I am two years to Ryan Holiday's publication"Trust Me, I am working". Never much of a PR person, I learned quickly from his nonfictional account of becoming a"media manipulator" that advertising can be everything after you've assembled a fantastic item. Since I must return the book by 12/20 into the San Diego Public LibraryI figured this is a great time to write my notes down as a blog post.
Quotes from"Trust Me, I'm working"
"Social networking isn't a set of resources to permit individuals to communicate with people. It's a set of embedding mechanisms to permit technology to use humans to communicate with each other, in an orgy of self-organizing... The Matrix had it wrong. You're not the batter power in a worldwide, human-enslaving AI, you're somewhat more valuable. You are part of the switching circuitry"
-Venkatesh Rao (Entrepreneur in residence at Xerox)
"It's a prime example of the feminist blogosphere's tendency to tap into the market force of what I have begun to think of as"outrage world" -- the frequently occurring firestorms awakened on mainstream, for-profit, woman-targeted blogs like Jezebel as well, to a lesser degree, Slate's own XX Factor and Salon's Broadsheet. They are ignited by authors that are compelling readers to sense what the writers assert is righteously indignant anger but that is really just petty jealousy, cleverly promoted as feminism. These firestorms are fantastic for page-view-pimping bloggy business."
-Emily Gould from Slate.com
"Businesses should anticipate a full-scale, organized attack from critics. One that will simultaneously overrun blog remarks, Facebook fan pages, and an onslaught of sites, leading to mainstream press appeal. Begin by creating a social media disasters plan and growing inner fire drills to anticipate what could happen."
-Jeremiah Owyang
"Our selves are the house where we live; they are our information, our personalities, our experience, our forms of art, our really experience."
Practice Advice from the Novel
Control your Wikipedia page (use any media mention from sites or conventional media)
Examine the top stories and you'll see a pattern: the best stories all polarize poeple. If you make it threaten people's 3 Bs -- behavior, belief, or possessions -- you receive a huge virus-like dispersion
Compose stuff bloggers could post immediately without any work. Feed them their own lies"help them trick their subscribers"
Loaded headlines are popular
Silence on blogs is the worst.
Faking escapes with email editor (from different sources) can operate if You've Got the Ideal connections
Prominent headlines that cried excitement about utlimately unimportant news
Luxury use Browse around this site of images (often of little significance )
Shade comics and a big, thick Sunday supplement
Ostentatious aid of the underdog causes
Utilization of anonymous sources
Prominent coverage of high society and events
Concepts from the book
Ongoing Narrative /Iterative Reporting -damage is already done, there is no such thing. Iterative reporting is bullshit, folks treat news headlines as"cultural truth", the damage is already done, even it's a baseless accusation.
Faking leaks with email editor (from different sources)
The Psychology of Error -- Errors and mistakes get rewarded, causes outrage = pageviews = cash
For example, each picture is a different load display = more pageviews (short term vs. long-term metrics). Usability vs. profitability -- publishers are focused liberally on pageviews, but in the long term, consumer trust will be significant. Meanwhile, reckless bloggers are making millions from sensationalizing stories that are untrue.
Snark -- deadly weapon (humour in its dark form. Example = "Your Daily Douchebag: John Mayer Edition". Another online illustration: Hot Chicks with Douchebags
All that occurs -> All that's understood by media --> All that is newsworthy ->All that is published as news -> All that spreads. This is the systematic limiting of the data seen by the General Public
My Action List / Courses in the Novel
Websites hold a Good Deal of power
The ideal contacts in the right blogs in a certain sector hold tons of sway. Example: Apple statements
Building a brand new website with high viral grip (however with the right user metrics in mind) can take off quickly. Sites like Watch Mojo, Ebaumsworld, Break.com, ride the wave of copying content from other people, organized in a digestible way that users can quickly disperse. Millions of dollars are created this way while resources are not credited. There must be a means to do both.
There's a demand for a respectable news source, or an industry specific source that doesn't pander to"mass hysteria". Case in point: refinery29.com