Tag Archives: transparency

Online reputation management, , , , , , ,

A high-profile PR firm has been outed by a competitor for breaking Wikipedia’s user rules. The New York Times covers the story in P.R. Firm Alters the Wikipedia Pages of Its Star Clients.

The article explains how easy it is to trace any Wikipedia edit (simply click on the “View History” tab in the upper right of a Wiki page. By clicking on each editor’s name, you can also see their Wiki editing history, including every page they have edited.)

We have published extensive information regarding Wikipedia’s policies, including the online encyclopedia’s plans to require disclosure from paid editors. In this case, the PR firm did not disclose their paid status. They also violated Wikipedia’s rules by removing verified information: When a fact is verified on Wiki by linking to a credible citation, you can’t remove it.

PR Firms Grapple with Non-Disclosure Clauses in Client Contracts

Even many well-intentioned firms editing clients’ Wikipedia entries would prefer not to disclose their paid status because client contracts usually include a non-disclosure clause. If you are a paid consultant and hesitate to disclose your paid status and identity for that reason, you can use an anonymous Wiki handle but explain your paid status in your profile. You will be adhering by Wiki’s rules (assuming you also follow their editing rules to a “t” – which you should) and you will be honoring your contract.

Following is the profile of an editor who has been working on the Wikipedia page of a high-profile personality who has been in the news. We recommend it as an example of best practices in disclosing your paid status.

In line with the Wikimedia Foundation’s updated Terms of Use as of June 16, 2014, this is to disclose that I am paid for some of the articles I create and/or edit, in most cases by the subject of the article. Whether paid or not, I always aim to contribute positively to Wikipedia and to edit within Wikipedia’s guidelines, with properly sourced, neutral, constructive edits. I hope my work is judged based on those standards. I will add a paid editing disclosure to the talk page or in the edit summary of any article I am paid to create or edit as of June 16, 2014.

More detailed information regarding best Wikipedia practices can be found in our new guide, How to Look Better Online: Online Reputation Management for CEOs, Rising Stars, VIPs and Their Organizations. It is based on our work with clients in financial services, philanthropy and politics, as well as in other business arenas. That work includes writing and managing Wikipedia entries.

 
 
Branding, , , , , , ,

Lifestyle celebrity Sandra Lee was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She chose to have a double mastectomy. That is a painful decision many women face. And as a woman that commands a public forum, she is sharing her experience to help other women and raise awareness of the disease.

This isn’t the first time a celebrity has publicly addressed personal struggles with breast cancer. But rarely is the public given such an intimate look at the experience. Sandra Lee’s unvarnished updates about the process—from pensive, brave photographs of her recuperating in her hospital room to serious images of her at home—put a human face on a difficult process.

New York Post’s “Page Six” column is one of many media outlets that has been following her progress, but she has reached her largest audience by publishing the photographs on her Facebook page. A benefit of social media is that it allows individuals to tell their personal stories to the public directly, without any intermediary. So Ms. Lee can keep ownership of her story, telling it day by day and ensuring it is told accurately. Even maintaining that level of control, sharing so personal a story in such an honest fashion is incredibly brave. We salute her choice.

 
 
Branding, , , , , ,
Kris Jenner

Whatever you may think about the Kardashians, their reality TV show, social media dominance and growing presence on runways, commercial beauty and other products makes them a fascinating business story.

Where Would the Kardashians Be Without Kris Jenner?, a feature profile in The New York Times Magazine by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, tells the inside story about how Kris Jenner, the mother of the Kardashian children and Bruce Jenner’s former wife, built the family brand and fortune. That process began with hard work and sweat equity promoting Bruce Jenner’s early motivational speaking career.

In a world where businesses and high-visibility people go to great lengths to manage their reputational capital, Kris Jenner offers an almost unparalleled level of transparency for the world to discuss, debate or disdain.  She has leveraged that transparency into a core element of her family’s brand. That’s why they are the focus of cultural conversations and icons of the new celebrity.  You might not approve of her, but her drive, vision and strategic approach to brand building is something we can all learn from.

 
 
Crisis Management, , , , , , , ,
Sanofi and Successful Crisis Management

Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has been in the news recently. It is investigating whether its international affiliates may have made improper payments to doctors. But thanks to some excellent crisis management, headlines are focusing on how Sanofi is handling the issue instead of on possible wrongdoings.

I contributed to this piece, published today on The Wall Street Journal’s website, that examines Sanofi’s response in more detail. Other major pharmas, including Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, have faced similar issues. Sanofi, however, has distinguished itself with a proactive approach to reputation management.

These situations serve not only as examples of how crises unfold in the Internet age. They also illustrate a type of problem that can be difficult to avoid in a global economy: in other countries, payments we would consider bribes are seen as simply a cost of doing business. International industry has not found a way to resolve those cultural dissonances…but Sanofi has demonstrated one way to manage the crises they produce.

 
 
Google, , , , , , , , ,

Links to five New York Times articles have been removed from some search results on European versions of its search engine to comply with Europe’s “right to be forgotten.” The Times reports that Google recently informed them of the action. This excerpt provides an example of what is being removed:

One Times article that is being shielded from certain searches in Europe is a report from 2002 about a decision by a United States court to close three websites that the federal government accused of selling an estimated $1 million worth of unusable Web addresses. The complaint named three British companies, TLD Network, Quantum Management and TBS Industries, as well as two men who it said controlled the companies: Thomas Goolnik and Edward Harris Goolnik of London.

Links to such articles continue to be available in the U.S.  The full article can be read here.

 
 
Crisis Management, Social Media, , , , , , , , , , ,
General Motors’ Wins Praise with Social Media Strategy

General Motors is using social media to manage customer complaints and its reputation — and using it well.  How they are applying social media management is a good case study for other companies in crisis.  (The Detroit auto manufacturer has recalled 1.6 million cars and faces roiling legal issues after top management hid defects that caused deaths for 10 years or longer.)

Key examples from a New York Times article by Vindu Goel include:

–    GM’s Facebook page.  In addition to hosting GM-produced content, it is also an open forum where customers can post comments and complaints. GM staffers are engaging them in real time with assistance and responses.

–   @GM on Twitter. Frustrated customers who have spent an hour or more on the phone with GM customer service representatives have turned to Twitter to seek help – and found it in minutes.

“G.M. has a team of about 20 people based in Detroit that manages its social media presence — including monitoring about 100 independent auto forums — and responds to inquiries and complaints seven days a week,” reports Goel.

In addition to managing the crisis using traditional methods – including letters to car owners – GM created a video with CEO Mary Barra to keep customers and employees abreast of how the company is managing the situation.

As more companies use social media to better manage customer relations, they can learn from GM’s example.

 
 
Social Media, , , , ,

Teddy Wayne’s New York Times essay about Justin Bieber is about under-age performers and their lack of a childhood.  It is also about the media landscape that many millennials have grown up in.  An excerpt:

“One reason Mr. Bieber has captivated our attention, beyond his talent and charisma, is that, alongside Mark Zuckerberg, he is the paragon of the millennial celebrity. Born in 1994, he has hardly known a world without broadband Internet, smartphones, social media and digital imagery (and, yes, public apologies by celebrities through those same conduits). He has exploited — and been exploited by — these tools to great effect, currently ruling the Twitter roost with more than 36 million followers…”

It is insightful reading for CEOs and managers at companies becoming more active on those platforms.

 
 
Online reputation management, , , , , , , , , ,

Authenticity has emerged as an important online trait.

“We live in an age when people are moved less by spectacle and more by what they consider to be actuality—what feels real,” Michael Drew writes on the Huffington Post. Andrew Potter, author of The Authenticity Hoax, takes it one step further, attributing our quest for authenticity to “a world increasingly dominated by the fake.”

While the new emphasis on it may be a reaction to factors like the ambiguity of reality television and the ubiquity of plastic surgery life, concern for it can be found in all areas of contemporary life. It could have been a factor in the selection of the new pope, who’s been called “humble, authentic and credible.”

The Struggle for Truth

Authenticity is certainly a desired trait, but it is also an elusive one. As described by Muhlenberg College professor Jeff Pooley: “The best way to sell yourself is to not appear to be selling yourself.” Meghan Daum explores this issue further in an LA Times opinion piece on authenticity in politics, distinguishing the dictionary definition from what she calls “aw, shucks authenticity.” The key takeaway? Trying to be authentic, strictly speaking, isn’t really authentic at all.

Entrepreneur and author Seth Godin offers a more useful definition. “Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not ‘being who you are,’” he says. “As the Internet and a connected culture places a higher premium on authenticity (because if you’re inconsistent, you’re going to get caught) it’s easy to confuse authentic behavior with an existential crisis,” he adds.