I have been running through my brain 100 different posts and ideas for what I see as armchair quarterbacking of the Motrin social media debacle, but I can’t seem to get a single opportunity to sit and write about what is going through the hamster wheel in my head. Instead of trying to get all the links together, gathering all of the information I have gleaned from things, and then somehow putting it down here in a concise manner that will help those of us with ADHD actually read and ingest, I have decided to do an impromptu roundtable discussion of the incident on my radio show called “The Social Mediasphere.”
You can go there tonight at 5:00 p.m. PST/8:00 p.m. EST and participate in what has become a great debate. Some of the things we will cover will be the campaign itself, where it went, where it went wrong, the players, who has influence, and the aftermath of what has become a huge discussion all over the mediasphere. Twitter is all over it, blogs, and other media outlets. I am going to get as many of the social media experts out there and even a mommy blogger or two to give us their thoughts. Join us for the discussion.
[photo via Tampa Tribune]
It was great to listen and partake in the discussion.
You’re right: there’s a lot of layers and dimensions to the MotrinMoms Twitter storm. I hope it turns out to be a positive lesson for jnj because I think it’s important that the pharmaceutical industry, as any large industry, needs to get social media right.
One thing that I would have added to the discussion is that those of us who are on Twitter tend to be listening within the echo chamber (that is we’re IN Twitter). A lot of companies aren’t – they’re outside the echo chamber.
So they aren’t necessarily coming from our perspective. I’m sure jnj realizes Twitter’s potential, but because they aren’t (I’m supposing here) within the conversation that we’re having, it’s important for us to consider that difference in perspective.
I’m curious to see exactly what jnj learns from this. I’m also curious if they’ll do something as simple as saying to social media evangelists: “Hey, we’re trying to figure this out; we’d really appreciate the help; our industry has unique features that challenge how we get involved. Where should we start.” Whatever they do, I hope the human element shines through.
Inasmuch as some of us are kinda burned out on this matter right now, I hope we do analysis that helps us understand even better how social media impacts all of us.
Again, thanks for the show. I look forward to more!
Thanks Phil, and thank you for calling in to be a part of things.