PIEGATE

 

Tess is so very disappointed…Didak!

Tess is wondering how anyone could be so inexcusably stupid

Tess is thinking that Ben Cousins will fit right in at Collingwood after all

Tess is wondering if there are any PR jobs going at the Collingwood Football Club

I played around with my facebook status a fair bit over the past two days. I changed it several times as I continued to watch the Didak/Shaw drama unfold in the media.

Full disclosure: I am a dedicated diehard collingwood supporter who has and will continue to believe that the premierships a cake walk.

Last Sunday night Heath Shaw smashed his car in two parked cars. His blood alcohol reading was close to three times the legal limit (0.14). When originally questioned about the incident by the CFC he allegedly advised the club that he was in the car with a ‘mate’. What he neglected to mention is that this ‘mate’ happened to be Alan Didak – a fellow star player at the club. Believing Shaws frosted version of events, the club spent the next day denying Didak’s involvement in the “minor accident”. They also insisted that Shaw would play against St Kilda next week. When it became crystal clear that Didak was indeed in the car the club was forced to do a complete 180. 

Around a year ago Saint Didak was involved in a wild joy ride of sorts after meeting now notorious biker Christopher Hudson at a King Street Strip Club. Didak failed to report the incident (which involved a high speed car chase and shots being fired over the Westgate Bridge) until several days later when Hudson made the news in a big way. A CBD shooting which left a Melbourne lawyer dead and two others near-fatally injured. After Didak’s association with Hudson was made public he conveniently suffered alcohol induced amnesia and unfortunately couldn’t really remember to any degree of certainty what happened that night.

After the Hudson saga Didak was place on behavioural restrictions which included a ban on alcohol and a curfew. Last month the restrictions were lifted and Didak signed a $800,000, two-year contract with the club.

The clubs initial handling of Heath Shaw was lenient to say the least. He was given a fine of $10,000 (relative to his income this is nothing) and the all clear to play next week. Once it came out that Didak was involved and that both players had lied to the club the penalties got more sever. Both players were suspended for the rest of the season (including possible finals) and Didak was fined $5,000.

Absolute PR nightmare – I’m sure if Gerry McCusker writes a follow up to Talespin: Public Relations Disasters he will owe Didak a beer…or perhaps a coke.

So how did they get it so (so so so so so so SOS) wrong?

Huge Mistake 1:The club not quadruple checking who Shaws ‘mate’ was. Why would they not account for the where-abouts and actions of every other player. It’s called due-diligence and should have been done before the crisis reached boiling point.

Huge Mistake 1.5:Sending Scott Burns out to the media without quadruple checking their facts and making their brilliant captain look like an idiot who now has to do a massive backpedal due to the clubs incompetence.

Huge Mistake 2:The club not putting one of those electronic ankle band things on Alan Didak. I think Lindsay Lohan has some devise attached to her leg that chews off her foot if she touches alcohol, drugs, knives, guns, trys to adopt African children etc.

Huge Mistake 3: The club was too lenient on Shaw to begin with, they should have made an example of him. He is a public figure (I wont go as far to say a role model because he is not part of the clubs leadership team) in a team that has had a history of alcohol abuse issues (channelling Chad Morrison, Darren Millane, Chris Tarrant, Ben Johnson).

Lets flip the paradigm for a second. Lets pretend that an elderly person or small child happened to be standing where Shaw crashed the car. Lets pretend they were killed when he drunkenly plowed them down.

Would his actions be different? No…he would still have been driving recklessly with a blood alcohol level of 0.14

Would the clubs reaction have been different? ummm….yeah…I imagine his contract would have been torn up before the police arrived on the scene.

Huge Mistake 4:Taking so long to decide Didak’s future…get him out now…be firm, actually take some radical and decisive action that shows the club will not tolerate or condone in any way shape or form any illegal activity.

The court of public opinion does not look kindly on people who lie. It defiantly does not look kindly on people who lie more than once. In this age of camera phones and citizen journalists there was absolutly no way he was ever going to get away with it…damn if you could put stupid in a shot glass!

I’m keen to see what happens next…

If Collingwood is smart it will not renew the contracts of either Didak or Shaw.

Didak’s days are numbered. I think Shaw will stay and be made an example of (its nice to have family in high places). The club will pay for alcohol counselling. He will spend his next 10 years at the club giving talks to school boys about the dangers of binge drinking. He will have the axe over his head and told it will swiftly be brought down if he so much as steps foot in a bar for the rest of his playing career (on/off season). Collingwood need to recruit someone with a squeaky clean James Hird-esk reputation to replace Didak (if they even think about touching Ben ’iceman’ Cousins…). Finally they have to be sincerely sorry. They have to come out and apologise for disrespecting the fans, the AFL, and most importantly the thousands of Australians who are touched by drink driving tragedies each year. This should be done of their own accord, unprompted and timely. A short apology should be made at the beginning of their next match.

Oh and I bet the TAC are thanking their lucky stars they ended their sponsorship deal with Collingwood in January when little known player Wellingham was done for drink driving!

Alan Didak models the new team uniform (sorry couldn't help myself)

PR vs. Advertising: Where do we draw the line in the social media space

I was standing in line to get a drink when I struck up a conversation with a student about social media. I really really wish I could remember more of the conversation/debate (the music was loud and the bar must have been about 50 people over capacity) because it has been on my mind all day.

In the Red corner: Final year advertising student Jake (or was it John? perhaps Jack – lets call him J), arguing that advertising owned the social media space.  

In the Blue corner: Yours truely - Miss argue-all-you-like-but-I’m-right PR honours student, asserting that PR owned the social media space.

A large element of PR is segmenting the ‘mass’ into groups with a common stake or interest then targeting these individual groups with a tailored message. To my understanding social media is about allowing people to segment themselves out of the mass into groups. Melbournians are no longer classed as ‘Herald Sun’ readers or ‘Age’ readers’ they can now choose to personalise their news getting updates and stories from across the world on subjects that interest them. Kath wants to know exactly what Britney did next. Ken, however, doesn’t give a flying…he is much more interested in the commentary for next weeks Collingwood/Geelong Clash. Kath gets an update from Hello! Ken gets an RSS feed from Fox sports. 

Facebook is a perfect example of this. My friend recently got engaged – she now has ads pop up on her page for ‘win a naughty hens night’ and ‘bridal boutiques’. I argued this was PR, it is targeting an appropriate message to a very niche audience. J disagrees, ‘Advertising – blatant bloody Advertising’ afterall they did pay to appear on Facebook.  

The more I think about this the more I wonder…

• Are the two disciplines converging?
• Will there be a new hybrid communications disciplines (Pradvertising)?
• Is there a difference between PR and Advertising in social media?
• Is the Internet simply a new canvas to paint ideas on?
• Are bloggers the new Journalists awaiting our pitch?

I understand that in any communications plan social media is only one element of a wider strategy. However, I think it has become somewhat of a buzz word. Where in the not to distant past organisations were cautious about social media and its participatory nature – now they can’t get enough of it. Even if they don’t exactly know what it is or the implications of using it – everyone else is doing it and god forbid we fall behind the spam filled web 2.0 8ball. Its like the new media ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ diet – serve me up an ad on MySpace with some of that pop-up pie on the side…

Arrrgh I’m confused and have to stop procrastinating and write my essay but I will think about it more and finish this post…To be continued

Why I’m opening up the Space and not censoring the Face

Finally Finally Finally someone gets it!

Garys’ video reminded me of a conversation I had a couple of months ago with a perspective employer in Beijing. The conversation (which was flowing along quite nicely) came to a halt when the gentleman I was speaking to commented “I saw your profile on Facebook…you look like quite the party girl”. The rest of the conversation consisted of me giving vague ummm and ahhhh answers while I raked my brain trying to imagine what incriminating photos/comments/posts he could have seen on my profile.

Within roughly 30 seconds of putting the phone down, both my Facebook and MySpace pages had been privatised.

Luckily for me my pages are relatively tame. Although at the time the display pic didn’t scream professional it certainly wasn’t anything I would be upset if my mum saw. Even more luckily for me, this guy was cool. As a senior PR practitioner he was interested in social media and appreciated my amateur adoption of it. Their company has a Facebook group which I am now proud to be a part of.

While I agree with most of what Gary is saying in his clip, one point I take contention with is his argument that you cannot have multiple personalities. I would argue that we all have multiple personalities, or perhaps more accurately one mulifaceited personality. Different social situations act as forums to express different elements of our personalities. I am a different person around my friends to what I am when I visit my grandparents or when I am at work. I use different language, discuss different topics and wear different clothes.

I think what social media is doing is making it possible for these different personalities to cross over. What Gary is saying is that for the first time our friends/family/colleagues are able to get a fully rounded picture of our lives – not just one piece of our personality puzzle. We can now be judged (to a higher degree) as entire entities. The separation or distinction that divides our personalities is getting narrower. If an employer visits my MySpace profile they can see the type of person I am around my friends. At first the thought of an employer seeing this side of me was unsettling. However, the more I think about it the more comfortable I am with it.

If Jane happens to be tagged in a bikini on the beach that doesn’t mean that she views that as appropriate work attire. Any employer who comes to such a conclusion is not someone I would want to work for. If I was photographed at a club with my friends. So What! I am a grown woman and presumably it’s the weekend. If it’s 9-5 on Monday through Friday then yes…I see where an employer may take issue!

I found a quote by the wonderful Mitch Joel recently that sums up exactly how I have always approached my professional undertakings…”I treated every position I had as if I owned the company and it’s success (or failure) rested on my shoulders”. Maybe this sentiment isn’t apparent on my Facebook or MySpace page (however, there is certainly nothing to contradict it). Different online communities serve different purposes. If you want to see how I will conduct myself on a Saturday night out with my friends check out MySpace. If you want to see how I will behave in the office go to LinkedIn. If you want to see a complete picture of who I am – have a look at both.

There is no more security in obscurity. Facebook is mainstream. MySpace is mainstream. You are mainstream. Employers and perspective employers are going to look at your profile. Hopefully when they do see you in a less professional context they interpret it as having the work/life balance.

I like Gary’s point about good triumphing over evil. If you have posts up and down your page talking about how horrible your workplace is, how you should really get off Facebook and do some work, or how much you dislike your boss or colleagues then yes a perspective employer will probably (justifiably so) read into this as you being lazy, unproductive, and socially disruptive. They will hire someone else.

Seeing another side of a perspective employees personality is (in most cases) not a bad thing. Employment ads preach about the quest for diversity, ‘people persons’, and energetic people. People say they are these things…now an employer can check it out for themselves. Humans are social creatures, we like to express ourselves – obviously keep some things private- however I can’t imagine an employer who wants to hire an army of 100% all work/no play clones. I’m sorry, but if I am a recruiter and I go on to a potential candidates MySpace page and see nothing but a slide show of them slaving away in the office i am going to come to the conclusion that this person is a one-dimentional robot. If I go to their LinkedIn page and see some photos of them in a professional setting – then fine. DIFFERENT ONLINE COMMUNITIES SERVE DIFFERENT PURPOSES AND CATER TO DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF OUR PERSONALITIES.

Employers have to understand that these social networking devices need to be viewed in context. Facebook and MySpace – I see as more social networks. I use Facebook strictly for friends. MySpace i’m slightly more liberal with. I’ll accept a ‘friend’ request if you are my friend, you are a family member that I like, you play music that I like, your profile is interesting, or you write me a nice note telling me why we should be connected. LinkedIn and Golden Key (honour society network) are different. They are professional. I wouldn’t dream of putting photos that were anything less then professional up on one of these networks.

People who are good are going to win…I’ll go one further and say people who are balanced –  in the personal and professional -  are going to win.

Today I opened my myspace page and made it public…so in an act of balanced shameless self-promotion:

Check out -  LinkedIn AND MySpace