Barokas Public Relations ~ The Northwest's Leading Mid-size Public Relations Agency.

When I expressed my desire to pursue public relations about six months ago, the most common reactions expressed by my loved ones were horror and confusion, understandably. Many people associate public relations with sleazy story distortion, and stereotypes often don’t exist without some reason. Luckily, I was one of the few that found a company adamantly taking a stance against the bad industry reputation.

Though I have only been at Barokas for a week, I have fallen in love with the many aspects that make this company unique. I’ll dive into a few of them to give a better understanding of the “office dynamic.” For starters, the office is loud. I don’t mean ‘noisy,’ like constant distracting sounds of phone calls and typing. I mean that people are constantly laughing (often at each other), conversing with team members (regardless of ‘position’), and engaging with clients. I sit in a prime eavesdropping location and I haven’t once heard the office backbiting often portrayed in Hollywood sitcoms.

The ‘loudness’ is my confirmation that 1) team members actually like each other and 2) the teams are functional. Every team member has a voice, and when these members feel comfortable to sharing their thoughts, great work is created.

Although Mark Zuckerburg often receives publicity for his revolutionary open office spaces, the idea was originally Howie’s.  This isn’t confirmed (yet), but Howie has operated his office with an open door policy for fourteen years. Seeing that BPR has had its company headquarters longer, it is a logical assumption. At Barokas, the number of doors is limited.  The minimally enclosed office spaces allow others to walk in freely, creating a welcoming and open environment. I know this may seem mundane, but having worked in “normal” professional environments in the past, I know this aspect of BPR is truly unique. I get to sit across the hall from the company’s Senior VP’s and know I am welcome into their offices if I need help. As an intern, that is a very remarkable opportunity. I’ve even gotten Nick’s permission to throw papers over the wall if I need his attention – I certainly couldn’t get away with that at Edelman.

But my VERY favorite thing about Barokas is the amount of time and support the staff members have already invested to help me succeed. This week, I wrote my first pitch, and it was not an easy process for anymember involved.

One of my BPR "sups," Marguerite, fearlessly steering me through my first pitch, EVER.

 However, my supervisors were patient and gracious throughout my many drafts, providing me with tons of valuable feedback, instruction, and advice. I walked away not feeling like the new, discouraged intern, but rather excited and anxious for the opportunity to try again. This week has foreshadowed the incredible summer that lies ahead, and I am so excited for the opportunity to be here at BPR.

- Jade

No it’s not a typo.  PRaggage (prag – age) is a word I just made up, unless someone before me has used it and it’s a total coincidence. Anyway until someone challenges me I’m putting a stake in the ground on this one. Now that we’ve established whose word it is, let’s get to the interesting part -the meaning. I’ve arrived at PRaggage by mashing the words PR + Baggage to create a term that illustrates the mental, emotional, and financial pain thrust upon CEOs, CMOs, and other marketing folk by shitty PR people.

I’ve become pretty good at identifying when a PRaggage storm is about to hit. Like looking up and seeing ominous gray clouds moving closer – you know rain is on the way. In this case the precipitation comes in the form of parables that revolve around central themes including bait and switch, unfulfilled promises, and overcharging. I can tell it’s going to “rain” when we get calls from execs who talk about their failed attempts at PR, how they really don’t want to commit to an agreement beyond a few months, or how they are not comfortable unless there is a guarantee.  These poor damaged folks -what happened to them? Oh wait…I got it. The story goes like this:

Once upon a time there was were three little PR people; a VP, a Senior Account Executive, and an Assistant Account Exec. In the beginning everything was perfect – like Popsicles and unicorns.  Enthusiasm was rampant and the client felt loved. But then – the big bad wolf named Change showed up and ruined the party. Different faces came and went, the team became chronologically younger, coverage dried up, and excuses became the norm. And just as the client was about to huff and puff, the VP made a dramatic entrance to make everything okay. A renewed focus was promised complete with weekly meetings and strong execution of deliverables.  Sounded nice – didn’t work.

Over and over I hear this story, or a similar version, from companies looking to engage with PR but still feeling the burn from their last go around.  I suppose blame can be placed in multiple directions, but certainly not on me; I just met these people. Still we and other great PR pros are asked to carry the baggage left by lame PR people. Sometimes the PRaggage comes in the form of requests like “we’d just like to do a project” or “since our last PR engagement wasn’t positive we’d like you to complete this 126 page RFP by next week” or “we know you charge X but we want to pay Y because of our previous experience.”  Seriously?  So because your last agency sucked we should reduce our fee? Awesome idea – makes total sense!  PRaggage.

The whole PRaggage situation is unfortunate for all involved; the inadequate PR people who caused it, the client who owns it, and the agency asked to carry it.  Maybe this calls for a page out of the airlines playbook -perhaps we should charge for PRaggage. Except in our world you get one bag for free but we charge if you carry on (and on and on and on…).

Howie

Well technically they want to hire our employees. It’s that time again when the big agency sharks start circling, looking for talented fish to prey upon. Which surprises me given the type of clients those agencies represent don’t really, in my opinion, require true PR talent. Still the sharks hunt and occasionally swim into our nets. So I’ve decided to take the high-road and offer my friends at WaggEd and Edelman some helpful tips to growing their own PR people. I’m taking the approach of the Chinese Proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.  I’ll consider this my good deed for the month in the spirit of helping the larger PR community.

Power to the People

At BPR we believe in empowering everyone and we acknowledge that everyone has great ideas. Unlike behemoth PR agencies, we encourage our teammates to talk in meetings, unrehearsed – shooting from the hip. Our AAEs do not need to seek approval from an AE, SAE or VP to say something.  See – that’s where we are different. Those agencies like to bring in their bigwigs with faux-fancy titles who know next-to-nothing about the account (I think you call that high level?) and prop them up to speak in client meetings, shoving the actual brains of the account (I think you call them junior staff?) in the corner. But the only way the “fauxs” sound like they’re in the know is because the brains gave them the 411 prior to the meeting and have done 99% of all the real work. First word to the (not so) wise: Empower your people to do more than coverage track and you’ll reap tremendous benefits.

Rejection Builds Character  

Another reason our people are much better than their people is because their people don’t know what it’s like to run into editorial brick walls. It’s a humbling experience that builds character and requires strength and strategy to overcome. So remind me again, when was the last time those people pitched a product or company that didn’t have a pre-established brand or category? I mean really…how hard is it to pitch Microsoft or Starbucks? Second word to the (not so) wise: Stop milking off the global-brand teat and challenge yourself with a startup for a change. Don’t be afraid to roll up those designer sleeves.

The Bitch Factor

We abide by a strong “no bitches policy” at BPR.  No one pulls rank on another teammate. If a BPR AAE has an issue with an AE or SAE, guess what? They deal directly with that person. That’s right. We don’t allow people to sit in ivory towers and feel a sense of entitlement because of years experience or what letters are in their title. Third word to the (not so) wise: You really should be aware of the bitches – they’re a bigger problem than you think.

Write. Right? 

My older brother Mike along with a few other Lieutenants in the Seattle Fire Department oversee Medic 1- the elite group of paramedics that make Seattle one of the “best places to have a heart attack in the country” due to their advance lifesaving skills and response time.  Imagine if any one of those medics showed up at an accident or shooting and didn’t know how to start an IV or do CPR? Okay, so admittedly I’m a bit over the top here, but not teaching your people to write or requiring them to write press releases and other media facing documents is pretty ridiculous. “What? Everyone at BPR writes?” Yep, we do. Shouldn’t everyone in an agency be capable and skilled at writing? Seems like one of those PR prerequisites. Fourth and final word to the (not so) wise: require your people to write.

Speaking of writing, I sent a note to Pam Edstrom and Melissa Waggener a few weeks ago about our hands-off agreement. Before posting this, I waited long enough to give them the opportunity to respond.  As you can see they’ve been eyeing my team for several years. Here is the note I sent them:

http://barokas.com/howie_email.html

Okay my good deed is done and I have to get back to doing real work – client work. ‘Cause even with my fancy title I still do PR. Crazy, huh?

Howie

Two things you should be very careful with. But since this is a family-friendly PR blog I’ll focus on item #2 – Exclusives. For something so black & white, there sure seems to be a lot of gray around this topic. I’m not certain if the gray exists because PR peeps don’t get it or because they don’t want to get it.  For those of you just getting started in PR and those of you working at big agencies servicing Microsoft, an exclusive is a piece of news shared with one news outlet and typically one reporter before the news is announced publicly. In exchange for providing the exclusive, the reporter agrees to cover the story and most often the news is given prominent placement (front of site, front page, cover story, etc.).  One story, one outlet. Seems pretty simple, right? Still confused? Let’s look at the definition of exclusive from our friends at Merriam-Webster: belonging only to one person or group.   

It may seem like a silly subject and one that should be met with a simple duh, but I’m still surprised by the amount of chatter this topic gets when planning a release strategy. Personally – I am not a fan of exclusives, most of the time. The risk (pissing off every reporter who didn’t get the exclusive) vs. the reward (the one big glowing story) doesn’t always make sense. Notice I said most of the time – leaving myself a little wiggle room. There are exceptions, especially when dealing with the likes of TechCrunch, WSJ, NYT. But that is a an entirely different topic. Rather than focus on whether to give or not to give, let’s stay on the topic of if you’re going to give. The beauty about exclusives is simplicity – you give the story to one person, period.  That’s it.

So why, you ask, does something so simple become so complex and so difficult to grasp for so many? I’ve heard and overheard, most recently at a PRSA event, discussions about multi-outlet exclusives (oxymoron anyone?) local exclusives, and exclusives tied to multiple embargo times (huh?). The best way I’ve found to bring clarity to the confused is with this question: If your boyfriend or husband slept with someone else would you consider that cheating? Duh. So you’re exclusive – right? Yep.  Than why the confusion about exclusivity when it comes to granting it to reporters? Does the hubby get to make exceptions? Never has this question backfired on me and even if it did, it would make for a pretty interesting conversation. The point is there is no gray in this black & white topic. Anything less than an exclusive-exclusive isn’t an exclusive. It’s like being half-pregnant; doesn’t happen. Which conveniently brings us full-circle, back to the subject line.

Howie

Those are the five inspiring words I used to kick-off a recent discussion with PR students graduating from the University of Washington. It wasn’t meant to be a catchy headline or a wake-up call, although I did see a few reactions close to what you’d expect if I yelled FIRE in a theatre. I find this opening statement a much more real and interesting way to begin a conversation with students rather than have them ask the same tired question “so tell us how you got into PR and what you like about it?”  I really see it as a professional obligation to be straight-up with students rather than fill their heads with the nonsense they’ll hear from speaking with other PR agencies like “engage your audience and delight your clients…blah blah blah.”

The reality is most new PR wannabes will lack both the skill-set and confidence to have a long term career in the industry, unless of course they take the path of least resistance aka working for a large PR firm. In that case all they’ll need is a pulse. This is a topic I’ve talked about before and I wish I could report feeling better about the next generation of PR pros. What’s going on? There are multiple factors at play but I’ll focus on the top few issues.

• Social Media is to Blame: Obviously one of the biggest changes in the industry  since Edward Bernays coined the phrase Public Relations is social media. If you’re reading this you get it. But while social media has changed the way folks consume information it hath made PR people become myopic; they view social media as the totality of PR not just another channel. Clearly at Barokas PR we’re big fans of technology but we also embrace the old-school ways of doing things. While we don’t use typewriters we do use the telephone. Technology has enabled young PR professionals to hide behind tweets, updates, posts, and emails. But what happens when a client asks for counsel, real advice, live and in person? Or when the only way to sell a story is by t-a-l-k-i-n-g to a reporter.

• Lack of Understanding what a Client Needs: Somewhere between college and an agency, many PR people forget what it is they are hired to do. We’re hired to get our clients ink (digital or otherwise). Yes – we do other things like help clients out of jams, get them to where they need to go, jump-start product launches (hey we’re like AAA), but our primary directive is get coverage. Seems like it should be obvious, no?

• Inability to see the Forest through the Trees: Unlike factory workers on an assembly line repeating the same one task over and over, PR people should understand the larger vision of the client. It’s almost never just about this release or that upgrade. Too often, and typically driven by fear and a bitchy boss, PR people get stuck in the now and fail to think about the client’s long-term goals and how success will ultimately be measured. This tunnel vision leads to missed opportunities and an inability to provide true strategic counsel.
• Failure to Communicate. It’s always interesting when communication professionals have problems communicating. Typically it’s a failure to set proper expectations like when a client believes their product or announcement is something that everyone will care about – but it really isn’t. Often PR folk sit silently in those meetings – with their silence signing them up to deliver what they can’t. Instead of having the hard conversation at that moment, they fail to get press- then have to explain to the client what happened. Client is disappointed, begins hating PR agencies, and the cycle starts. All of this could’ve been avoided with a proper expectation setting dialogue.

There are few experiences more painful than the agony of a first date. First, there is the unnecessary pressure, the endless hours of worrying what to wear, the polishing, extra moisturizing – all in anticipation of hanging out with someone that will likely have the mental capacity of a 13-year-old (I have endless amounts of data to back up my previous statement, in the interest of keeping this a valid and informative post). During any first date you inevitably reach that moment where you’re sitting across the table from your suitor, nervously stirring your first drink and the number-one-lamest-way-to-start-a-date question comes up:

“So, what do you do?”

“See? If I push the keys, magical letters come out!”

Typically, I respond with something like this (verbatim):

“Well, I work for Barokas Public Relations, the Northwest’s leading mid-sized public relations agency. We also offer ancillary marketing services – if you’re interested.”

Just kidding. That one was for you, Ralph. I typically launch into some type of overview about how I work in tech public relations for a (super cool) firm in Pioneer Square and how it’s exciting because we’re constantly working with new start-ups that are literally changing the way we interact with technology. That actually isn’t a joke, and I’m not even vying for a raise (although if you’re offering…), I truly do enjoy learning about our clients and the innovative ideas they bring to the table. It’s one of the cool things about working in this industry – you get to be a part of the living and breathing monster that is the technological world.

It usually takes my counterpart a second to respond, as if the cogs in their brain are slowly turning into motion, or as if they can’t believe that I would have any interest in tech-anything. Shouldn’t I be worried about a Kardashian or something? In about 90% of my personal experiences, this sparkling nugget of conversational brilliance is the response:

“Oh – so like computers and stuff?”

“New and exciting technology…”

This is normally the moment where I realize the date is going nowhere. I’m not sure if these otherwise seemingly-intelligent individuals feel like they’re “dumb-ing” it down for my benefit (because if I’m working in it, it can’t be THAT difficult) or if I’m really, truly attracted to tree stumps. I typically bite back the urge to say that the first programmable computer (the Z1, in case you’re interested) was actually invented between the years of 1936 – 1938, so to consider computers “new and exciting” technology is, in short, a little asinine and instead sip my drink (please, God, let it be strong).

I guess I can’t totally blame the guys. As women in this industry we play a fairly new role, and we’re not exactly brought up valuing the technical and strategic mindset that it takes to be successful creating (or working for) these types of companies. In some cases we do allow ourselves to become a novelty in the space – I’m totally guilty of simplifying my job duties or the descriptions of the companies I work for in order to make it easier to comprehend. I’ll also shamelessly admit that I’m constantly running across new terms and technologies that I don’t understand – but isn’t that the point of innovation? If everyone already knows about it, it can’t be considered groundbreaking.

“Today, Sally, we’re going to learn about the Cloud…”

I don’t want to work in a space where there isn’t anything left to discover and the moment I stop seeking the answers to all my new questions is the moment my growth will stall. There isn’t any room for complacency in tech PR – you’re constantly expanding, which is why the lazy, routine-driven and apathetic individuals rarely hack it in this environment. It’s sort of a Survivor-esque business model, and if you’re not constantly strategizing, forming alliances and making creative tools out of sticks, you’ll probably get snuffed out.

So – the point of this long-winded post is that navigating the tech PR world as a woman is much like navigating dating. You start out going into a world you don’t understand, you’ll most likely have to prove your worth at one point or another and you have to be prepared for people who won’t take you seriously. The only thing that keeps you coming back, in both instances, is an insatiable curiosity for what the next day (or date) might hold.

To all the guys out there – if you happen to be going on a date with someone who works in the tech PR industry, at least make it a little interesting and drop a “cloud” mention or “API” reference into the conversation instead of relying on the ‘ol “computer” standby. You can Google those things to find out what they are. Also, if you happen to be intelligent, motivated and you can hold a conversation without consulting Siri, you’re probably more awesome than anyone I’ve dated recently and you can contact Howie to get my number.

-Ashley

I was well into my college education before it occurred to me that most people, including my collegiate peers, were largely incapable of constructing basic sentences. This stunning realization came about during my junior year of college, when I became a tutor at the university writing center. We were tasked with guiding (as opposed to telling) students to the proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation, a time-consuming process primarily achieved by having students read their papers out loud as we followed along on a duplicate copy. Why, you ask? Because as it turns out, people are much, much better at speaking in coherent sentences than they are at writing them. Time and time again, I would listen as my tutee read something completely different from what was actually on their paper. Word order that was horrifically jumbled on a page would come out clear as day in their speech. When I would ask them to read what they had actually written, I’d inevitably meet with a blank stare –they thought they just had.

The conundrum of why people can speak and read but cannot write is one that has frustrated and baffled me for years. Even as a law student, I regularly encountered horrible writing from people that seemed otherwise quite articulate and intelligent. Over the years, I’ve heard plenty of explanations for why most people can’t write, ranging from “kids these days” to “teachers are underpaid” to “TV and the internet are rotting our children’s brains!” I happen to think that most of these explanations are encumbered with a heavy dose of bullshit and finger-pointing. If you can speak and read, you should be able to write. So what’s stopping you?

1. People Are Scared. There are few things more intimidating on this earth than the blinding white expanse of a blank Microsoft Word document starting you in the face. Where to begin! What to say! It’s scary as hell. I get it. And for a lot of people, this fear turns into the devil on their shoulder, whispering in their ear that they have to get it right the first time, every word they put on the page must be perfect, and everything they write must be kept. The next time you think this, I want you to picture me (five foot two, dark blond hair, brown eyes) standing on the other shoulder, with a bullhorn, screaming in your ear “fuck that guy!” You cannot imagine how many essays, papers, speeches I have written that start out as total trash. The first page is chaotic, overwrought, disjointed. This “junk,” if you will, is my process for collecting my thoughts, testing out what works, finding my rhythm. In fact, I just deleted the entire first paragraph of this blog post after realizing it was total crap. I just needed to start somewhere. Don’t be afraid to start poorly and do a brutal self-edit later. Getting all the junk out of the way is not time wasted if it leads you to the buried treasure.
2. Big Words Do Not Equal Good Writing. Ever read a sentence that goes something like this? Crap crap trash crap EXCOGITATE, trash crap crap. I do all the time. People think that inserting big, “I own a really large, old, leather-bound dictionary” words will disguise crappy writing. I’m here to disabuse you of this notion. Nobody is fooled. Your writing is just as bad. You just know how to use Thesaurus.com. Congratulations. Here’s the deal: only write what you would actually say out loud. If you use excogitate in your everyday speech, knock yourself out, but for me, it’s easier to say “thought it through.” So speaking of, think it through. Imagine you’re having a conversation with your reader. Imagine what you would say to them, and then say it. Silently. On paper.
3. Most of What You Read Is Trash. On November 11, 2011, the authors of the top five books on The New York Times Bestseller List were, in order from one to five: David Baldacci, John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks, Danielle Steel, Richard Paul Evans. USA Today is written in such a way that someone with an 8th Grade level of education can read and easily comprehend it. Moral of this story? People read crap. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy crap as much as the next gal, and I think the Twilight Saga, Harry Potter, and a number of Nora Roberts romance novels are really entertaining reads. The problem is that most people read only this stuff, and if you never read anything that challenges you intellectually, you will never be a better writer. That said, put down the People Magazine. Back away slowly. Now go pick up The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Slate, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal. In them you will find some of the highest quality writing in the world. The articles they contain are written intelligently, for an intellectual audience. The “big” words fit so seamlessly into the sophisticated structure of the writing that the reader never stumbles over them. Even more important than the sentences themselves, however, is what they convey. Through them you will learn more about the world – what’s interesting, what’s timely, what moves people, angers them, enlivens them, enthralls them. You will learn how to tell a story that does more than awaken – it makes the reader stand still, captivated. And after all, isn’t that the goal?

It had all the potential to be rad – the secret roll-out invites, the mystery door prizes, the super popular host, the lure of a seriously awesome band. Billed as a game-changer, the launch of Google+ was the metephorical equivilent of Lindsay Lohan’s 18th birthday party for the social media world. You weren’t sure what to expect- but you were pretty sure that it was going to be fucking epic.

“Gee Winifred – does this party blow or is it just me?”

With enough tweets, buzz and build-up to give the “Fail Whale” days of screentime, the launch of Google+ was really theirs to fuck up. So how exactly do you blow the most anticipated launch of the year backed by a theoretically cool product and hosted by one of the most recognizable names in technology?

Good question.

I think of the Google+ launch like those open bar parties you’re lured in to while vacationing in Cabo. At first the crowd seems cool, the drinks are flowing, theoretically everyone is having a good time, but then all of a sudden the mood changes. The lights flick on, someone kills the music and you realize that you’re stuck in yet another timeshare presentation.

Granted, my slightly sarcastic and overly dramatic viewpoint of things is generated by the fact that I am a true Facebook baby. The “original” social network launched while I was in my prime technology adoption years and we’ve “grown up” together so to speak. I think of Facebook as a fond, slightly stalkerish friend that I talk to frequently but love to deny I know. We’ve been through ups and downs together – through relationship status changes, lost “friendships”, inappropriate tagged pictures and a sea of wall posts. On countless slow Friday – I mean – Saturday afternoons (I’m working tirelessly on Friday afternoons Howie, I promise) Facebook has entertained me with tidbits of detail about people– things that I didn’t know I was interested in until I found myself clicking on the profile of that one chick in my science class from Freshman year. Do I really give a shit what Suzie is studying in grad school? Is it THAT fascinating the Bob and Betty broke up for the 15th time and have finally settled on an obvious “it’s complicated” status? Hell no. What is important is that Suzie, Bob, Betty and everyone else you know is there. They’ve bought in. Given their most intimate details to a site that blasts them to the entire world- in essence whispered their secrets to the Judas of all technology. And they’re cool with it. Let’s be real – we’re all cool with it. We’re gaining attention these days for things that never would have elicited a response before. We are the anti-privacy era. I will literally share what I ate for dinner on any given night if I think it’ll bring forth a frenzy of “likes”. Which brings me to another question – if the entire world is so into sharing every detail of their lives on any possible platform, why aren’t we sharing on Google+?

“You don’t know me, but that won’t stop us from having a lovely Facebook friendship.”

While attending the BlogWorld and Social Media Expo this past weekend (basically like one long college lecture but Facebooking, Tweeting and in general making things sound cooler than they actually were was highly encouraged) a lot of the talk circled back to Google+ and their shaky future. There were confliciting opinions, but one quote stood out above the rest:

“Google+ is to Facebook what Macintosh is to Windows.” – Guy Kawasaki

I’ve heard this Kawasaki character is one pretty smart dude, which led me to seriously ponder his statement over the last few days. Is Google+ the indie darling to the mass-adopted Facebook? Are all the cool kids “going Google” and I haven’t yet been clued in to the latest trend? Somewhere in the vast expanse of the Internet are there hip creative types posting their innermost thoughts to their “circles”? This remains to be seen, however it does lead one to wonder what the next Google+ step will be. With their newly released “business pages” (a very Facebook-esque space where companies can mingle with the few early-adopters of the Google platform) it seems that Google has moved from their user-recruitment phase to the much more lucrative business angle.

“Is ANYONE out there or am I in this circle alone?!”

No doubt social media managers in offices around the globe scurried to get their own pages up yesterday after the announcement – eager to be one of the first brands represented (I can hate on the social media crew –I’m one of them) but what’s the point of building and maintaining yet another social media space if there aren’t any users to engage?

In my opinion Google+ has all the right elements to create a big disruption in the Facebook-centric world of social media, they just haven’t yet figured out how to keep the metaphorical music up. Back to party-speak, they’re throwing a seriously epic celebration but someone has shot the DJ. A media rave that started out with bumping beats and dubstep (it’s cool now, I’ve heard) has been silenced to the whisper of a few advocates. The Google Kool-Aid bowl is drying up, leaving even the most proactive of users wondering what’s next for the “jolly G giant”. They have the crowd, the name, the location and a rapt audience, but is it still a party if the DJ is dead?

-Ashley

Did you hear the millions of screams last week after Klout, the social media influence firm, changed its algorithm for measuring an individual’s influence based on their ability to drive action? It may not have been quite as loud as the screams from frustrated Netflix fans last month with a pricing change, but across the social media landscape it was piercing. If you missed it here is what happened. Klout updated its ranking formula in the spirit of making it more transparent and accurate. In doing so, the enhanced scoring system caused many Klout scores to plummet. So what, right? Well to the folks who follow this like people who live by their daily horoscope, it was a huge deal. Although Justin Bieber still ranks at/or near the top of Klout heap (top score is 100), many saw their influence ranking drop by 10-30 points in a day. For some the reality was too much to bear.

The change in Klout’s ranking system created much discussion not only about the anger and fatigue associated with the precipitous drop in scores, but moreover the validity of the entire Klout system. In a TechCrunch piece titled Nobody Gives a Damn About Your Klout Score http://tcrn.ch/shg5fU Alexia Tsotsis argues that the whole thing really doesn’t matter and it’s much ado about nothing. Like many, she tried Klout for the first time and still doesn’t get it. But looking at Twitter and the growing mob of peeps using the hashtag #OccupyKlout it clearly matters to a lot of people, many of whom had a visceral reaction to the change. If you listened closely you could hear “We’re not worthy“ from all corners of the country.

I’m on the proverbial fence about this issue. On one hand, okay I get it – I see how a scoring mechanism might help advertisers, maybe even PR folk, determine who should get the special treatment due to their influence. But on the other hand – meh - really? When we look to bring on a new employee at Barokas would I check their Klout score? No. If I was dating would I decide who to spend Saturday night with based on their K-score? No. The reason for my cynicism: a newborn.

I have a friend who works at a very big software company in Redmond, Washington who spends 90% of his waking hours driving social media “this and that” for said software company. In doing so, he’s amassed a large following on Twitter, a loyal audience to his blog, and of course a very respectable Klout score. But when last week’s change took place his score went from somewhere in the 70′s to somewhere in the 50′s. That was, however, until he posted pictures of his infant daughter on his Facebook page. Overnight his score rocketed back into the 70′s – and for a short time going over 80. So I have to wonder, was my friend suddenly – really – more of an influencer after posting the pics? Did he become more valuable as a credible source because he went from here-to-there on the Klout barometer? Hmmmmm.

Regardless of which side of the fence you fall on this issue one thing is for sure: this is only the beginning of this debate and Klout has set the benchmark, for now, on measuring one’s worthiness. Maybe I’ll even climb a few points based on this post. If not, I’ll gather up my kids for a quick photo – that’ll surely do the trick.

Still confused? Watch this.

Howie

I had the rare pleasure of enjoying a lazy Sunday, free from plans which meant watching football on the couch with Jack and Emma, the English Bulldogs, snoring on either side of me. This scene doesn’t happen too often and it’s not because I have a bitchy wife who tells me what I can and can’t do.   But watching the game, rather the commercials, made me wonder if my set-up was rare: I have a brain and my wife isn’t a bitch. Surely there must be more guys like me – right? Well if you use TV ads as a barometer of the norm in this country I’m the exception. What’s going on?  This thought consumed me for most of the 4th quarter.

Whether for beer, insurance, cell phone service, or pizza the theme is the same; guy wants fun, woman ruins fun, guys makes stupid choices, woman scolds him. Is this really reflective of our society? I know us dudes are pretty simple creatures, it doesn’t take a lot to keep us happy. Still – I’d be hard pressed to find any guy I know who’d buy a Falcon, suit of armor, or giant gumball machine with the money he saved on his car insurance. But according to the folks at State Farm, that’s what we’d do

Another popular ad theme during Sunday’s game is how inept us guys are when it comes to dealing with babies. And the stereotypes aren’t reserved for just the dudes. It seems that every mom, especially the newish moms, are always judging or scolding their hubby’s for doing something wrong with the kids; feeding it bad stuff, changing diapers the wrong way, not strapping it into the car-seat properly, etc. Or in this case, AT&T believes that new moms become bitchy wives when husbands try to multi-task

Perhaps I’m over analyzing this whole thing, but I can’t get away from the fact that when we look deep into the national-mirror we see a reflection of stupid dudes married to short tempered, short haired, angry women who disapprove of their husband’s choices. C’mon this can’t really be the way it is? Although, I suppose presenting a happy couple, enjoying a relaxing weekend, without erectile dysfunction, wouldn’t make for very good TV. Finally – I’d like to thank the folks at Budweiser for keeping the stereotypes alive and kicking with this brief look into marital bliss.

Howie