Crazyworld

If you haven’t had to deal with this question yet — and still have more than a year or two left before you retire — then you will, and sooner than you’d probably like.

The blending of personal and professional life is something I’ve struggled with for a long time. And based on comments I’ve heard from people in a variety of other businesses, I’m not alone.

As a journalist, I have a few extra concerns, but we’ll get to those in a bit. Let’s talk about the general implications of this sweeping societal change first.

It can be gradual or abrupt, liberating or jarring, and either help facilitate your career or end it.

If you’re reading this — which, if you’re not a regular Herald-Journal/GoUpstate reader, you probably found through Twitter or a link on someone else’s blog — chances are you’ve heard horror stories about people losing their jobs because of a stray comment on a social networking site like Facebook. You’ve probably heard of college students cleaning up their online profiles or deleting them completely before looking for their first job. You may have your own experiences with someone you haven’t talked to in a decade or two tracking you down on a social networking site, posting a “Remember when...?” story and then had to offer an uncomfortable explanation of it to your colleagues.

But, you’ve hopefully also heard about people using social networking to find a new job, to build relationships with customers, clients or colleagues and perhaps even used blogging as a therapeutic tool to share your thoughts with anyone in the world who cares enough to listen.

This public-private dichotomy came up not too long ago during an interview with former Clemson University professor Mihaela Vorvoreanu -- who’s now at Purdue -- about research she had done on social norms she’d observed among a specific group of college students on Facebook,

“It’s becoming a major issue in society — one that I haven’t quite figured out yet,” she said. “Are you an employee 100 percent of the time? From a personal perspective, I don’t think most of us are paid enough to consider that. On the other hand, something you say …will be associated with your employer. So it’s hard to figure this out. But both sides have valid points.”

Olivier Blanchard also touched on this in my recent story about businesses using social media:

“Obviously, you want to be careful who speaks officially for your company — and those lines are getting blurred,” he said. “If I have a blog, and it’s not a company blog, but people know I work for company x, and I say something offensive… Even if I have a disclaimer, I’m probably going to get a call from human resources.”

Everything you post becomes part of your online identity.

So, even if you’re off the clock, you’re not. You’re a representative of your company -- or, rather, a potential representative. Your personal brand has become assimilated by the brand you work for. (More on this point in an upcoming post.) And the vulnerability an organization might feel in having its employees freely interacting on the world wild web comes with it.

Ideally, as the social web continues to grow and expand, old-school thinking at companies that could intimidate or otherwise limit a person’s ability to express themselves online will die out. If it doesn’t, the companies home to such thinking probably will.

In the meantime, Big Brother may not be looking over your shoulder, but the person who signs your paycheck may be. Companies have begun forming policies for using social media technology, but the more they try to muzzle their employees, the more likely they’ll get bitten in the process. If that’s not happening now, it will. Each successive generation is more and more acclimated to using the social web as a free forum for conversations. It’s only a matter of time before the iPhone generation outnumbers the Baby Boomers in the workforce. (That’s not to say there aren’t some very forward-thinking Baby Boomers online. I’m generalizing.)

And then, there’s me. Or rather, people like me.

Journalists. Reporters. Agents of the MSM.

Reporters, as you know, are supposed to always be objective. I know, I know. I can hear the laughter through the screen. But really, we try. And most real reporters do a good job of presenting an accurate portrayal of a situation. There’s an old saying in this business that if all sides are mad at you, then you did something right.

Well, as journalists, we should be aware of and attempting to make the best use of new channels of communication. After all, that’s what we’ve been trained to do: communicate.

But the blurring line between the public and the private is all the more dangerous for us.

On one hand, social media is a great way to build relationships with potential new readers and sources. I’ve done it for a while now — slowly but surely. But I can’t even begin to count the number of times someone has told me, “Don’t tweet that.” Don’t give someone a reason not to trust you. Don’t sacrifice your credibility. Those are all valid concerns.

Journalists have long had to divorce themselves from their personal feelings when covering a story. But now, with social media, it’s almost as if you have to divorce yourself from who you are every time you plug in. With so many people ready to blame the media -- ironically, most of this comes from politicians, or at least people who avidly follow politics, and from other members of the media -- you have to be extra careful.

It’s true even on “safe” topics: If I tweet that I’m listening to Phil Ochs, do I have to listen to Merle Haggard afterward and share that with the world, too?

I think -- I’m hopeful, actually -- that this industry, too, will one day accept that its biggest assets are the identities of the people working in it and evolve from the days of old. You can have an opinion about something and still cover it fairly. It’s just more and more, people expect to know that opinion up front. After all, we (the press) often demand such disclosures from anyone else who dares post content online. And sometimes, the best writing comes from people who wear their biases on their sleeves.

There’s already been some discussion of this, of “coming out from behind the byline.” But it’s pretty controversial right now.

Perhaps, though, for all facets of the communications industry, embracing the social web and using it to facilitate individuality is the most credible approach of all.

So, Tuesday, just before lunchtime, my head exploded.

It wasn't just watching U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis grappling with the best ways to use social media – particularly the current Next Big Thing, Twitter – in front of what he would later describe as a “with-it crowd” of 60 or so people.

The event, on the third floor of the Innovate building on River Street in Greenville, was fascinating, informative and entertaining. Plenty of people there were micro-blogging during the event, their comments feeding onto a screen behind Inglis. (See the 11 pages of posts here.)

But what blew my mind was the similarity in problems that the congressman is facing while exploring Twitter, Facebook and other online watering holes to those I've been trying to come to grips with myself, as a journalist, particularly in the last few months. And this isn't an ego thing. Our industry, moving toward the World Wild Web faster than ever these days, desperately needs not only to master the world of social networking, but find its rightful place in it. I left with a notepad full of ideas.

Deep breath. Start at the beginning. Write about the Inglis event. That's the easy part. Hopefully, we can explore several of the themes touched on more in the coming months.

Tuesday, it seems, not only shattered stereotypes but opened Inglis' eyes to the kind of people who use social media – and what they can use it to achieve.

Living online no longer means living in your parents' basement, anonymously posting rants about whatever pisses you off. (It hasn't for a long time, but that idea is still catching on. See: Newspaper message forums.)

It means being a professional, making contacts, marketing, branding, organizing, mobilizing, being up to date and up to the minute on anything and everything that's going on around you. Yes, it can be overwhelming. Thankfully, there are some apps out there to help manage the information flow. Personally, I like TweetDeck, but I haven't experimented too much beyond that yet.

And, to the congressman's apparent surprise, social networking actually facilitates human contact. He called it “reversing the 'Bowling Alone' concept.”

Inglis had recently returned from a House retreat where he was told to “Go home and get your kids to give you a tour of Facebook.” But he's been on Twitter a couple of months now – every tweet has been his own, he said, not posted by a staffer – and when a recent article on TheHill.com lifted quotes directly from tweets, instantly granting him a couple hundred new followers, it was time to reach out and ask for help in designing the way his office uses social media.

(It was pointed out that following someone does not constitute a political endorsement. That's important. Just to drive it home, keep an eye out for Christina Jeffrey of Spartanburg or Andrew Smart of Greenville, both of whom have said they will run against Inglis on the Republican ticket in 2010.)

Part of the challenge comes in navigating the collision of new media with old media.

“The benefit of a general circulation newspaper is that it forces you to read stuff you don't like,” Inglis said. “People go to their news islands, and are never challenged about their opinions ... and they get further and further away from the mainstream.”

For example, he said, at a recent “Let's Talk” luncheon in Spartanburg, he ended up with two bankers and three people who wanted to abolish the Federal Reserve. Those three turned off the bankers, Inglis said, and that's who he needed to hear from.

One of Inglis' concerns with social media is that he'll end up hearing more from outside the mainstream – and the potential political and ethical ramifications of that. What if someone in the Ku Klux Klan follows him on Twitter? What if he unknowingly follows someone in the KKK? What if the person in the KKK doesn't advertise the fact but only talks about bunnies?

He also has the gut-wrenching challenge of keeping “official” and “campaign” communication separate – a task that has become more and more complicated as technology makes it more and more easy to communicate.

Because the advances in technology carry with them their own expectations.

“Transparency is not an option any more,” said Trey Pennington with Showcase Marketing in Greenville. . “... It's like putting your pants on in the morning.”

Phil Yanov, a writer and blogger, added that “Twitter has reduced the cost of listening to next to nothing.” Further, he pointed out that the 140-character limit on Twitter causes people to focus their points and creates economy in communication.

“When somebody's writing a letter to the editor (in a newspaper), you wish to God they were limited to only 140 characters,” he said.

The general consensus was that Twitter carries with it the expectation of authenticity. The uncensored, unmoderated, fast-paced exchange of ideas forces honesty and in some ways, could help return us all to the idyllic world of the 1950s – if you do something wrong, everyone will know about it by the time you get home.

(There was also a concern about how to separate the personal and the professional, given how sites like Facebook and Twitter can blend the two. I've found myself in this gray area a lot lately.)

“I really do believe that social media is a chance for us to reconnect with our community,” said Pennington, who admitted to somewhat harassing the congressman over the last few weeks for not responding to tweets directed at him. “Bob Inglis isn't the answer to our problems. We are the answer.”

Pennington has helped establish a Social Media Club in Greenville that has 301 members, and one in Columbia that has 216 members. He's been working on the idea in Spartanburg. This city's first Social Media Club meeting is slated for Tuesday, Feb. 17.

It's unlikely that Inglis – or any congressman, for that matter – could respond to every e-mail, Facebook post or tweet directed at him. The sheer volume versus time constraints work against that.

But Mihaela Vorvoreanu, an assistant professor of communication studies at Clemson University, suggested setting aside a night every now and then for a “burst” of engagement, for chats, for answering questions. Inglis liked that idea and said he wanted to try it.

Vorvoreanu – Dr. V, for short – has studied social media and some of the social norms that develop because of them. When Inglis was asking for the best way to reach and interact with constituents, Dr. V told him not to worry much about Facebook at this point. You can respect other people's space by staying out of it, she said.

Inglis was concerned about the demographics of Twitter, whether devoting too much time to it would leave people out. He threw out the idea – perhaps a glimpse of a larger strategy peculating in the GOP? -- of getting access to cell phone numbers to send out text messages to people in his district, particularly African-Americans. That didn't go over too well. Nobody likes spam.

Geno Church, the word of mouth information officer at Greenville-based Brains on Fire, pointed out that, “If you get into the social media game, it needs to be a long-term game.”

“People are excited that the congressman is using these tools,” he said. “No matter how far Bob Inglis goes down the rabbit hole... this is a step toward more accountability, transparency.”

Edit: Changed title at 9:34 p.m.

Been a busy couple of weeks. Here goes a few links I picked up off Twitter. I was going to comment more on each one but that's just going to further delay putting them up, so here they go with just a quick description:

The Twitter Wind Storm. A very brief account of one way journalists can use Twitter to reach readers during fast-paced, breaking news.

Five Essential Web Tools for Political Operatives. Still going over some of these, but they sound helpful.

The Internet is TV. Twitter is the Internet. By Patrick Ruffini. Beginning the discussion on the ways people (mostly political) use Web 2.0 versus those who say they use Web 2.0. A really good, quick read that should help generate discussion.

Six Social Search Engines to Start 2009. Still haven't read this one, but it looks intriguing.

And don't forget to check out SC Tweets, which feeds all the elected officials and politicos on Twitter into one handy site. Not only is this a good aggregate, but hopefully officials -- those already using Twitter and those yet to start tweet their first... umm, tweet -- can look it big-picture-wise and determine what's worthwhile and what's not, letting it become part of the learning process of being better communicators.

There's more, but this is the stuff I've left open to remind me to post. Hoping to have a good discussion about the use of social media sites as forms of two-way communication (versus one-way) in the near future. Also wondering how many RNC candidates will stay active on Twitter once one is crowned chairman. And I'll post about the state Republican Party chairman's race whenever I get the interviews completed.

Right now, I'm busy getting ready for the trip to the inauguration. I think we'll be able to give our readers something they'll want to keep. And our online community may be in for a treat. (or tweet). But I think I've secured permission for people on the bus trip to DC to post guest blog entires. Should be a variety of different voices.

OK, I have to confess: I've been experimenting with a new lifestyle.

I've tried not to let it take control, but those around me have noticed something's different.

For a little over a month now, I've been on Twitter.

Twitter -- a micro-blog where you "follow" others and others, in turn, can follow you -- combines elements of news feeds, chatting and social networking. It's the epitome of the obsessive, need-to-know-now culture the Internet has spawned. It's kind of like crack for geeks. And it's ever-expanding.

The premise is simple. All you have to do is answer the constant question: What are you doing right now?

But is it useful?

It can be. I'm still learning all the lingo (RT, for instance, stands for "re-tweet," where you re-post someone else's thoughts so your followers see them, too). I don't "tweet" from my phone (yet). And I'm still not sure about all the apps (some grade your performance, which you can isolate by geographic area).

Kathleen Parker, in the link above, asks, "How long before we begin to expect, if not demand, that public officials twitter?"

The thing is, it's already happening.

S.C. state Reps. Nathan Ballentine, Dan Hamilton, Eric Bedingfield, Joey Millwood, Anton Gunn and James Smith all twitter in varying degrees. You can also find at least three candidates for Republican National Committee chair on Twitter: South Carolina's own Katon Dawson, Michigan's Saul Anuzis and Tennessee's Chip Saltsman. U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis twittered just yesterday about the auto bailout, and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint tweets, too. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster just joined, and there's a plethora of bloggers, political officials, activists and consultants. If I've missed someone, please forgive me: Like I said, I'm still learning the ropes.

Twitter is like a never-ending conversation, one that offers glimpses into the lives of some of the people online. (Anuzis ate too much pizza last night, for instance. Today, Gunn is attending his first Richland County Legislative Delegation meeting. Bedingfield is having dinner with the Belmont Fire District tonight. And Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada is, for some reason, musing about "hot spinach balls.") Many Twitterers post links to articles they are reading or enjoyed, which not only helps disperse information, but gives you insight into what interests them. And, you can also use it for self-promotion or to push a platform close to your heart. (Dawson has been hammering on the Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich scandal.)

And then, there's tags. (I think they're actually called hash tags.) They're basically the "#" symbol plus a short description. At the bottom of the Twitter screen, you can search for the tag and see everyone who has contributed to that conversation. The most useful tag I've seen so far was #sc2008, which was used on Election Day and collected information around the state. Some others that are getting a lot of play these days -- at least among the people I follow -- are #scga (I think that's South Carolina state government. Lots of stuff about pre-filed legislation there.), #rncchair (needs no explanation) and #tcot (I think that stands for "True Conservatives on Twitter.")

My Twitter experiment so far hasn't been totally unproductive. I found out about the new school choice group in town from a tweet. I use it to shamelessly promote blog entries that I hope to get feedback on. I'm genuinely interested in the tweets from the House floor. And I've even met one of our readers on Twitter for lunch.

Is it useful?

It will be. I say that because I have one editor -- I like to write long -- who often tells me, "This story doesn't need to be long. I can sum it up in two sentences." Two sentences? That's a tweet.

To me, this goes right along with the "burst culture" I've referred to for a while. Twitter might be a fad, but these short, constant bursts of information from one to many in a two-way information flow will only gain popularity. Maybe the next incarnation will give you more than 140 characters to type your thoughts. Maybe it will be integrated into other platforms. (Hamilton has an interersting new Web site.) Maybe one day this will be an audio platform, so you're not bothered with reading and typing.

So, right now, as Twitter likes to ask, I'm still reviewing the merits of the current setup and how much time I should devote to it. (I did brag to an editor the other day that I knew what a re-tweet was.)

If you give a twit, feel free to stop by and share your thoughts.

Oh, great.

It seems Twtter is being invaded by opportunists scooping up bunches of names.

I've avoided it for so long. I guess now it's time to take the plunge.

Ever sent a late-night e-mail that you regret the next day?

You might find this application helpful.

I may need to install it myself.

Slashdot has an interesting summary of how one of CNN's so-called "iReporters" -- that is, people who are not trained journalists but have the ability to post content as if it was news -- caused Apple's stocks to drop to an 18-month low by posting that the company's CEO, Steve Jobs, had suffered a heart attack, which was eventually proven false.

And this, thankfully, is one reason the world still needs trained reporters -- for both online and print material. It's a small comfort in what's a tumultuous industry right now.

... Waaaaaaaaaayyyyy too much stuff going on this weekend to do the bunch of entries I had planned. Moving across town will do that.

Anyway, a potpourri of politics, technology and comic books:

- John McCain's Please Call List: Despite suspending his campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign sent out an e-mail recently encouraging supporters to sign up for online phone banking. Telemarket from home! Here's the link. I tried to sign up to see what kind of access I could get for some Spartanburg ZIP codes, but have yet to be able to figure out their Web site. That said, I haven't put all that much time into it.

- Democratic state Senate candidate Jimmy Tobias bought 100,000 pieces of candy with his name on the wrapper. Said it cost him $3,000. I've yet to find that on his campaign disclosure statement... Though I guess it could've happened since early July, when he says he swore off receiving any campaign contributions. He says he hopes the candy makes people think of him and then leave a sweet taste in their mouth. Clever.

- Democratic state House candidate Will Rothschild is trying to sell me on the idea he's winning over Republicans who have never (or seldom) voted for Democrats in the past, saying that he's proven to them that he is the most qualified candidate in his race. I have no reason to doubt him, but at the same time, I have mixed feelings about how to handle this race, since I've worked with Rothschild in the past. Too bad we don't have enough reporters to cover all the news. But keep an eye on this race...

- Speaking of which, Rothchild's opponent, Derham Cole Jr., was one of four Spartanburg state legislative candidates standing alongside Gov. Mark Sanford last week at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport advocating a roll-call vote on every bill the state General Assembly passes. Alongside Cole were Republican candidates Shane Martin, Steve Parker and Joey Millwood. The bill they're supporting is sponsored by state Rep. Nikki Haley. Of course, my colleague Bob Dalton pointed out that if Haley was really serious, she could call for a roll-call vote personally on every piece of legislation to show she means business. But instead, I guess we have business as usual. Perhaps Haley doesn't do it because she can't get enough support with the current batch of cowar--- err, representatives. (I think you need nine or 10 seconds for the roll-call vote to proceed.) If that's the case, then she has at least three potential House members in her corner from this area, whether the bill passes or not. This year, we'll see how serious she is.

- The Clutch show the other night was awesome. I got the band's main set list (Thanks, Oscar!), plus a guitar pick (thanks, Ooze!) and a drum head (thanks, drunk guy in the parking lot!). Asheville usually has a pretty laid-back crowd, but last week's show was full of drunk youngsters clawing their way to the front. Who promptly received elbows to their arms, backs and faces. I guess they'll learn.

- Because of the gas shortage, Millwood is finding himself walking more and driving less on the campaign trail. Landrum is hit hard, particularly because all of the Tarheels coming across the line to fill up, he said.

- I haven't had time yet to call former Gov. Jim Hodges, former state Democratic Chairman Dick Harpootlian or former Richland County Democratic Party Chairman Rick Benjamin to ask why they sent out an e-mail recently encouraging Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's supporters to storm North Carolina this weekend in support of their candidate. I mean, the official word from the camp is that South Carolina is in play, and all of the campaign's resources in South Carolina are, in fact, dedicated to South Carolina. A miscommunication, or a PR blooper? We'll see.

- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has lost yet another lawsuit. When are they going to get the picture that the Internet will sooner or later spur the evolution of copyright laws on to the 21st Century? In case they're successful, though, I only share live shows -- and nearly every one of them is by a band who has told me explicitly they are OK with people recording and trading their shows, as long as it's not for profit. Of course, most of the bands I listen to no one has ever heard of. That might have something to do with it.

- As I frantically finish packing to move away from The Haven at Oak Forest (frankly, I'm glad to be getting out of there, though I've learned their reputation for bleeding every penny they can out of someone is true), I'm finishing up organizing and cataloging comics I've recently read. I really wanted to do a detailed review of "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes," but just won't have the time. But comics fans, especially older ones, who remember the original Legion, should buy it. And Newbies would like it, too. This re-introduces a whole new aspect to the Superman mythos, one that has been sorely missing. (This would've been coupled with a critique of the over-hyped, over-delayed "Last Son" arc in "Action Comics," which started strong but ended -- much later than anticipated -- on an extremely weak and confusing note.)

I'm sure there's more, but there's work to be done. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

A new study by North Carolina State University has determined that Internet users will click on just about anything that gets in between them and the screen -- in particular, popups.

Now, far be it from me, who works in an industry that's despartely trying to figure out better ways to make money off the Internet, to dismiss popups. But, they do often get in the way. And when you use the Internet daily, a few seconds is much too long to be bothered by some silly box that makes little to no sense. Or promises something too good to be true. Or could potentially install software that would cripple your computer and rape your private information. Wait... What?

(Several of my friends often get after me for not installing programs to simply block popups.)

The NCSU study asked students to evaluate a series of medical Web sites. But while doing so, they would be confronted with by a series of popups that would seem odd to downright dangerous. Nearly two-thirds of the time, students clicked on "OK" without even bothering to read -- or if they did read, comprehend -- the text inside the popup window.

I should point out that this can be bad not just at home, but at work. Do you want to be the person who crashed your company's entire network?

Anyway, find out more here.

And, this less condenscending article from PC World explains how best to handle these pestering popups.

Well, maybe that's a slight over-exaggeration.

But thanks to the folks over at slashdot.org, I found out about an interesting new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The study asserts that most teens consider playing video games a social activity -- and evaluates several scenarios in how doing so effects their political and civic life. While a broad spectrum of games are covered -- "civic games" get a lot of attention, games like Civilization or The Sims which involve decision-making, relationship building, volunteerism and even ethical discussions -- the bottom line is that most kids (97 percent) play video games, so it's important to understand what kind of impacts they can have.

(Civilization has been a particular favorite of mine for years, though I rarely have the time to play it these days. I'm usually the Ottomans or the Vikings.)

Anyway, you can read the study here.

One set of findings I thought was particularly interesting involved teens who go online and contribute to gaming-related Web sites. (I would say that's like people who read the newspaper and then participate in TalkUpstate, but the TalkUpstaters can be a bit of a rabid crowd at times.)

Teens who participate in online gaming communities are more likely to have raised money for charity, stay informed about current events, be interested in politics, try to persuade others to vote, or have protested in the last 12 months compared to teens who play games but don't contribute online.

So maybe instead of parents telling their children to stop playing video games, they should consider sitting down with them and see just how hard it is to conquer the world.