April 2006

Recognising, as I do, that the students of this faire establishment are seekers of truth, wisdom and knowledge, eager devourers of mankind’s greatest insights and worthy successors to the finest brains the PR and marketing worlds have ever known, it will come as little surprise to me to find that many of you study ancient Greek in your spare time.

Of course you do.

Like you, I also recently sought wisdom and guidance from ‘the elders’ — in this instance a dictionary of greek used in the ancient near east around the first and second centuries.

It may come as a surprise to some, seeing as how I represent the font of all wisdom and knowledge in the Antipodes, to learn that I too am always studying. If I’m not studying classic texts in marketing and DM (I have just re-read my very worn copy of Robert Collier’s Book of Letters, and goodness knows how many times I’ve re-read my collection of Ted Nicholas material), I’m studying ancient texts for a Masters in Christian Studies I’m completing part-time at a theological college here in Australia.

No, I’m not about to start waxing lyrical and quoting Scripture at you. But I am going to consider the derivations of a couple of words the marketing-oriented amongst you will no doubt learn to throw about in the next few years — icon and logo.

 Icon, according to wordquests and Merriam-Webster, is a Latin word derived from the ancient Greek eikOn, from eikenai, which means ‘image; likeness; sacred or holy image’.

So immediately we have a challenge before us: Group Brand Integrity Specialists (aka corporate-paid graphic designers and their soul-brothers, corporate lawyers) would have you believe that the company logo is indeed a ‘sacred and holy image’.

Now, I know of a few companies (I worked at one) where the IP lawyers would take a machete to anyone found guilty of using the company logo (which, where I worked, was the word ‘digital’, each letter set into a block) in a sentence or as part of any text element.

And here lieth my problem. Because logo is Greek for ‘talk, speech, speak; word’, according to lexfiles. It is not a static entity, but a living, dynamic, flowing, caressing, argumentative one. It is not set in concrete and only for the use of accredited specialists.

An icon is, perhaps, but how many people are called ‘icons’ of something or other? This would mean that they remain static, unchanging, inflexible. Unless, perhaps, they are icons of mercury or weather patterns.

But you, my gentle sisters and brethren, will proudly march into your first jobs and hear the terms bandied about with relentless abandon. And puzzled looks if you try to correct the offender.

Just bear in mind that when they say ‘icon’ they mean ‘logo’, and when they say ‘logo’ they mean ‘icon’.

Confusing, huh? Good luck.

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As a student and user of social media, and the power of the networks one can forge with it, I am constantly asking, how can I use this power to get something done?

We have an excellent example right here in the public relations community. In my post today at Communications Overtones, I mentioned that we now have 446 feeds in public relations social media community.

Moving Away from Early Adopters

It seems to me that the use of social media by public relations and communications professionals is just past the early adopter stage and quickly moving toward the early majority stage, as explained in Everett Rogers’ theory of diffusion.

Part of the problem is simple information overload.

Rule of 150
According to another interesting theory, called the “Rule of 150,� social networks are usually an average of 124 people and a maximum of around 150.

Breaking Into Smaller Groups

According to another interesting theory, called the “Rule of 150,� social networks are usually an average of 124 people and a maximum of around 150.

Just last year, the PR feed community was only 160 strong, a perfect size for the community to feed on each other and “know� each other. However, with the explosive growth, things are shifting.

It is the problem of scale that many A-listers have complained about and drawn scorn for mentioning. The problem is that once an “audience� for a blog exceeds about 150, it seems the person writing the blog becomes more of a broadcaster and less of a conversationalist. You simply can’t “know� more than that number of readers and excessive communication starts to feel like noise instead of constructive ideas and recommendations.

I suspect if we analyzed the public relations network of social media feeds, we would probably track three or more loosely associated, but distinct, groups that consume each other’s material and comment on each other’s sites regularly. Steve Rubel recently called the groups in which we read and travel the blogosphere, blog ghettos. A negative take on the concept, perhaps, but an apt one nonetheless.
The issue would make a fantastic graduate-level study, for someone willing to undertake it.

Examples of Spontaneous Groupings

One example of these social networks forming is when groups suddenly and unexpectedly form a coherent group. We have just such an example in the formation of the International Association of Nobodies (IAN) over the past several days.

With 20-plus members and growing, this group has done amazing things in five short days. Including starting a Website, Wiki page at NewPR, a squidoo lens, creating a membership badge, a logo, merchandise and a shared blogroll (see RSS) that members can add to their sites directly.
(Full Disclosure: I am a nobody too)

And Allen Jenkins, who was the inspiration for IAN, posts today about another organization, the the SEA-EAT blog, that formed spontaneously to help tsunami and earthquake victims. That network grew quickly to encompass 200 volunteers, with a core group of 50.

As people try to make sense of the social media network and how it can assist them in daily tasks, I expect more (instead of less) of this activity.

What do you think?

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