Let’s not kid ourselves, being featured in Vanity Fair is an honor. Controversy aside, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity. I have to admit, when I heard the news I immediately called a family member and dropped a Ron Burgundy, “I don’t know how to put this, but I’m kind of a big deal.”
There’s a bigger story and higher objective to the six of us that were featured: @FeliciaDay @PRSarahEvans @Pop17 @JuliaRoy @AdventureGirl @DigitalRoyalty. It’s more than just an article gone wrong. It’s a missed opportunity for the publication, their readers and those featured.
Since it’s web debut, the Digital Royalty team has been sitting around the office gossiping about all of the chatter surrounding the article as we watch American Idol and brush each other’s hair. Not. End sarcasm here (with a cheer).
Actually, we’ve been listening. It’s one of the things we do best. We’ve been monitoring the discussion because we all have a voice when it comes to social media. Let’s take a look at what’s going on from a bird’s eye view. The photo above represents a portion of the Vanity Fair online brand relative to the “America’s Tweethearts” article. We at Digital Royalty call it an online ecosystem. It’s very simple. Red is bad. Green is good. Vanity Fair is the epicenter. Stats show that people online are talking about this story three times more than the VF cover story on Tiger Woods. The tonality they’re using to describe the “America’s Tweethearts” article is nearly 70% overtly negative. Some of the most frequently used words which appear in the ecosystems’s semantic cloud include “hate”, “wrong”, “VFfail” and “rant”. Sentiment and semantics speak for themselves. Readers feel that Vanity Fair doesn’t get it.
Over the past few days, I have been intrigued with the voice behind the Vanity Fair twitter account. They’ve recognized a handful of the people that have strongly opposed their very own Tweethearts article by responding to their new haters and acknowledging valid points. It appears someone inside those traditional Vanity Fair walls ‘gets it’ and could probably turn this around given the proper counsel and support from above.
The topic of social media behind closed corporate doors can lead to heated debate. Believe me, I’ve been there.
Most ‘traditional’ media outlets cringed and were originally threatened by this zany monster called social media. They hoped it was just a trend. The media outlets that have embraced new forms of digital communication and found ways to converge mediums to leverage their brand’s influence probably have a better time sleeping at night.
Here’s what has kept me up the past few nights. Here’s where I call twullshit. Unlike assumptions made in the article, the fact is that all six women featured are more than just twitter handles. They are pioneers. Individuals and companies are making money off of Twitter. Maybe I wasn’t clear during the two-hour, one-on-one interview when I explained that I’ve built a business around this exact topic. My firm works with some of the most progressive, A-list brands who garner national and international media attention on a regular basis because of their social media strategies. In addition, Twitter is one of the key communication tools we use to generate revenue for our clients through e-commerce, endorsement/sponsorship deals and ticket sales.
For the sake of Vanity Fair, a publication I’ve respected and subscribed to for years, I hope that the human behind the @VanityFairMag avatar can be the catalyst for an evolution.
When I speak nationally about the value of social media and how to monetize it, I leave my cheerleading megaphone behind. Two months ago I showed the VF writer some tools and discussed Digital Royalty strategies, measurement philosophies and case studies. Well, now I’m the writer. Ironically, I’m applying those tools to the situation her article has created. There is a science to social media.
Until next time… you stay classy, Tweethearts.
Photo Credit: Michael Halsband
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This article is the perfect response to VF. I love that you have spoken with data and facts about the power of social media and explained WHY and HOW Twitter and social media at large affect brands large and small. I also feel like this was a huge missed opportunity to highlight your professional contributions to some of the recognizable firms each of you have worked with . . . that information would have been incredibly useful to some of VF’s readership .(You know, the people who still look to mainstream media to help them figure out how to leverage new business tools.)
I loved that you all got this recognition, but felt the article was a complete letdown. You all deserve coverage that demonstrates the power and value of what you do.
- Emily (@EmilysPearl)
You touched on a huge point. Right now we are living in the golden age of social media. For the most part, we on the forefront of engagement have enjoyed the success of the format w/o setbacks, tragedies, etc. But in our litigious society, I have no doubt, a day is coming when those corporate twitter accounts will be held liable for the good and bad advice that they offer, for the offensive (to a small few) things they may (jokingly) write. And that will handcuff the peeps sitting behind the desk, sending out those tweets, because it will threaten job security. Everything eventually succumbs to this corporate legalese vortex, imo. I work in the hospitality industry, and the guys up top are extremely wary of this technology because they can’t figure out how to appropriately address (read:control) what is being put out there by their employees. But the legal departments are not slow to put forth guidelines. They know what’s at stake. If you read the corporate guidelines for social media that I’ve seen, you’d laugh.
In the face of the continual threat of litigation companies that staff the customer service industry – the kids at checkout counters and cash registers, at front desks and call centers – give these peeps fairly strict guidelines for behavior and engagement. The need for corporations to minimize liability will eventually seep into the social media playground, just as perniciously as it did the real-life business environment.
It was a missed chance. Magazine sells are in the dumper. They are quickly losing to all forms of web media. My wife does not read Vanity Fair but she repects the women in the article. This was a chance to reel in my wife and women like her. Instead they distanced themselves from her. Hopefully all of the noise woke them up. My blog had 5 times as many hits as usual because of my response. People were out there actively looking for other people’s viewpoints. This could have all been posiive but it mostly wasn’t. I wish them luck turning it around.
My biggest problem with this whole twitter celebrity phenomenon, aside from the fact mainstream media doesn’t get it and misreports it, is that a lot of ’social media experts’ act like they invented the idea of interacting with people. The fact is, most of them just got lucky. You have to be good to be lucky, you have to put yourself in the right spot, but lets not kid ourselves…
*For the record that comment was not directed at Amy or meant to be an attack, just an observation*
@cbjerrisgaard
Thank you.
Just. Thank you.
You know why
I have been meaning to blog about the Vanity Fair article and just haven’t had time. I ran sentiment analysis on them also in two products and the sentiment is overwhelmingly negative. It’s a fast indictment of this misstep, and in fact in the reports I ran it was hard to gauge the accurate number because so many tweets marked “neutral” were in fact very negative.
I have been really outspoken about this hideous article, and hoping people can see (though it may not be obvious in 140 characters if you don’t catch the full conversation) that my gripe is with the author of the article and editors of Vanity Fair for not having the good sense not to run the story or to have it redone. I don’t fault the women in it – I think it’s really unfortunate that what must have seemed like a totally cool bit of publicity has been met with such outrage and ridicule on Twitter. I think Vanity Fair has not handled the criticism with any indication they care or are listening with an attitude of being open to hearing what they did that has offended so many folks, which is also disappointing.
I was so happy to read this article and discover that those who were featured weren’t happy with the way that they were portrayed, I had spoken with @juliaroy and she mentioned she was frustrated with it as well, so I am glad she is not the only one. I think that what all 6 of you do in your lines of work is phenomenal, and I think that they painted you in such a poor light.
One question though – which was actually my only negative response towards you and the other 5 in my article about the VF article – why do you choose to only follow a very small number of those who follow you? Or, why don’t you block all the spammers that follow you?
Thanks for sharing your insight!
Well stated. Tip of the hat to you for writing this, Amy.
Thank you for stating what should be obvious – the Vanity Fair was a missed opportunity for everyone involved, although VF will probably be more than happy since there is no such thing as bad publicity.
The fact that you had a two hour interview for this article is incredible – why did they even bother?
The only upside is that people saw through it so quickly and have called it out for what it is. I hope you can all take comfort from that.
That article reeked of poor research. Bummers. Hopefully they do a redemptive follow-up.
Real is always classy. I’ve been watching @PRsarahevans for years. She is nothing but real, fat-hearted and all muscle when it comes to the heavy lifting. Would place my bets on you and other tweethearts, too. Shine on.
Good points, I think I will definitely subscribe! I’ll go and read some more! What do you see the future of this being?
Very well said! I commend you for taking the classy route while making sure people also get to hear your side of the story. I’m sure the author of that VF article will soon be eating their words.
Thank you all for the feedback. I appreciate hearing all POVs. Hope you enjoy your favorite magazines on the new Apple iTablet or Kindle or . . .
Best~
Amy