Comments on: In Washington They Ask, "What Can We Actually Use?"

By: Joel McLaughlin

Joel McLaughlin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:48:48 +0000

I took a lot from this post in agreeing that you need to give information to people the way they consume it. That is valuable information for any type of business or website, and I am going to take that in to consideration a lot in the future.

By: Aaron Brazell

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:47:50 +0000

Amy: How would, for instance, the FBI run a counterwar on terror with Twitter or Facebook? Certainly OPM could use LinkedIn (and pretty sure they do), but yeah… sometimes you have to go back and build something new for the mission.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:43:57 +0000

I don’t think “new” is always better. Sometimes the “existing” stuff is perfect; you just might need to look at it a different way.

By: James Pickett

James Pickett — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:24:06 +0000

How do you make a youtube video go viral without doing something tragic?

By: Greg Cangialosi

Greg Cangialosi — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:14:18 +0000

Thanks for the plug Aaron! You are spot on. The core principles of communicating are the same. We just have new channels to explore and use. Good stuff!

By: Lahne

Lahne — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:36:54 +0000

Aaron -

You are right – the key elements of communications haven’t changed and you always have to look at your audience when developing messages. How you say something to Congress is different than a reporter for example – not that the message is different, it’s how the audience wants to receive information that might be different.

Anyway, good post and I hope you land something slightly more sustainable long-term.

By: Brian Bell

Brian Bell — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:24:31 +0000

Aaron, I hear ya and agree completely. I have a bit of an interesting flip on that idea where I work. I work at a brand and reputation agency in Minneapolis as an interactive designer. I spend a lot of my time researching and learning about social media; one, to do my job better, and two, because I find it interesting. I see all these social media technologies as a great means of implementation for certain clients of ours, but I have the hardest time convincing my coworkers that they should consider it. The agency I work for is historically a traditional ad agency, and they seem to be a little hesitant to try out this new world of social media.

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:04:15 +0000

Great post. I think you are right on in terms of the key principles of communications staying constant, even as the tools change. You have to use the tools that are appropriate for the job, be they Twitter, email, or YouTube. If you audience isn’t on Twitter, then what’s the point?