Comments on: Iron Hand, Velvet Glove

By: Shonali Burke

Shonali Burke — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:24:32 +0000

Thanks for your input, Frank!

By: frank

frank — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:16:16 +0000

Very interesting idea. I like “guidelines” or “suggestions”, but telling people to NOT participate in social media is a bit overboard in my opinion. For a lot of people that’s part of attending a conference these days. It enriches the experience through an added layer of participation and engagement.

Sometimes people go to far so I do agree with asking people to be adult, professional and courteous. That should be obvious, but some people just don’t get it or get off on causing conflict.

http://twitter.com/franswaa

By: Shonali Burke

Shonali Burke — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:54:50 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Jim. I don’t think anyone minds guidelines – and clearly, since you gave attendees a hashtag to use, as Gail and Shashi pointed out, you intended them to use it. What I was commenting on was the way they came across. If you’re telling people it’s “impossible” for them to concentrate or what can/cannot be distilled into 140 characters… well, they’re going to try to prove you wrong, bozos or not. Sometimes it’s not what you say, but how you say it.

Again, thanks for commenting. I really appreciate having Bulldog’s perspective.

By: Jim Sinkinson

Jim Sinkinson — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:23:01 +0000

Shonali and all: When you go to a theater, they ask you to turn off your cellphone as a courtesy. They don’t dictate that you do it, they ask you to use good sense and consideration. Bulldog Reporter’s social media guidelines were just that—guidelines. We had learned of other conferences in which denigrating personal (outright rude) comments were being made about panelists and another in which snide (unkind, superficial and premature) comments were being made about speakers’ positions even as the speakers were trying to clarify them. Some speakers got very angry, friendships were lost and some tweeters’ reputations were damaged because of it. Read our guidelines again. Bulldog Reporter never tried to dictate social media behavior. We only suggested that people consider what could go wrong, and we suggested guidelines that might prevent this. We realize that with social media, just as in movie theaters, some people are determined to be bozos, and there’s little that can be done about it.

By: Shonali Burke

Shonali Burke — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:17:28 +0000

Thanks, all, for your comments!

By: Shonali Burke

Shonali Burke — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Sorry for the late response, Shashi, but thanks so much for your input. It was great to see the comments from folks actually at #meas.

By: Tressa Robbins

Tressa Robbins — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:47:26 +0000

Shonali, this post really ruffles my feathers! Not you, of course, but the topic. I’m typically a “rule follower” but can say that if I was at this conference, it would be one that I’d have to be a “rule breaker.” I was, however, at the Bulldog Reporter Media Relations summit a couple months ago in NYC and tweeted feverishly – a lot of us did – and perhaps that’s where this new “rule” came about. I found that tweeting allowed me to follow others at the conference and meet/make new friends while there.

Let’s hope that Bulldog DOES get SM and is simply trying to protect their speakers intellectual property and not trying to challenge freedom of speech.

Thanks for a thought-provoking post!

By: Elizabeth Shea

Elizabeth Shea — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:35:24 +0000

Hopefully the comfort level around colleagues tweeting/liveblogging during conferences will get there where it will be status quo…let’s hope soon! Last week I attended a small conference expecting to live blog about the speakers, but found I was the only one with a laptop! Half way through I put my laptop away, giving in to the “peer pressure” of stares, looks…mabye I need to grow some guts? Or people need to become accustomed to multitasking attendees. Anyway, my hope is that the culture at conferences adapts to enable communication exchange – it’s harder and harder to attend conferences, and social media vehicles are a great way to get the word out. What a hot topic, Shonali! (PS…I never saw the guidelines today…guess that’s good…)

By: John Sellards

John Sellards — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:34:05 +0000

But aren’t people just fundamentally marketing themselves when they tweet from a conference, establishing themselves among their followers as an intellectual pushpin for that event or subject? (Not that I think this is a bad thing.) I would imagine it would be impossible for some people to willingly give that up at this point.

By: KDPaine

KDPaine — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:04:20 +0000

I for one am not tweeting the conference much at all, I feel like I’ve been told to shut up, so I will — for now