MY URBAN KVETCH

"Soul Bigger" - Latest from NJOP and Jewish Treats/Tweets

"She gives her money...to those in neeeeeed...."

After Mr. Schuster covered Kanye West's Gold Digger on Glee (see below for the clip), we should have known it would be open season on the catchy tune - infused with a healthy dose of Jamie Foxx channeling Ray Charles. Thankfully, this version - "Soul Bigger," brought to you by Jewish Treats, the people who brought you "I've Got a a Feeling (The Shabbat Song)" - neutralizes the chauvinism and reframes the ditty as a Rosh Hashanah anthem.

As of this posting, only 608 people have viewed it - you could push it to 700 and beyond...check it out and enjoy this first of likely several Rosh Hashanah seasonal greetings.

And here's the Glee behind-the-scenes clip...
via The Insider

Social Media Helps JetBlue Reverse PR Post-"Beer Slide"

[Reprinted from EstherK.com]

We've all been at that point, when you're so frustrated with your work that you just want to grab a beer, inflate the slide and jump out of the aircraft, sliding your way to freedom. Those of us with a reality filter know we can't do that. We'll lose our jobs, be the subject of ridicule - there will be repercussions, not the least of which will be bad PR for our company, which maybe isn't so bad after all. But this week, one flight attendant threw caution to the wind and himself off an airplane, resulting in the company's mobilization of social media to turn the PR around.

And, as Fast Company Magazine notes, they did so expertly.

For the first 48 hours following Slater’s famous beer slide, JetBlue said nothing. Then, on Wednesday, JetBlue made the scantest of acknowledgments. On its “BlueTales” blog, it noted that:

"[...]it wouldn’t be fair for us to point out absurdities in other corners of the industry without acknowledging when it’s about us.

Well, this week’s news certainly falls into that category. Perhaps you heard a little story about one of our flight attendants? While we can’t discuss the details of what is an ongoing investigation, plenty of others have already formed opinions on the matter. Like, the entire Internet. (The reason we’re not commenting is that we respect the privacy of the individual. People can speak on their own behalf; we won’t do it for them.) "

While this episode may feed your inner Office Space, we just want to take this space to recognize our 2,300 fantastic, awesome and professional Inflight Crewmembers for delivering the JetBlue Experience you’ve come to expect of us."

It’s a wily little post, expertly done—mixing cheeky self-deprecation, ostensible privacy concerns, an apt and funny YouTube link (to the Office Space movie), and only the tiniest dose of PR pablum. What’s fascinating, however, is that these 140 or so words constitute almost the entire response to a story that has had every media outlet scrambling all week.

JetBlue has always been pretty good about establishing a casual, friendly tone, and using loyal social media base to get their message out - "Sure, there are blips, as in any business, but basically, we do a great job, and we respond to our customers and people like us because of it."

They created a Customer Bill of Rights that includes benefits like compensation to customers who are involuntarily denied boarding, free movies to customers whose planes are delayed by 3 hours, and $15 credits on future flights if the in-flight entertainment is busted.

Beyond the blog, JetBlue has nearly 1.6 million followers on Twitter, where their customer response ranges from "thanks for the tweet" and "you're our new favorite customer" to helping customers with specific questions ("Have you called the BOS baggage service office or the SFO office?")

Of course, once you're actively engaging with an audience, you run the risk of actively engaging with humorists like the extremely well-followed Andy Borowitz, who launched a Twitter war with JetBlue, all but egging on readers to accost flight attendants - JetBlue was not amused. But everything, even responsive and lighthearted customer service, has limits. JetBlue might be friendly, but they're also a company with liability concerns. Even if it's clear that Borowitz, a humorist, isn't serious when he hashtags a tweet with #shitmyjetblueflightattendantsays, once he crosses into suggesting (even in jest) that customers attack flight attendants, JetBlue has to be responsible and drop the humor, if only for fear of legal ramifications.

If you examine the comments on the post referred to above on the BlueTales blog, you'll see the groundswell of support for the airline, as well as inadvertent brainstorming on next steps. For instance, commenter Matt writes:

This is a goldmine opportunity. You should definitely hire this guy, and have him make a bunch of funny youtube videos about the do’s and dont’s of carryon luggage. Have him try to shove a size 10 carryon into a size 9 overhead, sideways. At the end he could have a little sign off (think Dan Rather’s “Courage!”) and then take the chute out of the plane, like Batman. If you don’t somebody else will, why not get the credit for being fair to someone who is viewed by many as a hero, and at the same time turn some lemon-like bad publicity into some earned advertising lemonade.

It's too late for this particular suggestion, but Matt was correct on the "if you don't somebody else will" front; Spirit Air has already released an ad which " they've e-mailed customers a $35 coupon that shows a guy holding two beers and jumping, Steven Slater like, down an inflatable exit slide. "Don't be blue, slide down to low fares," says the copy." (Via AdWeek's AdFreak blog)

To sum up...what excited me about this whole JetBlue story is that the airline illustrated that social media:

1) Can go beyond spin control and reverse the tide of less-than-ideal PR

2) Can mobilize fans as supporters and as informal focus group on next steps

3) Can distribute additional information that shows they have a sense of humor, but also establishes boundaries when it comes to discussion on something that might have legal ramifications.

What are your thoughts about JetBlue's response to "The Steven Slater Incident"?

(Want more analysis of social media's role in this week's events? Check out this post at Michelle Tripp's BrandForward blog)

 

Adding Your Twimprimatur & Other Social Media Secrets

What’s a Twimprimatur? Here’s a hint: I made it up during a radio interview as the DJ was quizzing me about proper use of the RT (retweet) function on Twitter.

And here’s another hint: imprimatur + Twitter. (Imprimatur literally means “let it be printed,” but here are some more definitions.)

In July, I was interviewed by Rusty Mike Radio in Jerusalem - we went deep into blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Check out the entire interview here, for insights into making these social media work better for you, as well as stories about Jewish innovation, how to make blogging into a quasi-career, how my online network got me a new computer, and what my connection is to Madonna.

 

The Future of Jewish Journalism or Anything Else

Right before I left Israel, I opened up an article in the JPost that I'd seen posted on Facebook by former JPost editor and current JAFI spokesperson Haviv Rettig Gur (who apparently has a Wikipedia bio). The article (not written by Haviv) is an interview with new JTA Executive Editor Ami Eden, who revealed very little about JTA's actual plans, but spoke broadly about collaboration and creating a "unified web presence" for the American Jewish newspapers:

Looking ahead, he declared one of his “top priorities” would be greater cooperation with other Jewish media outlets. Ideas for collaborations were “percolating,” Eden said, and would materialize between “12 and 18 months.”

“I think it’s clear that most American Jewish newspapers haven’t figured out how to make money online,” he said. “Why should we not try to create a unified Web presence having one big Web site with a team that’s constantly keeping it fresh? We clearly could be pulling our technological resources and sharing the Web traffic. If we’re all investing in the same Web traffic, it becomes a great idea.”

Eden declined to go into further detail.

There is - of course - much to talk about here, which I started to synthesize while commenting on Haviv's Facebook wall (whoever says Facebook is useless really needs to start trolling better walls). I could jump to conclusions about how this plan is overly ambitious, or smacks of manifest destiny, with JTA playing the role of arbiter for what's best for American Jewish journalism. But any such discussion is premature, since this germ of an idea doesn't present the details or address the myriad challenges likely to arise.

But speaking as a writer, I can tell you that in the technology age (and I can't wait until we can stop saying that), journalism in general needs to figure out lots of things, including what the value of content is and how to ensure that content providers are paid fairly. And if this is true of mainstream magazines and newspapers, then it's certainly true of Jewish news outlets, which work with smaller audiences and smaller budgets than their mainstream cousins.

But let's take the discussion one step further, as Haviv did in framing the piece on Facebook:

Come to think of it, how is this different from the discussions in the JPost, or the debates going on in the Jewish Agency? We're all trying to figure out what the Jews need, and how to give it to them.

So here's one question: Who are "the Jews"? And here's another one: Who speaks for "the Jews"?

The next few paragraphs do not answer those questions. They deal mostly with trying to identify a path for the future of Jewish journalism and the JTA's relationship to local Jewish publications, but keep Haviv's framing in mind when you read them. In other words, this is about the future of Jewish journalism, or of practically anything else.