P-Noy: Can he deliver on social media

Before I take up the subject of this column, I want to share the words of US State Secretary Hillary Clinton as she handed over the check for the $434 million Millennium Challenge grant. I think she delivered a stinging slap on the collective face of the Filipino people and P-Noy can only smile because it’s all true. Here is what she said:

“But let’s be very honest here. Too many of them (Pinoys) feel that they cannot progress in their own country. Too many of them feel that the elite in business and politics basically call the shots, and there’s not much room for someone who’s hardworking, but not connected.

“Too many of them believe that even if they get the best education they can, that there won’t be an opportunity for them, and so they take that education and help build someone else’s economy, very often here in the United States,” Secretary Clinton added.

Aray! If that doesn’t elicit a firm resolve from P-Noy, his kabarkadas and from all of us to prove Hillary wrong, then we deserve to be insulted… to be looked down upon as we get that miserable check to increase our debt.

Now, for the topic of the day.

My good friend, Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma told an Asian audience in Beijing the other week about the interactive website developed for P-Noy. Coloma said it was designed so that people can send messages to the Chief Executive and where he can also reply to the messages if need be.

“Our approach to new media reflects the current trend in the use of available technology, which is to engage and empower citizens not only in the online world but also offline,” Coloma said. “The website has been developed in the belief that people support what they create,” he said.

Coloma expanded on his social media plans for P-Noy in his presentation before the 17th PR Congress last week. His plans are pretty elaborate, reason enough for me to start being skeptical and worried about their ability to deliver.

I wondered if Coloma was not just raising expectations that could set the stage for big disappointments. I have yet to be convinced about the ability of government bureaucracy to take care of its social media responsibilities in real time, which is the essence of any social media presence. They couldn’t even get Ate Glue’s face out of government websites for days and weeks after they took over government.

Even before Coloma spoke in Beijing and at the PR Congress, I already had doubts about how they are carrying out their social media presence. My fears were reinforced when P-Noy was said to have actually responded to a critical view of his leadership expressed by a netizen.

Of course, no one expects P-Noy to actually sit down and respond to every comment made on his page. A President has better use of his time. But that’s the thing with social media… you raise expectations that people and their views really matter. My problem with the so-called P-Noy response is that it did not sound like P-Noy at all. It sounded more like official propaganda line written by a bored PR writer working under strict guidelines.

I think the first thing a PR professional should strive for when he or she creates a Facebook page for a client or a principal is to make the responses sound like him or her. You cannot sound almost as if a lawyer had written the posting. P-Noy sounded in his response… as if he was sticking very close to a party line… no sense of warmth normally associated with P-Noy. Social media must increase the authenticity of a politician, not make him look fake.

A decision to engage one’s audience on social media like Facebook is a fairly tough commitment. Indeed, it requires “some behavioral and philosophical change” specially for those of us older than 40 to be comfortable engaging in public dialogue with customers, employees and electorate. We must know how to process feedback across our organization.

Engagement, according to a Financial Times article, means addressing just about every complaint, criticism and question raised on Twitter and Facebook, even if it means airing a bit of dirty laundry. Skillfully interacting with our audience is essential. It is easy to lose credibility and even make people vicious new enemies if they experience any amount of frustration in their social media interaction with you.

For companies, non profits and governments, social media provides a personalized first stop for customers or employees or voters looking to communicate with the company or the public official. And this is where it gets tricky. It is essential someone pays attention to any comment or question by responding in some form as quickly as possible.

The staff managing P-Noy’s or any company’s social media presence must always be quick to refer to the right party any comment or request or complaint from the Internet and social media. Often enough, even angry customers and citizens are appeased just because someone paid attention to them. My question to Sec Coloma, had he stayed long enough to listen to my presentation, is simply: Is the bureaucracy now geared for the quick, even instantaneous response required by social media?

While P-Noy on Facebook is a good symbolic gesture that brings the election promise of transparency and accessibility to reality, keeping it up is pretty challenging. It would be good for the three officials heading the communications effort to complement the P-Noy page with their own pages on Facebook or even blogs.

It is unfortunate that Sec Ricky Carandang had stopped his blogging. His blog site (rickycarandang.com) used to be quite an interesting place where big issues are discussed extensively and often, with a lot of passion. This is a good way for anyone involved in drafting communications strategies for the President to measure public sentiment.

In fact, all three of them should try to be “friends” with key opinion leaders who have Facebook pages. Being able to follow the comments and discussions is almost like having a focused group discussion in real time. They will also be given the first opportunity to clarify and argue for the President. In some instance, they may even be able to win support from pundits who would otherwise be critical.

I found Sec Coloma’s PRSP presentation of P-Noy’s social media strategy interesting but too academic. It looks good on a power point presentation but the proof of it remains to be seen in how well the objectives are achieved in implementation.

But I am glad that Sec Coloma sees the value of social media. There are those who will cite the low levels of computer ownership in our general population to minimize the importance of social media. But these people forget that our deficiency in computer ownership is made up by the proliferation of Internet cafes even in the provinces.

Regardless of socio-economic class, social media users are more likely to be opinion leaders and early adopters... the kind of people we cannot ignore. I think of them, to those of you familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, as the connectors, the mavens and the salesmen — the ones likely to power a new fad, a new mode of behavior, a new way of seeing things.

Social media in this country acts not just as a gauge of emerging public sentiment but more importantly, as an incubator of public opinion. Issues can catch on in social media that will take center stage of public discussions that political leaders cannot ignore.

Journalism has now become a conversation between us and our audience, and in real time. It used to be a pulpit from where we columnists could preach. Folks these days do not just want to read the news, they want to be in on the conversation about the news.

This could be frustrating for those who continue to think that just because they are able to say the same party line over multiple channels, they have control over the message. This is why I think spending taxpayer money on government media is a total waste with Facebook and Twitter around. Money meant to fund PTV-4 is better spent for conditional cash transfers for the very poor.

And that’s just the stark reality today.

Criminals

This is from Jose Villaescusa.

A pharmacy was robbed yesterday, but all that the crooks had stolen was a large bottle of VIAGRA.

Now, police had issued the APB to be on the lookout for hardened criminals!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is  [email protected]. Past columns may be accessed at  www.boochanco.net