Dustin Plett

This is an idea that’s been rolling around my head for the last 24 hours, spurred by talks internally at ICUC, encouraged by some politically minded friends and egged on by continuous tweets from the Middle East calling for political reform. 

Maybe it’s too big of an idea for a tumblr post but — why wouldn’t government build a private network giving each elected official a community with an account for each voting member inside their constituency? Each constituency and individual part of an overall network connecting all voters to see and understand the issues and interests of other constituencies and voters across the country.

Put aside the issue of technology limitations (not that limitations exists), security issues (not that one exists), and the issue of the government trying to coordinate this (good chance this would be an issue). Put aside fears of corruption, of new world orders, and of government apathy and entertain this thought with me.

It would make information sharing incredibly efficient, vertically and horizontally. It would make acknowledging concerns of the voting public unavoidable, and it would allow everyone to provide feedback on every decision.

Imagine, if through a secure and verifiable network everybody had the ability to vote on every issue. No matter how trivial the issue was to me it would undoubtedly be very important to someone, somewhere, and they would have input - the exact person who should have input.

If you think about the system in place now the only reason we have “representatives” to represent us is because it was impossible to give everyone a seat in parliament. Social media has the power right now to give everyone a seat.

Someone suggested this could lead to the end of politicians. Although at times this seems like a great idea I think that’s a stretch for the same reason you can’t automate every aspect of social media - it’s not social without people socializing. 

Some people suggested this would lead to chaos as uninformed people made bad decisions. Is this any different than the current situation - in all seriousness? I think if everyone could participate in making a bad decision, we the public, would learn from our mistakes much quicker as opposed to blaming those on the hill who feel a world away.

Imagine protesting. A group of 10,000 people united against a policy without having to leave their homes, united under a “group page” with a clearly outlined point of view and one cohesive message. Impossible to ignore, bringing light to a situation many others had possibly never considered or were unaware of. 

Imagine if a governments around the world had similar systems and we could interact with the people our trade agreements and policies affected? What would be different?

Utopia or dystopia? Anarchy or true democracy? Scary? Inspiring? If nothing other than an interesting thought it’s worth thinking about.

Why agencies need to listen before they speak

Working in business development means you’re on the front lines of your company. It means you’re responsible for generating revenue, growing your company and personal brand, and ensuring the market place is aware of and understands your offering. But, it also means you’re the person who gets to hear “no” or the many variations of it.

I reach out to people all day, every day. The reason I reach out is generally the same – I see an opportunity to help a potential client do something better and more efficiently. If I didn’t genuinely believe this, I couldn’t do my job. That’s why the “no” is so frustrating – because I “know”, with 100 per cent certainty, that when I pick up the phone to call I can help. As I talk or after the initial meeting it sometimes becomes clear we will never work together but for that moment before I hear that voice on the other end I’m confident we can.

Working in the social media space has some distinct challenges. Working on the very cutting edge of social media has some very, very distinct challenges. We are not the latest technology or the latest service, we have been around for nearly a decade, but the services we provide are best paired with a mature social media strategy or an agency with a firm grasp on how to use social media.

That’s why recently when I spoke to a public relations agency and they said that working together was likely not an option, I pressed them for an explanation. Obviously I believed the opposite was true. I had looked at their website, studied their offering, and knowing we have worked with hundreds of other shops like theirs I wanted to understand where they were coming from.

“We don’t believe social media is relevant to our clients,” is what I was told.

I had my answer. Although I saw potential they did not and that’s too bad. But is this a negative response from a sales point of view? It could be looked at as that. But I prefer to look at it as a huge help. I now know that I will never spend another minute pursuing an audience with this agency’s team. If this is still their thinking in the first month of 2011 I predict they won’t be around to see the first month of 2012. And if they are, they still won’t be working in social media.

The greatest answer I hear is of course “yes”. Recently I was in a meeting and my contact at the agency described his position but then added it was also his job to stay abreast of new services, tools and technologies relevant to his industry. What an idea. Along with reading the latest blogs, tech articles, and following industry leaders, he took the time to sit down with vendors and truly understand their company to ensure he wasn’t missing anything valuable.

Imagine next time a salesman, business development woman, or a peddler calls on your office, you have someone designated to hear them out. Evaluate their offering. And arrange a follow up if necessary. The efficiency here would be incredible.

You could eliminate the repeat callers by saying, “we are not interested, I have spoke with the parties relevant to your product and although I can understand why you called we are in agreement it is not a fit,” thus saving everyone’s time. A good salesman will take this as a hint that he is wasting his breath here.

You could actually encourage solicitation of vendors and benefit your organization by being more informed on what is out there, even on the peripherals of your business. A pitch is also a great way to network and meet new people who are working in your industry. Most vendors are more than willing to share with you who they are working with. This can provide insight into what your competitors or industry leaders are doing.

And lastly, you could avoid having to say ridiculous things like the agency above who felt social media had no benefit for their clients. I imagine this agency has turned down every vendor from day one and completely missed the changes happening around them.

Social media is changing fast. Any company having any success in this space is thriving in a torrent that has drowned companies use to the small streams of 10 years ago. Nearly everyone I’ve met in this space has been knowledgeable and well read on current trends, if they’re not, I likely don’t hear from them again. Listen to vendors, don’t be afraid of them. They are the nimble operations driving change by opening the doors to new possibilities for large companies and agencies. And trust me, even if you do say no at the end of it all, it won’t be the first time they’ve heard it.

I just spoke to a public relations agency about coming in and presenting our services. The response I got was they don’t feel social media is relevant to their clients. I have a very vivid imagination and I’ve been trying to imagine a situation where this could be true. With that said, I’m not a PR professional so I might be missing something.

So my question to the PR folks is, could this statement be true or was that just a cowards no to my request to stop by? If it could be true, please, enlighten me. 

My favourite business card of 2010 comes from an ad agency with the best name I’ve come across.

I met with Wexley School for Girls during a trip to Seattle earlier this year. I’ve kept this card on my desk ever since. It certainly appeals to me, what do you think?

Check out their website here: http://www.wexley.com/ (Warning: there is music, sort of)

To those who work in social media few things are as hotly debated as who is and who is not a social media expert. Just to clear things up, I’m a social media expert and here is how you can be too.

When the first journaling tools that would eventually become social media starting popping up in the mid 90’s I was still chasing girls around the swings at summer camp. Back then, if you were involved in journaling, or had a basic understanding of the programing behind these platforms, or both, you were almost unarguably a social media expert (despite this phrase not being used at time).

Fast forward to 2010. In less than 15 years social media has exploded into an industry with many facets and almost endless applications. Compare it to the auto industry on steroids, think of journaling as the Ford Model T and think of how the auto industry has evolved.

If you worked on the Model T and could have somehow cheated death and remained working at Ford in the same position do you think by 2010 you could call yourself an expert? Some would argue that your time spent in the industry would qualify you as an expert, and they would be right, but they would have to be a little more precise than that.

I would say a title like “Automotive Expert - Assembly Line” would likely be more accurate. But it could be debated that you only “worked” on the assembly line, for only one company, so your knowledge would be limited. It could also be argued that the assembly line expert title should go to it’s inventor.

Just as the auto industry has grown into a beast, so has social media. An automotive expert does not exist. Even mechanics these days, a tiny part of the greater industry, specialize in makes and in high end cars they specialize in models. And that’s just mechanical maintenance, they won’t touch any other part of that car requiring repairs such as body work or upholstery. 

Then consider others who will work on that car from design, to manufacturing, to marketing, to sales. And that’s just one model, of one make, in an industry made up of hundreds of makes and thousands of models from around the globe. Not to mention everyone who is needed just to run the company from CEOs to accountants and lawyers and even secretaries.

The title of automotive expert seems pretty fare fetched despite giving the best 110 years of your life to Ford Motor Company. Just as the automotive expert does not exist, nor should a social media expert without a little more detail about what they specialize in. I said I was a social media expert, and I am when it comes to human powered moderation and monitoring solutions for social media.

And that has value. Specializing in something always makes you sought after. How many mechanics are there in the world? Right, lots. How many mechanics certified to work on a Tesla Roadster? Right, likely less than 10. Who makes more money?

Don’t be afraid to let people know what you specialize in, it adds credibility to your name and it lets people know what you do. Here are some titles that I think should be being used:

Social Media Expert - Personal Brand Building
Social Media Expert - Social Networks
Social Media Expert - Social Networks, Asia
Social Media Expert - Public Relations
Social Media Expert - Public Relations, Consumer Brands
Social Media Expert - Public Relations, Pharmaceutical 
Social Media Expert - Internal Communication
Social Media Expert - Community Management
Social Media Expert - Advertising
Social Media Expert - Advertising, Campaigns
Social Media Expert - Monitoring
Social Media Expert - Monitoring, Strategic

This is a quick list to help make my point. I think social media experts could begin to complement each other much better if we’re honest about what our expertise really is. What do you specialize in? 

Last weekend my girlfriend, Michelle, flew in from Winnipeg. Since I moved to Toronto this is how we’ve been doing things, I get to see her every six to eight weeks. This was the first time seeing her since coming home from Kilimanjaro.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland has always been a place we’ve wanted to visit. I thought this would be the perfect weekend for this trip. I love road trips, and since selling my truck road trips have become rare.

I rented a car on Friday and picked Michelle up from the airport (YYZ) shortly after seven. We drove down to Niagara Falls for supper, this is about an hour and a half drive from the airport with no traffic. After supper we followed the Niagara Parkway along the water down to the Peace Bridge. This is a beautiful drive and if you have time it’s much more relaxing then the freeway. You drive past some incredible properties with some amazing houses as this is some of the most sought after real estate in the area. It was a clear night and moon reflecting off the water lite the area up around us just enough to give us a hint of what this drive would look like at midday.

We crossed over into the US via the Peace Bridge shortly after 11. We cruised along the 190 through Buffalo without hardly slowing down, turned South on the 90 and got a hotel on the far South side of Buffalo. This drive took a little more than an hour but would have been less had we not taken the Parkway and just crossed over into the US at Niagara Falls.

We got up in the morning and after a stop at Denny’s we were back on Interstate 90 heading South West along Lake Erie. About 90 minutes later we left New York state and entered Pennsylvania. We turned off the freeway about 30 minutes into Pennsylvania and drove along Ridge Road, a road running parallel to Interstate 90 but with a lot better view of the countryside and the small towns along the lake.

In total with this route we were only in Pennsylvania for maybe an hour before entering Ohio. From the state line to Cleveland is about an hour and a half and you can stay on the freeway right up to the Rock and Roll hall of Fame which sits on the bank of the Lake Erie.

We arrived at the hall of fame shortly after noon. The hours of operation are 10:30am to 5:30 and we had been told we would need all this time - and possibly more - to get through all the exhibits. 

In this video I have a few shots inside the hall of fame. Cameras and recording devices are strictly prohibited but I couldn’t resist. I broke down at the Rolling Stone magazine and the Run DMC exhibits. There are many cool things to check out at the hall of fame and way too much to explain in detail. But, if I took one thing away from the visit it was a better understanding that these people, these legends, were people just like everyone else.

What drove this home was seeing life size busts of the Rolling Stones showcasing clothes they actually wore on tour and realizing, “hey, I’m taller than Mick Jagger.” Or seeing the piano that John Lennon had in his house and seeing the wax drippings from candles he had resting on top. And seeing some extremely rare and candid footage of Elvis sowing him as he was and not his stage or film personality opened my eyes to the person behind the name.

The premier exhibit right now is called From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen. This is a great collection of artifacts from his career but neither Michelle or I have ever considered ourselves huge fans of The Boss so although this was interesting to see, we did move through this section quickly. It was because of this we were able to get through the entire hall of fame in five hours. Even allowing us enough time to watch the hour long film chronicling all inductees of the last 25 years since the hall of fame opened.

After leaving we went down to the lakes edge and touched the water. This was the last of the five great lakes I needed to touch. Mission accomplished! As an aside, earlier this year I had touched Lake Huron along the trans Canada highway in Northern Ontario. But after looking more closely at a map I realized it wasn’t really Lake Huron and instead a bay. I felt like this success would still have an astrix beside it until I touched Lake Huron proper. 

After the hall of fame we grabbed supper downtown. I knew the Cavaliers were playing and although I was a few months late for LeBron - and they were playing the perennial bottom feeders Sacramento Kings - I still love watching basketball and since tickets were only $20 each it was an easy sell to Michelle.

The game ended up having a great finish which is really all you can hope for in regular season NBA basketball. It came down to Cleveland needing to make a three pointer with only a few seconds left. They didn’t make it but it made for an exciting finish - I was happy.

We left Cleveland after the game and headed West towards Toledo where we stayed for night. This was another two hour drive but it was nice to be back on the road. 

The next morning we got up and decided we would drive into Detroit for breakfast. We crossed into Michigan and soon realized downtown Detriot was not the place to go for breakfast. We ended up at the MGM Grand Detroit where we knew we could get good food.

Last Sunday the Washington Redskins were playing the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. I would have liked to go but I had already pushed my luck with the Cavaliers game so although I suggested we take this in I didn’t press the issue when Michelle suggested we not.

We walked around downtown, got some shots of the landmarks and headed North to 8 Mile Road. If you’re a fan of Eminem this is a no brainer, if not, Google 8 Mile Road. 

I got some shots of the street, ollied a manhole, and drove from the Edsel Ford Freeway to Telegraph Road and then North to Interstate 696.

While on 8 Mile Road we turned off the main route and toured the neighborhoods that seemed to be the most effected by the recession. It was worse than I expected. I saw whole blocks of houses boarded up. I saw apartment block communities, four buildings, 20 stories tall completely vacant with windows removed, I’m assuming because they have value. It was sad and although I wanted to capture it I did not feel right about exploiting this situation and did not film what I saw. It is a sad situation for the people of Detroit and my heart went out to the families that have suffered in the recent years. It was a somber experience but something I wanted to see first hand and I’m glad I did. 

We did not cross back into Canada in Detroit. Instead we headed North on the 94 to Port Huron and crossed over into Sarnia and Canada - about a 50 minute drive. Once across we went down to the water and touched Lake Huron. Now, the Great Lake mission was truly complete!

We continued up the 402 to London for supper, about an hour drive, and then on to Toronto, another two hours past London. 

The video above is a few highlights from the trip. I went with Katy Perry Teenage Dream because I must have heard this song 25 times on this trip and in my mind it will always be associated with this trip. I do understand the irony in visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and 8 Mile Road and then subjecting you to Katy Perry, but it works. Enjoy.