One of Maher’s regular features is a segment called “New Rules.” In it, he pokes fun at conventional wisdom and current events. Recently, referring to a photo of the Pope walking with President Bush, Maher announced that new rule would be, “from now on, the Pope has to wear a slip,” making fun of the fact that you could see the outline of the Pope’s legs through his garment. I laughed. Others might have been offended. Watching is optional.

Back to the blogosphere, Gina Trapani, of the very well known Lifehacker blog, let it be known this week that she is going to filter and block, using gmail, all incoming emails from a long list of PR companies. Gina had apparently established some rules regarding submission of tips for her to consider writing about. PR firms that ended up on the list had violated her rules with the usual spam-like mass pitching that some PR firms engage in. Her response to them not following the rules of her blog is to black-list them, and to share her list with other bloggers. This is big news because Lifehacker is a very widely-read blog and the PR firms on the list will have to adjust their clients’ strategies if they involve her blog and others who might follow her lead.

My own thinking is that if you want to get something printed in a blog, you have to follow the rules, customs, whims, desires, superstitions, or whatever is involved, of the author of that particular blog. No standard set of rules applies. For the millions of blogs now in existence, each is their own nation, with their own local laws and customs. If it sounds like too much work, then it’s probably not the work you should be doing. Of course, you could just get lucky.

To date there have been a number of suggestions for how PR firms should deal with bloggers, but no hard and fast set of rules is in place for general use. Even if there was one I imagine it would still be a pretty standard thing for certain bloggers to deviate from them. Blogs proliferated in the first place because of a convergence of new technologies and the strong desire to get out from under the limited world of the “mainstream media.” What incentive is there to recreate the same or similar rules?

Maybe the new rule for media relations is that there will never, ever be any one set of rules for dealing with social media, the blogosphere, and social networks. Perhaps the new rule, which is really a very old rule, is that you should treat everyone the way you would want to be treated; the golden rule.

Here at Every Dot Connects, we blog. So, hopefully, when we communicate with bloggers on a cause, an issue, or on behalf of a client we’re working with, we have the ability to relate to what they’re going through. Maybe not on the same scale, but we can relate. Because no college course, certificate from the state you live in, authoritative book, study guide or instruction manual, will even come close to providing a handy guide to the new media than being directly involved.

In the meantime, I know I’ll be making some mistakes and doing some good work at the same time. And, like the rest of us in social media, I’ll be watching to see how these many new rules play out. Because, just like on Bill Maher’s show, new rules are probably being written even now. And someone, maybe even the Pope, is already breaking them.

“Insight from hundreds of customer relationships has informed our knowledge of what it takes to reinvent historic business structures. We co-create solutions with our customers — partnering with them every step of the way to help them perform and compete better in the global market.”

Steve Papermaster, Chairman and CEO of nGenera

These observations were made by Steve Papermaster as he announced the new name for the company previously known as BSG Alliance. The name change to nGenera Corporation spotlights the company’s mission to transform companies into Next Generation Enterprises. nGenera also released its nGen Platform for business innovation, and the first three end-to-end offerings delivered on the platform: nGen Talent, nGen Customer and nGen Leadership.

Late last year Papermaster teamed up with the New Paradigm, a business innovation group led by international thought leader Don Tapscott. The union of the two companies was designed to accelerate the development of their Business Innovation Platform; provide New Paradigm with an appropriate venue to deliver their considerable content; provide Global 2000 enterprises with an immediate and actionable set of business plans, processes and collaborative tools; and help companies transform legacy operations into flexible, next generation enterprises. The recent BusinessWeek Special Report highlights their work.

Our involvement with nGenera, which coincided with the New Paradigm announcement, stems from their belief that social media and online communications are an integral part of this new world of business. Traditional PR is still around, but it is forever changed. nGenera takes seriously the need to have a real social media presence as a part of its communications strategy as they work with their customers moving forward.

The profound business changes brought about by the combination of globalization, the talent crunch and Web 2.0 technologies are reshaping the economy at an astonishing pace. Companies must begin to operate and create customer value in entirely new ways. The nGen Platform offers an answer to this new business reality. It provides Global 2000 companies with a game-changing combination of software-as-a-service, talent and knowledge — packaged into category solutions and delivered using web services — to address fast-traction areas of transformation.

To communicate effectively with its customers, itself, and the world, nGenera is adopting social media in all of its collaborative and co-creative forms. We are honored to be a part of their story.

– Connie and Mike

In The Pink Texas, authored by Eileen Smith, aka Pink Lady, is one of the the best political blogs in the state, or anywhere for that matter, and I read them all.

I describe the blog as political because it is actually named for the pink granite from which the state capitol building in Texas is constructed and from which a wealth of political stories emanate. Most of Eileen’s posts are on politics, but ITPT is actually more of a social commentary on everything that catches Eileen’s attention.

As the late Molly Ivins proved during her life and career, Texas politics provides ample material for humorous writing and serious observations. Eileen Smith has taken Molly’s spirit into the world of social media. Eileen is a great writer, has a shrewd understanding of our culture and politics, and no one comes up with better headlines day after day.

When I drop in to see what’s happening on her blog, Eileen may be defending her choice for U.S. President against an angry mob of comment-makers, picking on the Texas Governor, or giving a great review of the latest episode of the Bachelor. It’s always funny, always smart, and she has a bevy of followers who regularly comment on her posts. Most of them use funny pseudonyms while providing politically incorrect insights of their own.

As far as I can tell, she never censors anyone even if they’re anonymous and rude. The community she has developed is fiercely loyal and seems to police its own. If someone is over the top in their comments, everyone gets on them. And don’t dare pick on the Pink Lady herself unless you can handle a virtual tongue lashing worthy of the strictest Texas schoolmarm from her followers.

If Twitter is, as Connie Reece has noted, a virtual water cooler, then In The Pink Texas is a virtual Texas bar where folks get together and let off a little steam throughout the day.

Just about everyone working at the Texas Capitol keeps an eye on In The Pink Texas. If Eileen doesn’t report the latest rumor, then one of the many members of the ITPT community probably will. It’s the wild west of journalism and those who ignore it do so at their own risk.

What makes Eileen’s story a true social media success is that her personal blog, which is part labor of love and part political addiction, drew the attention of the editors of Texas Monthly, a world-class publication based in Austin. This past year Texas Monthly hired Eileen to edit its online publication, TexasMonthly.com, where she is also thriving.

I don’t have a business relationship with Eileen, but she has spoken at the Austin Social Media Club, where she was great. I would encourage all of you to check her out and comment on the Texas Monthly blog and, if you’re adventurous, In The Pink Texas.

It may be presumptuous of me to do so, but, if I’m allowed as a Friend of the W-List, I would like to suggest that Eileen Smith would be a great addition to the list.

~Mike

Not long ago I posted about a project Connie and I are working on with Trish Forant of eMail Our Military (eMOM) and Conrad Hametner of Qipit that hopefully will help make their Mother’s day just a little bit better this year.

The project involves enhancing Trish’s efforts to communicate by email with the troops while they are separated from their families. Qipit’s contribution is to provide a free and easy way to add a personal touch to the email.

On this Mother’s Day we’re all going to ramp up our efforts to reach out to the troops, especially the moms but not only the moms, and line up personalized, “qipitized” emails.

I encourage all of our readers to link up to Conrad’s site and Trish’s site to learn more. If you have any trouble, DM Conrad on Twitter. He can be reached @hametner.

It may not seem like much, but every little bit helps. I’m a military brat and I remember well the impact our care packages had on my Dad. It’s not as easy to do those same kind of mailings anymore, so please think about sending an email with a personalized message attached.

Anyone can join eMail Our Military. It’s easy. Just go here. I’m also sure that if you would like to do some artwork using Qipit, and aren’t sure about signing up for eMOM, we could use it in our efforts as well.

You can also reach the rest of us at Trish, @mailourmilitary and @Dayngr, Connie, @conniereece and me, @mikechapman.

~Mike

Organizational Meeting - Friday, April 18, Cafe Caffeine, Noon

In 2006, when I first heard Connie Reece talking about this phenomenon called social media and then later include me in the start-up of the Social Media Club, I had no idea just how quickly so many good things would result from it. To avoid using this post for overly blatant self-promotion, I’ll summarize by saying that we’ve gotten really busy over a very short period of time.

Being involved in the Social Media Club has been extremely effective for us in creating relationships and forming networks across the Austin area and around the world. In fact, Connie is now the Executive Director of the entire international Social Media Club.

Conrad Hametner, Cynthia Baker, Chris Leonard, Kelley Burrus, Brenda Thompson, Clint Howell, whurley, and all of the other co-founders and supporters who’ve been involved since its inception are enjoying the benefits of being involved in the Austin SMC.

We’ve had some excellent programs including John Moore of Brand Autopsy, the Dell Digital Media team, panels on politics with Jon Lebkowsky, Eileen Smith and Sam McCabe, how to create social media news room, Adam Weinroth of Pluck, Second Life, and much more.

We’ve gotten busy with so many new projects, however, that we’ve let our meetings slide for a few months here in Austin. We’re admitting, in public, that we need help. We need even more people involved in order to take the Austin SMC to the next level.

We’re meeting this Friday, at Cafe Caffeine around noon, so we can brainstorm and continue the conversation while looking to the future. We have no preconceived ideas - well, maybe a few - but are quite confident that the results will be better than we could plan or manage alone.

If you’re interested in collaborating on the next phase of SMC, please be there. Cafe Caffeine hosts Jelly in Austin every Friday - one of the main reasons we picked the day and location - and the atmosphere and attitude is exactly what we’re looking for. In case you’re not familiar with it, Jelly is a casual coworking environment which is also international in scope.

Even if you can’t be there, join us anyway by commenting here. As all of us who are a part of social media know, this is a team effort and everyone who is interested is invited. We look forward to seeing you or hearing from you this Friday.

~Mike

P.S. Just about everyone mentioned in this post Twitters. You can follow me @mikechapman and I’ll introduce you around if you’re new. We’ll be twittering during the meeting on Friday and you can join in the conversation from anywhere.

In the battle to replace Austin based District Attorney Ronnie Earle - who is best known nationally for playing a major role in dethroning Republican powerhouse Tom DeLay over alleged criminal behavior in office - ethics is naturally a major and important issue.

In the race between two Democrat protégés of Earle, charges are being aired in television ads by Rosemary Lehmberg that her opponent Mindy Montford is not as ethically qualified for the position because she has accepted campaign contributions from state lobbyists. The DA in Austin has a unique role among Texas DAs because, by virtue of representing the county where the State Capital is located, he or she can investigate and prosecute state officials and people who violate state campaign and finance laws, including lobbyists. Being totally independent from them is a very important issue.

Considering the shenanigans that lobbyists and lawmakers have pulled in Texas over the years, it makes sense to have someone in that position who is not beholden to any of them and someone who is above reproach ethically. Lehmberg seemingly had Montford on the ropes on the subject as the two of them headed into a tight runoff election scheduled for this Tuesday, April 8th. Then the flog settled in.

In what was probably considered a very clever political maneuver by Kelly Fero, Lehmberg’s campaign consultant, he created an anonymous blog called AustinPoliticalReport.com. In a recent post, Terry Keel, a prominent local Republican, is accused of helping Montford in the race, thereby insinuating that she would be too friendly to those she should be keeping a legal eye on.

The blog, which promises “the best buzz and most reliable rumors in the political capital of Texas and surrounding communities,” gives no information on who is writing it or any sourcing for the stories posted on it. Apparently Keel decided he wanted to find out who was behind the blog and did. Now he’s suing for libel and filing a criminal complaint.

What’s the big deal, you might ask? There are any number of boneheaded bloggers making stuff up every day on the internet. It is, after all, the “wild west” of communications. That’s part of the allure to many, including me, I’ll admit.

The problem here is that the Lehmberg campaign then emailed its supporters about the story anonymously posted by its own campaign consultant as though it was a credible news source. Keel, a former prosecutor himself, a former Travis County Sheriff, a former State Representative, the current Parliamentarian for the Texas House of Representatives, and a hardball lawyer in his own right, has decided to pursue the case.

So, Keel is pursuing civil and criminal legal action, the candidate for DA who was trying to take the high road on the ethics issue is trying to explain she knew nothing about the flog or the connection to her own consultant, and all with only a few days left until the election. The Austin American Statesman has provided good coverage so far but the local political blogs have been pretty quiet about it.

This incident may not dramatically impact the election. I still haven’t decided who I’m going to support and I’ll try not to let the antics of a political consultant, who defies the ideals of authenticity and transparency, impact my decision making too much.

This incident does prove, however, that the issues and concerns we’ve discussed at Social Media Club meetings and in other forums and conferences on the subject are now being discovered by the larger public.

Lehmberg has now dismissed Kelly Fero, apparently taking the matter very seriously. After all, if one of her lawyers brought bogus evidence into a court case, would it be seen as just a miscommunication? Or would it be taken extremely seriously? I think we know the answer to that. This incident should be taken seriously.

Note - Rosemary Lehmberg went on to win nearly two to one in a runoff marked by a very low turnout.

The Chamber’s policy of featuring members at their events is reasonable, even laudable. While it does not excuse the lack of diversity, I certainly have no quibble with their policy. I do have quibbles about the content that will be presented, or at least the way it is described in promotional materials for “Today’s New Marketing Tools.” One of the panelists, a flyer says, “specializes in using new media and viral tactics which leave an indelible impression on a target audience.” Another “advises clients on how they can exploit digital and social media …”

You get the drift. I can’t help thinking it sounds like tacking some new buzzwords over traditional marketing methods.

Of course, my opinion is colored by my immersion in the world of social media. My business partner, Mike Chapman, and I do social media consulting, and I serve as the executive director of the international Social Media Club. I also just agreed to be a contributing author to the 2008 edition of The Age of Conversation, subtitled “Why Don’t People Get It?”

Yes, I am blatantly self-promoting here. That was, after all, the gist of comments to my “Five White Men” post: women are not as likely as men to promote their own work. Advice taken. The comments, by the way, are well worth reading, and I appreciate those who took the time to add their thoughts to mine.

My original post spurred others to write about the topic further. In Everydotconnects Post Ispires Michelle’s First Official Rant, Michelle Greer said:

We’ve never seen a female U.S. President. Great Britain elected Prime Minister in Margaret Thatcher. Indira Gandhi served as Prime Minister of India. Finland, a country with the highest number of scientists per capita in the world, elected Conan O’Brien look-alike Tarja Halonen as president. Although the Catholics in Argentina will not see a female priest, they did elect Cristina Fernandez de Kirschner, who is following in the footsteps of her husband and former president Nestor. Pakistan, a primarily Muslim nation, elected Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister in 1988 and she was leading another election until she was assassinated last December. This is supposedly the freest place on Earth for women, and yet, a Muslim nation elected a female for a leader 20 years before we even get a viable candidate for President.

One of the men who contributed to the discussion, accessibility consultant and web designer Pat Ramsey, wrote in Gender, Social Media, Why It Matters, OK…I’ll Dive In:

It’s an uncomfortable subject for many. It cuts down to a deeply personal level in us, a group already made up of uncomfortable, fidgety socially awkward nerds, geeks and dweebs. Uncomfortable though it may be, we’ve got to look at this.

Brenda Thompson and I will be attending the Chamber event on April 30. I look forward to learning a thing or two from four white men who are very successful in their respective fields. Seriously. It just won’t be about exploiting social media, because I know just how unsuccessful attempts to manipulate the conversation (buzzword alert) can be.

I also intend to follow up on the tongue-in-cheek recommendation of Jackie Huba, who left this comment on my original post: “Maybe we should do a women-only panel on social media for the Social Media Club. And maybe at the last minute we’ll invite a man to be on the panel.”

Stay tuned for that news, which will be posted on Austin Social Media Club as soon as I can get with Jackie to determine a date. If you want to talk about “Today’s New Marketing Tools,” you couldn’t ask for a better presenter than Jackie.

And in the meantime, if you’re in Austin, plan on attending SMC’s April 17 event featuring Jon Lebkowsky, an authority on social media, online community, technoculture, Web strategy, and Internet trends. Jon helped pioneer both the theories and the software behind many of today’s new marketing tools and technologies.

You might say he is One White Guy Who Really Understands Social Media.

David, who is director of Web and interactive strategy for ACS, was kind enough to sit down with me recently and talk about the origins of the idea for SharingHope.tv, and why they decided to build it with Ruby on Rails and enable OpenID. (My video skills obviously need a lot of work. Note to self: buy a tripod for the Flipcam.)

SharingHope.tv allows users to

* upload videos, photos, music or artwork
* add free background music from independent artists
* view content, make comments, and share it with others
* embed videos on their own blogs or MySpace and Facebook pages
* store twice as much video content as YouTube
* log in with an existing OpenID
* create an OpenID using ACS Passport

For more information, read the news release. Susan Reynolds has started posting videos on SharingHope.tv, sharing information she wishes she’d had access to before her surgery, such as this one where she talks about the process of making treatment decisions.

Choices were difficult, but I managed to cut back to 50 RSS feeds. It meant I missed reading some people whose writing I really liked, but it became much more manageable and enjoyable.

Now I’m trying another tactic: cutting RSS feeds even further, yet increasing the number of blogs I read. Here’s how I’m accomplishing that.

1. Twitter links. Many of the bloggers I regularly read are on Twitter, so I have unsubscribed from their feed. Whenever they tweet a link to their blog, I click to open it in a new tab. At some point during the day, I’ll skim through the posts and close out the tabs. I try to comment on several blogs every day.

2. Instapaper. When I come across what looks like a good read but I don’t have time for it at the moment, I click on Read Later in my browser toolbar. This handy bookmarklet creates a personalized newspaper with the links I’ve saved. When “later” rolls around, I can browse through the links and Skip, Edit or Delete them. By the way, Instapaper was developed for the iPhone, so it’s a great mobile tool as well as Web app.

3. Social Media Today. Because social media is my primary business, many of the feeds previously in my reader were from people writing in the field. Most of those same bloggers, however, are published at Social Media Today. I pulled their Vortex widget into my home page for Netvibes, which has replaced my Google Reader. With one click I can check the latest posts from scores of bloggers.

4. Marketing Profs Daily Fix. Many of the top voices in marketing are featured here, so I have unsubscribed from their individual blogs in favor of reading them at the Daily Fix. Of course, when I read an article by one of my favorite marketing bloggers, I often click through to their blog to browse around and see what catches my eye.

5. Alltop.com is Guy Kawasaki’s latest venture. I was flattered to be included both in the section for Social Media and the Twitterati, but I did not think I would have much use for the site myself. Recently, though, I’ve been using it to find new voices in areas outside my primary interest of social media. Want to find information on personal finance or small business, for example? Alltop.com is a good starting point.

So what’s left in my feed reader? Mostly fun stuff, like I Can Has Cheezburger and Crazy Aunt Purl, “the true-life diary of a thirty-something, newly divorced, displaced Southern obsessive-compulsive knitter who has four cats. (Because nothing is sexier than a divorced woman with four cats.)” Laurie Perry’s ramblings have turned into one of my all-time favorite blogs.

The item I check most frequently in my feed reader is what I call my “me-monitor.” It’s where I subscribe to feeds based on search results for my name and our blog name.

So far I am actually reading more posts, by more authors, and I have given up worrying whether I’ve missed something important. If it’s truly important, I’ll come across it some place besides my feed reader.

I’m still a candidate for social networking rehab, but at least I’ve broken my RSS addiction. How about you?

All these years later I’m feeling some righteous indignation again. Maybe I’ve just been hanging out with Queen of Spain on Twitter for too long. (I’ve even been reading her blog occasionally, but don’t tell her.) Although Erin’s a couple of decades younger than I am and way more liberal, we agree that women are still treated differently, and that it gets old being invisible.

Every few months the blogosphere revisits the topic of gender differences at conferences. Jeremiah Owyang recently asked the recurring question: where are the women speakers in social media, picking up on a post by Lena West, X Chromosome Web 2.0 Rock Stars. Where the discussion really gets going is deep into the comments, with people cross-posting on both blogs.

This is my favorite quote from Lena:

People keep talking about how women are such ‘naturals’ at what makes social media so effective, so why aren’t the female leaders more visible? …

When I ask the question: Who are the male ‘action figures’ in social media? You can almost see them in your mind’s eye.

But, I ask, who are the female power players in social media…we start creating lists.

This afternoon I got an email from fellow Dot-Connector Brenda Thompson with the subject line: “Five White Men Talk About Social Media.” That got my attention and I opened the email right away.

“This just REALLY annoys me,” Brenda wrote. “The Chamber of Commerce is doing a thing on social media. … [she names the panel lineup] … It’s nothing against any of them, but did anyone think for a minute that they should have a woman on the panel?

“Having just renewed my chamber membership for a hefty $439, I will be passing along my thoughts to them, as well.”

It irked me too. It’s not like the organizers would have had to look very far to find some outstanding women to speak, and I’m not just referring to myself. In less than 30 seconds, Brenda and I came up with a list of five or six local women who would have made great panelists.

See, lists are easy to make. But women on lists are still invisible if conference organizers aren’t looking for the list.

We could debate endlessly about why women still lack visibility and what it feels like to be invisible (I’ve got some stories, so don’t get me started).

Instead, I’ll leave you with one anecdote that underscores the problem. This comes from BlogHer co-founder Elisa Camahort, pointing to Mary Hodder’s recent review of a New York Times article about girls who code online content:

So when they interview people like Doc Searls, Loic Le Meur or David Weinberger, all of whom are very smart about tech, those articles are in the Tech section or Business, but when they talk to girls, who for the record, are far more technical in this article than these three tech experts, girls are put in Fashion. I’ve never seen coverage with Doc or David or Loic in Fashion.

Maybe I need to take up snooker again. This time around I won’t take “no” for an answer. And I want my championship reported in the Sports section, not Fashion, even if I’m wearing my pink boa.

Update: I have indeed been officially invited to join the panel (which, I repeat, was not my purpose in writing this post) and am preparing a bio blurb for future publicity for the event. To avoid scaring the suits, I’m going with a corporate headshot, not my boa avatar.