Noteworthy – Social Media edition

A small collection of links you may find interesting.

RIP Press Reports by Kary Delaria, pitchengine, May 14, 2009

Before, we measured Return On Investment. Traditionally, if a client was announcing a product launch, for instance, the PR pro would draft a press release, distribute it, pitch the appropriate editors/reporters, follow-up as necessary, and ideally, it would result in print coverage on the client and their new product.
This is earned placement, old-school style. That diligent PR pro would then summarize each of these mentions in a press report, along with quantitative information (often things like circulation, ad equivalency) to provide the client with a monetary ROI.

Now, we can measure Return On Engagement. Conversations about your clients take place in countless places – dinner parties, parks and in phone conversations. Do these get included in press reports? Of course not. It’s just as ridiculous to think that social media coverage can be reported in this way. …

The most immediate, quantitative results from ROE might be increased sales (our in our case, registrations). The more valuable results, however, are qualitative, and occur long term. It’s not possible to quantify the value of a brand ambassador, who is essentially doing your PR for you. One exchange could plant the seed that eventually grows into a lead, a new client, or a partner.

Iran Cuts Access To Facebook As Election Looms by Ali Akbar Dareini of the Associated Press

Iran’s decision to block access to Facebook – less than three weeks before nationwide elections – drew sharp criticism Sunday from a reformist opposition hoping to mobilize the youth vote and unseat President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The decision, critics said, forces Iranians to rely on state-run media and other government sources ahead of the June 12 election.

The “old media” says “new media” isn’t to be trusted and yet frequently declares the imperative of having access to the Web.

FBI expands use of social media by Ben Bain, Federal Computer Week, May 18, 2009

The FBI is looking for fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter to expand its ability to share information with millions of social media users.

The social media programs supplement other information technology tools the bureau has deployed in recent years to make it easier for people to submit tips and get news from the FBI, bureau officials said May 15. …

“To reach out to the public, we need to be where people are, and we know tens of millions of people spend their time in social media sites," Miller said.

Why Afghanistan Matters, a video contest by Joint Forces Command HQ, NATO

Are you a military member currently serving in Afghanistan?

Think what we’re doing in Afghanistan is important? Tell us why!

Twitter Search to Start Indexing Pages and Launch Reputation Algorithm by Loren Baker, Search Engine Journal, May 7, 2009

Instead of simply indexing the tweets of its users, Twitter Search will now offer search technology which will transform it into more of an open window of the live conversations and real time indexing which is happening within the Twitter community.

Twitter Search will also be getting a reputation ranking system, whichNeedleman reports will take into account the reputation of the user who actually wrote the tweet, and rank its search results based upon that reputation.