Andrew Lark

Sophia Virginia Lark

Some days you are the luckiest person on Earth and today is one of those days for Kristen and I.

We're thrilled to announce the arrival of Sophia Virgina Lark - a beautiful little daughter weighing in at 8.5lbs. We're too giddy with joy to post more. Thanks to all our friends and family for the support and warmth you've shown us over the past months.

Both Kristen and Sophia are doing great.

Kiwi Gets Big Job At MSFT

New CFO a Kiwi...

From Matamata to Microsoft. Chris Liddell’s appointment to the number three job - chief financial officer - at Microsoft is a huge coup for the former head of Carter Holt Harvey and for New Zealand’s business image.

Apple... At It Again...

At what point does Apple realize that it's customer base is bigger than ever before and that we don't like this kind of behavior. We love you. Please be nice to other people. We don't like it when you wield the power we have given you this way:

John Wiley & Sons, a leading publisher of technology books, said Apple Computer has removed all its titles from the shelves of Apple stores in apparent retaliation for the upcoming publication of a biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs... The Merc

Steve Jobs has no problem with free speech. You are free to say whatever you want about him or Apple, and, if he is displeased, he is free to retaliate by whatever means his pique dictates... Good Morning Silicon Valley

For people who believe that any press is good press there is no better example than this of why you are, and have always been, wrong. Not only has Apple alienated loyal followers like me, but it's probably driven up sales (and at least awareness) of a book that they didn't want anyone to read.

Dan has more on this...

 

Transparency In Media Relations...

Steve has an interesting post on transparent interviews. This is something David and I have been chatting about for awhile.

Wouldn't it be great if not only communicators but also journalists posted all transcripts from interviews? And with the advent of Podcasting, just post the verbal if you don't have time to transcribe. So, no excuses. (And make them available via an RSS feed).

But, it's wrong to expect journalists to conform to live posting of the interview. In fact it's ludicrous to respond with "Mr. Reporter, send me your interview questions and I will post my responses on my blog." No matter how powerful you are, any journo worth their salt is simply going to tell you to take a hike. This kind of arrogance will only damage relations with the media and lead to a very polarized dialog. Neither of which is desirable. This response is probably the last resort of the pissed-off Exec or company.

The starting point is being clear up front that you reserve the right to also record the interview and post the transcript on publication of the story. And they reserve the right to do the same.

Media advantage comes from breaking stories and news and its only fair that they get to preserve that. But that doesn't mean the transcript can't be posted on publication of the story. And at that time, the interviewee gets the right to point to that transcript and question the reporting.

And now, rather than difficult calls with the media - and all the normal excuses - the interviewee and PR pro gets to correct it in public. I've heard so many excuses:- "My editor changed my story". "I didn't write that bit". "He might not have said specifically that, but that's what he was saying". "Let me look at my notes and get back to you". "I'm on deadline and can't find my notes right now - can't this wait". "Send a letter to the Ed if you have a problem with the story". "I'd be happy to print a correction - in 5pt type in the bottom left hand corner of page 9,000". "Bummer". "I've written plenty of good stories on you guys so get over it". What, you are going to complain every time I write something you don't like".

But be warned, more than often when I've questioned a quote I've gone back to a transcript, stepped back, and seen how the journalist got there. And discovered I was wrong. (Saul did this here). So, record those interviews and transcribe them where possible. But more importantly, make your point very succinctly and clearly. And make it again if you think it wasn't clear enough. Communicating is a tricky business. What is often thought of as a misquote can in reality be the result of trimming a 10 minute diatribe to a sentence. That's tough. Interviews definitely favor the expert communicator.

The most important outcome of the blooging between Saul of the NYTimes and John Batelle is that the conversation is taking place. Interviews were once very final events. Now they are conversations. Like Fred, I didn't read the NYT piece - I did read the conversation.

So while transparency in media relations is going to lead to lots of whingeing about journalistic tone and bias I'm willing to put up with that if it means more accurate reporting and more transparency. And more conversations.

News Blinks - Tues April 26

• Terrific piece over at CIO insight on the Rise of Social Networking.
• The BBC interviews Kevin Roberts on Lovemarks
• Blogs correct journalists via Rubel
• The future of news - from the Media Center:

It’s mobile, immediate, visual, interactive, participatory and trusted. Make way for a generation of storytellers who totally get it. This briefing summarizes key findings from Media, Technology and Society, a multi-disciplinary research project on the media landscape conducted for professionals engaged in strategies, research, thinking, education, policy and philanthropy related to the future of journalism and media.

• The Boston Globe on that GM thing
• Yosi Vardi speaks...

"20 million bloggers are not journalists, what are they? They want to fulfill a human desire of self-expression. ICQ was founded by four Israeli kids who wanted an indication for when their friends would enter a chat room. Initially they bet they might have 3k users, now approaching 400 million. ICQ 297M, Jesus 277M and Bible 250M mentions on MSN."

Open Kimono

The Microsoft thing debated internally for all to see as Scoble challenges the way the company backed off supporting some anti-discrimination legislation in Washington State. Here's his boss's boss response. Other employees are jumping mad.

First, this is certainly a change in corporate communications - at least for the companies willing to tolerate embrace blogging. It is incredibly transparent - I guess follows the maxim that companies with nothing to hide needn't fear transparency. If you are a stakeholder and you really can't get a fix on Microsoft's position via the media, then here it is. Once we waited for C/Net to publish another 'leaked' Microsoft memo. Now we get them real-time via blogs.

It's also a shift in employee communications. Here we have the management/employee 'food-chain' exchanging views for everyone to see. No closed-door conversations. No gossip about what was said and what wasn't. No time-lag between information distribution and eyeballs (total aside but a major issue for many companies is the hours it takes for email to reach desktops). Everyone is informed. Everyone gets to participate.

Second, it skirts an entire media cycle. Once upon a time we would have read about this exchange in the NYTimes or in The Reg. Now it's here for all interested parties to see - unfolding in real-time. A journalist once said to me that transparency isn't good for journalism. Maybe this points to that being true. If nothing it kills the leaked memo scoop so skillfully used by PR pros to manipulate the media generate coverage.

Third, and if nothing else, this certainly positions Microsoft as a company willing to engage in dialog. But it's more than that - this is an indicator of a new kind of company. A company engaged in conversations and transparency. You could even ask the question - How participatory is your company?

Microsoft might not be perfect - by any stretch - but this does signal a different kind of company.

Schwartz On The Red Couch

Frankly this piece is so much better than BusinessWeek's somewhat pathetic reporting on the Blogosphere. It gets at why Participatory Communications is turning the way businesses communicate on its head. It gets at how blogging builds dialog with and within communities.

Sun was fast to embrace blogging... Shel covers the blogosphere with comments from Noel 'The Terrier' Hartzel and Schwartz.

Noel's quote gets at the new era of Participatory Communications which is upon us:

Sun's blogging explosion was embraced without ambivalence by the corporate communications people. "Most PR teams would cringe, but ours didn't. We have a transparent culture and competitors like HP do not. Our PR team is thinking about how to use technology and culture as a corporate weapon and blogging does both. Hartzell added, "Sun is a company whose success is based on building communities. So a key function of the communications team is to be an information gatherer, analyzer and counselor on participating in these communities. - Noel

“It’s kerosene on the fire. The Participation Age has been on the Net since email. Moving from there to blogging is like moving from carrier pigeon to phone. The emergence of blogs means we have passed beyond early crude tools and it results in fundamental changes on how everything relates. While a journalist is writing about my blog, I’m blogging about his journalism. This is change.” - Schwartz.

From Schwartz’ perspective, blogging is not an appendage to Sun’s marketing communications strategy, it is central to it. He believes that the 1000 Sun bloggers contribution hasn’t just moved the needle for the company, “they’ve moved the whole damned compass. The perception of Sun as a faithful and authentic tech company is now very strong. What blogs have done has authenticated the Sun brand more than a billion dollar ad campaign could have done. I care more about the ink you get from developer community than any other coverage. Sun has experienced a sea change in their perception of us and that has come from blogs. Everyone blogging at Sun is verifying that we possess a culture of tenacity and authenticity. “ - The Red Couch

Arianna's Blog...

Great idea from Arianna - but one that is likely to incense the blog purists:

Get ready for the next level in the blogosphere.

Arianna Huffington, the columnist and onetime candidate for governor of California, is about to move blogging from the realm of the anonymous individual to the realm of the celebrity collective.

She has lined up more than 250 of what she calls "the most creative minds" in the country to write a group blog that will range over topics from politics and entertainment to sports and religion. It is essentially a nonstop virtual talk show that will be part of a Web site that will also serve up breaking news around the clock. It is to be introduced May 9. - New York Times, April 25.

Nothing new though. Take a look at Corante. Walt is on the right track:

"This gives me a chance to sound off with a few words or a long editorial," said Mr. Cronkite, 88, the longtime "CBS Evening News" anchorman. "It's a medium that is new and interesting, and I thought I'd have some fun."

I'm surprised more corporates aren't pursuing the group blog. One group blog on a topic might be more powerful in terms of attracting readers and driving dialog than a multitude of smaller blogs - which often wander or aren't powerful enough to ignite conversations.

Darwin on blogs....

In stark contract to BW... read on...

News Blinks Friday April 22

• America lags in broadband - and based on my last trip downunder, NZ is in a far worse position. "In 2001-04, Mr Bleha notes, America fell from fourth to 13th place in global rankings of broadband internet usage" - The Economist.
• Mossberg on blogging. Consumer focused.
• The Future of Jounralism - The Economist on the Murdoch keynote. “I believe too many of us editors and reporters are out of touch with our readers,” Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corporation, one of the world's largest media companies, told the American Society of Newspaper Editors last week.

Another dangerous cliché is to consider bloggers intrinsically parasitic on (and thus, ultimately, no threat to) the traditional news business. True, many thrive on debunking, contradicting or analysing stories that originate in the old media. In this sense, the blogosphere is, so far, mostly an expanded op-ed medium. But there is nothing to suggest that bloggers cannot also do original reporting. Glenn Reynolds, whose political blog, Instapundit.com, counts 250,000 readers on a good day, often includes eyewitness accounts from people in Afghanistan or Shanghai, whom he considers “correspondents” in the original sense of the word. - The Economist, April 29