I know it seems I’ve been hating on Facebook a bit lately, but that’s the way it is with cultural icons. I’ve been hammering away at the pre-eminent social networking app, and in the true spirit of blogging, freely criticizing its features and user interface (while keeping my Facebook home page up constantly and eagerly checking to see if anyone has sent me a message or written on my wall).

I had a technical question recently and was of course unable to contact Facebook directly, so I went to the official Facebook blog. The writing is quite good, and the topics are clearly of interest to many Facebook users, but I think Facebook is missing a real opportunity by having what is little more than a marketing blog.

I did notice a candid September 5, 2006 post by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, in which he discusses the Mini-Feed and News Feed and acknowledges user discontent with the implementation of these features.

However, the posts on the current blog home page are mostly self-congratulatory and completely non-controversial and non-provocative. I was also surprised to see that current blog posts do not permit commenting (though this was a feature that appears to have been previously available.)

A corporate blog ought to have a point of view (other than “Facebook kicks ass.”) It should deal with issues, not just features and subscriber stats. I imagine the Facebook party line on this would be that Facebook itself offers much more in the way of online social interaction than can be found on a decidedly old school platform like a blog. Given Facebook’s recent surge in popularity and membership, and its emergence as the latest social networking phenomenon, one would expect more interesting discussions on the company’s blog.

The Street.com* reports: SEC to Look at Whole Foods CEOs Internet Activity

“The Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly begun an informal inquiry into the Internet message board postings of Whole Foods Market.
The online version of The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday that regulators will likely examine whether Web comments by Mackey during an eight-year stint of posting company-cheering entries under a pseudonym had contradicted official Whole Foods statements.

The SEC also will likely look at whether Mackey selectively disclosed material corporate information in violation of securities laws, the Journal said.

In a Whole Foods blog post following the disclosure by the Federal Trade Commission of Mackey’s Web writings, the CEO said he never revealed any ‘proprietary’ information about the company.”

Wow. What an idiot.

* The original report was in the Wall Street Journal but I do not like linking to articles that are, or may become, subscription only

My piece on becoming a trusted communications advisor is online this week at Bulldog Reporter’s Daily’ Dog Barks & Bites.

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Hugh MacLeod argues that “public relations is getting social media all wrong,” and “if your ideas have merit, bloggers will talk about them,” and therefore traditional press releases are unnecessary and irrelevant.

The idea that blogs and other social media have replaced the press release is simplistic. I won’t argue that press releases are often laden with corporate crap, and the PR profession needs to take a hard look at this, but the quality of a typical press release, and the relevance of press releases, are two separate discussions. Certainly more and more people in all fields are becoming social media-aware, but there are still plenty of journalists and editors who do not blog or read blogs, but who can be reached with a press release. Anyone who is currently advising clients to stop issuing press releases, whether that person represents a PR agency, an advertising agency, a marketing firm, or a social media consultancy, is negligent. Some day soon we may indeed be ready for the elimination of the conventional press release, but that day is not here.

The theme of MacLeod’s blog is “cartoons drawn on the back of business cards.” Many of them are enlightening and amusing. But I am completely clueless (I admit it) as to the meaning of this cartoon, included in MacLeod’s post:

First of all, I have no idea what the diagram is trying to convey. Second, it is labeled “ad agency biz model,” so I am not sure how it is connected to public relations. The themes of commodification/de-commodficiation (odd words) and “hard sell” are not dealt with in MacLeod’s post.

MacLeod paraphrases Stowe Boyd: “Please, please, please dont talk about audiences when you are theoretically promoting social media.” The idea that corporate communications and marketing people are clueless because they use the word “audience” is a popular red herring among anti-traditional communications jihadists. While the dictionary definition of audience might imply one-way communications to a captive and passive group, the concept, properly applied, is a powerful one that is highly relevant in social media strategy. In the corporate world, segmentation allows a company to enable effective communications with its various audiences. These audiences include customers, prospects, shareholders, business partners, employees, developers, journalists, bloggers, securities analysts, industry analysts and other influential groups that the company needs to reach.

Each of these groups has different interests. Securities analysts, for example, are interested almost exclusively in the company’s financial performance, and generally don’t want to hear about product features or corporate social responsibility. Developers want to know about tools, and the availability of software updates and bug fixes.

By understanding their audience(s), bloggers can engage in more interesting and effective conversations. If I visit the blog of an expert in Service Oriented Architectures and read a post on his experience trying to replace a stolen Blackberry, that might be mildly interesting (OK, it isn’t), but would have no value to me. I’d rather learn about the blogger’s views on the role of open source in SOA adoption. In this case, the first blogger is a narcissist, who has failed to consider his audience, readership, whatever. And I don’t care how articulate, funny or clever a blogger is. If he or she has nothing of interest to say to me, (a disregard for audience), then that blogger and the company are wasting their time and mine.

Finally, it’s totally unnecessary, unkind and uncivil to say that “most PR folk are still pretty clueless.” This kind of posturing trash talk is usually a smokescreen for the lack of a fully formed logical argument. I think the following diagram proves my point unequivocally:

Today was my last day at Hewlett-Packard. I worked with many great executives while I was at HP, including Peter Blackmore, Mike Winkler, Ann Livermore, Tom Hogan, Andy Mattes and others, and I have seen nothing but change in my two-and-a-half years there. Mark Hurd’s the third CEO I’ve served under, after Carly and then CFO Bob Wayman as interim CEO. The Customer Solutions Group, which I joined in May, 2004, no longer exists, having been absorbed by the Technology Solutions Group.

So I’m on to the next big thing. I have been extremely fortunate to have been offered a position with Eastwick Communications as Executive Vice President, Emerging Media, where I’ll be responsible for developing social media strategy for the agency’s clients. I’ll also be working on the editorial side of the house, building on Eastwick’s recognized focus on content excellence and domain knowledge.

I’ve been in Fortune 500 corporate communications for eight years, first at Sun Microsystems and now at HP, and my position with Eastwick will allow me to apply what I’ve learned to the agency side of the business, and to learn from some of the best PR people in the industry. I was attracted to Eastwick by its stellar reputation and high integrity; by Elaine and Barbara, its brilliant principals; and by the wonderfully balanced culture of excellence and sanity I found there.

It is only fitting that I start a new blog, Techneuroti, more suited to my new position and interests. I am putting my original blog, Hyde Park, in storage, perhaps to be brought back to life in another time and place.