The Long Tail (summer version)

As part of our discussion of social networks and how they are structured, I'd like you to read two articles for Thursday's class. They aren't that long, so it shouldn't take you more than about a half hour to read through them.

The first article is a classic article by Clay Shirky titled "Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality." Link 1 here

The second article is an essay that became the basis for the book "The Long Tail," by Chris Anderson. Link 2 here

If you have time, you may want to check out Anderson's blog by the same title, The Long Tail blog, although you should note that the blog is on hiatus. Even so, some of the older posts are quite interesting.

Transparency and data harvesting

Here is an interesting article that came across my Twitter feed: An ethical bargain

In it, the author (Jim Stogdill) uses the example of a relationship he has with a bookseller, who is always ready with a book recommendation, and compares that to his relationship with a large grocery chain, which asks for information such as date of birth when someone purchases alcoholic beverages.

In the case of the former, Stogdill argues that what Al the bookseller is doing is open, honest and ethical. He (Al) observes the types of books that Stogdill has purchased and liked and then uses that information to make better recommendations for future purchases. In the case of the latter, Stogdill states that asking for a purchaser's DOB is "sociopath[ic]" in the sense that the grocery store chain wasn't really open about why it wanted the information and what it would do with it in the future.

Hmm, I wonder if what we have here is a distinction without a difference. That is, even though Al doesn't say that the reason he watches what his customer buys is so that he can sell more books, because he is a real live person, they have a relationship and are "friends." But at the most basic level aren't both Al and the grocery store collecting information that will make it more likely they will make future sales?

I do agree with Stogdill that corporations are often less transparent in how much data they collect and how they use it and that there is value in rethinking how open we (as representatives of clients) should be about the nature of our activities.

It's also worth noting that Stogdill is not just some technophobic crank. Rather, he works trying to make sense of customer data--something he seems not to like when others do to him.

Welcome to Social Media and Public Relations: Summer version

Please read the following article by Jeffrey Rosen: End of Forgetting. There is also an 8-minute interview with Rosen on the same topic that I would like you to listen to prior to class on Thursday.

Also, please read the story Web's New Gold Mine, which is part of a series of articles by the staff at The Wall Street Journal. Everyone should read an additional story that is part of that series and be prepared to discuss it in class on Thursday.

Finally, there is a "model" blog post that appears below ("Politics and Social Media"). Keep in mind that all of your posts will be focused on public relations as it applies to a specific industry (broadly defined: politics, fashion, sports, entertainment, etc.). I will write another model post sometime this week, so that you will have another example of what I am looking for.

I allow anonymous comments, so you do not need to be logged in to comment. I would appreciate it if you would leave your name in the text, though.

I look forward to our (short!) time together!