Are We More Social Today?
Studies of people in public spaces show that we may be more social today, despite hypotheses about technology pulling us apart. The Street Life Project in the 1960s and 70s photographed and filmed people in places, such as Bryant Park in New York City, to track how they sat, stood, and interacted with others. At the time, the goal was part of a city planning effort to improve public spaces.
Between 2008 and 2010, a University of Pennsylvania research team continued this work by filming people outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They coded 38 hours of footage based on sex, group size, loitering behavior, and phone use. The team found only 3% of adults on cell phones. As lead researcher Keith Hampton says,
"In the busiest public spaces, where there are a lot of groups, like this kind of public space, it's like 3 percent. Three percent. I can't even see someone on a cellphone right now, but yet how many times have you seen a story that says,'People on cellphones in public spaces is rude, it's creating all sorts of problems, people are walking into traffic.' I mean, we really have a strong sense that it's everywhere."
Hampton's research also found that people weren't talking to avoid contact with people but rather to kill time waiting for someone; the people on phones were alone. Twenty-four percent of people were alone on the steps, compared to 32% in the 1970s studies of the same spot. These findings support Hampton's other work about whether technology has made us more alone.
A New York Times Magazine piece provides a still of the work:
Discussion Starters:
- What's your view of these findings? In what ways do they surprise you-or not?
- What are some possible limitations of the study in drawing conclusions about how technology has affected us?
- The research also found that women are out in public today more than they were 40 years ago. What could explain this shift?
- In what ways has technology made you either more social or more alone?
McDonald's: America's Most Hated Company?
McDonald's, which didn't make last year's list, tops this year's list of the Most Hated Companies in America. 24WallStreet.com published the list, although it's unclear how the results are determined. The website theorizes that the company's popularity slipped because of the controversy over low-wage workers and the company's low revenue growth.
On the rest of the list, we see some other familiar names in the BizCom in the News repository:
1. McDonald's
2. Abercrombie & Fitch
3. Electronic Arts
4. Sears Holdings
5. Dish Network
6. Walmart
7. JPMorgan Chase
8. Lululemon
9. BlackBerry
10. JC Penney
We see few surprises here.
Discussion Starters:
- How do you assess the credibility of this list? What other sources may provide more reliable information?
- What should McDonald's do to improve its image at this point? How about Lululemon, which has suffered because of declining product quality and a few mistakes by the CEO?
Nu Skin Addresses Controversy
Nu Skin, a company that develops and sells anti-aging products, such as skin-care treatments and dietary supplements, is under fire for its marketing practices. A Chinese Communist Party paper reported that the company's multilevel marketing strategy is "akin to brainwashing" and likened its bonus practices to that of a pyramid scheme.
In response, Nu Skin defends its practices and accuses reporters of providing inaccurate information:
Since the report, Nu Skin's stock dropped 33%.
Discussion Starters:
- What is a pyramid scheme? How does it differ from multilevel marketing?
- Analyze Nu Skin's statement. What works well, and what could improve the company's image?
Christie's Timely Annual Address
Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey, already had a scheduled annual address, so he took the opportunity to discuss the bridge controversy.
Admitting that "our citizens deserve better, much better," Christie took responsibility for "what happens on my watch" and promised to cooperate with investigations. Christie also tried to reinstall confidence by saying that what happened "does not define us or our state."
To a standing ovation, Christie said he "will not allow the work that needs to be done to improve the people's lives of New Jersey to be delayed for any reason."
Discussion Starters:
- Analyze this section of Christie's speech in terms of delivery style, content, and organization.
- Watch the entire address. What's your assessment of this section of the speech? Is the placement appropriate? Is it in keeping with the rest of the speech? What other observations do you have after seeing this section in context?
New Rules for Canadian Government Press Releases
The Canadian government has created new rules for press releases. The Government Communication Service explains the change on its website:
"The Government of Canada is retiring the traditional press release format in favour of a more digital-friendly product that makes the key messages of announcements clearer, quick facts more accessible and integrates more effectively with social media channels. . . . The old style release – which hasn't changed in over 50 years – disappeared on 31 December 2013. Gone with it are the dense blocks of text that make it hard to read, the use of long titles in headlines and leads and the use of complex jargon."
For years, people have predicted the death of the press release, but it has lived on. This change doesn't quite kill the traditional press release, but it does shorten it, asking for just two or three paragraphs of text and the following:
- develop catchy headlines and sub-headlines
- write concise and clear opening paragraphs that contain the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, why)
- select key facts that capture the reader's attention
- draft quotes that are meaningful and succinct
- repurpose the quick facts and quotes for Facebook and Twitter posts, and
- offer associated links that provide additional context to help the reader better understand the issue
A sample release shows little paragraph text, several bullets, and links to more information (visit page to enlarge).
Discussion Starters:
- In what ways is this new format consistent with business writing principles?
- What, if anything, could be lost with this new format? What could the reader miss?
Emails Plague NJ Governor Christie
Emails obtained by The New York Times provide convincing evidence that the New Jersey Governor's office caused traffic problems as political retribution. One of Chris Christie's aides sent emails to David Wildstein, a high school friend of Christie who worked for the Port Authority that controls the George Washington Bridge.
The New York Times describes the political context and related messages:
"The mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, is a Democrat and did not endorse Mr. Christie. In the emails and texts, Mr. Christie's staff and appointees appeared gleeful when the abrupt lane closings gridlocked the town for four days, beginning with the first day of school and including the anniversary of Sept. 11. Mr. Sokolich, who had not been informed of the closings, texted Bill Baroni, the governor's top appointee at the Port Authority, asking for 'help' because the lane closings were making children on buses late to school.
"'Is it wrong that I am smiling?' Mr. Wildstein texted Ms. Kelly.
"'No,' she texted back.
"I feel badly about the kids,' he texted.
"'They are the children of Buono voters,' she said, referring to Mr. Christie's Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono, who was trailing consistently in the polls and lost by a wide margin."
References to "the kids" relate to children who were late to school because buses were delayed on the bridge.
The emails and texts are making it difficult for the governor to continue denying his office's role in lane closings. Wildstein and another Port Authority official resigned in December.
UPDATE: In a news conference, Christie apologized and said he was "embarrassed" and "humiliated" about the situation. As in his speech at the Republican National Convention, he used a heavy dose of anaphora.
Discussion Starters:
- So far, Christie is not commenting on the emails and texts. How should he respond to the controversy?
- Christie's staff used personal Gmail accounts and text messages to communicate. Why weren't these safe from exposure?
Marissa Mayer Gives CES Keynote
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer gave the keynote speech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. CES is a gathering of gadget geeks and tech enthusiasts, and Mayer's presence was a nod to Yahoo's place in the future of the Internet.
Mayer emphasized the shift to mobile technology and announced Yahoo News Digest, news delivered to users twice a day.
At some point, Katie Couric joined Mayer on stage. Couric, former TV talk-show host, was recently hired as global news anchor for Yahoo News.
Watch CNBC's analysis of Mayer's keynote.
Discussion Starters:
- Assess the excerpt of Mayer's speech: what do you notice about the delivery style, content, and organization?
- What's your reaction to CNBC's analysis of the speech?
New Twitter Terms
New York Magazine has published new terms that emerged on Twitter in 2013. I did my best to summarize them here:
- Canoe: a Twitter conversation involving more than three people
- Close that tab: advice to close a browser tab quickly because of something terrible
- Darth: a wizard with a lot of fans
- Day-of-the-week jokes: blaming a day on something bad or tweeting "TGIF" on another day
- #deblasionew york: blaming everything on NY's new mayor, even before he took office
- Doge: a meme that I don't understand at all (!)
- First-name-only replies: calling someone out on Twitter
- Florida man: attributing strange happenings to someone in Florida ("the weirdest state")
- Hatefave: favoriting a tweet to "ruffle the recipient's feathers"
- Hateread: encouraging people to read something distasteful
- @Horse_ebooks: a poetic thread made up of short contributions
- Scoop, if true: encouraging retweets/reporting without regard to truth
- Smarm: performance without substance
- Subtweet: directed at one tweeter (back-talking)
- Teach the homeless code: based on an experiment considered in poor taste
- Whoa: emphasizing another's tweet
- "You won't believe what happened next": a way to encourage clicks
And my two favorites of the bunch with examples:
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Because [noun/preposition]: "A new type of prepositional phrase, because character limits." Why waste words (I guess)?
- #Followateen: parents writing about their kids (until they discovered the hashtag and retaliated). Ouch. I wrote about "literally" recently.
Discussion Starters:
- Do you find these interesting or, as one comment on the story says, "Twitter is dumb."
- Another comment on the story reads, "This must be what's popping on #WhiteTwitter. Because #BlackTwitter tells a different story." What does this mean, and do you agree with the comment?
Pret A Manger Apologizes for Dead Frog in Salad
A Wall Street Journal employee found a dead frog in her Pret a Manger salad. Started in London in 1986, Pret a Manger now operates 335 restaurants, including one on 6th Avenue in New York City, where the frog was found.
When the customer returned the salad, the store manager apologized, refunded her money, and gave her a certificate for a free lunch in the future.
Ellen Roggemann, vice president of brand marketing for the U.S., gave the company's perspective on the situation:
"We don't use any pesticides with our greens and they go through multiple washing cycles. An unfortunate piece of organic matter has made its way through."
Roggemann also said, "We are so regretful that this has happened."
In addition, the company issued this official statement:
"At Pret A Manger, we take issues like this very seriously. Our lettuce is sourced from farms that do not use any pesticides on its produce, therefore organic matter does very rarely manage to pass through our production process. We are currently looking into this issue to make every effort that this does not happen again."
Discussion Starters:
- Assess Pret A Manger's response-the NYC store's response, Roggemann's comments, and the official company statement. What works well to instill confidence in the products? What could be improved?
- Rewrite the company's statement: try to make the tone more natural, and correct the punctuation.
Facebook's "Cutesy" Annual Report
A TechCrunch article refers to Facebook's report to its partners as "cutesy" and "a playfully illustrated eMagazine." In 68 pages, "The Annual" uses a mix of executives' quotations, infographics, and photos to taut accomplishments in 2013.
Facebook also published a traditional annual report for investors.
Discussion Starters:
- What's your impression of The Annual? Analyze the audience, content choices, organization, writing style, and graphics.
- Could you see more traditional companies adopting some of The Annual's components for their own annual reports? Think of a few examples of companies and which aspects of the report might be work well for their investors or partners.
- How does Facebook, if at all, describe teens' declining use of the social network?
Facebook Further Declines Among UK Teens
A new study shows that British teenagers find Facebook embarrassing. The Social Media Global Impact Study tells a dramatic story of teenagers moving away from Facebook.
A member of the research team and professor of anthropology in University College London, Daniel Miller describes the shift:
"Parents have worked out how to use the site and see it as a way for the family to remain connected. In response, the young are moving on to cooler things.
"What we've learned from working with 16-18 year olds in the UK is that Facebook is not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried."
Miller also describes the impact on family dynamics:
"Where once parents worried about their children joining Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists they stay there to post about their lives."
According to the study, UK teens are using Snapchat, Whatsapp, and Twitter rather than their parents' social network.
Discussion Starters:
- Do the study findings surprise you? Why or why not?
- What, if anything, can Facebook do to lure back teens? Respondents in this study admit that Facebook has better functionality than other sites, so that may not help.
UPS and Amazon Respond to Delivery Failures
The "Six Feet Under" DVD set didn't come in time for my friend's son, but Amazon modeled great service recovery. Unfortunately, UPS, the cause of the delivery failure, didn't measure up as well.
According to The New York Times, UPS (and to a lesser extent, FedEx) struggled to meet delivery times on Christmas Eve. Through their websites, I sent messages to both UPS and Amazon. UPS didn't respond yet, and others couldn't get in touch with the company, with one customer reporting calling four times and getting disconnected. A UPS spokesperson did provide this statement to The New York Times:
"It is unfortunate for this to happen at this time of year, but we're working around the clock to fix it. We had our peak projections, and the volume has exceeded our projection.
"We are sorry."
In the meantime, Amazon responded to my inquiry within hours, refunding my entire delivery fee, and providing a $20 gift card:
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Discussion Starters:
- Assess Amazon's email: the audience perspective, content, organization, and grammar.
- How do you explain the difference between Amazon's and UPS's response? Why would two companies respond so differently?
The Internet Mob
A New York Times article criticized reactions to Justine Sacco's AIDS tweet as harshly as the tweet itself.
Sacco, the terminated communications director of an Internet company, fired off a jokey tweet ("Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!") and suffered harsh consequences. Response tweets threatened murder and rape: 
- "Someone please borrow me a Gun, I need to shoot -->"
- "Someone (HIV+) must rape this b**** and we'll see if her skin colour can protect her from AIDS."
Such tweets are painful to read and, of course, do nothing to teach a lesson, if that's the intent, of appropriate social media behavior.
The New York Times article explains the power of an Internet mob,
"...today's riots are different in that it is the powerful, specifically those with the largest followings online, that could help quell these eruptions, yet instead douse them with more anger and hate."
and continues:
"In the eyes of the mob, there was justice.
"Yet the people who threatened to rape and murder Ms. Sacco, who attacked her family and friends, aren't held in contempt or fired from their jobs."
As the social media cycle goes, people have come out in defense of Sacco: not to justify her tweet, which would be difficult, but to say that she's generally a nice person. Also, a friend relays a recent conversation in which Sacco said "people seemed to like the tweets that were just a little bit risqué or outrageous."
Discussion Starters:
- What's your view of The New York Times article? Should people who criticize so harshly also suffer consequences?
- This story reminds me of when Adam Smith was fired from his company after "berating" a customer service employee at Chick-fil-A. What similarities and differences do you see in these situations?
Communication Director Gets Fired After "I'm White" Tweet
Who knows what Justine Sacco, IAC executive, was thinking as she tweeted before boarding a plane to South Africa. As the senior director of corporate communications of a media and Internet company, Sacco should have known better. IAC owns sites such as Match.com, Ask.com, About.com, and Vimeo.
As expected, people were furious and, using the hashtag, #HasJustineLandedYet, anticipated her arrival at Cape Town International Airport. Sporting sunglasses, she clearly knew she was getting her 15 minutes of fame.
IAC responded via email to news sources:
"The offensive comment does not reflect the views and values of IAC. We take this issue very seriously, and we have parted ways with the employee in question.
"There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made, and we condemn them unequivocally.
"We hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core."
The story could have ended there, but in-flight Wi-Fi provider Gogo used the incident for marketing purposes.
This, too, turned out to be a bad decision, and the company apologized.
Discussion Starters:
- Try to imagine Sacco's position. How would you describe what happened from her perspective?
- I don't see an apology from Sacco. Should she write one and, if so, what should it say?
- Not everyone agreed that Gogo's tweet was a poor choice. One tweeter wrote, "Most 'real-time marketing' is pretty weak and exploitive, but I do have to hand it to Gogo!" What's your view?
Target's Response to the Security Breach
Giving new meaning to Black Friday, an unknown number of credit card numbers were stolen from almost all of Target's 1,797 U.S. stores. The security breach seemed to happen through Target's point-of-sales terminals, where credit card information is collected. For students of business communication, perhaps the worse offense is Target's response to the incident.
Target was too quiet for too long. When the news became public, customers reported being unable to reach the company through its call center and website. With information stolen from 40 million credit and debit cards, that's a lot of affected customers. A Forbes article criticizes Target's response as a "PR mistake," particularly for "burying the lead" in its website message to customers:
"...the question of whether it is now safe to use your credit card at the company's stores is relegated to the fourth question of a FAQ at the end of a 1,500 word statement.
"So after eight minutes of reading time, Target finally answers the question on everyone's mind directly: Has the issue been resolved?"
The writer has a point: compare Target's messages to emails from companies after a security breach in 2011, and you'll see a big difference. In those emails to customers, companies were clear about actions to take: don't respond to emails that appear to be spam.
The CEO's video message is divided into several parts on the company's media website. Here's the first part:
Discussion Starters:
- Analyze the CEO's video message: delivery, organization, and content. What works well, and what could be improved?
- Compare the CEO's written message and his video message. What similarities and differences do you notice, and how is each appropriate (or not) for the medium?
- Prepare advice for Target's senior management team to improve their crisis communications. What are four or five communication principles should they be sure to follow in the future?
Dental Letter Appears to Deceive Families
Dental insurance provider Healthplex sent a letter to 55,025 families that confused them into believing their children were required to get check-ups. Written to "Parent or Guardian" and quoting a state law, the letter sure sounds like a school directive, but it is not. Rather, the letter encouraging parents to bring their children in for dental exams-and to provide evidence to their school-is the insurance company's marketing approach.
The confusion was discovered when school nurses started receiving signed notices verifying that children received check-ups.
In response to the controversy, Sharon Zelkind, senior vice president at Healthplex, said, "We try to do outreach to get as many children into the dentist as possible." She also admitted, "The wording of the letter was overzealous" and "Now we've learned we shouldn't do it that way."
Discussion Starters:
- What are the ethical considerations of the Healthplex letter? Evaluate the letter from the perspective of the company, dentists' offices, parents, children, and school officials.
- What, if anything, should Healthplex do in response to the controversy?
Customers' Bill of Rights Addresses Profiling
Accusations of Macy's, Barneys, Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, and other department stores have led them to post a Customers' Bill of Rights. Created by the retailers, Reverend Al Sharpton, and others, the document begins by defining profiling:
CUSTOMERS' BILL OF RIGHTS
[Store name] prohibits profiling in our stores.
"Profiling" is defined generally as the practice of judging and addressing people based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, ancestry, appearance, or any personal or physical characteristics.
Profiling is an unacceptable practice and will not be tolerated.
The Bill of Rights continues to define responsibilities of security guards and others involved in loss prevention and is a clear response to lawsuits by customers who say they were treated differently because they're black.
(PDF of the Customers' Bill of Rights.)
Discussion Starters:
- Read the Customers' Bill of Rights. Assess the content, organization, and writing style.
- To what extent does the Bill of Rights address customer complaints? What, if anything, is missing?
COO to Customer: "I am not sorry our employees were enjoying the holidays"
The COO and co-founder of a metal water bottle company won points by pushing back on a customer's Facebook rant. The customer's all-caps post made Liberty Bottleworks sound unresponsive, but Ryan Clark tells a different story.
Addressing the customers' "numerous voicemails and emails," Clark's response skillfully quotes one of her messages: "It is the holidays. You should be working." (Correct punctuation added!) Clark's post defends his employees: "Family first, product second."
Since this exchange was posted on Reddit, Liberty Bottleworks wrote a Facebook message that the company has received record call volumes. Social media hopefuls correlate Clark's reaction and praise him for NOT following conventional wisdom of appeasing customers online.
Discussion Starters:
- Assess the customer's post. What, if any, part of her message could be justified?
- Also assess Clark's Facebook response: what works well, and what could be improved?
- Help Clark improve his business writing skills. Rewrite his message with clearer organization and proper punctuation.
Fordham Accidentally Accepts 2,500 Students
Fordham University sent acceptance letters to 2,500 students by mistake. This isn't the first time a university made this error-and it likely won't be the last. In 2012 alone, UCLA sent acceptances to 894 seniors on a wait list, Vassar sent letters to 76 early-decision candidates, and the University of California, Los Angeles, sent letters to 900 wait-list candidates, most of whom were later rejected.
At Fordham, the letters came as a financial aid notice sent to 500 students who were rejected and 2,000 who were deferred admission. A spokesperson for the university said,
"Oversight errors don't just come about, as you know. It occurred when data was transferred from a staging environment to our development environment and it was a member of our database services team who made the error."
In a statement to The New York Times, Fordham wrote,
"Fordham and its undergraduate admissions staff are acutely aware of the high hopes prospective students and their families have regarding college acceptances. The University deeply regrets that some applicants were misled by the financial aid notice. The admission staff is working with S.A.S. to find out what went wrong."
Although the note is heartfelt, some students may never forgive the university:
Discussion Starters:
- How do you suppose the error happened? What does the spokesperson mean by the "staging environment"?
- Write two apology emails to the Fordham applicants. What would you say differently to those who were rejected and those who were deferred?
Fake Signer at Nelson Mandela Memorial Service
The man providing sign language interpretation at Nelson Mandela's Memorial Service makes no sense, according to signing experts.
Sources say the interpreter was "gesticulating gibberish." How the man got security clearance is a big question considering that he stood next to President Obama and other leaders from around the world.
The South African government is looking for the man, who seemingly has no connections to the deaf community. It's an odd mystery and not a new one: records show the same man "signing" next to President Jacob Zuma a year ago.
UPDATE: The fake signer has been found. A self-described schizophrenic, Thamsanqa Jantjie has been charged with a series of wrongdoings during the past 20 years, including kidnapping, rape, and murder.