Bill Cosby Draws Over 95,000 Viewers for U-Stream Webcast

Tonight I watched Bill Cosby debut and introduce the world to his new hip-hop album via U-Stream, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Cinch, Vimeo, 12 Seconds, and Blogtalk Radio. He pulled an impressive 97,000 viewers on U-Stream.

Although this exercise was somewhat historic, I felt that some key areas were missed in execution, in order to engage the intended target audience through the use of social media.

During the U-Stream webcast, viewers were chatting with eachother via the U-Stream chat platform. Each message contained the hash tag #BillCosby. After the webcast concluded, a colleague and I went to twitter to see if #BillCosby had become a trending topic, which it hadn't. We then checked Google Trends. It wasn't there either.

This discovery begs the questions where were the influencers, who was #BillCosby's intended audience and how can over 97,000 viewers translate to a true case study in social media influence and/or engagement.

It wasn't like #BillCosby's webcast wasn't properly promoted. It received top-billing on U-Stream's homepage. The news of Cosby's webcast and album release was publicized on outlets like Billboard, ABC News, Reuters, Entertainment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Mashable, Hip-Hop Wired and the Washington Post, to name a few. The resounding message through out all of the press was that the release of Bill Cosby's hip hop album was to unite hip-hop artists for an "Emergency."

I'll say that, as far as advance publicity goes, his team gets an "A." However, for the execution of the webcast, his social media team gets a "C+" at best. With over 97,000 viewers, he didn't do enough to engage them, in my opinion. So many viewers were simply impressed with the numbers he drew alone. Though, as a social media enthusiast, I personally expected more.

Here is what I would have loved to have seen:

• One or two key influencers from hip-hop that were a part of the discussion and could provide insight on where hip-hop began to where it is now.
• A few chat room moderators to keep dialogue flowing in the intended direction and to reiterate what viewers were seeing and hearing. (Someone to accent the main points of discussion.)
• More answering from the chat room and twitter

At one point, during the discussion, there were even a few hip-hop influences, like Killer Mike, that hopped into the chat room to talk to Bill Cosby and his viewers. None of them were even acknowledged by Cosby but evidence of their influence was demonstrated as some of the chat room discussion turned toward the unexpected chat room guests.

The true impact of Cosby's experiment might not be revealed until later on this week. However, I predict that he'll get slightly less post-event coverage, which will still be impressive as a whole but I doubt he'll break digital download records. After all, he's no Drake...just joking.

You Are What You Tweet!

There are a plethora of stories that emphasize the importance of online reputation management. So if you have read any of those, you can disregard this post because this is just going to reiterate that point. However, for those that aren’t aware, this post is for you.

With so many social networks buzzing online, for some, it’s getting harder and harder to differentiate between the networks that are joined for professional purposes and those that are joined for social purposes. In the PR profession, I’m constantly monitoring the online activity of not just my clients, but my personal activity. In doing so, I have to scrutinize the activity and online exchange of my friends, colleagues, clients. Additionally, I also have to watch the activity of their extended network to ensure that certain branding initiatives aren’t compromised by a temporary bout of Tourette syndrome.

When engaging in online discussions, you have to consider several factors:

1) What is the main purpose or interest in which the social network was created?

2) What’s your purpose for joining the network?

3) What types of exchanges exist on the network and are these the type of exchanges that support your goals?

4) Is your profile and communication within the network public or private?

5) What is the reputation of the friends or colleagues that you’ve connected within the network? Based on their conversation, what’s their purpose for joining the network?

After answering the above questions, you may want to take time to do a full assessment of the social networks that you belong to and how you interact within those circles. And then after doing that, you should do an internet search of yourself to see how many of your public profiles are visible online. Are you content with what you see? If not, the beginning of the year is a great time to do a Social Media Makeover. Take time to separate your professional online identity from your personal one. Or at the very least, ensure that your personal online profiles are private (only visible with your permission).

To illustrate this point, I did a search of my online profiles in Twitter and Facebook. Below are the images that will appear in any public search by anyone who isn’t an approved friend or within either of those two networks. Since Twitter has been dubbed the virtual watercooler for conversation, it’s a little more difficult to police some of those candid discussions, which is why my updates are protected. Conversations on Twitter can range from politics to online flirting, depending on who you follow and who follows you. Likewise on Facebook, some profile pictures do not always match conversation topics. For instance, the conversation may be about animal cruelty or becoming a vegan and the most vocal comments may come from a member whose profile picture has them posing with a full-length fur coat.

The social media phenomenon brings a new meaning to the phrase, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” However, with Facebook, can you?

Contact Me

404.348.8289
jslaughter@chatterboxpublicity.com

My 2008 Social Media Socialites

I've compiled a list of the people or firms that have inspired me both directly and indirectly. In addition, these people and/ or companies were influential in ChatterBox Publicity’s new business direction. Note: the following appear in alphabetical order.

1. Angela Benton and Markus Robinson / Black Web 2.0
2. Ava DuVernay / The DuVernay Agency/ The Urban Collective
3. Baratunde Thurston / Jack and Jill Politics Blog
4. Brian Solis / PR 2.0
5. CBP’s Social Media & PR Circle: Robin Caldwell / The J Standard, Christal Jordan-Mims/ Enchanted PR, Nicole Garner/ The Garner Circle, Dee Dee Cocheta-Williams/ ABC Publicity, Danielle Armstrong/ Organic PR, Keisha McCotry/ Prominence PR, Candice Reese/ Envision Global
6. Cedric “Big Ced” Thornton / Freelance Writer with Social Media Swagger
7. Dove Clark / AllHipHop.com & Tyger Eye Entertainment
8. Gina McCauley / Blogging While Brown Founder
9. HBCU Roundup Creators / Rustin & Bryndan Moore
10. Hill Harper / ForRealSolutions.com
11. James Andrews / Key Influencer
12. Jason Kintzler / Pitch Engine
13. Kevin Ross / 3 Baas Media
14. L. N. Rock / African American Political Pundit Blog
15. Marco Hansell / Fan Force, LLC
16. Maurice Cherry / The Black Weblog Awards
17. Necole Bitchie / The Urban Blogger
18. Pam Spaulding / Pam’s House Blend Blog
19. President- Elect Barack Obama, The Country’s First Social Media President and his Social Media Strategy Team: Blue State Digital, Rahaf Harfoush, Chris Hughes, and those we missed.
20. Shawn P Williams / The Dallas South Blog
21. Tamera Reynolds / Glam Media / Black Life
22. Todd DeFren / PR Squared
23. Twitter Founders: Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams
24. Wayne Hicks / BDPA Education Technology Foundation
25. Wayne Sutton / Social Media Evangelist, Guru

If you are unfamiliar with any of the above, this list is also a good guide to creating your own black book of social media contacts.

Happy New Year!

Social Media Takes Proactive Lead As Gustav Nears New Orleans

On the 3 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, social media guru's are leading the charge to ensure that volunteer notices, rescue efforts, evacuation notices and other relative sources are accessible via the internet.

Tools that have been widely used for promoting brands are now being used as main resources for keeping the public informed on the latest Gustav updates. Andy Carvin, out of Washington, D.C., developed a social network on Ning, http://gustav08.ning.com to disseminate vital details and organize a viral volunteer staff that will man the site. The site, less than 48 hours old already has over 400 members and a support staff spanning the country. On the site, readers will find storm tracking maps, live video, RSS feeds, traffic cameras, Craigslist volunteer posts, updates from news crews in New Orleans as well as Red Cross updates with contact information.


Here is a list of the other ways social media technology is being used to disseminate information:

- Twitter updates are being sent with the tweet tags, #Gustav
- RSS feeds and SMS services are being created to allow stranded people in the Gulf to send text updates
- Videos- News crews and video teams are uploading footage to YouTube, and Blip.tv
- Live chats and webcasts from camera crews and reporters are being broadcasts via U-stream
- Audio updates- Many are using services like Jott and Utterz to send audio updates that are being linked on Twitter
- Additional information site- a Wiki has been created called Gustav wiki, http://gustavwiki.com, which contains more important links and information.

An example of social media at work, Rick Sanchez, a CNN correspondent broadcasted live on CNN while reading Twitter, Facebook and Myspace messages on the air. One of his most recent Twitter messages said "Thanks for letting us know what you want, need and have, so far, its going great. What a remarkable tool, cable TV with Twitter."

A testiment to the power of Twitter combined with the reach of CNN, at 1:10 am, Rick Sanchez had about 5,100 followers. By 2:30 am, he had 5,676 followers.