I am two years late to Ryan Holiday's book"Trust Me, I am working". Never much of a PR person, I learned quickly out of his nonfictional accounts of being a"media manipulator" that advertising can be everything once you have assembled a fantastic item. Since I must return the publication by 12/20 to the San Diego Public Library, I figured this is a good time to write down my notes as a blog article.
Quotes from"Trust Me, I'm Lying"
"We play by their rules long enough and it becomes our match" --
"Social media is not a set of tools to allow humans to communicate with people. It's a pair of embedding mechanisms to allow technologies to use humans to communicate with one another, in an orgy of self-organizing... The Matrix had it wrong. You're not the batter power in a worldwide, human-enslaving AI, you are somewhat more valuable. You Are a Part of the switching circuitry"
"it is a prime example of the feminist blogosphere's tendency to tap into the industry force of what I've begun to think of as"outrage world" -- the frequently occurring firestorms awakened on mainstream, for-profit, woman-targeted blogs such as Jezebel as well, to jak sprawdzic czy dziewczynie zalezy na zwiazku a lesser degree, Slate's very own XX Factor and Salon's Broadsheet. They are triggered by authors that are pushing readers to sense what the writers claim is righteously indignant rage but which is actually just petty jealousy, cleverly marketed as feminism. All these firestorms are great for page-view-pimping bloggy enterprise."
-Emily Gould from Slate.com
"Companies should anticipate a full-scale, organized attack from critics. One that will simultaneously overrun blog comments, Facebook fan pages, and an onslaught of sites, leading to mainstream press allure. Start by developing a social media crises plan and developing internal fire drills to expect what could happen."
-Jeremiah Owyang
"Our selves are the home in which we live; they're our information, our heroes, our adventure, our forms of art, our really experience."
-Daniel Boorstin
Exercise Advice from the Novel
Control your Wikipedia page (use any media mention from blogs or traditional media)
Examine the best stories and you'll notice a pattern: the best stories all polarize poeple. If you create it endanger people's 3 Bs -- behavior, belief, or possessions -- you receive a massive virus-like dispersion
Compose stuff bloggers could post right away with no work. Feed them their own lies"assist them trick their readers"
Silence on blogs is the worst.
Faking escapes with email editor (from different sources) can operate if you have the Ideal contacts
Prominent headlines that screamed excitement about utlimately unimportant news
Lavish use of images (often of little relevance)
Shade comics plus a big, thick Sunday nutritional supplement
Ostentatious aid of this underdog causes
Use of anonymous sources
Prominent coverage of high society and events
Concepts from the book
Ongoing Narrative /Iterative Reporting -harm is already done, there is no such thing. Iterative reporting is bullshit, folks treat news headlines as"cultural fact", the damage is already done, even it's a baseless accusation.
Faking leaks with email editor (from various sources)
By way of example, each picture is not the same load screen = more pageviews (short term vs. long term metrics). Usability vs. profitability -- publishers are concentrated liberally on pageviews, but in the longterm, consumer trust will be significant. Meanwhile, irresponsible bloggers are making countless sensationalizing stories that are untrue.
Snark -- deadly weapon (humour in its own dark form. Another online illustration: Hot Chicks using Douchebags
All that happens -> All that is understood by media --> All that's newsworthy ->All that is printed as information -> All that spreads. This really is the systematic limiting of the data seen by the public
My Action List / Courses in the Book
Headlines matter
Blogs hold a Good Deal of power
The ideal contacts at the ideal sites in a specific industry hold tons of influence. Example: Apple announcements
Building a brand new site with high viral traction (however with the ideal user metrics in mind) can take off fast. Sites like Watch Mojo, Ebaumsworld, Break.com, ride the tide of copying content from other people, organized in a digestible manner that users can quickly spread. Millions of dollars are created this way while resources are never credited. There must be a means to do both.
There's a demand for a respectable news source, or a business specific source that doesn't pander to"mass hysteria". Case in point: refinery29.com