PR FROM THE BEACH

Leading Ladies - why the future of business is female

With the number of women on boards at woefully low levels in many parts of the world, it is unsurprising that initiatives designed to increase representation are being introduced. Trouble is, these initiatives move at a glacial pace and the big loser isn’t women - it is business itself.

The significant finding in the recently published Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor  (alongside the poor performance of leaders in general) was ‘a new leadership model, driven by the new breed of ‘Leadership eVangelist’, centered on a more ‘feminine’ leadership archetype and based on a set of clear guiding principles’.

In short, the study found that effective communication is critical but leaders aren’t performing against expectations. However, when present, female leaders outperform male leaders when it comes to the most important ‘leader attributes’ of leading by example, communicating in an open and transparent way, admitting mistakes, bringing out the best in others and in their calm handling of controversial issues or crises.

Seven handy hints for hashtag help

Hashtags are interesting things - one minute they look cute, cuddly and amusing and the next they roar into life, turn around and bite you. I thought this post would be helpful to those wrestling with the way in which they use hashtags, with public relations and communication professionals uppermost in my mind. So below you'll find seven handy hints to help avoid hashtag horror.

Has Linkedin blown it with its new 'social popularity' tool?

I have to confess that I have never been a big fan of Linkedin. Probably wrong of me, but from the start it nagged me too much with repetitive alerts and updates. Groups were gradually taken over by sellers rather than debaters - which is fair enough, just not my thing. The news then, that Linkedin has introduced a new 'ranking' tool made me cringe, reminiscent as it is of high school popularity contests and all the angst that goes with them.

Beware the creeping algorithms softly invading your privacy

Hot on the heels of the EU Court of Justice ruling around the 'right to be forgotten', I attended the Auckland Writers' Festival debate with Iraqi/English scientist Jim Al-Khalili, Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, New Zealand privacy expert Bob Stevens, and British broadcaster, writer and comedian Sandi Toksvig.  

Under scrutiny was the topic 'Is privacy an outdated concept' and, while Jim and Bob made some interesting points around the nature and history of privacy, Sandi and Frank won the night (for me at least) with their arguments in favour of retaining and strengthening rights to privacy both online and off.

The right to be forgotten - can PR truly deal with data?

This week's ruling by the European Union's Court of Justice that stressed individuals have the 'right to be forgotten' will inevitably cause Google some serious headaches. But they will not be alone. Public relations practitioners too will need to determine who among their stakeholders will need to be 'forgotten' following this decision.

The EU court ruling has far reaching consequences. For instance, if it is my right to be forgotten then should all saved tweets be destroyed at my request? My Facebook comments eliminated? Any Snapchat screen shots destroyed?

Never release a hashtag into the wild - New York Cops weather social media storm

The New York Police Department walked straight into a social media storm today with the launch of their #myNYPD hashtag - proving once again that failure to analyse risks, issues and reputation before a social media campaign, then adjusting behaviour accordingly, leads to significant problems.

The Storify below is just a small taste of the backlash unleashed following the hashtag launch and it isn't showing any signs of improvement any time soon.  Some on social media who have had more positive experiences with the NYPD have rallied to their defence but analysing the tweets the commentary has been predominantly negative.

The moral of the story: Never release a hashtag into the wild without thinking about why you are running it in the first place and understanding that you have absolutely no control over its behaviour.

 

Responding with love on social media - not in kind

People frequently ask me how they should respond to negative criticism on social media. Today there is a great example from Honey Maid as to the best way to respond - with love.

 

And realise the robots are on the rise...

Lots at CES this year. Most noteworthy - the rise of the robots.  This video from The Verge gives a flavour of what's out there.

 

Shed no tears - the Internet of Everything is before our eyes

It's been a long time coming and I've been speaking about the Internet of Things for a good four years now but as wearable devices begin to arrive in all shapes and forms more internet companies are buying up or investing in the 'things' of life.  Most recent addition to the Google stable are smart contact lenses - designed with diabetes control and treatment in mind - but I imagine it will end up doing a whole lot more.

Google Glass, tested extensively and rolled out to developers last year, will soon be available to all, along with all manner of non-Google kit that we can play with. Interesting times ahead for sure.

 

Len Brown Affair: More 'Go Girls' than 'West Wing'

New Zealand doesn't really do political scandals so the recent revelations surrounding newly elected Auckland Mayor Len Brown have, for some, been quite absorbing. For most, it has been a storm in a rather sordid tea cup despite the significant speculation as to whether the timing, revelations and subsequent debate were a political set up designed to force another election.

From where I sit, it reminded me of the New Zealand series called 'Go Girls', where a group of hapless 20-somethings stagger from one disaster to another. The whole episode had an air of comedy that outweighed the whiff of tragedy that Brown's family must have experienced and demonstrated that if there was a plot afoot, those involved need to be a lot sharper in their scripting if they want be involved in the style of political machinations to be found on the US series West Wing.

From a public relations perspective I was interested in the Brown camp's strategy which was dominated by the old school 'duck, cover and say nothing'. His one mea culpa on John Campbell was something of a shambles while his calls for media to 'respect his family' had a hollow ring given he had himself been sufficiently disrespectful to his family to indulge in his two-year affair.  

I suspect there will be more revelations in the weeks ahead which will need to be dealt with - running for cover will not improve matters at all.