The real moment of clarity came for me when I was working in network news.
It was January 15, 2009 in New York City around 3:30 P.M. on what had been a “slow news day.” My job was National Community Producer, which, at that time, translated into “Social Media Evangelist” or, in hushed circles, “Twitter Girl.”
Twitter was certainly what I glommed on to as evidence of the dawning era of 2-Way Journalism. I was a zealot about it, that’s for sure, constantly raving about how Twitter was going to change news forever, how it was going to start breaking stories faster than the news wires could and how through social media platforms, we could leverage millions of “ground reporters” to make our stories even more detailed and compelling.
And I was slowly gaining traction.: getting more reporters comfortable with their growing social media communities, pushing out best-practice guidelines to affiliates. People were starting to see value.
But there hadn’t been the BIG story yet, the ah-ha! moment that fully demonstrated everything I was pushing.
And then, there it was: a lone tweet that said a plane had crashed.
Then another. And another, and more retweets over and over. The Hudson River. A plane? Crashed? Landed? Are there more? People were tweeting from their Westside apartment buildings and offices asking what was going on. Did anyone have any information? The news channels aren’t saying anything. Did anyone else see that? Are there any survivors?
In mere seconds, this picture was posted by Janis Krums to TwitPic with this caption: “There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy.”
Credit: Janis Krums
When I saw this picture, I knew that this was the one we had to publish to the front of our news sites. Immediately.
Here’s what there wasn’t time for:
Debating the merits of user-generated content.
Questioning whether it was more “trustworthy” to use “real” photographer’s photos rather than “just some guy’s.”
Refusing exception to traditional journalism’s cardinal rule of cautiously vetting story sources.
Fortunately, my savvy Managing Editor knew as well as I did that waiting for our cameras and helicopters to get there to take pictures was a needless delay in getting this image out to readers. Krums had made this picture public, requesting only naming credit for the photo, and so as the details of this miraculous rescue effort unfolded, we were able to get the picture live on our sites at least 25 minutes before our “official” images rolled in. 25 minutes in news time might as well be a century.
And here we are, not even two years later, and it’s hard to imagine any major news breaking on a traditional channel before a social media platform.
So, why am I telling you this story? I’m talking about relaxing our control issues. The Media industry (hard news, P.R., etc.) has always been centered about framing and controlling the message. Whether we’re documenting and reporting on straight facts, or crafting a multi-layered story of a company’s growth, our traditional model has been extremely strict in approach: one voice, one framework and one story.
But if social media has taught us anything at all, we can’t ignore just how many stories and voices are out there. Everyone has opinions, that much we already knew; but now, everyone has the power to share these opinions, to share their voices. Content, the most well-crafted to the banal, is now king. The story now belongs to everyone.
And these days, the people who are still holding tightly to the reigns of control are being left behind. They’re left behind in innovation, conversations, technologies and growth. Behind their walled-gardens, they might be crafting the most well-written, impactful messages ever about how their companies are growing, what new products are coming out, what their plans are for the future. They might be creating beautifully designed web sites that map out their business model and showcase their offerings.
But if they aren’t opening up a true line of conversation (two-sided, rather than one), they end up seeming rather inhuman. Without acknowledging the opinions of their readers and consumers, without admitting they can’t always be first to announce news or flawless in crisis management, they miss opportunities to make their story even more engaging. In the world we live in now, not sharing with your customers and making space for their feedback says that you don’t care what they think. And if your customers think you don’t care, then why should they care about your products?
No, it’s not easy. It’s scary all of a sudden to grit our teeth and smile and allow other people to tell us how they really feel, to open that dialogue and end up seeing negative opinions right there in pixels and code. But there is also a freedom to giving up our control, a relief that opens us to seeing new messages and strategies, engaging with new audiences and contributing to the global story that is unfolding online.
This is a story and evolution that is only growing in a chorus of shared voices, and those refusing to listen to it may as well be silent themselves.