://bit.ly/76ycSL
In the world’s largest democracy, they’re missing George W. Bush http://bit.ly/76ycSL
143 Clicks

This week, Edelman released TweetLevel, the latest web-based tool designed to measure one’s “importance” on Twitter.

For those who haven’t given in to peer pressure to join the site yet, Twitter is a “microblog” that enables users to share thoughts, activities and news via 140 character text updates.

Twitter’s founders had a pretty basic, yet novel idea. They wanted to create a platform where users could connect with each other online to answer one simple question, “What are you doing?”

I’ll admit that when I first joined (@almacy), I just didn’t get it. Besides a few close family members and friends, I remember thinking, “Who really cares what I’m doing?” In fact, my first tweet isn’t exactly going to assist in solving global strife.

Regardless, I pressed on and started to “follow” a few folks that I was interested in hearing from including those engaged in politics, public relations, press, social media and technology. Pretty soon, I started to build a bit of a community. I soon realized that I was learning a lot from them and hoped others found value in my contributions, as well.

As far as what I tweet, I try to strike a 30/30/30/10 balanced philosophy for tweets, retweets (RT) and tweet buzz (HT, via):

• 30% Politics: White House, Congress, government, E-Gov, campaigns, issues, advocacy
• 30% Communications: Internet, media, social networks, public relations, marketing, advertising, technology, tips, tricks, trends, insights
• 30% Personal: life, family, work, travel, hobbies, blog
• 10% Miscellaneous: Whatever doesn’t fall in the categories above i.e. humor, wit, thoughts, randomness, etc.

However, I often wonder whether any of it makes a bit of difference. So, I gave TweetLevel a try and scored 61. Not too bad.

TweetLevel then provided some uselful insights on how to improve my score which is based on four primary “result metrics” including influence, popularity, engagement and trust. The site also offers some sound advice regarding Twitter best practices and influence tips.

That’s why I really like this tool. Unlike previous attempts by other sites to measure a user’s level of influence based on pure number of followers or amount of tweets, Edelman developed a complex evaluation formula for TweetLevel in order to arrive at a more thoughtful conclusion:

Twitter itself is also rapidly evolving with the addition of periodic new features and functionality – and who knows where all this is going.

According to a recent Pew study in October 2009, Twitter’s future looks bright. Though the median user age is currently 31, the site’s popularity continues to grow, especially among younger audiences.

In addition to learning new things and meeting new people via Twitter, it can be fulfilling to know that the information you are “putting out there” has the potential to positivelty affect someone else.

Whether for an individual, company, brand, product or issue, TweetLevel results could be quite helpful in gaining a better understanding of one’s effectiveness in leveraging the Twitter platform and, thus… increasing influence.

Full disclosure: Edelman is my employer, but opinions expressed are my own.

Traditionally, August is supposed to be a little quieter in Washington, DC. Not so this summer with the current debates heating up over the future of the US economy, bailouts, healthcare reform and energy legislation.

The Internet is certainly playing a key role. In fact, YouTube may have officially reached its digital advocacy “tipping point” when a handful of videos were recently uploaded featuring flustered politicians struggling to answer tough healthcare questions during several Congressional town hall meetings.

Many Democrats in support of the bill have moved to characterize opponents as an organized, astroturfing, angry right wing mob. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) even went so far as to call the protests “un-American.” On the contrary, it was the SEIU who was caught on tape beating a black conservative who voiced dissent over the plan.

However, this wasn’t an organized gotcha campaign tactic like the infamous “Macaca” incident that many credit for the derailment of Sen. Allen’s re-election campaign in Virginia. Rather, these videos were shot, edited and posted by average, passionate American citizens who gathered to exercise their First Amendment right and demonstrate their concern over President Obama’s proposed healthcare legislation.

As Congress heads into their summer recess, some Members may wish they were spending more time on the beach instead of answering questions from frustrated constituents about government-run universal healthcare. I say let them vacation. After all, it will give them time to actually read the 1,000 page bill, perfect for a little summer reading.

In the midst of all this debate, the Internet continues to ramp up full throttle on both sides of the issue.

The Obama White House is attempting to utilize the Web, just as they did so masterfully during the campaign, in an effort to push the legislation through. How? Well, for starters, Linda Douglass took on the Drudge Report and asks users to “snitch” on fellow citizens if they see “fishy” information online about the healthcare discussion. They even set up an email address (flag@whitehouse.gov) to ease the reporting process.

The primary issue I have with this approach is that the White House Website is taxpayer funded and shouldn’t be used as a tool to gather information about Americans for pure political gain. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) agrees and promptly sent a letter to the White House asking President Obama to bring the program to an end.

If the DNC or BarackObama.com/Organizing for America wants to do this (i.e. Tweet Your Senator = brilliant way to build buzz and your E-mail lists!), fine by me. However, WhiteHouse.gov should steer clear especially when the data collected is not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and new questions are arising about federal government privacy policies.

Is there a double standard here? Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino makes an excellent point in Politico’s Arena:

“What would have happened if President George W. Bush had asked Americans to forward to the White House emails they’d received that spread “disinformation” or seemed “fishy” regarding any topic, such as the war on terror, immigration reform, tax cuts? How soon would the New York Times have splashed it on the front page, that moveon.org would have flipped its lid, and the Congressional Democrats called for new legislation to strip the President of his wildly expanding powers?”

Just today, WhiteHouse.gov launched a new “Health Insurance Reform Reality Check” feature which offers “facts about the stability and security you get from health insurance reform.”

Those at the National ObamaCare Opt Out (NOOO!) Registry disagree and have launched a site designed to motivate opponents of the bill to join the fight against it by registering and tweeting out with the #optout hashtag on Twitter.

I was recently reminded of the Internet’s infancy about a month ago when Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) appeared on FOX News with Megyn Kelly to discuss H.R. 615. The resolution would require Members of Congress who vote for public option healthcare to give up their current federal employee healthcare plan (as currently written, those serving House and Senate are exempt for five years). While on the program, Rep. Fleming encouraged viewers to visit his Website fleming.house.gov to track the bill’s cosponsors – all Republicans at the time. Interest was so great that increased traffic crashed the server for almost 45 minutes resulting in a 403.9 Error: Too Much Democracy All At Once!

Instead of using some of the more traditional methods, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) chose to outline his thoughts regarding healthcare reform via a video he posted on Facebook. Of course, I learned about this during a talk radio interview with the congressman as I drove into work one morning last week. See, MSM isn’t dead!

As the showdown continues to heat up after the break, one thing is for sure: This is fight is real and the implications are huge. Since Inauguration, many have wondered if Obama would be able to leverage his online campaign supporters into governing once he transitioned to the Oval Office. I think we are about to find out.

UPDATE

Megyn Kelly discusses healthcare “flag” email lists and the Presidential Records Act with Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton on FOX News. (Politico.com, 8/12/09)

‘Omnipotent Clarity’
At last Thursday’s (8/13/09) press briefing, Major Garrett of FOX News asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about many who claim to have received unsolicited healthcare related emails from David Axelrod at the White House.

On Sunday, 8/15/09, Nick Shapiro, White House spokesman for New Media released the following statement, with a follow-up posted on the FOX News White House blog, Row 2, Seat 4:

The White House email list is made up of email addresses obtained solely through the White House website. The White House doesn’t purchase, upload or merge from any other list, again, all emails come from the White House website as we have no interest in emailing anyone who does not want to receive an email. If an individual received the email because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the email, we hope they were not too inconvenienced. Further, we suggest that they unsubscribe from the list by clicking the link at the bottom of the email or tell whomever forwarded it to them not to forward such information anymore. We are implementing measures to make subscribing to emails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission when they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individual’s behalf.”

Related

White House will change e-mail rules (Politico, 8/16/09)

White House Passes Blame on Unsolicited Health Care E-Mails (FOXNews.com, 8/16/09) The White House suggests third-party groups are to blame for unsolicited health care e-mails.

ACLU – Apologists for Obama? (Scott Stanzel)

Remember when protest was patriotic? (Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Washington Examiner)

Obama’s Authoritarian Style (Wall Street Journal)

Cartoon: Get Out of the Way (John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal)

From Moldova to Motrin Moms, Twitter has become the arena of coordinated, widespread revolution several times over the last year. Still, when we look back on how the microblogging platform has evolved into a low-barrier tool for grassroots organizing, these will only be footnotes to the events of the last few days in Tehran. As protestors took to the streets of Iran to voice their discontent with the 2009 presidential election results, people from around the world were attentively watching updates from the ground on Twitter, long before hearing reports from any major news outlets.

The collection of status updates on Twitter provided the world an inside look on the dire situation within Iran from firsthand accounts, each message deeply personal and compelling to a worldwide audience. But when the masses turned to their favorite cable news network for more information, they were met with Mike Huckabee talking about credit cards or other irrelevant programming. With no recognizable coverage in mainstream media as events unfolded, it led users to cry foul on the news networks, demanding more information than 140 characters could deliver.

Among the many Twitter-fueled stories from the event, the one that impacts media coverage the most may be how this backchannel removed the mainstream filter to display an amalgamated concept of the news. It gave the masses – first inside Tehran and then across the world – a crude and easy way to drive the issues that concerned them to the top of the marketplace of ideas.

The crowd felt a sense of entitlement for news they wanted covered, and it left the media world playing defense to users who had turned the trending topics sidebar on Twitter’s home page into their own headlines; a user-generated “above the fold” that reflected the group’s dissatisfaction through leads like #CNNFail. Twitter became the instant ombudsman for the media establishment, holding media accountable for what they were – or were not – broadcasting.

The members of the news desk, as well as PR professionals with a vested interest in its agenda, must face the fact that the pulse is beating within a crowd that has tools at their fingertips to easily express their thirst for a certain story. Whether a global issue like the Iranian elections or a local story, communicators must now adapt to provide insights that will smooth the edges and shine the news called for by the crowd.

David Almacy (@almacy) is an SVP and Dave Levy (@levydr) is an AE, both with the digital public affairs team at Edelman in Washington, DC. This post is also available on Dave Levy’s blog Most Likely to Die Alone. Original Source: PRWeek (subscription required)

Back in March, Jose Antonio Vargas from The Washington Post assembled a bipartisan group of five panelists to periodically review President Obama’s White House Website in a feature called “Grading WhiteHouse.gov.”

The group includes Craig Newmark of Craigslist.org; Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum; Ellen Miller from the Sunlight Foundation; Jon Henke, a consultant and blogger for The Next Right; and David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Due to the overwhelming response to the first column, Jose decided to add a guest reviewer for “Grading WhiteHouse.gov, Round Two,” which was posted earlier this week — and I was honored that he thought of me. Of course, he did indicate that he wasn’t going to be able to print my entire thoughts, but agreed to allow me to post them here.

However, a few things to note before we start:

• The transition was absolutely flawless. President Bush’s site was archived and President Obama’s new site was officially launched on Inauguration Day right on time. I don’t think many truly recognize what a major accomplishment that was.
• It’s important to recognize that the Internet is still relaltively in its infancy and that social media is just a few years old. When I was at the White House, MySpace was all the rage, Facebook was still limited those in college with .edu email addresses and Twitter hadn’t officially launched yet. Today, many are still trying to figure out what it means for business, the media and yes, even for our democracy.
• The Obama White House new media team, led by Macon Phillips, has only been in place a short time so let’s give them some room to settle in. They join a small fraternity of White House Internet staffers who came before them that built the foundation for what they will ultimately achieve. They are breaking new ground, trying new things and will certainly make some mistakes along the way. As ttechnology and tools continue to improve, I know that they’ll get there, but it will just take time so let’s be patient. However, there some basic things that seem to be missing, some of which are discussed in more detail below.
• I originally wrote this in late April just before the official 100 day mark — and about a week before the White House officially launched a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. The first Obama White House email (on Health Care) just came out yesterday.
• These comments and opinions are purely my own and I’m very interested in your feedback. Feel free to weigh in at the bottom of the post.

So, in the spirit of transparency, the full transcript is provided below for your review.

Q: How would you define transparency? Accessiblity? Engagement?
There’s a whole lot of buzz about transparency these days, but I believe that there’s a lack of common understanding as to what it really means and how it should apply to the process of governing online.

In my opinion, the word “transparency” as it relates to government represents the ability for citizens to gain easy access to information surrounding the decisions and public activities of our elected officials. Clearly the Internet has assisted with this. People have more information available to them than ever before and this is one of the primary reasons why I refer to President Bush as the first “digital president” despite the fact that President Clinton was the first to launch a White House site. In the same way, President Obama will certainly build upon this progress as the Internet continues to expand.

However, most would agree that complete transparency for every communication, no matter how large or small, between federal employees poses unique challenges of its own, especially in our fast-paced, technology driven world.

Despite the sheer volume of content, privacy concerns, national security protections and political sensitivities, there are some technological hurdles, as well. For example, content must be universal to ensure that everyone can consume information equally including those without regular access to the Internet, on slower connections or using outdated equipment, browsers and plug-ins.

In addition, Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that content on federal government Websites must be made available in different formats for those who may be hearing or sight impaired. There have been major strides in this area, including closed captioning options in YouTube, readable PDFs, audio/video tagging and other web-based software innovations which have leveled the playing field, most of which either didn’t exist, were restricted or too cost prohibitive to employ just a couple years ago.

Conversations that used to be one-way and constrained to “walled-gardens” on a handful of specific sites are a thing of the past thanks to social media. Now, when the White House publishes information, there is no shortage of online outlets where those issues can be discussed including social networks, news sites and blogs. The big question that still remains is whether the White House will use the Web to engage and better connect with citizens.

We saw the beginning stages of this under Jimmy Orr’s leadership (my predecessor) with the launch of “Ask the White House” in April 2003. By January 2009, the White House had hosted over 400 online chats via ATWH with officials from all areas and disciplines within the federal government, including one with President Bush aboard Air Force One in January 2008 on return from a Middle East trip.

President Obama broke similar ground with his “Open for Questions” event. Essentially, this was a standard live Webcast from the East Room where a handful of questions submitted via WhiteHouse.gov were answered in front of a pre-screened invited audience. It was reported that over 10,000 questions were sent in and I am hopeful that there will be many future opportunities to have those addressed in the coming months, as well, including live questions randomly selected from those who may wish to connect to the White House via real time video streaming technology such as Qik, Ustream or Skype.

Q: In your mind, what’s the mission of WhiteHouse.gov?
During White House events, President Bush often welcomed guests to the “people’s house” and I always viewed the Website in the same manner: WhiteHouse.gov is the people’s site — and it is one of a kind. Sure, other world leaders have similar sites but WhiteHouse.gov is the one place that users should be able to go to answer one simple Twitter-like question, “What is the president doing?”

I believe every American should have access to the activities of our president on any given day. For those looking beyond the sound bite to learn more about what is said and done on their behalf, the site serves an important role as a digital archive for unedited transcripts, photos, audio and long-form video of public events and press briefings.

In addition, WhiteHouse.gov should be a place where one can find more information about the president’s positions on current policy issues, as well as historical information about the American Presidency, the White House and the United States.

Q: What has surprised you most about Obama’s WhiteHouse.gov?
I was very impressed by the speed and efficiency of the transition when the White House team successfully managed the transfer and archival of President Bush’s site (including related multimedia) while simultaneously launching President Obama’s new version at 12:01 PM on Inauguration Day.

Load times are fast and the design is clean, crisp and modern. I am a fan of the rotating features which helps the user navigate the site based on relevant and timely issues. As an E-Gov evangelist, I was very pleased that President Obama chose to answer questions from WhiteHouse.gov for the East Room Webcast and the implementation of Google Moderator to manage the process was smooth and seamless. Also, the White House LiveStream has worked quite well since its launch. I specifically enjoyed watching the multi-stream coverage of the meetings on healthcare, as well as the continued tradition of the White House Easter Egg Roll Webcast.

Q: What has disappointed you the most?
As we know, this week marks 100 days since President Obama officially took office, (originally written in late April) so it is fitting to take a step back to examine some of the areas where the site still needs improvement now that his team has a few months under their belt.

My biggest disappointment with the new site is the difficulty I have in locating information due to poor organization architecture. It is confusing to locate specific content and the structure is not intuitive. So much emphasis is placed on the blog that, unfortunately, related materials such as transcripts, photos, audio, video and links get lost, are buried or seem to be posted as an afterthought in separate, unrelated locations.

For example, the March 24, 2009 press conference was posted on the blog as, “Addressing Our Problems Head-On” and only included President Obama’s answer to a tough question posed by CNN’s Ed Henry which many thought was a highlight. The next morning, I still couldn’t find a transcript or video and when a link finally did appear a few hours later, it sent users to the Los Angeles Times blog. I’m sure the LA Times executives (and the blog’s advertisers) appreciate the increased site traffic from a taxpayer funded site, but shouldn’t WhiteHouse.gov – and ultimately the National Archives – be the permanent source for that information? What happens if the LA Times moves the transcript or starts charging for archived content on their site? In all fairness, I did eventually find the transcript a day or so later after several attempts via the search engine, but it wasn’t easy.

This isn’t an isolated situation. Since I couldn’t find a daily listing of presidential activities, I went to the Speeches section of WhiteHouse.gov under “The Briefing Room” and found only three (one in Spanish) currently listed. At the time of this post, the most recent listed is from 2/27/2009, “Remarks of President Barack Obama – Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq.”

Similarly, it is unclear as to how the items listed in Official Statements differ from speeches which have remarks mixed in with written statements from President Obama, Mrs. Obama and Vice President Biden – which are all separate from Presidential Actions such as executive orders, proclamations, etc.

Q: As it stands, what grade would you give the site? And give your one paragraph explanation.
Although the new WhiteHouse.gov has an attractive, modern design and a number of new features, it is still in its infancy and it is important to remember that. However, in some ways, the site seems to actually have less content than its immediate predecessor.

Simple things that were standard on President Bush’s Website such as daily press briefing video (which is on YouTube now, but not embedded or otherwise available on WhiteHouse.gov), Cabinet member photos and bios and RSS feeds for all remarks, weekly addresses, briefings and other releases (not just selected items) all seem to be missing. Given this, combined with the site’s organizational challenges, delayed postings and hard to find information, I have to give it a current grade of: C

I am confident that the Obama team will eventually fix these issues and ultimately take WhiteHouse.gov to the next level as the Internet also continues to grow and evolve. More importantly, users will help shape the site’s future by expecting the White House to add new functionality by providing more data, finding ways to incorporate social media, offering mobile versions of the site, adding text messaging and soliciting feedback from citizens on important legislation, thus improving the transparency of, access to and engagement with their government.

Related

Grading WhiteHouse.gov, Round Two (Jose Antonio Vargas, The Washington Post)

Grading Whitehouse.gov, Part 2 (Jon Henke, The Next Right)

Your Government & New Media (Macon Phillips, The White House)

Last week, the Politico’s Patrick Gavin (@pwgavin) wrote this piece, The Top 10 Most Influential DC Twitterers. According to Patrick, they are:

1. Karl Rove (@karlrove), former White House senior advisor & “Architect”
2. Sen. Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc), U.S. Senator, D-Missouri
3. David Gregory (@davidgregory), host of NBC’s Meet the Press
4. President Barack Obama (@barackobama)
5. Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich), former House Republican Speaker
6. Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox), former Wonkette
7. Sen. Chuck Grassley (@chuckgrassley), U.S. Senator, R-Iowa
8. Joe Trippi (@joetrippi), Democratic campaign adviser
9. Patrick Ruffini (@patrickruffini), GOP strategist
10. Al Gore (@algore), former U.S. Vice President

Of course, as with most lists, there will usually be some disagreement. However, with all due respect, I think that Patrick’s list is way off the mark. All of these folks (with the possible exceptions of Ana, Patrick and Joe) would be influential whether they are on Twitter or not.

Having said that, there is no doubt that Karl Rove is influential and it has been fun to watch him truly embrace Twitter to connect with his audience to answer questions or promote his media appearances, OpEds, speeches and travels. A friend sent me this note after Karl personally responded to one of his DM’s, “I love how my sisters never respond to my emails, but Karl Rove directly responds to Twitter messages.” I’m also a big fan of his TwitPics.

In contrast, Al Gore has only tweeted 13 times total (four times since Christmas 2008) and I am fairly certain that it isn’t him anyway. Where is the value in that? Also, there are over 200,000 people following him, but yet he only follows two. Is that what we need? A one-way conversation with Al Gore? No thanks, we’ve done that already. It was called Campaign 2000.

What about those that are influential *BECAUSE* they are on Twitter, not just influential *AND* on Twitter? See the difference?

I would actually place Patrick Ruffini toward the top of that list. However, he has been at it for a long time – and not just on Twitter. First there was his personal blog, PatrickRuffini.com, then he launched The Next Right with Jon Henke & Soren Dayton, then Mindy Finn joined him at Engage DC, and on top of all that, he has been instrumental in his recent efforts to help Rebuild the Party. So, yes, Patrick should definitely be on the list.

This got me to thinking. Who else would I put on there? I pulled out a pen and a post-it pad and began to scribble some names down. I actually came up with about 50 but decided to chop that down to ten, with five honorable mentions. Now, I can’t speak as to whether these people influence you but they have all had an impact on me.

My Top 10 DC Twitterers

So, to clarify, each of these people: 1) live/work in the Washington, DC area, and 2) have influenced me in some way via Twitter. In the spirit of yesterday’s #followfriday, the timing is perfect (sorta)! Here they are…

Rob Klause (@robklause), longtime digital guru and federal IT pro working at the highest levels of government. Rob first introduced me to Twitter back in March 2007. I’m also a big fan of @tonyaklause and food blogging sister @BigRedKitchen!

Jim Long (@newmediajim), NBC photojournalist. Jim is single handedly bridging the gap between old and new media. Usually the answer to, “Are you following @newmediajim?” is always, “Of course!” After all, 24,000 followers can’t be wrong!

Katie Harbath (@katieharbath), DCI Group online strategist, former Giuliani eCampaign and RNC staffer. I was sitting next to Katie at a conference once and learned more about the session from her Twitter feed analysis than I did from the actual speakers!

Michael Turk (@MichaelTurk), former Bush-Cheney, RNC and government staffer. If you aren’t learning anything from Turk on Twitter, then you just aren’t paying attention. In fact, on his blog KungFuQuip, he indicates that he was labeled a “nuclear followcost.”

Leslie Bradshaw (@LeslieBradshaw; formerly @Leslieann44), New Media Strategies, active member of the DC tech set. Leslie first popped up on my radar screen when she live tweeted the White House Correspondents’ dinner, as well as her various appearances on C-SPAN during Campaign 2008.

Mark Drapeau (@cheeky_geeky), government consultant, co-founder of Government 2.0 Club. I’ve never actually met Mark in person, but we’ve had several @ & DM conversations and spoken on the phone. Mark does a great job connecting the “Dot Gov” community and posting about issues I care about.

Liz Mair (@LizMair), Strategic Manager at New Media Strategies, former RNC Online Communications Director. Liz made news in June 2008 when she represented the McCain campaign in a Twitter debate vs. Mike Nelson of Georgetown representing Obama at the Personal Democracy Forum in NYC.

Shaun Dakin (@IsCool), founder of StopPoliticalCalls.org. Shaun is also the man behind @EndTheRoboCalls and someone that I credit for increasing the awareness and level of debate around this issue. If there is a new media event in town, Shaun is usually in the room.

Soren Dayton (@SorenDayton), another NMS staffer, blogger, co-founder of The Next Right, former McCain campaign. When I needed to borrow a book for the GWU grad class I was teaching last summer, I turned to Twitter. Soren saw my tweet, responded and I borrowed his copy just in time!

Shireen Mitchell (@digitalsista), speaker, author, founder and Executive Director of Digital Sisters/Sistas, Inc., a non-profit organization focused on using digital media and technology. Shireen and I met at a Media Future Now event last year and I’ve enjoyed keeping up with her via her tweets!

Honorable Mentions

Paul Rodriguez (@pjrodriguez), cable industry blogger and self described “pop culture media maven.” I officially met Paul at BlogWorld in Las Vegas last year and have been following his smart, witty and insightful tweets ever since.

John Czwartacki (@CZ), Verizon’s PolicyBlog editor. John was one of the first people that I followed on Twitter. He may not know it, but he helped me indirectly explain the value to my mom when she, a Verizon retiree, had questions about the looming potential strike last summer. I sent her inquiry to John via direct message and I had an answer back within the hour.

Jeremy Epstein (@jer979), author of “Igniting the Revolution” blog, entrepreneur, formerly with Microsoft. Jeremy’s perspective on digital marketing, including his “raving fan” concept, is spot on.

Shana Glickfield (@dcconcierge), DC blogger and PR pro. I met Shana via Twitter last year and have since seen her at a number new media events around town. Plus, her DC Concierge blog is a terrific resource for those visiting the Nation’s Capital.

Andrew Feinberg (@agfhome), scrappy Hill reporter, blogger. I spoke with Andrew after the Politics Online “White House 2.0” panel in March 2008. He was also the first to interview Rep. John Culberson (@johnculberson) about his use of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook during the “Let Our Congress Tweet” debate.

There Must Be Others!

Of course, as I mentioned, there are a number of names that probably could have been listed here but again – there’s a difference between people I know who are on Twitter versus those that actually influence me because of Twitter. There are also those that have had a significant impact on me who choose to “lock down” their Twitter account to maintain a smaller circle of influence. I decided not to include them either out of respect for their wishes to keep their tweets private.

Obviously, everyone’s list would be different but thanks to those who I have met over the past year via Twitter. You have made a difference and your tweets have not fallen on deaf screens (OK, not the best analogy, but you get the idea)!

Related

What Twitter Is… To Me… (Kung Fu Quip)

Twinfluence is About Community (Cheeky Fresh)

Who Really Are DC’s Top Twitterers? (mediabistro)

There’s More to Influence on Twitter Than Being Famous (Huffington Post)

Why is Team Obama Opting Out of Twitter? (The Bivings Group)

David Almacy’s Top DC influential Twitterers – #IsCool (Shaun Dakin)

Today, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide is releasing a white paper on digital healthcare titled, “Healthcare Communications in the Digital World: Mitigating the Risks in a Highly Regulated Environment.”

In conjunction with the paper, I will be moderating a live panel discussion this morning, Tuesday, February 24 at 9 AM EST at The Madison, 1177 15th Streeet, NW in Washington, DC. The event will also be available via live webcast.

The panel will focus on the online regulatory issues currently facing the healthcare industry, as well as the advances and the promise of Government 2.0. Participants include:

• Mark Gaydos, Sanofi-Aventis US Regulatory Affairs Marketed Products, Senior Director
• Sanjay J. Koyani, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Director, FDA Web Communications
• Christina Pearson, former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
• Jenny Moede, Waggener Edstrom, Healthcare
• David Almacy, Waggener Edstrom, Studio D (Moderator)

From the release:

Following the unprecedented use of social media throughout President Obama’s campaign, the new administration will bring a fresh perspective to digital regulations for healthcare. Companies will need to become educated on how new regulatory policies will affect their online communications. As the administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) begin to review existing policy and move to create new guidelines, now is the time for pharmaceutical and biotech companies to learn how to effectively engage their audiences online to stay ahead of the competition.

Those who are watching online and may wish to ask a question may do so via Twitter by using the hashtag: #wehealth. Looking forward to great event!

UPDATE

Watch on demand video of the panel discussion.

Download the PDF of the Waggener Edstrom digital healthcare whitepaper.

A friend of mine on Twitter @MelaniePhung sent me a few interview questions to answer and asked me to post here on CapitalGig. She’ll post hers on her site, All About Content. Enjoy!

THE QUESTIONS

1. How long have you been working in public relations? What attracted you to it?

I officially entered the public relations industry when I joined Waggener Edstrom Worldwide in May 2007. However, I have been working in the communications arena for the past 15 years including the Republican National Committee, Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, Washington Business Journal, C-SPAN, GovTech Solutions, U.S. Department of Education and most recently, the White House. I have always been fascinated by the power of communications, meaning the ability to effectively disseminate and consume information through valuable channels of influence. Whether it’s by word of mouth, print, radio, television, the Internet, or a convergence combo of all the above, methods are quickly evolving to keep pace with societal needs for 24-7 news and information. It is as exciting to watch as it is to participate.

2. In your opinion, what elements are essential to a good digital PR campaign?

All good PR campaigns begin with defining the business challenge first. Then, identifying target audiences and establishing monitoring processes and success measures assist in determining the best strategies and tactics that map to those objectives. The Internet should simply be part of that overall plan, woven through accordingly to augment message and reach. Basic elements should include SEO/SEM (keywords & tagging), cross platform sharing, blogger outreach, multimedia (audio, video, photos), online community building and social media engagement.

3. Whose blog do you read the most?

I read almost too many to mention but here are some of my favorite PR & social media thought leaders: Frank Shaw, Chris Brogan, Andy Beal and Avinash Kaushik.

4. How do you communicate the importance of new media strategies to your clients?

I usually begin by making the point that the Internet isn’t a panacea, but rather a tool that can assist in augmenting message, monitoring conversations and connecting key influencers and audiences in new ways. Some may be wary of the Web because it’s new, percieved as unproven, or pushes them outside their comfort level. The best way to allay their concerns is to provide real concrete examples, mapped to business objectives, that have produced successful results.

5. President-elect Obama’s social media campaign was credited for being the first of its kind. What’s your take on the role of new media and the blogosphere in Obama’s success?

Certainly, the Obama campaign understood the power of building online community. They used the Internet as an effective communications tool and, of course, to raise money. They also put the proper resources behind it with 95 Web staffers and almost $12M spent in two years for online efforts alone. That’s huge! Leveraging social media sites like Facebook (co-founder Chris Hughes joined the campaign) and Twitter helped connect his supporters but ultimately his election, in my opinion, was more a reflection of the promise of his candidacy rather than just his Web presence.

6. Please describe the biggest challenge you face in your current job.

Clearly, trends on the Internet move at a very rapid pace. It is very difficult to stay on top of the latest site or tool that pops up. Often, there’s a temptation to be wowed by a new site because it is “bright & shiny” but over time, it’s utlization will determine it’s value and market staying power. I think Twitter is a good example of that. When I first joined, I admit that I just didn’t get it – and many that I have spoken with about Twitter agree that they also initally felt the same way. Once I started to really use it, however, it has consistently demonstrated value to me in countless ways and although others have tried (Jaiku, Plurk, Pownce, Yammer), I keep coming home to tweet!

7. Do you have any advice for someone who is interested in working as a communications consultant in DC?

First, one must understand that even though Washington is a powerful world city, in many ways it’s also a small town community. So, I recommend getting out there, attend some Capitol Hill events, find others with like interests, join DC Facebook groups, follow DC folks on Twitter and explore all opportunities no matter how big or small they may seem. If just getting started, seek an internship at a PR agency or media outlet to get a foot in the door. To demonstrate knowledge of the digital space and it’s importance, start a blog and use it as way to connect with the DC set online.

8. If you could rank for any keyword phrase you don’t currently rank for, what would it be?

Hmmm, you mean besides “Nine-time Olympic Gold Medal Champion?” OK, seriously, let’s go with digital strategy expert. I personally think that it’s a little presumptious for anyone to call themselves an expert, but I certainly don’t mind if Google does it!

9. Assuming you had never gone into public relations, what would you be doing now professionally?

As a child, I dreamed of one day becoming either a dentist or a fireman. However, a couple cavities later and a fear of heights quickly dashed those hopes. Other than that, I probably would have become a stand-up comic or an international star of stage and screen. Ha!

10. Do you follow the Washington Nationals? Do you root for Teddy during the Presidents Races?

Believe it or not, I have never been to a Nationals game – I know, I know! I’m originally from Maryland and grew up during the height of Cal Ripken’s career, so naturally the Baltimore Orioles have always been my team. Go O’s! Plus, the Ripken family is from Aberdeen, Md. which is where my mom is from so I have always felt a little vicarious hometown connection. However, since I currently live very close to Mount Vernon, I have to root for the original George W!

Well that’s it! I hope you enjoyed reading this. A big thanks to @MelaniePhung for sending the questions for all to answer.

Thanks to everyone who participated. Please check out their sites and follow them on Twitter.

@almacy a Digital Strategy Expert
@melaniephung a DC SEO Strategist
@martinbowling a lover of Zima
@utahseopro a Utah SEO Consultant
@fairminder who offers Boston Website Design and SEO services
@cyandle a Google Adwords Professional
@melanienathan an Edmonton SEO specialist
@jackleblond a VP of Internet Strategy
@djpaisley a Digital Communications Strategist
@vinceblackham a Utah SEO specialist
@researchgoddess a Staffing Social Media Specialist
@monicawright a Maine SEO professional

Motrin ran into a bit of trouble with their new ad campaign this weekend. They did a nice job with the creative, the script is tight and the animation in the video itself is pretty well done but there was just one *minor* problem. Their message angered their primary target audience: Moms!

Basically, their campaign is centered around the premise that “wearing babies” (carrying i.e. BabyBjörn style) can be, well, a pain – in the neck, shoulders, lower back, etc.

Angry moms flocked to sound off via social media, including:

• Facebook: Babywearing isn’t painful. Boycott Motrin for saying it is. (Group is 487 and growing.)
• Twitter: #MotrinMoms
• Flickr: Baby-wearers Unite! Dear Motrin, you’re doing it wrong.
• YouTube: Anti Motrin Reply Re: Motrin Babywearing Ad #motrinmoms
• And, of course, the blogs.

The negative response has been overwhelming. An organized protest effort has emerged urging Motrin to take the ads off their website and put a stop to the print campaign. Many indicated that they went to Motrin’s website to email their thoughts and feedback. According to one blogger, a Motrin marketing VP (McNeil Consumer Healthcare) responded via email. I attempted to visit it, as well, but http://www.motrin.com wasn’t loading. Either they pulled the whole site down or massive traffic crashed their servers.

Now, before one jumps to the incorrect conclusion that the Internet is to blame for this backlash, let’s take a step back and not condemn the medium. Fundamentally, Motrin just missed the mark here and instead of phone calls and letter writing, consumers simply chose to voice their concerns online. Hopefully, Motrin will learn some valuable lessons from this and attempt to engage their critics in the same venue. There is an opportunity to remedy the situation by reaching out to key influencers in the “MomBlog” universe, build relationships, form focus groups and solicit their ideas to avoid future missteps.

In the meantime, I imagine that Motrin executives will require extra doses of their own product for the next few weeks.

Originally posted on WE’s Studio D blog, “Thinkers & Doers.”