AUG 11, 2008
The Discomfort of Thought
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."
John F. Kennedy made that observation nearly 50 years ago, decades before the advent of the Internet gave us all the opportunity to create blogs and anoint ourselves "citizen journalists." Today, JFK’s admonition about opinion unencumbered by the effort required for critical thinking aptly describes much of the "user generated content" that saturates the so-called blogosphere.
The all-too-prevalent intermingling of bloggers' opinions and objectives thought has direct application to contemporary public relations. PR people increasingly are using blogs and other social media to influence public attitudes about everything from voting booth decisions to corporate reputations. Much of the vast e-content universe lacks the discerning editors and skeptical reporters who, for traditional media outlets, serve as filters to separate spin and hype from documented, attributable fact. With such an unobstructed cyber pipeline to the online audience, there clearly is the opportunity for unfounded opinion to masquerade as thoughtful, reasoned insight.
The PR profession will be well-served to police ourselves and avoid this blurring of the line between blind sentiment and knowledgeable perspective. If blogging and social media interaction are ever to come of age as legitimate tools for conveying reliable information, communicators must accept the responsibility of consistently distinguishing between subjective and objective content.
AUG 5, 2008
This business just keeps getting better.
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As a 30-year veteran of the persuasive arts, I have never seen a greater demand for new ideas, creative perspectives and insightful strategies. According to Daniel H. Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind,” we in the creative industry will rule the economic future. While the data-driven, analytic jobs are easily and cost-effectively outsourced, concept-driven design careers must flourish to meet the demands of our changing times.
It's about time! Not that marketing science, quantitative research, audience statistics, dashboards and diagnostics don't have an important role to play, but they don't “speak” to a customer the way an empathetic message can.
