Charmed Particles: March 2010 Archives

A blog by Marc Danziger about people, their conversation-centric organizations, and social media tools and technology.

March 2010 Archives

Temper, Temper

By Marc Danziger on March 25, 2010 7:10 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I'm on the Board of the Long Beach Opera , and last week went to the premiere of Nixon In China (and did I mention that our final performance is on Sunday? You can buy tickets here...). For the first half of the first song, the guy sitting directly behind me was stage-whispering to his date. I turned to give him the imploring look, but he had his face buried in her ear, so I reached back and tapped his knee. He started, turned to me, and I gave him a finger to lips gesture. He cursed under his breath and told me to turn around or else.

Now I had a choice at this point. I could have argued with him or escalated further. Or, I could have let it go and accepted the fact that I'd gotten what I wanted - he wasn't talking any more.

It's a basic issue in interpersonal relationships and conflict - how am I going to react?

Looking back at the Nestle social media disaster, I've got to point out that while Nestle was the targeted victim of a deliberate attack, a big chunk of the damage was self-inflicted.


Continue reading Temper, Temper.
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Social Warfare

By Marc Danziger on March 23, 2010 6:28 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

In giving my SMB social media talks, the topic of deliberate bad behavior always comes up.

"What keeps me from going on Yelp and trashing my competitor down the street?" is a typical question. Or "What if my sister-in-law writes a really nice review for me?"

My response is that we're kind of living in the wild, wild west and that until some social norms grow up and we get marshals to enforce them people need to be prepared.

I talk about Jeff Jarvis' "Dell Hell" posts that triggered massive waves that hammered Dell...but I talk about Jeff as the pebble that unleashed the avalanche - not as a 'community organizer' mau-mauing the corporations.

I've talked with friends about "social DDoS" attacks, where a few thousand people could swarm a social site and in effect trash the community there - I imagined it as a tool Russian or Indian hackers would start using against corporations for money, political opponents would use against each others' campaigns, or activists pushing business or government targets to change.

And now Greenpeace is using Nestle's social media presence to attack Nestle for its consumption of plantation-grown palm oil.


Continue reading Social Warfare.
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The End Of Publishing's End

By Marc Danziger on March 18, 2010 11:05 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
A great, smart video from the UK (h/t Gerard VanderLeun)...watch the whole thing.


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Social Media And The Small Business - Yet Again

By Marc Danziger on March 17, 2010 7:11 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - SMB that thoughtlessly adopt the big business strategies of personalization and outreach in social media may or may not be doing themselves a favor.

In today's WSJ - 'Entrepreneurs Question Value of Social Media.' (probably behind a paywall) It's not that they're Luddites...
Last year, social-media adoption by businesses with fewer than 100 employees doubled to 24% from 12%, says a survey released in January of 2,000 U.S. entrepreneurs from the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business and Network Solutions LLC, a Web-services provider in Herndon, Va.

Meanwhile, a separate survey of 500 U.S. small-business owners from the same sponsors found that just 22% made a profit last year from promoting their firms on social media, while 53% said they broke even. What's more, 19% said they actually lost money due to their social-media initiatives.
Here's my old Slideshare deck on the topic...
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A Tale Of Two Media...And Their Revenue Models

By Marc Danziger on March 15, 2010 11:52 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

So let's be clear - all media companies are struggling as both the basic models they operate under (online and offline) are challenged, and as the economy means they no longer have the cushion of good times.

Let's look at two responses to the problem.

The LA Times ran an ad that wrapped the front page for the film Alice In Wonderland; that was controversial, but what made it deeply controversial is that the ad was designed with copy and font to look like the Times' front page...with an ad layered on top of it.

LA-Times-Alice-In-Wonderland-Ad.jpg

It's eye-catching to be sure, and the Times supposedly got well over a half-million dollars for it.


Continue reading A Tale Of Two Media...And Their Revenue Models.
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Graffiti Bridge

By Marc Danziger on March 1, 2010 3:57 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

(With apologies to the used-to-be and now-is-again artist Prince)

I was talking to a potential client last week, and was getting pushed back because their current social media efforts aren't doing much for them. In fact, they are pretty negative. They have added comments to articles and whitepapers on their website, and to be generous the comments are horrible.

Not just horrible as in mean to the brand, but a snakepit of trolldom, angry ad hominem and content-free commentary.

"See!" they tell me. "We put the comment system up, and look what happened!"

Here is where I mentally bang my head against the conference table.

"Look," I explain. "What's the difference between an alley in Beverly Hills and an alley in Compton?"

Blank look.

"No tagging on the buildings in BH. Why? because it's obvious that the people in change care. When graffiti goes up, it's gone the next day. The homeowners actually use the alleys and the police actually patrol them.

In Compton? Not so much. Which is why taggers are free to do their worst.

When you put up a comments system and walk away, you're creating Compton."

"So how do I create Beverly Hills?"

"Participate!" Participate in your own discussion forums. Make every author who writes something agree to go to the forums and engage at least twice a day. Make it part of their job."

Because if you're setting up forums and walking away, you're just creating unmonitored back alleys where people are going to feel free to express their worst attributes.

Don't do that.

For some tips on how, see this post.
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Communities and Networks Connection

About Me

I'm Marc Danziger, a social-media and technology strategist for hire (and you should hire me). I've been thinking up, designing, and managing the development of technology projects for over 15 years with major projects in healthcare, media, automotive, retail, and politics.

Recently, I've done work for Inc. and Fast Company magazines, Warner Music, Manpower, Central DuPage Hospital, and Florida Hospitals, among others.

I focus on two areas: developing technology strategies - typically strategies for customer and stakeholder engagement; and organization to improve technology delivery. I've also done quite a bit of troubled project recovery, as well as straightforward project delivery management. I'm a strong advocate of agile methodologies, and am a certified ScrumMaster.

Charmed Particles, Inc. is my company (the name comes from my early fascination with physics), and it has been in operation for almost 20 years.

Download a pdf of my CV here, my LinkedIn profile can be found here, and you can reach me on IM at:

AIM: MarcDnzgr

Y!: marcdanziger

G!: marc.danziger

You can also email me at marcd @ charmedparticles.com (remove the spaces)

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