PerkettPR Interview Series: Bambi Francisco, Vator.tv

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As proponents of better communication and connection between the PR industry and influencers, PerkettPR will be featuring an ongoing series of interviews with reporters, bloggers, analysts, vendors and social media experts.

We begin with Bambi Francisco, CEO/co-founder of Vator.tv and former syndicated columnist and correspondent covering Internet and emerging technology trends and investments across the public and private sectors for Dow Jones MarketWatch.

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PPR: What are you up to these days since leaving
MarketWatch?

BF: We launched Vator.tv the first week of June and have been
building the platform out aggressively over the last couple of months. As a
social network for anyone launching ideas, connecting with potential partners,
customers, and as an overall resource for innovation, we have seen a lot of
interest from companies that want to submit creative content to us to expose
their ideas, secure funding, network with partners and find employees. We also
have seen some pretty creative pitches from individuals pitching themselves to
try and get a job. There’s also solid interest from big media companies
interested in our content too, so stay tuned for more on that. News has become
a larger component of Vator as well. John Shinal, my former colleague and boss
at Dow Jones MarketWatch, just came on board to head up our newsroom, which
will be different from other newsrooms because our content will consist of a
lot of user-generated submissions and text.

PPR: How is Vator.tv
different than other news sources, blogs, and traditional media? It seems like
Vator is really aiming to be the YouTube of entrepreneurship?

BF: I think that’s
a great analogy. Vator.tv is a social networking platform first. News and
editorial are layered on top of that to create a combined user-generated and professionally-produced
piece. Increasingly, news will be socially produced or in collaboration with
the audience or users. So, a lot of the news that’s created is a combination of
video submissions and our editorial. I think you’ll see a lot of this type of
production over time as social networks alter the media landscape. It’s no
wonder that big media companies want to layer on social networking features
onto their sites. But on Vator, it’s not an add on. It’s the way we create our
news.


Our
tagline in our news section captures it: “Your ideas drive the news.”
We allow the users to present the news to the audience in their own voice.
Traditional journalists have their own spin, and in the case of breaking news,
they typically all sound alike because all they do is reiterate an announcement.
I think our audience/users’ take is just as relevant. We’re not trying to break
news –as I’ve always thought that was a commodity business–but we’ve set up
the platform so users can break their own news by posting their comments on
their pitches. Those pitches are automatically highlighted in our newsroom,
without an editor deciding what to highlight. As a “traditional” journalist, I always had to provide my own spin, if
you will. At Vator, I don’t think we should be the gatekeepers of the news.
That said, we do offer our own analysis and commentary and reporting. Our Vator
Reports is a hybrid news format as we (me and Peter Thiel) take our experience
and blend it with the user content.


Another
differentiator from traditional media is we are really focused on helping the
users and how we can help them get their innovative ideas out there. It’s so
much fun reading what they are doing and how they are connecting with other
people on Vator. We have become a service utility for entrepreneurs.


PPR: How do
you go about finding your news or interesting people to interview? How do you
keep up with the 24/7 news cycle?

BF: I still read
the papers, on and offline, and blogs. And, as always, I get alerted in my
email inbox on Vator. I do look on Vator to see who’s innovating and I pull out
trends based on that. After we decide on a show topic, then we look to see who
on Vator is getting lots of views, most active, highest rated, etc. and we’ll
elevate those companies or individual’s news stories.

PPR: What are
the hottest areas in tech you are currently tracking that are bubbling up on Vator?

BF: Social
networking and niche communities are still very hot. All aspects of media
companies, such as indie production houses, given the accessibility to an
audience these days, and demand for good content from big media companies.
There are a ton of online marketing and advertising companies that are enabling
people to crawl the Web and spot influencers or capture sentiment or buzz across
the blogosphere. There are still a lot of video-sharing sites, video-enabling
and video-delivery companies emerging too.


PPR: What is the
single most useful technology you use every day?

BF: email

PPR: PR executives – helpful or hindering?

BF: Very
helpful. We want to help all their clients get exposure. And, I think the PR
executives see the value in our utility.

PPR: What is
the one piece of advice you would give to the CEO of an emerging tech company
looking to launch today?

BF: Launch on Vator.tv
as it’s a place where new ideas at new companies or establishments can find an
audience. Much like social networks, where people are found through their
relationships– ideas and businesses can be found through relationships as
well. And, that’s what makes our network different. And, If someone is verse
enough with our system, they can see that they can constantly break news about
their company by just posting comments on their pitch. Those comments go directly
to our newsroom. They can really pull some marketing levers and make noise on
the site if they want to. Or, they can be really quiet and only connect with a
few. It’s up to the user.


PPR: What are
your plans for the weekend?

BF: This
weekend? Not sure, I’m taking it a day/weekend at a time. But I always do my
Saturday bike ride.

PRWeek Echoes our Earlier Sentiments on Niche Social Networks

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PRWeek just posted a story about our client Sermo’s deal with Pfizer, and how it might impact the model for the social network business. Author Marc Longpre also has some interesting thoughts around the revenue models – echoing our blog post earlier this week about niche social networking sites and their strong potential for bringing new value to the online community phenomenon.

Two New Social Networking Lessons from – and for – PR

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Two developments in social networking this week teach us more PR lessons – first and foremost, don’t forget the transparency!

 

1) Facebook/Microsoft – While the market was abuzz with a battle between Microsoft and Google over Facebook on Wednesday, a PR representative from Facebook “leaked” the deal by posting a new “friend” on her Facebook page. That friend just so happened to be Adam Sohn, who heads up global sales and marketing PR at Microsoft. ValleyWag – always the innovative thinkers – used this as enough confirmation of the rumors.

 

2) Your written PR pitches are on display – make sure they are quality! Marshall Kirkpatrick, lead writer at Read/WriteWeb (and a consultant in new online software and marketing), highlights in a late Wednesday blog five PR pitches he’s recently received that not only had the opposite effect of grabbing his interest but, collectively, impassioned him to post them for critique on his blog – with names. Yikes.

 

The lessons here? Social media is by its very nature transparent – what you put out there can be reposted, repurposed and on display for anyone to research critique, link to and comment on – forever. Make sure you are sending quality communications that you can stand behind. Learn and abide by unspoken etiquettes of the communities, engage in using social media intelligently, and moreover, give reporters more than just “stuff” regardless of the vehicle in which you choose to communicate.

 

You’re busy, right? Imagine how busy they are – and how many pitches they have to read through in a day. If you want to connect, do it only when you know you’ve got something good – or maybe when you don’t want anything at all (old fashioned relationship building) – and give them quality, concise and personally relevant information (no one blasts generic email pitches these days…right??).

Are We Too Old for Facebook?

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We are doing a lot of work on the social networking front here at PerkettPR – training workshops, new hires/social media staff and holding some really valuable analyst and media discussions. We’re following Forrester Research as you know, and their Groundswell activities, as well as watching closely for great examples of business use of social media. Many of these include YouTube and LinkedIn and some are extending campaigns to Facebook, MySpace and others.

A few weeks ago, Dan Costa of PC Magazine, wrote about social networking and indicated that perhaps some of the more popular of these sites do not hold credible value for the over-30 crowd. His column, “MySpace is Not Your Space,” provides a guideline (his opinion) on who should be on which site. While we don’t totally agree – we think some of his thoughts on the use of these sites are short sighted – it’s interesting to think about. (For example, he states “I am not trying to keep the 50-something, married software engineer away from the 17-year old coed cheerleader majoring in Art History—although maybe I should be.” We don’t’ think that’s what professionals are focusing on with their use of these sites – and can’t the two co-exist without crossing paths? For example, if we’re trying to reach high school students for a campaign, isn’t it better that we are involved in and understand the medium that we are using?)

We believe that social networking will continue to evolve as an industry and, while Facebook may not launch a separate site as Dan suggests, it has inspired many new sites that do provide a more laser focus on specific issues and groups. For example, our client Sermo focuses on medical doctors, other focused sites already exist for PR professionals, the town you live in and various hobbies – even venture capitalism, as today’s Boston Globe reported on next month’s launch of VentureNetwork.vc, an online social network for professionals looking for another channel to connect and talk shop. The user numbers on these sites may not reach Facebook’s level, but as we all continue to figure out the value and monetary possibilities for such communities, the value will increase regardless of the numbers – camaraderie, additional support and encouragement, new networks, collective insight and more are invaluable.

For example, Guy Kawasaki wrote a great blog post at AlwaysOn regarding how one of the less-understood social networking tools, Twitter, can add value today. Many people out there don’t get the value of Twitter (we just started exploring this ourselves) and may say, as Dan does about MySpace and Facebook, that it’s a better tool for the younger crowd with time on their hands. Guy shows that it’s so much more – already driving “tens of thousands of page views,” debunking rumors and extending networks. And, since no one person seems to really have the answers on social networking’s value to business – yet – keep exploring, keep trialing and keep sharing your insights.

Boston Bloggers Dinner Was Invaluable

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A few of us attended the Boston Blogger Dinner at Rattlesnake last night – hosted by EMC and Jeremiah Owyang (former blogger now turned Forrester analyst – cool).

It was a great event! I was blown away by the awesome passion and intelligence in the room. So many of these folks have “chucked” their day jobs (realtor, designer, marketer, etc.) and found a way to monetize their interest in social media. It was really inspiring to meet everyone and they convinced me to join the Twitter community – for which I am so grateful (although it can be too addicting, it’s a great resource community already).

We met a couple of great BU students who are, unfortunately for us, interns at another PR company (although we don’t hire interns). I was really interested by their passion and foresight – how many University students have had the insight to post thoughtful commentary and content on their Facebook page rather than simply party pictures or to join a Boston Bloggers Dinner in lieu of local bar hopping with their classmates? These ladies – Amanda and Amanda – impressed us enough to make us reconsider our stance on accepting interns at the firm. They were bright, engaged and very plugged in – who couldn’t benefit from working with them?

We met a few people who we had wanted to connect with after reading their blogs. Julia Patricia Roy, Carlie Flossberg and Laura Athavale Fitton – all super smart ladies rocking the social media world.

For more photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffglasson/sets/72157602524956994/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremiah_owyang/sets/72157602518854364/

 

Talking Shop

Social Networking Grows Up; Pfizer Recognizes Real Impact & Potential

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We are extremely excited about an announcement today from our client Sermo, a networking community site for medical doctors. Their relationship with Pfizer Inc. indicates the continued evolution of real business value coming out of the social networking and Web 2.0 phenomenon. Sermo and Pfizer have partnered to bring new value and better results to the interaction between medical doctors and drug companies. In doing so, we all stand to benefit. The potential positive outcomes are revolutionary and we applaud Pfizer for forging the path for other drug companies and the healthcare industry as a whole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all know that social networking is changing the way people communicate. This simple proposition is now on the radar of many businesses – how can we harness such information, how do we monetize it and how can it help us to become a better business? Many still don’t “get it” and too many still dismiss its potential to truly change business. (As even Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff indicated in his comment to our October 9 post). As today’s Sermo news indicates, the powerful impact of the transparent and efficient exchange of knowledge – doctors on Sermo openly discuss issues, trends, treatments and more – can be applied to real issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharing such information on Sermo, physicians have access to the most topical medical data available – enabling them to make better fact-based decisions, faster – in a way never before made possible. Ultimately, patients will benefit from the positive impact of such important collaboration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more on the partnership at The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Financial Times, Bloomberg.com and Sermo.

 

 

 

Can’t wait for the Groundswell

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Forrester Research analysts/bloggers Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff will be announcing the winners of their Groundswell Awards this week and we can’t wait. Not because we submitted clients but because we are genuinely interested in what’s happening out there with social networking and technologies.

The winners will be announced at the Forrester Consumer Forum, taking place October 11 and 12 in Chicago. You can read a sneak peek from some of the entries in Josh’s September 17 blog entry, “Insight from 78 Social Media Projects.”

While B2C is well on its way with social media success, our clients are constantly asking us who’s doing what with social media, what the results have been, who’s doing it well and who’s not – especially in the B2B space. If you have great examples or articles to share, please let us know. For now, it seems everyone in B2B is stumbling around in the dark looking for the light! Agree? Disagree? Know a company who’s figured it all out when it comes to social networking for B2B? Please, share!

Social Media Lessons Still Being Learned

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Last night a few of us attended the Boston Social Media Club’s “Social Media Lessons for Big Businesses” Panel discussion in Newton. The panel consisted of Josh Bernoff, VP and principal analyst at Forrester Research, Steve Restivo, director of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart Northeast and Dan Lyons, senior editor at Forbes Magazine “aka” Fake Steve Jobs.

The panel was interesting and the insights helpful – Bernoff’s were of particular interest in
that he speaks about social media as “letting go of control.” He talked about how we, as PR executives, need to help our clients learn how to join in the conversation rather than try to control it – because they can’t anymore. I think this is a hard lesson for corporate America to swallow.

A lot of the discussion was around the blogosphere – only one portion of social media – and how companies are using them to open up dialogues with their customers. Some great examples discussed were the Sony Electronics Blog and Dell’s IdeaStorm. Examples of other companies embracing social media to connect with customers included Target, Unilever, eBags and others. Ironically, the group felt that technology companies weren’t necessarily doing as good of a job as the consumer companies and called out Google, specifically, as failing to embrace social media as a way to open conversation with customers.


The panel and audience also debated the merits of CEO blogs. The fact remains that most executives simply don’t have time to write a daily blog – and many people believe that a blog’s not a “real” blog unless it’s updated every single day (who made this rule, anyway?!). The panel pointed out a good example with Mark Cuban and that he does not write every day but when he does write, it’s interesting – and open. I also found it interesting that they held him up as an ideal because so many executives feel that they have to blog only about corporate-related content. Mark is all over the map – from technology to politics to sports and healthcare. And it’s good reading so people will pay attention – as opposed to boring entries posted every single day that no one will read anyway.

Overall, the main themes around social media continue to resonate: be open, invite conversation, don’t hide even from criticism or mistakes, and join the conversation. Perhaps blogs are the biggest most influential force that will drive corporate America to become forthright and truly customer-oriented.

Tech Cocktail Offered…Cocktails

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A few of us attended the Boston Tech Cocktail party in Boston last night. Unfortunately the venue, a major nightclub in Boston, didn’t make networking quite as easy – or productive – as some other tech events we’ve participated in (as sponsors and attendees) previously. While the sponsors did a great job providing free drinks and colorful corporate schwag, the overall atmosphere was more like a college party than a serious networking event for business professionals (or maybe I’m just getting old). It’s hard to make connections when you’re shouting at people to be heard over the music.

From the “PR-girls-we’d-never-hire” shimmying across the floor in matching dresses, to the skateboarding “dude” who invited us to an after party, we were definitely amused but not making the connections we had hoped. Granted, my heels were killing me and forced me to sit down for the latter portion of the party – although ironically, that’s when we met a majority of new contacts.

Someone we would like to hire is Clarence. What a brilliant marketer. This guy is smart, down-to-earth and a great marketer at heart. Too bad he doesn’t want to work in a tech PR agency. We didn’t see a lot of media but we did meet Chris Brogan, co-founder of PodCamp and overall social media mastermind.

The sponsors were interesting emerging tech companies like Geezeo, a “social finance application” – poised for huge success as they begin looking for Series A funding (according to Co-Founder Peter Glyman). We met several entreprenurial attendees – like Phillip Zannini – who shared their new business ideas with us and who were hoping to meet interested VCs and have the opportunity to provide their elevator pitch. We hope they are successful.

The drinks were free, the music was loud and the Wii games were cool. Talking to techpreneurs is always a blast because it’s our passion to work with such enthusiastic and intelligent folks. Fun on a scale of 1 to 10 was about a 7; business productivity about a 5.

Sosius Unveils Next Gen Collaboration for Work and Life

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Client Sosius unveils their online collaboration product for work and life today at the Office 2.0 conference. The product is free and now open for a public beta. YOU can help decide the future for online collaboration by signing up. Rafe Needleman talks more about Sosius on Webware.

Sosius is great not only because it’s free and delivers 1.0GB of storage space but because it lets you keep your information, social networking and collaboration all in one place – collaboration for “Life 2.0” as Founder Andrew Cameron-Webb calls it. He has a good point – our lives don’t begin and end at the office (although sometimes it feels that way!) so why should our collaboration technology? Sosius lets you create Career and Life “Workspaces” so you can easily invite appropriate contacts to the best workspace and manage all the intersections of your life from one application. From scheduling family activities to managing that big work project, Sosius brings powerful, easy online collaboration and sharing to the everyday user.

What else makes Sosius unique? Experienced veterans. Cameron-Webb is the creator of Collaborative Workspaces, a successful enterprise-grade web collaboration service and Chairman Steve Crummey is the founder of Intranets.com, acquired by WebEx (now Cisco).

Sign up here and let us know what you think!