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September 30, 2005
Media c’est moi
I often talk about how today’s consumers are avid consumers of media: They gobble up television, radio, web-based content (music, downloads, podcasts, blogs, wikis, etc.) and even print with the ferocious appetite of a teenage boy on a growth spurt.
This is significant to internal communication for two reasons: 1) Employees’ unrelenting media consumption leads to feeling full—overloaded and tired—which affects their capacity for company communication; and 2) Employees expect the same high levels of entertainment, timeliness, relevance, and interaction from internal “media” as they get from external media.
Most communicators I talk to are taken aback by the implications of this phenomenon: How can internal communication possibly meet the expectations of info-overloaded, media-savvy employees, given the limitations of a shoestring budget, overtaxed staff, outdated technology and nervous lawyers?
I’ve got lots of suggestions (send me an e-mail at alison.davis@davisandco.com) but that’s not the purpose of today’s entry. The purpose is to freak you out even more, because yesterday I realized that the problem of media mania is even more acute than I thought. People are not only consuming media, they’re living it. Media has become something you participate in, not just a spectator sport. We’re not just watching the story; we’re part of the story. Media c'est moi.
The revelation came when reading a wonderful online column, “Online Spin,” by Shelly Palmer. I urge you to read it for yourself—even though you have to register (it’s free), but I’ll also give you the gist of what Mr. Palmer was talking about.
Turns out he was on a JetBlue flight from Long Beach, Calif., to New York, with a whole planeful of people who had lived through the traumatic JetBlue Flight 292 from Burbank, which had to make an emergency landing at LAX because of trouble with the plane’s landing gear.
Rather than being anxious, these passengers were “living large and loving life,” writes Mr. Palmer. They had been treated royally by JetBlue (luxury hotels and limousines), but more importantly, they had enjoyed 15 minutes of fame—interviewed on morning shows and by network news.
However, Mr. Palmer writes, the part that fascinated him the most was “the DirectTV factor.” JetBlue offers satellite television at every seat, and on Flight 292, “almost everyone on the plane was tuned into a news channel that was covering their emerging situation.”
As Mr. Palmer learned by talking to the plane’s passengers, “"for several hours as they circled Los Angeles, they watched and listened to reporters and pundits ponder their fate.
“As far as I can tell, this is the first time in history that people who were participants in an emerging, evolving news story (that could have ended in their own death) were able to watch their fate unfold, live, with expert commentary on several different channels.”
And, as he writes, “there is no way that anyone in the media business can let this bizarre combination of life, media, technology and art . . . go by without comment.”
We’re losing the separation between media and self—the media has become us (reality shows) and we’ve become media (Hurricane Katrina and JetBlue). I’ll leave the existential issues aside for now and leave you with this: In a world where employees are part of external media, does their relationship—their connection—with internal communication have the same intimacy?
If not, what needs to change?
Posted by Alison Davis at 11:07 AM
September 23, 2005
This week’s therapy session
Is writing a web log therapeutic? A new AOL survey finds that nearly 50% of bloggers do it because creating a web log serves as self-therapy; one third of bloggers write frequently about self-help and self-esteem.
By contrast, only 16% of bloggers regard what they’re doing as journalism, and just 12% blog to break news or share gossip.
Blogging as therapy? ‘That doesn’t apply to me,’ I thought when I read the AOL survey results. ‘Writing this blog is too much work to be therapeutic.’
But then I realized that, despite the pressure of regularly writing blog entries, there is definitely an element of letting it all out. I have vented a few times when someone did something dumb or evil (names changed to protect the guilty) and I have expressed opinions without feeling the need to be politic. So often in life we have to be politically correct—how wonderfully freeing not to be.
I think Bill Schreiner, vice president, AOL Community, sums up the psychology behind “blogging as therapy” quite nicely:
"Bloggers aren’t necessarily wannabe journalists . . . They’re writing for themselves, and their blogs serve as therapeutic outlet for their thoughts. . . When it comes to sharing blogs and reading other people’s blogs, we like to connect with people about their lives, and find common ground."
Of course, all this made me think not only about my own blogging experiences, but what goes on in employee communication. The blogging workshop was the most popular session at the 2005 IABC Conference, but most of the conversation was around creating blogs for CEOs or other senior managers. Although CEOs may well need therapy, they’re the last people in the organization who need an outlet for their opinions—in many cases, the whole darn communication program is an outlet for their opinions!
Wouldn’t it be cool to use the therapeutic power of blogs (and the dialogue capacity of the web in general) to give employees a chance to express their views? If we could give the lawyers some Valium, and all the other nervous executives other calming pharmaceutical products, it would be fabulous to let employees freely ask questions, share opinions, offer suggestions, even voice complaints.
That would not only be therapeutic, it would create a productive communication climate. But that’s just my opinion. Okay, I’m done venting now—my therapy hour is up.
Posted by Alison Davis at 04:08 PM
September 16, 2005
The lowly poster has great potential
The most underappreciated vehicle in employee communication is the bulletin board. A close second is the poster.
Posters are generally so far down on communicators’ priority list, in fact, that most posters are produced by other functions: HR. Marketing. Safety.
The posters that result are often ineffective: lacking a strong visual element, full or words, trying to convey too much content, not compelling. And employees, who always know good communication when they see it, respond appropriately. Here are some employee comments from a recent focus group study we conducted in a manufacturing facility:
“I never look at posters. They just don’t seem relevant to me.”
“Posters here are terrible. You’d have to stand there and read them—who has time for that?”
“I glance at the posters on the way to the cafeteria, but most of them seem like they’re just up so that someone can check something off their list—you know, ‘I put it on a poster, so I communicated it.’ But if no one actually pays attention, what’s the point?”
This is a missed opportunity because posters are such a great way to convey concepts to people where they pause and/or congregate: In the cafeteria. Waiting outside the credit union. Standing in the elevator.
Posters are especially valuable for employees who don’t have easy electronic access. But, as Hollywood film studios (think movie posters), advertisers (billboards) and retailers (visual displays) know, posters work for anyone—after all, we have to look at something, so it might as well be attractive, interesting and persuasive.
It’s time for us communicators to take posters seriously—and take them back from the non-communicators who are using them inappropriately. Start by thinking about what makes posters effective: a single focus, a compelling image, and a single strong theme.
For inspiration, look not within your own company, but at world-class posters. There’s a great Internet article about posters through history at www.artlex.com/ArtLex/p/poster.html; and for a “greatest hits” of movie posters over the last several years, go to www.impawards.com
Posters can be powerful. They just need your attention.
Posted by Alison Davis at 10:31 AM
September 09, 2005
Hurricane Katrina and communication
I confess that I’ve been trying to write something about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath even since the extent of the devastation began to come to light, but everything I attempted seemed either duplicative or inadequate.
But a little time and distance has helped me gain perspective on the aspect of Katrina that’s the most directly relevant to our work as communicators. That aspect is this: In an era where communication seems so reliable, ubiquitous and immediate, an extraordinary event (such as a natural disaster or man-made attack) can demonstrate how fragile communication really is.
Consider this: Although millions of us could watch events unfold almost in real time on television or on the Web, people on the scene—even rescue workers—were completely cut off from all forms of communication.
Or this: Companies seeking to determine whether their employees were safe had to wait days to get the information they needed.
Or this: Although with a few days satellite photos could be accessed to see whether a certain block or house was damaged, rescue workers still had to make house-to-house searches to find survivors. There was simply no other way to reach people in need than by traveling to where they were waiting.
As Diane Mermigas wrote in The Hollywood Reporter, “At a time where we take for granted cellular telephone conversations with others half a world away, live television and radio news coverage, instant messaging and Internet postings, it is difficult to fathom anyone, anywhere in the U.S. not being connected.”
But even everyday communication is not ubiquitous. Most companies have employees who do not have Internet access at work—or at home. Many Americans still don’t have cellphones. Some, on limited and fixed incomes, don’t even have long-distance phone service.
As Ms. Mermigas wrote, “The nightmare ordeal that unfolded in the devastated areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama was a grim reminder of the frailty of human beings and their advanced digital technology.”
Technology can be amazing, but communication is not guaranteed. We need to keep that in mind going forward.
Posted by Alison Davis at 03:12 PM