Pinterest Primer

If you think people spend too much time on Facebook, then watch out for Pinterest. The “new kid” on the social networking block has women glued to their computers and companies scrambling to figure out how they can use Pinterest to push their products.

Pinterest 101

Pinterest is simply an online virtual bulletin board where users can “pin” images they find while surfing the Internet to themed “pinboards.” Members can also see what other users pin and “repin” to their own boards. Instead of bookmarking a ton of individual Web pages, users can now collect items that interest them into one central location. 

Arts and crafts, home décor, fashion and food are the most popular items to pin. More than 60 percent of pinboards deal with those four topics, according to a study released this week by RJ Metrics. As you may have deduced from the pinning trends, Pinterest is extremely popular among women, and the site is growing by leaps and bounds. In September 2011, there were 2 million Pinterest users, and that numbers has grown to close to 20 million users today.  

How are Companies Using Pinterest?

Consumer brands with products that can be represented visually have the best opportunities on Pinterest. Companies can create accounts and pin their products in hopes that other users will repin the items. Chobani promotes its yogurt by pinning recipes using its product, Real Simple magazine pins links to its various articles and OPI pins pictures of its latest nail polish shades. Companies that don’t have visual products, or products that don’t appeal to the predominantly female audience, shouldn’t invest time and energy in Pinterest right now. The popular topics may change when the site expands beyond an invite-only membership.

Is Pinning Breaking the Law?

The only problem with “pinning” is that many of the images users upload are copyrighted, and pinning them could be considered copyright infringement. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act shields the company from copyright infringement on photos posted by its users, but protection doesn’t extend to its members. Pinterest’s terms of service indicate that users are responsible for any copyright claims arising from images that they upload. The fair use defense is the most likely recourse for any users facing claims of copyright infringement. The best thing for users to do is take the time to comment on each image they pin, since the fair use doctrine protects people who express views on an original work. It’ll be interesting to see how these legal issues all play out.

~ Nicole

 

The Social Media War - Why They Fight

There’s a world war going on right now, and most people aren’t even aware of it. That’s because no shots are being fired, aircraft bombing cities or politicians making speeches about it.  This war is taking place in the trenches of social media.

Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and a host of other sites are in a battle. Unlike countries that are at war seeking to secure more territory, in this war the prize is you and me. Or perhaps a more accurate description is that we are the commodity that is being fought over. Yes, just like corn, soybeans and pork bellies, we are the commodity that is being sought after to be sold to the highest bidders.

We are sort of like those pigs that are now pork bellies who weeks earlier were thinking about how nice it was for someone to provide them with all the food they could possibility ever want, and all they had to do was eat and sleep. Lucky for us, being slaughtered isn’t in our future. We are much more valuable alive.

Businesses want to know what you are buying, where you are going and even what you are thinking, and are willing to pay big bucks for access to that information.  Fortunately for them, billions of people around the world are more than happy to provide that information free of charge. (Just imagine if we could all charge and actually receive a penny for every post on our social media sites.)

So the next time you log into your favorite social media site, here are a couple of facts you might want to keep in mind:

• Businesses are the customer for the site, while you are just a commodity.
• Any changes made to the site are to benefit the site’s customers and not you.
• All the information you post is available to anyone in the world who is willing to pay for it.

Keeping these three facts in mind might change how you use your social media accounts. But then again, I’m sure if the pigs knew where they were headed, they would have just kept eating anyway.

Ken

PR Lesson of the Week: Hashtags and Shares Became the Voice for Women’s Health

Monday started out as a normal weekday for many, but on Tuesday, January 31, a sudden buzz started to take place after the announcement that Susan G. Komen for the Cure decided to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. And boy, did it hit a nerve, setting off a flurry of comments on their Facebook page, website and Twitter account. A response they didn’t expect.

It’s been a while since I have seen such a rallying cry to “right what is wrong.” Through the use of social media, overwhelming pressure was put on the “Cure Foundation” culminating with them reversing their decision to withhold funding for Planned Parenthood. It’s hard to ignore the power of social media,and when used properly, it can create results.

The New York Times reports: “The Komen issue on Twitter generated a steady drumbeat of chatter, with mentions of the issue averaging 3,000 an hour, with a huge spike of more than 15,000 messages posted after news of the reversal broke. More than half the conversation was driven by women, with the loudest share coming from California and New York, which accounted for 25 percent of all chatter, followed by Texas at 9 percent. Twitter users in Washington, D.C., and Florida each contributed 5 percent of the conversation.”

By the end of the week, Planned Parenthood had raised $3 million from supporters they didn’t know they had. This more than covered the funding for breast cancer screening programs that the “Cure Foundation” had planned to cut. It was interesting to watch it unfold and it brought to my attention how quickly people can mobilize when moved by the right cause. This one tipped the scales for Planned Parenthood, but there’s a lesson to be learned for both parties. 

One - Crisis 101: Always anticipate negative reactions and plan accordingly for your response.

Two - There’s Power in Numbers: Never underestimate the power of many voices, no matter how small, with social media. It can be a wave that can turn into a tsunami. 

Three – Say You’re Sorry. Acknowledge where the mistake happened and have an open communication with your audience. At this point, you can start to rebuild your reputation.

Crisis happens with any organizations. What sets others apart is how it is managed. Have you experienced some crisis at your organization? How did you handle it?

~Muriel

The Internet -- Can't Live Without It

Imagine being at work, and there is no email. Horrors! Then imagine no Internet service at all. More horrors! Well, that’s what happened to us last week. We changed Internet providers from Comcast to AT&T Uverse thinking it would be as simple as having an installation tech come out to put in a new router and then push a switch – voila . . . all done. But that’s not what happened.

It took three visits from AT&T service techs to finally get our Internet up and running properly. During that time, we were without access to the Internet and, more importantly, our email for more than a day – not a good thing for those of us in the communications field. But fortunately the old “third time’s a charm” adage brought us luck, and we could once more communicate with the outside world via the Internet.

This whole experience got me to reflecting on the “good old days” before the Internet. How in the world did we ever get anything done in a timely manner when we had to rely solely on the telephone, fax and snail mail? For research, we had to contact our friendly librarian and ask for assistance or actually go to the library. And there was no scanning and emailing of documents, no webinars, no podcasts, no YouTube. Over the last 15 years, the Internet has obviously made a big difference in how we do business, and its influence keeps expanding at a rapid rate. I can’t even imagine what we have in store for us in the years to come.

Sharron

The challenge of writing recipes

 An article in the Washington Post food section this week about recipe testing took me back to the 70s when I was food editor at the Detroit Free Press.

Very few newspapers then had test kitchens. (Not many have them today either.) I don't know how many food editors actually cooked but I was committed to trying every recipe before printing it. 

I inherited the Free Press test kitchen, an old, institutional-green painted room with an odd collection of antiquated utensils and a few beat-up pans. It was nothing like the photo of the Saveur magazine test kitchen above. 

I remember the first time I actually cooked something. People came from all over. Most reporters didn't even know the Freep had a test kitchen. That's how often it had been used.  

The Post article says that a story out of Chile this past December "was enough to make a publisher’s blood turn colder than a liquid nitrogen milkshake." A newspaper there, La Tercera, was convicted of printing a recipe that caused 13 people to get burned when frying churros in hot oil. They had to pay the victims  more than $160,000 in damages. When handing down its decision, the Chilean Supreme Court said, according to published accounts, that La Tercera had failed to fully test the recipe, causing the rolls of dough to become, essentially, projectile objects.

I agree that it's important for reporters to check all facts and that includes recipes.But even well-tested recipes don't necessarily guarantee success. I remember one cookie recipe that generated a lot of complaints. Surprisingly, the recipe with only three ingredients -- butter, sugar and flour -- had been tested several times and always turned out perfectly. For me, that is.

What could be the problem? A cube of butter is a cube of butter after all. It had to be the way people measured the flour and sugar. To investigate the problem, I collected measuring cups from several dozen neighbors and weighed one cup of sugar to see if all of the measuring devices held the same amount. What an unpleasant surprise! Only a few of the 1-cup measuring cups actually held that amount. 

But even if people weighed out their ingredients instead of using cups, there will still be problems. When I was on tour promoting my first cookbook, Five in Ten: Five Ingredients in 10 Minutes or Less, I prepared a lot of recipes with ingredients that had been assembled for me and found out that what is "finely chopped" to one person is "pulverized" to another. Recently I went to coffee at a friend's house. She served chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. When I asked for the recipe, she said it was mine. Funny thing is her cookies didn't look like any that I've ever seen.

Developing recipes is not an easy job. 

~ Paula

Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions for the PR pro:

Chances are you’ve said something like “Wow, where did the year go?” Stop it. It’s gone. Move on. Here’s a list of ideas to improve YOU (me) in 2012.

10. Go to bed

You’re not smart when you’re tired. Go to bed.

9. Drink less coffee

You didn’t go to bed so you’re compensating with coffee? Stop shaking, it’s hard to type!

8. Eat less cake

That’s not lunch, that’s a coma.

7. Get influential media coverage

Oprah’s show is over (for now), you should be fine.

6. Understand what an email is saying in less than 3 reads

Sometimes it’s not your fault. But it is.

5. Write more lists

People love lists.

4. Get good at writing and stuff

Well said.

3. Wait 10 minutes before checking email, Facebook and Twitter

Chances are nothing happened. And if it did, it can wait 10 minutes.

2. Read more articles

Knowledge is power.

1. Read more fiction, listen to more music and look at more art

This is where writing skills, intellect and innovative ideas truly come from, not Google analytics.

Happy New Year!

-Matt