Public Relations Insights

The 80/20 Rule

2009-10-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

In other words, 20% of the effort/investment leads to 80% of the results. For example:
- 20% of the people do 80% of the work;
- 20% of your activities generate 80% of your results;
- 20% of your clients generate 80% of your revenues.

If we assume that this rule applies to the time, energy and resources we invest in our businesses and our marketing communication efforts, we should think through its implications.

Consider this: if 20% of our effort generates 80% of our results, that means the other 80% of our effort is only generating 20% of our results.

This begs the question: are we wasting 80% of our time and energy? Granted, some of the things on which we spend that 80% of our time and energy are things that must be done. However, many of the things on which we spend our time and energy are likely not that important; we simply do them because we've always done them, and we might be better off to eliminate them from our routine.

As an example, if you are in five business networking groups, and 80% of your revenues are being generated by clients from one of those groups, you may be well advised to drop the other four and focus your efforts on the one that is most productive. Doing so could exponentially multiply your productivity.

In the case of things which take up time and are part of the "unproductive 80%" but still have to be done, we should consider whether we would be better off to delegate or outsource those items and spend our time and energy on the 20% that yields results.

Eight Years Later: Reflecting on 9/11

2009-09-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

by Frank Williams

On the one hand, it is difficult to believe that eight years have passed since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. On the other hand, we seem remarkably far removed from the horrific events of that now infamous day.

On 9/11, Al Qaeda struck at the heart and soul of our nation. We were attacked by an enemy that reviles our freedom and wants to kill us (there is no point in mincing words on this issue). For the first time in many years, Americans felt as though our way of life — our freedom, this grand, unprecedented, unparalleled experiment known as the United States — was threatened by an enemy who had now proven they could hit us where it hurts.

America rallied in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. We were united in our desire to defend our nation against future terrorist attacks, which I have no doubt were already in the works. We were united in our desire to help those impacted by the attacks. We were united as one people, under one flag. When it came to defending our nation and our freedom — which I believe to be the pre-eminent role of the Federal government — partisan differences went by the wayside.

Three weeks after the 9/11 attacks, I had the opportunity to travel to New York City on an outreach trip with a group affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ. We saw the still-smoking rubble of Ground Zero from a couple of blocks away. We spoke with countless people who had lost friends, family members and co-workers — including a woman who had been to more than 30 funerals in three weeks. We saw the strain and sadness in the eyes of the firefighters and policemen. We saw the many posters people had posted of missing loved ones in the hope that they might somehow be found alive and well. The things I saw and heard during this trip made a permanent impression on me. The experience was one for which I am grateful and that I hope to never repeat.

Eight years later, I fear that the lessons of 9/11 are fading. I fear that we have become complacent regarding the defense of our nation. I fear that we have become so numb that we now fail to see our enemies for what they are: enemies. This is evidenced by the fact that the phrase “Global War on Terror” is out and “Overseas Contingency Operation” is in.

As 21st Century Americans, we are the benefactors of those who fought and died to win our independence more than 200 years ago. We are the heirs of those who fought and died on the beaches of Normandy and in the Pacific. They have left us a legacy of freedom; we are now called to be good stewards of that freedom, to protect it and preserve it for future generations. Freedom is not free, and we can never take it for granted. We knew this all too well in the days following 9/11; let us never forget the lessons of that day.

Below is an article I wrote shortly after my trip to New York City following 9/11 entitled “An Unimaginable Experience in New York City: October 4-7, 2001” (written October 11, 2001)

I recently had the opportunity to spend several days in New York City with an organization called Priority Associates, which is affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ. Our primary mission was to distribute a magazine entitled Fallen, but not Forgotten and to reach out to the residents of New York whose lives were blindsided by the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Late on the evening of Wednesday, October 4th eight of us departed from Clayton, North Carolina in a 15 passenger van and headed north on I-95. We arrived in New York City early on the morning of Thursday, October 5th and immediately went to work distributing Priority Associates’ Fallen, But Not Forgotten magazine. The magazine is an outreach document which discusses the aftermath of the terrorist attacks from a Christian perspective. On Sunday, October the 7th we left New York and returned to Raleigh, thus ending an experience which I will never forget.

A few words and phrases come to mind when I attempt to describe my experience in New York City. Unimaginable. Incomprehensible. Tragically sad. Awe-inspiring. Hopeful.

I would like to begin by saying that the images we see on television cannot do justice to the damage we witnessed. Further, I don’t believe what we were able to see does justice to the full scope of the damage and devastation inflicted as a result of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. The damage is incomprehensible. A combined 220 stories of steel and glass came crashing down, compacting into a dense, white-hot pile of rubble. According to an NYPD officer with whom I spoke, the temperature inside the pile of rubble was estimated to be nearly 1200 degrees at the time of our visit — three weeks after the attacks. The amount of dust in the air was unbelievable. When we returned to our hotel at night, our white washcloths turned partially brown or black as a result of the dust in the air. The rubble and ruins we were able to see were unbelievable… they truly looked like a war zone from a World War II movie.

The sights were almost surreal, but the dust and smells were all too real. The sight of a clothing store in which the contents were still covered in dust was hard to believe. The trucks taking load after load of rubble out of the ground zero area, the sight of National Guard and military personnel in the streets, the ruins of the Twin Towers, the view of damaged buildings near the remnants of the towers, the parking garage containing the dust-covered cars of missing people — all of these things truly drove home the unimaginable magnitude and scope of what happened on September 11th.

This trip drove home the human toll of the terrorist attacks as well.

One member of our group struck up a conversation with a lady while we were riding the subway, only to find out that the lady had worked on the 86th floor of one of the towers. By the grace of God she was down in the lobby when the plane hit, but over 30 of her co-workers were not as fortunate. She has been going to one or two funerals per day over the course of the past few weeks. To put this into perspective, she has very likely been to more funerals in the past month than I have attended in my entire life.

Everywhere we went we saw pictures of people who were missing. Family members were still clinging to any shred of hope that their missing loved ones might still somehow be alive. The sight of the memorial wall in Grand Central Station was particularly moving. This wall, which was basically an island in one of the main halls at the station, contained pictures of scores of missing people, along with descriptions of them and who to call if they were found. What the people of New York are experiencing is unimaginable.

We had the chance to talk with a number of NYPD officers. These brave men and women lost many co-workers in the terrorist attacks, yet they had little time to mourn. Their jobs called them to duty in these most difficult of times. I could see the strain on their faces. Other members of our group who had the chance to speak with members of the fire department said much the same.

The terrorist attacks also took a major emotional toll on New Yorkers who lost no friends or family members as a result of the attacks. Many of the people we met at ground zero are long-time New York City residents. For a significant number, this was the first time they had been able to make themselves visit the site. Many of them no longer felt safe in their city. Another lady, who had lived in New York for many years, told us that she basically watched the Twin Towers being built from her apartment terrace 30 years ago. She equated the loss of the towers to the loss of two children, saying “I watched them grow up and now they’re gone.” Whether right or wrong, the Twin Towers were a major part of the city’s identity, and as they crumbled so did the feeling of security many New York residents possessed.

The scene in New York City is indeed a tragic one. It helped awaken me to what is really important in life. It drove home the point that any day could be my last, and that we should take nothing in this life for granted.

There is, however, a ray of sunshine in the dark cloud that is the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, and that ray of sunshine gives me reason to be hopeful. The people of New York — the people of America, for that matter — are more open to God than at any time in my life. The positive reception we received in during our time was nothing short of surprising. The number of people who would read the entire Priority Associates magazine and then come back and ask for additional copies was equally uplifting. In addition, the number of people who would initially say “No!” when we offered them a magazine, and who would then stop, turn around, and come back and ask for a copy was breathtaking. It was as though they heard a voice that told them that they needed to read this publication. Finally, we saw very few of the Fallen, but not Forgotten magazines in the trash or on the ground. People were keeping them and reading them. At last check, I believe Priority Associates has distributed approximately 1,000,000 of these magazines since the attacks.

Another silver lining in the cloud is the spirit of servanthood I witnessed among the people in New York. Everyone there seems to want to do something to help. Everywhere you turned you saw flags displayed. Everywhere you turned you saw someone who was trying to do something to help others.

These two rays of sunshine give me hope that this tragic situation will result in something positive for our country. The spiritual renewal and the patriotic unity I have witnessed are unprecedented in my lifetime. These attacks, which were intended to divide our country and break our spirit, have had the opposite effect. It is my prayer that these two rays of sunshine will continue to shine brightly over the dark cloud that still lingers in the aftermath of the attacks, and that the lives we touched will be forever changed.

This was a trip I will never forget. It is an experience for which I am grateful, and one which I hope I never have the opportunity to repeat. May God bless America and protect us from such future attacks.

Pioneer Strategies celebrates eight years in business

2009-09-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

LELAND, NC – Pioneer Strategies, a public relations agency that does business in southeastern North Carolina and the Raleigh-Durham area, recently celebrated eight years in business. Since its inception in August 2001, the firm has provided public relations counsel and services to more than 70 small businesses, non-profit organizations, political campaigns and other organizations throughout North Carolina.

“We are excited to reach this important milestone, especially in light of current economic conditions,” says Frank Williams, president and founder of Pioneer Strategies. “In challenging times such as these, businesses and other organizations need strong, focused marketing programs to ensure that their efforts hit the mark. We look forward to continuing to work with our clients to help them fight through the headwind of this recession.”

Pioneer Strategies’ work has been recognized with several awards. The agency won a Silver Award at the 2006 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Excellence in Communication banquet, earning recognition in the open publications category for State Auditor Les Merritt’s 2005 Christmas Card. The firm also teamed up with Fountainhead Technologies, a Raleigh-based Web development firm, to win a 2005 MarCom Creative Award for the Town of Leland’s Web site.

Pioneer Strategies is a public relations agency that provides businesses, associations and other organizations with strategic public relations counsel and communication services. Pioneer's services and expertise include strategic communication planning, media relations, campaign planning, executive public relations counsel, community relations, special event planning, copywriting and speechwriting. For more information, visit www.pioneerstrategies.com or call 910-371-3408.

Pioneering Quotes

2009-08-17T07:28:00.000-07:00

"Develop the winning edge; small differences in your performance can lead to large differences in your results."
- Brian Tracy

"Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities; integrity, intelligence, and energy. But if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you."
- Warren Buffett

If Your Press Release Doesn't Stand Out, It is Dead On Arrival

2009-08-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I received a press release sent to one of the online publications I manage. The release stated that leaders of an organization recently met with a Member of Congress to introduce themselves and their organization. The release also included a list of other upcoming meetings as well as instructions for anyone who wanted to support its activities.

Critical Mistakes: This sounds straight-forward enough -- but the organization made several critical mistakes with its press release:

The organization's name was listed as an acronym throughout the release. The full name of the organization was never spelled out. I had never heard of the organization or the person who sent us the release.
Nothing in the release explained the organization's mission or purpose. After reading the release, I had no idea WHY they met with a Member of Congress. The same release which stated that the organization's leaders introduced the group to a Member of Congress failed to introduce it to editors and reporters.
Other than invoking the name of a Member of Congress -- who happens to represent a district 200 miles away from our publication's coverage area -- nothing in the release made it newsworthy, especially given that I have never heard of the organization and knew nothing about its mission.

The press release did include a link to a Web site where I'm certain I could have obtained more information -- but nothing in the release motivated me to click on that link. If you want a reporter to take the next step to click on a link to your Web site, your release has to give them a reason to do so. Further, if the headline and introductory paragraph fail to capture the editor's attention, they will likely never make it to the portion of the release which lists your Web site.

The bottom line: if your press release doesn't get an editor or writer's attention, it is dead on arrival. Many editors and reporters receive hundreds of press releases in a given day. If they don't know you and are unfamiliar with your organization, your release had better stand out from the crowd or they are likely to discard it as lacking newsworthiness.

Social Media and Your Business: A Small Leak Will Sink a Great Ship

2009-07-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship."

This principle applies in many areas outside of our finances. From a public relations perspective, a seemingly innocuous statement made or action taken without proper forethought can become a major problem. This is especially true in the rapid-fire world of Twitter and Facebook.

This week, I was made aware of a situation which bears this point out. A person in a position of prominence posted an item on their Facebook page which generated a significant amount of discussion. Unfortunately, one of the other people participating in the discussion posted a comment which included a racist statement. The person who started the discussion posted what was in essence a "You Tell 'Em" response -- a response I believe they posted without having thoroughly read the comment to which they were responding. The person's knee-jerk response to the comment blew up in their face, resulting in a negative news article which branded them as a racist.

The moral of the story: be careful what you post on Facebook, Twitter, blogs or any other social media site. If you are responding to something, make sure you have actually read what you are responding to. If you have to think twice, don't post it. If it could easily be taken out of context or distorted, don't post it. Once you post it, it's out there -- and Google has a very long memory.

Pioneering Quotes - Opportunity

2009-07-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

"I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one."
- Mark Twain

"Opportunity is often difficult to recognize; we usually expect it to beckon us with beepers and billboards."
- William Arthur Ward

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."
- Helen Keller

Press Releases: Details Matter

2009-06-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

Those who know me know that I am involved in a variety of civic and political organizations. In one of those groups I am working to help the leaders learn how to write and distribute their own press releases. During this process I have been reminded of the importance of attention to detail when working in this area.

A few key details to which you should pay attention include:

The subject line. If you are distributing your press releases via e-mail (which you should be), the subject line must get the editor's attention. If not, they may never open it. In one of the groups in which I am involved, the person who distributed our most recently release simply put the name of the organization in the subject line, with no other information. A busy editor who receives hundreds of press releases each day might never open that e-mail or see the press release.
Targeting. Make sure you send your release to the right reporter or editor.
Formatting. Send your press release as plain text in the body of the e-mail (not as an attachment), with little or no special formatting. As someone who receives press releases for several Web sites I manage, I cannot tell you how important this is. If a press release contains lots of special formatting, one of the first things I do is remove all of that formatting and convert it to plain text. If there is so much formatting that the release is difficult to edit, it had better be newsworthy or it will never see the light of day.
Specifics: Include the basic information (who, what, when, where, why and how) related to whatever your release is announcing. In the case of the press release mentioned above, it was intended to announce an upcoming event. The person distributing it followed a template which included all of the specifics on the event. As an example, if you are announcing an event, always include the full street address of the location. Do not assume that reporters or others know where the venue is located, no matter how well known it may be.
Press Contact: Always include the name and contact information of a person reporters can contact with questions. Make sure that person can actually answer reporters' questions if they receive such a call, and make sure they are available to do so.
Send Yourself a Test E-Mail: Send the press release to yourself before you send it to your list. Triple-check it for formatting errors, special characters which mysteriously appear, etc. In the press release referenced above, the contact e-mail address for the organization came through with strange formatting when it was distributed.

This is by no means an exhaustive list; these are simply a few things that have jumped out at me as I have worked with the volunteer organizations in which I am involved.

Marketing: The Power of the Internet

2009-06-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

Today I spoke to the Lower Cape Fear DOVIA (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies) chapter on on Leveraging the Internet to Promote Your Organization. As with any group, some members of the audience were more Internet-savvy than others. Consequently, I felt it appropriate to share some statistics and concepts which underscore the increasing power and importance of the Internet.

Consider the following:

- According to a June 3 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, Internet use among American adults has tripled over the past ten years.

- Facebook recently surpassed 200 million subscribers. This is astounding when you consider the fact that only four countries have populations exceeding 200 million (based on recent estimates by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs – Population Division).

- Twitter surpassed both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in terms of unique Web site visits in April of 2009.

- According to an August 2007 survey by Rasmussen Reports, a majority of Americans under 40 cite the Internet as the best source for news and information.

- Nearly everyone I know uses Google or another Internet search engine when they need to look up a business; very few use the Yellow Pages.

- If I want to find out about an organization, I try to find their Web site. If I cannot find them online, they may as well not exist.

In short, the Internet has radically changed the way we market, socialize and conduct business. This trend will only continue.

This leaves most businesspeople who have not yet embraced the Internet as a marketing tool with a choice: Embrace and leverage the Internet as a central component of their marketing efforts, or be left behind by those who do.

Quote: Edward R. Murrow on Communication

2009-05-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

"The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it."
- Edward R. Murrow

Classic McDonald's McCafe Commercial

2009-05-12T18:37:00.000-07:00

A Few Thoughts on Twitter as a Marketing Tool

2009-05-04T12:38:00.001-07:00

More and more people are using Twitter as a tool to promote their business or organization.

If you utilize it properly, Twitter can be an effective marketing tool. If not, you may do more harm than good.

While I am still relatively new to Twitter, I do have a few observations on what Twitter users should and should not do in terms of promoting their businesses:

Twitter users choose whom they will "follow" based on whether the person's Twitter posts (a.k.a. "tweets") are interesting, relevant and valuable.
With this in mind, your tweets (Twitter posts) should offer something of value to your followers.
When I say "offer something of value", I mean information that is valuable -- i.e. marketing advice, financial advice, etc.
When I say "offer something of value", I do NOT mean telling everyone how your organization is the best thing since sliced bread.
For example: yesterday I received a Twitter reply from a company I had never heard of telling me that their flood wall solutions were supported by Senators and FEMA and that hurricane season was coming soon.
The company's reply had absolutely nothing to do with the post to which they replied.
Today, I received a virtually identical reply from the same company. When I clicked on their profile, I discovered that they had sent the same reply to CNN, Rush Limbaugh, Larry King, Oprah, Katie Couric, The Ellen Show, Whole Foods and a long list of others (famous as well as not-so-famous).
In a nutshell, this company was using the "reply" mechanism to spam anyone and everyone on Twitter.
A better approach would have been for them to follow people whose attention they want to get. If those people reciprocate, then they will see the company's posts.
In terms of the content of the posts, the company would have been better served to offer information and tips that people can use. That advice and information would have enabled the company to establish credibility by adding value -- and to do it without giving away the store.

Press Releases: More things NOT to do

2009-05-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have published a series of entries on things NOT to do when dealing with the media or distributing press releases. A couple of additional entries:

1. Do not write press releases in first person. A press release should read like a NEWS article, not a letter or marketing brochure. Do not say things like "we" or "us" in the body of the press release; save those for quotes attributed to an individual. For example: your press release should say "ABC company announced today...", not "We announced today...". Additionally, avoid saying "ABC company is pleased to announce...."; stick to "ABC Company announces..." or "ABC Company announced...".

2. Avoid the use of unnecessary adjectives or descriptive phrases in the body of the press release. A good rule of thumb is to stick to facts in the body of the press release and only "spin" in a quote attributed to someone. If I receive a press release which reads "ABC Company today announced a wonderful, first-class event which does this and that," I immediately remove "wonderful, first-class." Why? If a media outlet includes those in the body of their news article, then the outlet is the one saying the event is "wonderful, first-class." Those are matters of opinion, not statements of fact, and including them could be construed as an editorial statement in favor of the event. However, if the president of ABC Company is quoted as saying the event is "wonderful, first-class", then it may be included.

The bottom line: The more your release reads like a news article, the easier you make the editor's job. The easier you make the editor's job, the more likely you are to obtain coverage (provided, of course, that your story is newsworthy).

Media Relations -- two more things NOT to do:

2009-04-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Media Relations -- two more things NOT to do:

- Do not send a press release with a subject line full of typos. Such an e-mail came to the press address for one of the Web sites I manage today. The subject line began (typos replicated exactly as they appeared in the e-mail): "I am ivviting my hewest local newspapers to publicise..." (I have deleted the latter portion of the subject line to protect the identity of the sender). Needless to say, this did not help the sender's credibility, especially given that I have never heard of them or their organization.

- Do not send something that is so unclear an editor cannot get the point. I have scanned the aforementioned e-mail several times, yet I still have no clue what the point of it was.

Media Relations: A Couple of Things NOT To Do

2009-04-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

In addition to managing Pioneer Strategies, I also manage a couple of online publications. In that capacity I am on the receiving end of press releases -- an experience which has been an eye opener. Based on that experience, last year I wrote a couple of blog entries outlining a few things NOT to do in terms of media relations and distributing press releases.

Today I will relay a couple of additional things not to do:

1. Do not rely solely on BusinessWire, PRNewsWire or other press release distribution services. Last week, I contacted an area bank and asked them to send their press releases to one of the sites I manage. Their response: "Our releases are distributed through BusinessWire. We do not have an in-house media list." My response: "Then I cannot offer you any coverage." If someone wants you to send your press releases directly to them, do it!! This is not meant to imply that you should not use BusinessWire or PRNewsWire; they are excellent services. However, you should also send your releases directly to specific reporters or editors who request them. Failure or unwillingness to do so is self-defeating. Referring back to the situation I mentioned above: several other banks gladly added me to their press list. I am covering them, but am not covering the one who does not maintain an in-house press list.

2. Understand that you have to get the attention of the reporter/editor if you want coverage. Some time ago, I served on a media relations panel which included editors from several noteworthy publications. Every one of them described the sheer volume of press releases and e-mails they receive each day. One of them indicated that he receives upwards of 500 releases a day!! Given that fact, if you want to obtain coverage you must present your release and make your pitch in a way that gets the attention of the reporter or editor. Sending an e-mail with a subject that simply says "press release" won't do the job. Neither will embedding the information in a newsletter and expecting the reporter to dig through and find it. Nor will posting the information on your Web site and expecting the reporter to find it. There is an exception to this general rule: if you have established yourself as a credible source of newsworthy information, the fact that the information comes from you will catch the editor's eye. However, if you develop a reputation for sending out informaton that is poorly written, irrelevant or lacking in newsworthiness, you run the risk of being viewed as a "press release spammer." The bottom line: if it's not BIG news, you had better present it in such a way that it catches the reporter's eye.

Quote: Marketing is about Education

2009-04-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

"No matter what your product is, you are ultimately in the education business. Your customers need to be constantly educated about the many advantages of doing business with you, trained to use your products more effectively, and taught how to make never-ending improvement in their lives."
- Robert G. Allen
Co-author of The One Minute Millionaire and Cracking the Millionaire Code with Mark Victor Hansen

Pioneering Quotes

2009-04-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."
- Steven Covey
(Credit to my friend Bob Watral, who sent the above quote out to his list this morning.)

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
- Beverly Sills

Great Quote on Marketing

2009-04-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

I found this quote on The Andrus Group's Web site:

"Authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders."
- Philip Kotler

Pioneering Quotes - NCAA Championship Edition

2009-04-06T09:40:00.001-07:00

Pioneering Quotes

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."
- Michael Jordan

"Everybody on a championship team doesn't get publicity, but everyone can say he's a champion."
- Magic Johnson

"Championships are won while the stands are still empty."
- Unknown

Pioneering Quotes - March Madness 2009 Edition

2009-03-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team."
- George Raveling

"My responsibility is getting all my players playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back."
- Author Unknown

"The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot."
- Bill Russell

Facebook responds to user feedback

2009-03-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

Last week I posted this entry: The New "New Coke" -- Will Facebook Heed its Users' Feedback?

It appears that Facebook is listening after all. The following was posted on Facebook's blog last night:

Responding to Your Feedback

by Christopher Cox

Since we launched Facebook's home page design, we've received thousands of e-mails, Wall posts and comments from you along with direct feedback from all of our friends and family. If you've already given us feedback, thank you. Hearing what you have to say, whether criticism or praise, helps us build a product that serves you better.

Whenever we build something new or tweak something old, our motivation is the same: to help you share with the people you care about and find out what's happening with them. Before we launch any new product, it first must pass a process of design, development and testing with a more limited user audience. If those results are satisfactory, we then release it for all of you to use. We know that no amount of testing is as valuable as what you have to say. For this reason, we will always look to you, our users, to tell us what is working and what isn't so we can continually make improvements.

Here are the top four things we've been hearing from all of you about the changes, and the areas where we're focusing on improvements immediately and over the next several weeks.

Add more control and relevance in the stream
One of the great parts of Facebook is the ability to share and consume different types of content, such as photos, videos and notes, all in one place. We've heard from you that you want even more variety and control in your stream, and for it to update automatically. Some specific improvements we're making are:

Live updating: One of the most common requests is the ability to see your stream update automatically. We will be adding the ability to turn on auto updating in the near future so you no longer need to refresh the page.
Photo tags: In order to surface more photos you might like to see, we'll be adding photos tagged of your friends to the stream. This will happen in the coming weeks.
More choices for applications: We've heard feedback that there is a lot of application content appearing in the stream. We will be giving you tools to control and reduce application content that your friends share into your stream.

Currently, the content filters on the left screen allow you to select the types of content you would like to see. Over time, we'll continue to give you more control over what's in your main stream and how you consume it. We have the eventual goal of building filters that summarize this activity so you can see a more condensed view of what's been going on. We're also thinking about ways of filtering out some of the Wall posts and content directed to specific people to focus more on posts shared with everyone.

See more Highlights
Right now, we're making improvements to the Highlights section on the right-hand side of your home page. Highlights will update more frequently and will show you more content throughout the day to mirror more closely the content that the earlier News Feed provided.

Find things more easily
It's important that you are able to find everything you're interested in, or we're not succeeding in giving you the right level of control. We're currently working on a few design changes to help you find these things more easily, such as:

Moving requests to the top of the right column: Friend requests and event invites will be more prominent.
Easier way to create a Friends List filter: From the filters on the left, you will be able to create a new list of friends with which to filter the stream.

Application bookmarks continue to live in the toolbar at the bottom left of the page. You can quickly access your groups, events and other favorite applications from the bottom bar on any page.

Old vs. New
Since Facebook started in 2004, we've been through several redesigns. Each was built with the intention of making it easier to share and understand what's going on with the people you care about. Redesigns are generally hard to manage, in part because change is always hard and in part because we may miss improvements that any individual user may like to see. We keep in mind that there are 175 million people on Facebook, and everyone uses the site differently. We listen to feedback from our users, data on how the site is used, and our intuitions as builders and designers to create the product that provides the best experience across the board.

With the recent home page changes, we're trying to present the right balance between what's happening right now and what's interesting over a longer period of time. We realize that both are important and getting them both right is crucial for the product to work. In the last few weeks, you've seen us shift the main emphasis towards real-time conversations and updates as the entry point to Facebook. We're working hard to make this stream more valuable, and also to build out the richness and relevance of the Highlights section.

Your feedback means a lot, and we sort through everything we receive. The best way to give us direct feedback—to ensure that we can consolidate it—is through the feedback link on the home page tour. In the meantime, thanks for your support.

Chris Cox is Facebook's Director of Product.

ADDED 11:01 EDT on March 25:
A different perspective from Daniel Ionescu of PC World: Facebook Caves to User Gripes Over Redesign

Pioneering Quotes - March 23, 2009 Edition

2009-03-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

"When we're in a peak, we make a ton of money, and as soon as we make a ton of money, we're desperately looking for a way to spend it. And we diversify into areas that, frankly, we don't know how to run very well."
- Bill Ford

"Here is the prime condition of success: Concentrate your energy, thought and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun on one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it."
- Andrew Carnegie

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The New "New Coke" -- Will Facebook Heed its Users' Feedback?

2009-03-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, one of my clients asked me to conduct a focus group to learn how he could more effectively market his products and services. I pulled together a group of six or seven people who represented the heart of his target market. We spent several hours together, during which the group expressed strong opinions regarding how this client could improve the value he delivered to clients and strengthen his market position.

When I presented the findings to the client, he said "I think they're wrong." Because the client already had his mind made up, he rationalized his way into thinking that what his clients said they wanted wasn't what they really wanted. Rather than heeding his clients' feedback and listening to the research results, he stuck his head in the sand and refused to budge.

I believe the founders of Facebook may be doing the same thing as we speak. A week or so ago, Facebook released a new home page layout. A few days later Mark Zuckerberg, one of the founders of Facebook, posted the following statement on his Facebook page: "Lots of good feedback on the new streams home page. Thanks for all the encouragement. If you're not into it, try it out for a few more days and tell us."

That doesn't quite match what I have observed. Since the "new-and-improved" Facebook layout was introduced just a week or two ago, several groups and petitions offering users the chance to express their disapproval with the new layout have popped up on Facebook. One such group already has more than 177,000 members. Another has nearly 260,000.

Perhaps most telling is a third-party application which allows subscribers to share their opinion on the new layout by giving it a thumbs-up ("yes") or thumbs-down ("no"). The results, as of today: just over 1,026,000 have voted "No" on the new layout, while over 63,600 have voted "Yes." That is a landslide by any definition. Given these results, and the volume of public comments in opposition to the new layout, I have to wonder if Zuckerberg is hearing what he wants to hear.

This is Facebook's second release of a new home page layout in a few months. Just as users got used to the first new layout, Facebook introduced another one. The majority of Facebook users I have heard converse about this issue think the new layout is hard to use, and they don't like the fact that the site keeps changing. Consistency breeds confidence, and unexpected changes can generate frustration and confusion.

From a public relations perspective, I believe this new layout represents a failure on the part of Facebook to understand what its users want and what they value. If research was done on this issue, I believe it was faulty at best. Finally, I believe the way the new layout was unveiled represents a significant failure by Facebook to communicate with its most significant public. People were only vaguely aware that a change was happening, and they feel like it was imposed on them. Granted, people have the option to stop using Facebook if they don't like it -- but I seriously doubt if that is what the company wants.

I use Facebook regularly and think it is a great concept. With that being said, I believe a huge number of Facebook's users see this new layout as a step in the wrong direction. One person I asked about it said, "I just don't enjoy it" with the new layout.

In my view, this is the kind of public relations mistake that can open a door for a competitor. I believe Facebook would be wise to send this new layout down the same path as "New Coke."

Article: The Coming Facebook-Twitter Collision

2009-03-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

Forget about rivalries with MySpace and LinkedIn. Facebook's real competition is coming from upstart microblogging site Twitter. more...

Poll: Online News Sources Seen As Reliable As Local Papers

2009-03-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

From Rasmussen Reports: Fifty-two percent (52%) of Americans say they go online and use the Internet every day or nearly every day, and most of those adults now find online reporting comparable to that in their local newspaper. more...