Revere Blog: The Blog of Revere Strategy Group, LLC

The news broke today that the Korean Central News Agency is using Twitter. Maybe they saw how Twitter was being used in Iran and decided to get ahead of the game.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – It’s best known as the place to tell millions what you had for breakfast. But dispatches from North Korea’s state news agency have begun popping up on Twitter.

A feed under the name “kcna_dprk”—acronyms of Pyongyang’s state Korean Central News Agency and the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—provides links to hundreds of the agency’s English-language stories. The background of the Twitter page for the feed shows the North’s red-and-blue national flag.

Interesting article in yesterday’s Boston Globe about how social media is being used now that so many people – statistics show 1 of every 3 Americans are now using Facebook – are using social networks.

The Boston Globe’s article quotes author Clay Shirky:

We are witnessing the death of cyberspace, the death of the idea that the Internet or digital networks are an alternative to real life,” says Clay Shirky, author of “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations,” which examines the cultural implications of online social networks.Once everyone you know is online, the Internet becomes an augmentation of real life rather than a replacement for it.

The article also gives several examples of how people are using social networks to strengthen face to face relationships.

“Yet as Facebook marks its fifth anniversary and Twitter-mania spreads, it is becoming clear that many users employ social media to spend more time with friends, not less.”

While users of these networks quickly see the benefits of using social networks to keep up to date on their friends lives, businesses and associations are just beginning utilize social networks to communicate and build relationships with customers.

“Online contact seems to deepen offline contact. When it comes to social media, the emphasis is on the social, not the media.”

The Center for American Progress held a conference this week on how the Government is using Web 2.0. The Washington Post had a good article on the event.

The panelists discussed several obstacles (many of which corporations and associations also face) to implementing social media activities including: small social media staffs, the fear of making mistakes and – perhaps the biggest challenge – how to allow individuals to act on the behalf of the organization.

But should an individual working within the government be allowed to participate in the conversation as an individual, or should they remain a faceless staffer, Swire asked. O’Reilly said allowing people to reveal their identities and personalities online is key.

“If individuals in government cannot act as individuals, government will never be successful,” he said. “This is all about individuals connecting with individuals.”

Despite the challenges, the Government seems to be having some success. Alec Ross, a senior adviser on innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, shared how the Dept. of State posted a video of President Obama speaking directly to the Pakastani people. And they also set up shortcodes to collect donations to the refugee relief fund – as task that went from idea to implementation in only 4 days.

We are entering a “messy, exciting time with a lot of potential,” said O’Reilly. “Let’s figure out how to use this opportunity to build a better country.”

Dominos is learning the hard way why it is important for companies to constantly monitor their brand on social media networks – and respond quickly to threats to brand reputation.  Corporations are quickly learning the implications of an old political addage: “Speed Kills.”

As the New York Times reported today:

When two Domino’s Pizza employees filmed a prank in the restaurant’s kitchen, they decided to post it online. In a few days, thanks to the power of social media, they ended up with felony charges, more than a million disgusted viewers, and a major company facing a public relations crisis.

Unfortunately for Dominos, this video was allowed to grow virally for days with no response from the company.

By Wednesday afternoon, the video had been viewed more than a million times on YouTube. References to it were in five of the 12 results on the first page of Google search for “Dominos,” and discussions about Domino’s had spread throughout Twitter.

And once the company found out about the video, they were hesitant to respond immediately.

As the company learned about the video on Tuesday, Mr. McIntyre said, executives decided not to respond aggressively, hoping the controversy would quiet down. “What we missed was the perpetual mushroom effect of viral sensations,” he said.

The lesson to be learned is to consistently monitor your brand and when you detect a threat you need to respond immediately and appropriately.  As Dominos found out, it does not always take a company mistake to create a PR crisis.

“We got blindsided by two idiots with a video camera and an awful idea,” said a Domino’s spokesman, Tim McIntyre, who added that the company was preparing a civil lawsuit.

- as a Dominos spokesperson said in the NYT “We got blindsided by two idiots with a video camera and an awful idea.”