These days it's hard to miss the growing body of evidence showing the connection between technology and the creation of new social networks.

Simply put, social networks are communities of like-minded or similarly-interested people sharing thoughts, ideas, advice and news in a structured environment.

They're not a new phenomenon — all of us can remember the basic social networks of grammar school, college sororities/fraternities, etc., which regularly occur in local communities.

What's changed in the past decade is the ease by which new social networks can be created, found, and sustained. Technology has made it a breeze to locate and engage other people anywhere in the world with similar interests or common traits: be it socio-economic background, hobbies, specific faith, or even political views.

MySpace, the social networking site targeting young men, is the best-known online social community. It has a worldwide audience of more than 95 million members, with 280,000 new profiles registered on the site each day (as Wired points out, roughly the circulation of a big-city newspaper).

But social networks aren't limited to tech-savvy males in their late teens and early 20s.

This week, traditional and online media have widely reported on the launch of a new social networking site targeting seniors.

Dubbed by many as "MySpace for Seniors", Eons.com was created by Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor as a new portal to reach 50+ year old boomers with information tailored to older Americans’ interests.

As technology continues to simplify the way we socialize with others who share common interests, we can expect further atomization of social networks, too. In the next 50 years it’s safe to predict more formalized communities of niche groups will form, and their aggregate voices will carry more weight with companies who provide products and services for them.

Communicators need to keep a close eye on the social networks developing that relate to the organizations and brands we represent. We need to understand how these networks form, who gains power and influence, and find creative ways to become trusted contributors to these communities.

For 25 years now MTV has been quite successful at maintaining a pulse on global youth culture. Not only has it mastered anticipating youth trends, it has also known how to evolve its offering to meet their needs.

Recently MTV announced that later this year it will launch MTV Tr3s. Yes, yet another MTV channel. What’s different about MTV Tr3s is that it is targeted at 12-to-34-year-old bilingual/bicultural U.S. Latinos, featuring programming in both English and Spanish. It’s not the first of its type. In fact, NBC Universal’s Telemundo already offers mun2. But the fact that MTV is evolving its MTV En Español channel to a bilingual format confirms that multiculturalism is going mainstream.

Marketers are beginning to realize three imperatives for marketing to Latino youth:
(1) Marketing to Latinos is not about deciding between English or Español.
(2) Future generations of Latinos have a more multicultural and bicultural vision of the world.
(3) Even as they assimilate into the U.S. mainstream, young Latinos embrace the fusion between Latino and American cultures.

There are also the facts and figures that need to be considered:
• 70% of U.S. Latinos under the age of 35
• By 2030 Latinos will represent 26% of the under 18 population
• Latinos under 35 spend $400+ billion annually
• Latino teens will grow 62% between 2001 - 2020

What MTV and other marketers have identified is not simply a bilingual/bicultural sub-segment of the Latino population. They are tapping into an emerging new lifestyle category that will influence mainstream American youth culture in very possible way – fashion, food, music, customs, etc. The future of marketing to Latinos will go beyond language and will necessarily have to embrace a broader definition of what it means to be Latino in the U.S.

What a surprise to learn that Time Inc. is shutting down Teen People in September. It is hard to imagine an idea with more market potential. Take one of America’s most popular magazines, which focuses on America’s most popular people, and gear it to teens who are the prime target market for every advertiser. An instant recipe for success.

So what happened? According to the New York Times, both circulation and advertising were dropping, which meant the magazine was losing money. But why?

It could be as the Times speculated. The marketplace is too crowded with celebrity news, since both Celebrity Living and Elle Girl closed earlier this year. Or maybe it’s because advertisers are diverting their ad dollars online where more and more teens are congregating. Or maybe it’s because teens are simply reading less than they used to. That’s an ominous trend for all teen media and the adult print media waiting for them to grow up. Or maybe it’s something else.

Is it remotely possible that teenage Americans are losing interest in celebrities? Is it conceivable that kids are getting tired of reading about how much Nicole Richie weighs and who Nick Lachey is dating?

This is difficult to fathom. But perhaps the desire for authenticity is penetrating the younger demographic. Maybe the adults of tomorrow are becoming more interested in each other’s lives than those in Hollywood. Maybe they are finding communication with peers on MySpace is more satisfying than reading about Lindsay Lohan. Maybe the real world is becoming as fascinating as the celebrity world.

If this trend is real, it could pose an enormous future challenge for the companies that rely on celebrities to promote their products. In fact, just this week Versace launched their new ad campaign, which eschewed Madonna for the old-fashioned fashion model. It also wouldn’t bode well for celebrity publicists. If fan magazines continue to shutter, publicists are going to have a lot fewer covers to negotiate for their star clientele.

Teen People’s demise is probably just a speed bump on the Hollywood freeway of fame and fortune. Or maybe it is the beginning of a subtle shift of America’s youth toward more authentic content. The coming years will confirm if there will be more Paris Hiltons or more Holiday Inns.

The fact that the oldest of the Baby Boomers will turn 60 in 2006 is not lost on the media industry. But the media industry may be lost on what to do about it. The July 25th edition of the Wall Street Journal profiles several start-up magazines and websites geared to the over-60 crowd. Launching in August 2006, Eons.com wants to be the MySpace for Boomers’ social networking. Grand, a magazine for grandparents is almost two years old, but has yet to turn a profit. In September, a new cable channel called “Retirement Living TV” will hit the airwaves, featuring informational programming about all aspects of retirement.

There is no argument that the Baby Boomer generation provides an untapped opportunity for marketers, and therefore advertising. This is a generation that has grown up spending and isn’t likely to slow down, especially given that they have purchasing power of over $2 trillion. The biggest question is how to reach them.

Certainly, some media will be successfully focusing solely on the over-60 demographic, just as we have seen with hundreds of other niche magazines that appeal to specific lifestyles. There will always be consumers that want to read articles about other people just like them. AARP: The Magazine is one of the world’s largest circulation magazines, reaches 22.5 million people. Admittedly, it comes free with membership. But, why have other paid publications had less success penetrating the older demographic?
Because old age is a club that no one wants to join. That is even more evident with the Baby Boomers, who will avoid media specifically geared to their age group, because they have are doing whatever they can to stay forever young.

As Baby Boomers age, they will relate best to the media they have grown up with. But those media will have to shift their focus to remain relevant to this audience’s changing interests and tastes. For example, a recent issue of Newsweek added a section at the end called “The Boomer Files,” containing several rock and roll pieces featuring Carly Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton. Additionally, Men’s Health has created Best Life with tips on reducing stress, buying a second home and how to look ten years younger. This seems to be the smarter strategy to reach an audience that has no interest in becoming labeled old.

In the coming decade, expect to see more media adapting content to meet the expectations of their aging consumers. Overcoming their obsession with catering to the 18-24 demographic, they will awaken the potential of an older audience as their advertisers search for new ways to tap that lucrative market.

Two bills in Congress that are being heard now will stiffen penalties and close loopholes that have allowed activists to break into animal facilities and receive only minor penalties from the courts.
S. 1926 sponsored by Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma and H.R. 4239 sponsored by Rep. Tom Petri of Wisconsin will help protect livestock producers, zoos, medical research facilities, kennels and other businesses where domestic and wildlife are involved.

The FBI ranks animal rights terrorism as one of the largest domestic terrorist threats in the U.S. So these bills will ensure that justice is fairly meted out if activists conduct criminal acts such as intentionally damaging property, causing bodily harm or placing people in reasonable fear of harm or death.

The activist group Animal Liberation Front (ALF) recently targeted a researcher at UCLA who is invovled in animal testing projects. ALF placed an explosive device outside of her home; unfortunately, they left it outside of the WRONG home and narrowly missed her 70-year-old neighbor.
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have offered a $30,000 reward ... which hardly seems enough for a domestic terrorist event like this.

Whatever happened to the service economy and the Age of Customer Service? It has occurred to me that the Internet and the steady advance of technology have diminished, rather than improved, those core attributes that can truly distinguish a company from its competition. Al Golin, in his book Trust or Consequences, has said the danger of high technology is that it causes us to forget "high touch," or the personalization of service.

I'll use a high-end appliance manufacturer headquartered in the South as an example. We called to report that our refrigerator was overheating because of a faulty light switch. Five months later, this expensive built-in device remained broken and without lights because our appliance maker, incredibly enough, had no replacement switch to remedy the problem - on what it characterized as a "lifetime" appliance. When I called the company's customer service department to complain about the long delay, they couldn't find any prior record of our contact on this problem and said their computer records could not cross-reference or search in ways that are standard today in all companies. The woman who took my call was congenial and most embarrassed. So was I - for this appliance maker.

We are being reduced to numbers - with our genetic coding, blood type, health, financial records, credit history, employment records, personal habits, birth record, Internet viewing habits, purchasing preferences and so much more being collected, catalogued and archived in preparation for a digitial chip or device that some will carry with them in the future. Yet with all this information now readily available and "Googlized," we have failed to advance the art of serving those who matter most - you and I as customers. There is scant follow-up to customer complaints, problems are difficult to resolve, and no one, save the customer, seems concerned if communication is delayed or incomplete.

This "de-personalization" of the great brands we've known will ultimately be the undoing of companies as consumers, whose ranks increasingly are swelling with a new generation of men and women more discriminating in their choice and loyalty, turn from merchants who are indifferent and undifferentiated in their customer service ethic.

What is the answer? The answer comes in the form of a question I heard from a brand manager with a global credit card company: "How do we get our telemarketing people to better live the values of our brand?" In today's world, those companies that create alignment among their front-line managers and employees with their business strategies and customer service ethic, will win greater allegiance among their customers and prospects.

We are entering a new era for what those of us who lead employee communications know as internal branding. In sum, internal branding is the process of aligning and mobilizing employees to deliver on the promise of what a brand represents externally. Internal branding was first popularized five years ago, dimmed in relevance and now has returned as a new generation of leaders and managers realize that "high touch" can only happen through the men and women who truly live the brand.

The New Generation Latino Consortium (NGLC) announced today the launch of a quantitative study that sets out to explore the motivations of one of the fastest growing sub segments of the population – New Generation Latinos (NGLs).

NGLs are defined as young bilingual/bicultural Latinos between the ages of 13 and 34, with a preference for the English-language. For some marketers, NGLs are considered the greatest untapped segment of the population. While the numbers exist in terms of demographics, there is very little information on how to communicate to this group.

For most companies and brands, marketing to Latinos is still very much conducted as a niche marketing effort, predominately in Spanish. And that will certainly not go away. Nonetheless, the growth of the NGL market calls for an evaluation and understanding on how to best market to bilingual/bicultural Latinos.

As a NGL, I have my personal opinion of what works and what doesn't work when marketers communicate to me. Because I live between two languages and two cultures, for me language is not a factor. But on the flip-side, relevance is a huge factor.

What this actually means for us as communicators is still to be determined. As a communicator, I’m anxious to learn more about what motivates NGLs and what's relevant to them. A study like the one proposed by NGLC can certainly serve as the beginnings of a roadmap for the future of marketing to Latinos. ¡Enhorabuena!

I am a baby boomer.

I was born into the age of the bomb. My father and his seven brothers fought in World War II and worked hard to earn a better life for me and my brother. My mother worked as well, and together my parents became part of the largest generation of middle class in the world.

I went to public school, and became the first in my family to attend and graduate from college. It was my parent’s proudest moment.

My generation became the flower children of the 60’s and the forgotten heroes of Vietnam. We were inspired by Jack Kennedy to believe that anything was possible in America. We dreamed of traveling to the moon, even as the nightmare of Vietnam unfolded. We learned of the great generosity and unlimited potential of a free society and of the limits of both our power and our ideas.

We won the race to the Moon, lost a war in Vietnam, spent the Soviet Union into oblivion and created, in one land, the greatest economic and military power in world history, leaving both a legacy and a price tag for our children, and their children.

After being turned onto politics by the voice of Kennedy and the force of Vietnam, Watergate disappointed us and turned us inward, having us believe in the greater power of the private sector and the cynicism of politicians. We want to believe again, but will always be skeptics.

We are responsible for the great social movements of our time, standing on the shoulders of our parents: Women’s rights, Civil Rights, democracy and economic freedom.

We do not speak with one voice, nor do we share a single view. However, we are, and we have always been, an undeniable force.

Four years ago, I received a invitation to join AARP. I was insulted. I am not ready to retire – not today. There’s still too much to be done: ladders to climb, movements to sustain, and most important, our parents’ grandchildren (our children) to educate and launch into the world. Ironically, our goal for them is the same as my mother’s and father’s goal for me – make certain that the next generation of Americans is better off than the previous: the American Dream.

Take us for granted at your own risk.

Every seven seconds a Boomer turns 50. We are the fastest growing population segment, the most affluent consumer group, account for 40% of total consumer demand, average $24,000 in disposable annual income and control more than 48% of all discretionary purchases. 70% of us are willing to try new brands, we own over 80% of all money in savings accounts, 79% of America’s financial assets and 62% of all large Wall Street investment accounts. We spend $2 trillion dollars on goods and services each year. And, almost forgotten in all this is that we live online, purchase more goods there and are organizing ourselves there faster than anyone. After all, we invented the Internet and its next generation.

Yet, marketers and politicians are largely ignoring us, even as we turn older and begin to have grave concerns about our legacy and our children’s future

We know how to organize. We know the power of spending and the force of collective action. We are cynical of promises and punish those who fail to keep them.

We are not finished yet. We are an undeniable force.

Take us for granted at your own risk.

We are Baby Boomers.

While we're all used to attending various trade shows and conventions for businesses, activists have conventions, too!

The Animal Rights annual convention is taking place August 10-14 in Washington DC.
Just like other groups they have an awards banquet, workshops, receptions and a banquet (I wonder what's on the menu?).

Some of the workshop topics are right out of PR School: Presentation Skills, Changing Behavior/feelings/beliefs, negotiating, mining the internet, conducting research, engaging the media, producing and airing videos and engaging ethnic minorities.

If you think these groups are not well funded, well organized and well trained, you'll be in for a big surprise.

The BBC recently reported on Poland's rise in unemployment and the "exodus" of Poles in search of better jobs abroad. It reports on the government's efforts to invite Poles back home through initiatives like visiting pubs in the U.K. where Poles frequent.

What’s interesting in not merely the “grassroots” tactics, but the fact that nations are considering these types of campaigns. In light of globalization, heighten emigration and low birth rates in several European countries, we may very well be on the verge of new, creative nation-driven communications campaigns – directed not only at attracting tourists to visit, but at attracting nationals to move back to the homeland.

They always have been, really, but it was too hard and too expensive to find them. Now you can and smart marketers do. A few years ago who would have imagined there would be a TV show about quilting. Just quilting. But there is. So the TV show features an author of a novel about quilting (of course), and a fan of the show goes on line to find the book. And then she talks to her friends about it—and her friends number the thousands in an online community about quilting.

And a bunch of books are sold.

Niche marketing is successful because the niche becomes the marketers. They are fans, and fans fan flames. They talk, exchange, pour over, evangelize. They relate to each other.

So public RELATIONS should own niche marketing.

Dateline: Beijing. July 31, 2006.
Headline: Wal-Mart Workers form 1st Union

For those who didn't see this piece, compiled by the The Chicago Tribune news service, Wal-Mart is under fire in yet another global theatre. This time, it's China, where the government-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions has campaigned to set up branches in a country in which Wal-Mart employs 30,000 people at 60 outlets. In case the words didn't convey it, I'll say it more strongly: the Chinese government has demanded that the company allow organized labor in its stores.

In a book titled Stonehouse, a Chinese monk has written these poetic lines:

"Dense fog and clouds you can't push apart
suddenly appear and suddenly depart
clever people can wear themselves out
sun lights the rocks the same as before."

"Pushing the clouds away to let the sun shine through," one interpreter has written, is an old Chinese metaphor for accomplishing something impossible. In markets throughout the world, Wal-Mart is now trying to push the clouds away.

The Bentonville, Arkansas, company that Sam Walton founded in 1962 has transformed retailing. It has changed how manufacturers package and sell their products to retailers. It has brought fame and fortune to some suppliers, incredibly small margins of return and business challenges to others, and even ruin for some who've failed to crack the Wal-Mart code. Through its colossal purchasing habits, it has forced among its suppliers a greater sense of corporate stewardship influencing their employment, supply chain and even their environmental practices. (Wal-Mart's decision early in its corporate history to force the elimination of paper packaging for personal products has helped save millions of trees globally.)

Wal-Mart has brought retailing to urban and rural communities that otherwise would have seen a dearth of options where boarded up properties, burned-out "big boxes" and bankrupt mom-and-pop retailers riddled the landscape. It has brought jobs, energy, activity, new options and, of course "Always Low Prices" to people who can't afford anything more.

As the company has grown, however, pushing the clouds away has become more than a metaphor.

The Wal-Mart some praise is for others an adversary. In his book titled The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works - and How It's Transforming the American Economy, author Charles Fishman examines the good and the bad of the iconic retailer. The story of Wal-Mart, he writes, is about more than price-cutting and hard-nosed business. It's the story of how the American economy has changed over more than two decades and Wal-Mart's place at the epicenter of the globalization of business.

Wal-Mart was never expected to do battle with prospective neighbors, community leaders, elected officials, organized labor and competing retailers who have sought in skirmishes world-wide to contain this giant - and who portray its employment, pay and benefits practices as sub-standard. It has sent some suppliers into bankruptcy and forced jobs into overseas markets like China to ensure low prices, according to published reports. When Canadian employees sought to organize a Wal-Mart location, the company didn't negotiate; it simply closed the store and put embattled workers on the street. Wal-Mart recently shuttered in the dark of night an underperforming Sam's Club Warehouse in Natick, Mass., less than 12 hours after giving employees notice.

So now comes the first labor union in China; the sale of Wal-Mart operations in South Korea and Germany after the company miscalculated these markets; the adoption in states like Maryland and Illinois of a "big box" tax to impose penalties on companies like Wal-Mart that they believe may not provide adequate wages or benefits coverage for its employees; the guerilla-styled tactics of smaller, regional grocers and retailers doing their best to survive and wage war on Wal-Mart in key markets; and the marriage of activists, religious leaders, labor unions, community leaders and others to create initiatives such as "Wake Up Wal-Mart," a campaign to fight for improved conditions for employees.

There's a lesson here: Corporate values matter. Experience has taught us that corporations must carefully balance their business practices and decisions with the interests and values of the communities they serve - customers, employees, third party groups and others who have a voice or a vote that may determine their future. In this New Age of Corporate Social Responsibility, the pathway to progress is littered with the tattered brands of Enron, Snow Brand, Worldcom, Arthur Andersen and others that lost their way as clever people tried to push the clouds away and failed.

Trust is a fragile commodity. Once lost, it may never be reclaimed, no matter the value proposition or the legacy of past achievements.

Wal-Mart understands this lesson. Today, it is working actively to assert new wage and benefit standards for its army of 1.3 million employees that ultimately will lift all boats in a rising tide. The Washington Post reported its response to the areas battered by Hurricane Katrina - $20 million in cash donations, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals and the promise of a job for every one of its displaced workers - turned the company into "an unexpected lifeline for much of the Southeast and earned it near-universal praise at a time when the company is struggling" with its public image. Through its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club Foundation efforts, the company has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to the communities it serves, with a special emphasis on supporting Hispanic and African American communities. On the sustainability front, the company has committed to investing $500 million in reducing greenhouse gas emissions; to being supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain natural resources and the environment - lofty goals, to be sure.

As Wal-Mart works achieves its goals for social responsibility and sustainability, new perspectives should emerge to balance its place among world leaders. Only time will tell whether the sun lights the rocks the same as before.

You heard it here first. 2007 will be the year mobile content moves from the digital fringe to the consumer heartland.

There are some tech trends that will help me not look like a liar this time next year -- primarily that 3G mobile networks will reach critical mass while the high-end cell phones required to tap into them see a dramatic drop in price and rise in availability. Think flawlessly streamed video without the stutters and choppiness you see today.

But the thing that will really take mobile gadgets mainstream has more to do with Hollywood than tech. 2007 will see the first Emmy’s given to video content sent over broadband to everything from computers to cell phones to iPods. Look out Kiefer Sutherland, the broadband of brothers is heading for your red carpet.

Just the notion of original content from something like Current TV competing head-to-head with network prime time shows is already moving mobile into mainstream consciousness. In reporting on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ decision to accept broadband content for Emmy consideration, the LA Times ran a headline asking “A new Emmy for webisodes?”

Webisodes? Screaming from the pages of the entertainment industry’s paper of record? I know that even veterans of the tech world were amazed to see such insider jargon from mainstream media. Only a matter of time before webisodes and mobisodes become entries in Webster’s or the Oxford English.

The glitzy award recognition couldn’t come at a better time for the gawky adolescent that mobile is today as the medium tries to define itself.

Unfortunately, a lot of the early content being pumped to people’s handhelds is simply repurposed broadcast TV – not modified to fit the relatively tiny size of the “third screen” or the snippet-style viewing habits of consumers who most often cozy up with their handhelds when they don’t have anything better to do. That’s usually while waiting for a bus, riding the train to work, waiting to be picked up from soccer practice or queing up for a movie.

The idea of watching 47 minutes of your favorite TV show on your cell phone just doesn’t fly. Or how about watching a two-hour movie on your video iPod? Actually a battery doesn’t exist that can do that for an iPod without a recharge.

So less is more when it comes to mobile content. And what’s loosely called “made for mobile” should indeed only be content that’s made for the mobile medium. That’s not a criterion for winning Emmys, it’s a requirement for winning consumers as ongoing customers.

Companies like GoTV are setting the bar in mobile media, producing original content ranging from daily news and celebrity dirt to first-run mobsidoes like makeover show Primped. The only network content they run is trimmed to fit the size and sensibilities of the third screen and its viewers.

But GoTV is the exception. The sooner mainstream content providers and carriers get the gestalt of the new mobile viewer, the better chance they’ll have of participating in the mobile revolution rather than being overtaken by it.

And going mobile doesn’t stop there. Just look at the consumer-generated media phenom that is YouTube. We’re talking videos that often span seconds instead of minutes. I’ve been working on a project with the folks from MySpace who tell me they won’t run videos longer than 30 seconds on their corporate pay-to-play sites. 15 seconds is the ideal.

Forget mobisodes, how about microsodes? And the Emmy goes to…

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday on a $500,000 gift from 21st Century Oncology Inc. to endow a research chair at The Cleveland Clinic of Weston, FL. On the surface this may seem like a symbiotic public/private partnership ... until you realize 21st Century also is a vendor of the Clinic. It provides radiation therapy to Cleveland Clinic cancer patients.

Both organizations claim the research gift has nothing to do with the business relationship. And that very well may be true. Or, then again, it may be something more. Potential legal issues aside, at the very best this is a gray area that calls into question the ethics of both organizations.

It also is a stark reminder that when it comes to social responsibility (and the broader umbrella of corporate citizenship) we often operate without an owner's manual. It takes on many forms and many labels. And, that can create gray areas, but it doesn't have to.

As more and more companies look for ways to demonstrate or differentiate their corporate citizenship, the boundaries will continue to be tested. That's beneficial. Those who will succeed must begin by looking within their organziations. Corporate citizenship is first and foremost an expression of corporate character. As such, it defines an organization and drives reputation. What it must be -- above all else -- is authentic to remain above reproach. Anything less erodes trust.

Ultimately, the stakeholders of 21st Century Oncology and The Cleveland Clinic will decide if this is an example of best intentions innocently gone awry or checkbook philanthropy that oversteps the boundaries of acceptable corporate character. Regardless, it reminds us that corporate citizenship can not be gray. Simply look at the Journal article ("Cleveland Clinic Defends Gift From a Vendor") to confirm that both organizations are being judged through black and white lenses. And so too, is every other corporation when it comes to corporate citizenship.

In public relations, we've traditionally focused our time and talents on talking: delivering messages through traditional media channels and by direct means.

Talking has been a key component of our craft for centuries.

But in the future, it’s clear PR practitioners must continue sharpening another skill set: the ability to listen.

I don't for a minute suggest that communications pros aren't good listeners. On the contrary, the communications function largely serves as the listening post for most organizations. Most of us pay close attention to what's being said about our companies and the clients we represent in the press and mainstream channels.

I’m simply suggesting that, in the next 50 years, we'll need to listen not only to those with the loudest voices and those with the largest followings… but we'll also need to improve the way we listen to individuals. We must become more active facilitators of dialogue.

The influence of the individual continues to grow. Want proof? Look no farther than consumer generated media such as blogs.

Just this week, David Sifry of CGM search engine Technorati issued an update on the current state of the blogosphere. And his findings clearly illustrate the growing importance of the individual's voice.

More than 50 million blogs now exist, and since 2002, the blogosphere has doubled in size every 6 months. 175,000 blogs are created every day (that's 2 new blogs each second).

And while the growth of new blog channels may eventually cool, studies suggest consumers are using their self-built communications tools to publish thoughts more frequently. The total volume of new blog posts continues to climb -- now to 1.6+ million new entries each day.

The clear implication for PR pros and the brands we represent is that the individual voice must be recognized, and relationships with unique customers and loyalists need to be cultivated more closely than every before.

Today, individuals expect and demand the companies they do business with to listen.

Earlier this year, a nine year old student in California wrote a letter to Apple Computer Chairman Steve Jobs with some recommendations for improving the company's venerable iPod.

Instead of an appreciative note back from Jobs or his staff, she received a letter from Apple's Law Department insisting that she not send "suggestions" to the company, telling her she can read the company's legal and privacy policies online if wanted to find out why.

Is this any way to build loyalty and relationships?

(Later, after local media picked up on this story, Apple reportedly changed its policies on responding to correspondence from consumers -- particularly children.)

As the cacophony of voices grows louder and louder, organizations need to pay close attention to what's being said, and look for opportunities to join and nourish the conversation.

Who knows – if we keep working at it, 50 years from now we might all be more skilled listeners. At least that's what my wife keeps hoping for.

The sun also rises in China.

While Americans proudly point to the importance of corporate culture in establishing a great brand, the Western world will be challenged in the decades ahead by companies in emerging markets that will revolutionize the way products are manufactured, marketed and sold - with corporate cultures distinctly different than those we know today.

Lenovo, the Chinese computer giant emerging from the acquisition of IBM's personal computer business, is now staking its claim to new world markets. It is doing so by blending an historic corporate culture known for an adherence to rules, discipline and the forced ranking of employees against performance goals, with IBM's penchant for using processes that are distinctly Western - conference calls, meetings and milestones designed to keep projects on track.

Where East meets West, it works when two cultures share the same core values and philosophies. Lenovo executives say the cultural differences between Lenovo and IBM have proven to be strengths because both share common beliefs in innovation and customer satisfaction.

The real challenge in the coming years will be how Chinese employees, who for generations have been led by rigid, more autocratic management practices, respond to the style of Western management known for greater collaboration and the empowerment of workers. My experience with Asian companies has shown they are slow to adopt new employee communications practices that American and increasingly European companies use to mobilize employees against business objectives. Should we be surprised? For generations, these practices have worked, and change is not always easy. But change must come as emerging leaders in Asia extend their reach and influence.

I believe the tipping point for employee communications as a global management discipline will come when we no longer speak of language and cultural differences but of shared values that managers and front-line employees in places like Guangzhou, Mumbai, Warsaw and San Jose will affirm with one voice. That time is coming.

It is no surprise that women control most of the purchasing decisions in American families, but among boomers, women are increasing their power. No where is this more apparent than in decisions around home purchases and furnishings.

According to the National Association of Home Builders boomer women direct 91% of housing decisions and 84% of home furnishing choices. And communicating effectively to boomer women isn’t easy. Their decision process, according to Doris Perlman, Founder and President of Possibilities for Design, is apt to be “circular, exploring and tactile.” Boomer women “do not make linear decisions.”

Boomer women want to connect personally with a product or brand and security is their most important issue around homes and home products. Perlman maintains that “women don’t just buy a product, they join it”. Some of the new treads that boomer women home buyers are looking for include:

-- Space: wider hallways and stairs; living areas on the main floors and open, airy floor plans and multifunctional spaces.
-- Colors: brown, grayed-out greens, reds coming up orange.
-- Illumination: task lighting and natural light. It is important that model homes be well lit and use high-contrast furniture.
-- Strong character in home design: cottages with a crisp, clean look, urban homes with rich colors and calming Asian influences.
-- On-line ease: these women are ordering and communicating online.
-- ‘Special Interest Rooms”: Women are relaxing, reading and spending more time on hobbies. They need their space. It’s also a good idea to have a grand-kids room.
-- Comforts: higher sinks, toilets, and stove tops and lower shower heads are all going to be popular.
-- Health: walking trails, club houses, hotel/resort amenities.

As millions of boomer families begin to cash out equity on their homes and become empty nesters, there will be another housing boom, but it is likely to take different direction. The boomer home will become smaller, but quality will be the greatest asset that any builder or retailer can offer. Likewise, furnishing the new, smaller boomer home will become a major growth industry. The fight for brand loyalty in these areas is a many multi-billion dollar challenge and has only just begun. Smart home builders and retailers take note.

I’m really delighted that the “human element” advertising and PR campaign for Dow Chemical is off to such a great start. I believe it is resonating with the public, as well as Dow’s internal audience because, in this time of so much technology surrounding all of us we crave the human element as a stabilizer. (Disclosure: Dow Chemical is a GH client)

I’ve often quoted author John Naisbitt, who was way ahead of his time when he wrote his book, “Megatrends” some years ago. He coined the terms “high touch” and “high tech.” This illustrated the need to balance all the technology he saw coming with the humanizing factor. Many organizations are becoming increasingly reliant on impersonal communication. We all know people who are much more willing to use e-mail or voicemail than to set up face-to-face meetings or even talk on the phone. This is part and parcel of the trend towards emotionless interactions that are starting to define business relationships.

Unless an organization makes a commitment to HUMANIZING relationships, the online culture will take over. Sophisticated technology is enticing, and it’s easy to forget what’s being sacrificed when a culture is overly dependent on this form of communication.

Born between 1946 and 1964, an era of prosperity and relative peace, America's 78 million Baby Boomers grew up with full bellies, homes brimming with consumer goods, and spending money in their pockets. Telephones, television and jet planes shrunk their world while space travel opened up the universe. They witnessed the first moonwalk and the first televised assassination. They also were the first to use computers and the Internet. But just as Boomers transformed the society, they were also being shaped by the times in which they lived. Although a far from homogenous group, the Baby Boom generation shared life experiences that left their mark on its members. As a result Boomers as a group possess certain characteristics and attitudes that make them unique. Some efforts to define them are too general. Most are platitudinal. How about defining them through their music?

R-e-s-p-e-c-t

From the beginning, Boomers' sheer numbers forced businesses and governments to respond to their demands. They needed houses with more bedrooms and cars with more seats, so suburbs sprung up and Detroit created station wagons to haul them around. When Boomers began buying their own homes, they drove up prices and spurred development of new housing types such as condominiums and townhouses. Because they transformed the marketplace at each stage of their lives, Boomers developed a sense of entitlement about having their needs met. Moreover, they came to believe that everything could be changed and they could change everything to suit their desires.

Satisfaction

Permissive parents also shaped Boomers' expectations. After the deprivation of World War II, Boomer's parents worked hard to give their children the security and material goods they themselves never had. Boomers came to expect instant gratification. They grew up more self- aware and self-confident than their parents but also more self-indulgent. They earned another label - "The Me Generation".

Suspicious Lies

Boomers grew up self confident and self-centered but political events in their lives turned their innate brashness into skepticism. The Bay of Pigs, the assassinations of the Kennedys and Dr. King, race riots, Viet Nam and Watergate taught them to question authority. Their efforts in support of civil rights, women's liberation and a cleaner environment showed them they could oppose the status quo and win

Dr. Feelgood

Money and technology vastly improved healthcare since World War II, resulting in longer and healthier lives for Boomers. Vitamins, good nutrition and the free time for outdoor recreation enabled them to grow strong and tall. Regular doctor and dentist visits, vaccinations and fluoridated water kept them that way. Their parents and the government worked to protect them from hazards such as lead paint, pollution and automobile crashes. Birth control pills, allergy shots, quadruple bypasses and Viagra convinced them that modern medicine could cure their every problem. Boomers expect the best health care, the latest drugs and a clean, safe environment. If their expectations aren't met, they don't hesitate to speak out.

Forever Young

Baby Boomers grew up in good times. They were fat and happy with all the TV and rock and roll they wanted. Their parents' world was a bummer - full of war, riots, inflation, uniformity and responsibility. Like Peter Pan, Boomers vowed, "I won't grow up". And they didn’t. Scratch beneath the pin stripes suit of a 50 year old executive and you'll find a blue-jean wearing, air-guitar-playing kid who can sing the Brady Bunch theme.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

Remember, Boomers are not homogeneous. The world changed over the 18 years this generation was being born. There are really three decades of Boomers: Early Boomers, late 1940s; Core Boomers, 1950s; and Trailing Boomers, early 1960's. Jobs were plentiful and interest rates were low when Early Boomers entered the employment and housing markets. Core Boomers battled 21% credit card interest and sky high mortgages. Computers came on the scene when Trailing Boomers finished their education and they entered a job market being transformed by this technology. And the cloud of AIDS dramatically altered their dating scene. The free love practiced by many of their older siblings became a death-defying act.

More than half of these Baby Boomers, America’s largest generation, are already 50 or older and the last of them will turn 50 in 2014. The needs and desires of Boomers will have a major impact of the marketplace for the next 40 years.

Why is it that the U.K. is seeing a 50% drop in activist attacks on medical researchers at the same time that government figures show that animal experiments are at an all-time high?

It appears that U.K. government's new legislation aimed at curbing extremists, along with better policing and liaison with important stakeholders, is helping to combat the attacks. These are some of the same tactics that the UK authorities used to successfully thwart this week's airliner plots.

The truth is, terrorists are terrorists .... they aim to intimidate or bully others with force and illegal activities to force their point of view, rather than engaging in a public, democratic dialogue. Maybe the U.S. government will get some tips from the U.K. and use them effectively against terrorists of all kinds.

Chile's salmon industry and environmentalists, who have been ardent arch-enemies, are partnering to oppose a major dam project in southern Chile's Patagonia region.
Their opposition? A Spanish energy company called Endesa that controls more than 80% of the water rights in the Aysen region and which wants to build a series of dams to generate electricity. The dams will change the river flows and flood thousands of acres of natural wilderness.

While Chile is enjoying Latin America's highest sustained level of growth, its achilles heel is its domestic energy sources. Chile imports 90% of its energy, and its needs are rising. Without it, the country's economic growth will be strangled.

The activist group International Rivers Network has pledged "This is going to be a long battle, in the trenches, using every political and legal tactic possible." They want to preserve the natural beauty of the area. But without continued economic growth, who will build and finance the roads, airports, hotels, and workers that would be needed for tourism in the Patagonia region to flourish? It would seem that both groups would benefit from a compromise.

My last entry observed that, in an ironic twist, one of the benefits of niche marketing is that the niche becomes the marketers. It's a one-two punch: Marketers have better tools than ever before to reach and motivate very specific groups of consumers. But what's really big is that those consumers, then, actively extend the marketer's message. And they have a whole lot of ways to do it.

A vivid example is the emergence of self-made advertisers, first ignored, then shunned, now embraced by smart marketers.

We've all heard about (and probably seen) the Mentos/Diet Coke "spot" on Revver.com, which Mentos found hard to ignore with 5.5 million viewings. So they jumped on board, buying ads on the site and publicizing the video.

Sony takes the phenomenon a step further by inviting people to create ads for a new line of televisions. Those ads will live on the internet, and maybe outside it. They could be seen by millions.

I said at the outset that the niche markets the message. True, but it also makes its own. The critical truth is that marketers don't control the message anymore. They can only actively lead it. That's a huge shift in mindset and in reality that will define marketing from here forward.

And it's a shift that PR people should navigate easily: We have always recognized and leveraged dialogue with the consumer, and we are used to having less than 100 percent control over how messages are heard, communicated and understood.

Will we take the lead in counseling our clients on how to embrace this marketing shift, or will we wait for their other marketing partners to do it?

If you were looking for a tourism site for Newfoundland you might have found
www.tour-newfoundlandlabrador.com through one of the major search engines. Instead of finding recommendations of great restaurants or sightseeing tours, you'd find a website filled with anti-seal hunt messages and graphic images.

The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is trying to punish the people and businesses in Newfoundland through economic terrorism .... destroying their tourism business in an effort to put pressure on those who are involved in the seal hunt. Unfortunately, it seems like lots of "mom and pop" businesses and B&B's who have nothing to do with the issue are bearing the brunt of this attack. That's unfortunate and unfair.

In his 1956 bestseller, The Organization Man, author William Whyte told us that employees of that era's corporation not only worked for an organization, but they sold their psyches to them as well. These "organization men," like Sloan Wilson's protagonist Tom Rath in the The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, struggled with the subordination of their personal goals and desires in conforming to the demands of corporations and other organizations. Fifty years later, the traditional workplace has been fractured forever by technological innovation, societal change, workplace laws and the abandonment of historic corporate convenants that once promised loyalty and the prospect of lifetime employment to workers.

The Brave New World: What will it look like in 2010? In Northern Ireland, Central London and at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, three distinct groups are innovating new office concepts and examining issues that will affect the workplace in coming decades.

Workplace 2010 is a five-year program being developed in Belfast by Ireland's Department of Finance and Personnel and the Strategic Investment Board to modernize and rationalize the Northern Ireland civil service office. It involves the introduction of new accommodation standards, such as shifting away from "owned" to "shared" work space to create a more flexible environment promoting greater collaboration among teams, better communication and improved productivity. In essence, the Irish civil service will use less space more economically by consolidating government buildings and clustering workers from various groups in ultra-modern carrels with flat-screen technology, computer and phone access, and work files that can be stored and retrieved as migrating workers need them. We know this concept as hoteling, a practice that first originated in 1994 with the "non-territorial office," conceived by the California advertising agency, Chiat/Day.

In Central London, minutes from the Liverpool Street Station, workers requiring space now come to a location at 5 Wormwood Street to use "hot desks," meeting rooms and free wireless Internet access at The Hubworking Centre. No longer teethered to offices in their home or in a company, people can gather where they want with others and work on schedules that meet their needs. Hubworking is one of scores of like centers that are proliferating everywhere.

At Georgetown University, a campaign known as Workplace Flexibility 2010 is underway to support the development of a comprehensive national policy on workplace flexibility at the federal, state and local levels. Co-led by Professor Chai Feldblum, who authored and negotiated the 1992 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Workplace Flexibility 2010 is a collaborative effort with the Sloan Work & Family Research Network at Boston College and When Work Works of the Families and Work Institute in New York City. Its mission is to engage policymakers, political leaders, employers, advocacy groups and the public in a dialogue on existing and proposed laws that will affect the workplace.

How can we promote the flexibility employees may need to balance their work schedules while caring for a child or an aging relative if employment laws and employer practices don't permit us to do so? Will future office environments facilitate or prohibit access to employees with special needs who, through their differences, bring a rich diversity of attitudes, experiences and beliefs to the workplace? How will policies being decided today shape the profile of the workforce in decades to come? These issues and others are being examined by Workplac