Rotary PR Workshop

Module 1: Harnessing
the power of the Web
By Julian Matthews,
Trinetizen Media
www.trinetizen.com
Feb 22, 2009
3 stories
1: Daniela’s story
2: The WAO story
3. Jamie’s story
“It was an extremely important
part of my healing process to
make the story. I hope folks in Malaysia have
the opportunity to make such stories for themselves. I
entered the workshop intending on making a macro
political analysis of violence against women, and had a
four-page script. The teacher came up to me and circled
the center of my script and said, this is actually your
story! I couldn't believe it. But she was right. The story
was specifically about my mother. What I learned is
that people care more about stories when they are in
multimedia format, putting them onto video actually
allows some people to hear a story where they wouldn't
be able to stomach having you tell them the same story
sitting in front of them,” Jamie, abuse survivor.
 3 lessons
about the Web
 Lesson 1:
It’s an emotional medium
Lesson 2: No test, no licence, no
passport, no age limit
“It’s never too late to learn,” says
Haji Mohamed Abu Hassan, 64-year-old retired school
teacher, Kg Jana Sambungan, Kamunting. Named oldest
Malaysian webmaster by fan at that time, after winning
more than 35 awards for website design. Published in
Golden Surfers, CNet
Case study: Scubapoint, Tioman
Created a simple website for scuba diving
outfit in Tioman using free tools, sweat equity

 Niche site for enthusiasts can attract global customers at

low cost
 People prefer dealing with real people
 Response time matters, answer your emails!
 Customers will pay premium for specialists
 Satisfied customers become your evangelists
Lesson 3: One person can
make a difference
Case study: Tsunami: Dec 26, 2004
 Case study: Crisis blog
• In November 2004, Indrajit Samarajiva, a Canadian of Sri
Lankan descent was asked to speak at lunch gathering at
Colombo Regency Rotary Club, Sri Lanka to talk about
blogging…

• A month later, when the deadly tsunami struck, the members

set up a blog reliefforsrilanka.blogspot.com and used it to
raise money + coordinate donation of shelter, food, medicine to
aid survivors

• "Our club has been successful because we have been able to

reach out to the international community through the Web site,"
said Chamila Wickramasinghe, who is the secretary of the club
and was its first president. "You've got to be open to new
technology."
Club receives award
3 questions
Is your website a billboard?
 Is your website
updated regularly?
Is your website useful to
your own members?
Re-thinking content

COMMERCE
COMMUNITY
CONTENT
 Re-thinking content

Conversation starters
Connections + Context
VALUE
COMMUNITY
CONTENT
25
is an umbrella term that defines the
various activities that integrate
technology, social interaction, and
the construction of words, pictures,
videos and audio.

http://www.wikipedia.org
Marta Z Kagan
• Blogs • Podcasts
• Microblogs • Video Sharing Sites
• Online Chat • Photo Sharing Sites
• RSS • Virtual Worlds
• Social Networks • Webcams
• Social Bookmarks • Widgets
• Message Boards • Wikis

(…just to name a few)

Where Is Your Audience?
 Almost
12,000,000
articles
(2.7m in English)
200,000,000
videos/per day

(Source: comScore, Dec 2008)

(65,000 new videos uploaded daily)

200,000,000
blogs
 73%
of active online users have read a blog

Source: Universal McCann Comparative Study on Social Media Trends April 2008
45%
have started their own blog
39% subscribe
to an RSS feed
57%
Have joined
a social
55%
have uploaded photos
83% have watched video clips
Tomorrow’s members are today’s
“digital natives.”
The old communication
model was a
monologue.
The new communication model

is a dialogue.
 “In22008, if you’re not
on a009
social networking
site, you’re not on the
Internet.”
IAB Platform Status Report: User Generated Content, Social Media, And Advertising
- An Overview, April 2008
 Why use social media?
 COMMUNICATE: Start conversations, engage
people, build loyalty, provide insider views,
promote upcoming events.

 SHARE: Pics, videos, audio recordings can be

shared easily, more visual/auditory.

 FASTER: More flexible than traditional press

releases, can post stuff quicker, useful in a crisis,
can go viral.

 POWERFUL: Can raise funding globally, can

reach wider audience, can tap experts.
“The future is here. It’s just not
widely distributed yet,” William Gibson,
author of Neuromancer; coined term
“cyberspace” in 1984
(Attribution: Some slides were updated from a presentation by Marta Z Kagan)