Brian Solis – founder of FutureWorks, PR 2.0 blogger, and revolutionary thinker – presented at NewComm Forum 09 last month about “The New Organization Landscape for Marketing Communications.” Here are the highlights of his fabulous presentation, which has yet to be released:

Solis asked “Who owns social media?” A very hot topic in the blogosphere these days, it was a great way to start the presentation because all ears pricked up.

He said that no one owns it and, at the same time, everyone owns it. The sum of all parts (of an organization) make a whole. And social media affects every part of an organization.

Solis then described social media as “the new gold rush,” where everyone’s jumping in because “it’s hot” and “it’s supposed to be what we’re doing.”

But, Solis says, the question we should be asking is: “How are we going to socialize what we (our brand) represent?”

And who represents your brand in the Social Web does matter. Solis recommended that organizations carefully consider who in the company should be entrusted with the keys to the Ferrari. He talked about “Twinterns” or interns who are in charge of corporate Twitter or other social media accounts. He said, “Are you going to risk having a Twintern deal with a blogger with thousands of RSS subscribers?”

“Are you going to risk having a Twintern deal with a blogger with thousands of RSS subscribers?”

There are other ways to be cost effective.

Companies today are still viewing Social Media from a top-down perspective…when they really need to be embracing it more as an evangelical initiative.

“Social Media provides a fantastic opportunity to build communities and create ways to get other people to go out and do work for you,” said Solis. Each division in a company needs to be “socialized” in order to build these communities.

How would this setup occur in an organization? A social media “team” begins an “interagency” within your organization. The new roles for this new communications agency would look like this:

• Digital Anthropologist
• Strategist
• Communications Manager
• Research Librarian
• Support Team

The most important thing to remember is that social media is about sociology; not technology. Effective immersion into this world requires experience, insight and perspective…solidified by interaction…and measured by relationships.

Photo Credit: Kenneth Yeung – www.thelettertwo.com

News is what you think it is.

Today, with access to unprecedented amounts of information on the Internet – including millions of blogs, comments, traditional news sites, reviews, press releases, videos, and conversations on social networks - people are choosing how and when they are receiving their information. But, more importantly, they’re choosing “what” information they want.

This is what we call news.  

It’s that simple: News is what we think it is. Just like brands are shaped by consumer perceptions, reputations are built by recommendations from friends and peers, and expert labels are earned by professional colleagues, news is defined by what we think is important. And on the Social Web today, this is gauged through our participation in telling stories and determined by our willingness to share information.

Ironically, it has been this way throughout history. For a time, however, when traditional mass media was the fastest method to share information, news was packaged for easier distribution and consumption. It may or may not have been what we considered news, but it was – at the time – the fastest way of getting “new information.” And when pieces of information somehow dripped outside of the packaged news story, it was often called a leak. Not surprisingly, though, the leaks were stories that had audiences too. Quite often leaks also became very popular “news” stories. So today, you can think of the Internet as a virtual news sieve…with leaks all over the place, each one with its own relevant audience.

Whether it’s leaking information or telling stories, we all play an important role in creating and disseminating news. And that can mean anything from stimulating global conversation to actively sharing bits of highly relevant information with members of our community. 

Welcome to the Social Web — where every visitor, reader, and contributor is also a reporter.

This is a true story. It’s one of many that occurs every minute – by the hundreds, if not thousands – on the Internet Social Web.

Today I answered some questions posed by users on LinkedIn. Answering questions is a great way to network, grow your business, and establish yourself as a thought leader and credible resource in the industry. Or you can simply answer questions to be nice…and to give back to the Social Web, which gives so much to us 24/7, for free, and asks for nothing in return. My motivation at the time was the latter. Here’s a question that I answered (click on image to read it):
  

While I was answering the question, I switched over to Twitter to say:

Shortly thereafter, I was tweeted this reply:

Then I said:  

So my final response to the question looked like this (click image to read):

You just witnessed how a quality lead was produced in 10 minutes – for free.

Another bonus: You also make new friends along the way. I was lucky to be meet Alec J. Rosen a colorful Tweeter who is also the CEO of a leading PR and marketing agency in Florida. So I also expanded my own network, which will in turn enhance the quality of my Twitter experience.

See what I mean? It just keeps going – like the concept of Pay it Forward, only the echoes and ripples affect all parties whether they’re giving or receiving. However, the more people share, the more powerful the Social Web becomes. So always be sure to share, too.