Carl Setzer

Yesterday had one of the surrealer moments in my life. A friend from childhood has been ailing at Stevens hospital (properly, it's now Swedish Edmonds), and was given a few days/weeks to live. So, last night he posted on Facebook that he had just hours to live and that this was his last post. With his deteriorating health, I fully believed the statement. There's much within this, but I'm focused on the newness of this. Since he has a phone, which can be worked pretty easily even when weak and exhausted, this contact was able to be pushed out.  Made me think of the last minute letters sent by rebels, resisters, those executed for political gain. Those letters were far more effort, and would only be readily sharable with a small group of people. Now, with a few strokes of your thumb, messages are sent to out to thousands, potentially millions. The ease of mass communication deeply changes our connection. As shocking as such a message is, I expect this to become more comm...

Read " The man who drove us into our national ditch " this morning, by Michael Smerconish . Though focused upon a particular "shock-jock" (Morton Downey, Jr.), it touched on the whole spectrum of political rhetoric in the United States. And reminded me of recent thoughts about the current state of US public discourse. One of the points that Mr. Smerconish makes gave me deep pause: we are in uniquely extreme times in terms of political divide. First, I'm reminded of the long-standing uncivil thread within our political conversations. Consider the Jefferson/Adams campaign of 1800 and the Jackson/Adams campaign of 1824, amongst others. Political rhetoric and person invective have been part of our public banter as long as we've been, well, us. Also look to the uncivil history of English politics to get further context at our roots. Smerconish, though, points to research by the National Journal pointing to truly historical levels of division.  I feel this to...

Today, walking by my house, I see a young woman (twenty-something) standing on her back patio, cigarette in hand. I've noticed more and more young folks smoking, and it disturbs me. Watching my mother die of cancer plays a piece, and that deep inner desire for no one to ever self-inflict that horror. But there's another piece at play. Entirely anecdoteal observations on my part show a great up-tick in smokers. Now, my generation saw great deceases in the rate of smokers. The next seems to be growing. What's at play here? Our knowledge of health-risks has only increased, no it's not any kind of decrease in awareness of them. Actually, my wife presented me with an idea that makes sense: they're rebelling against us. We grew up with socially acceptable smoking parents. Perhaps part of our turning away from cigarettes was our own rebellion. Anyway, there is a communications piece at play: the social message against smoking has waned. To our detriment, as a society...

Am I the only one who hates justified text? I find the cleanliness of the aligned ends to be more than offset by the weird spacing. I'm sure it can be made to work with forethought and focus. That brings back memories of fiddling with typeset, adding up all the characters and spaces, figuring out how to word the thing in order to best utilize the space. Anyway, just being a little snarky in response to an e-flyer I received today. Perhaps just being a bit too cranky and perfectionist. Maybe I just need another cup of coffee.

Someone just left me a voicemail, but either mumbled or the phone gods attacked and the number they left was indecipherable (no caller id on the thing, either). Pro-tip, folks: state your number 2x. Speak slowly, clearly; there are no points for finishing first. Hopefully the chap will get tired of waiting and call me back. Sigh...

Just read Ragan's post about Southwest's engagement via social media. They clearly get social media, how it's about listening. I love seeing stuff like this. I found their desire to name their PR command center "The Listening Post" particularly telling. Compare it, if you will, with Wal-Mart's choice of " War Room" . One implies collaborative, engagement, respectful of it's customers; while the other immediately screams adversarial. Seems clear which will be the best at mollifying the energy of critics. This attitude works best to build ambassadors for your brand. These fans will be infinitely better at defusing potential crisis then even the best PR pros. Your fans are a key asset. Invest in them.

Let's all agree to start using the "To:" line correctly. Senders:  Put people in the "To" line who have action items, or are otherwise the direct focus of the email. E.g.: "Carl, please take care of this"...blah, blah. Use the "CC:" line for people on the email for informational purposes.  Readers: Look in the address header to see where you fit in before you read. Then you'll have a solid idea of whether you are being asked for information or action, or whether you're being informed of a status, data, what-have-you.  If we can all start following email 101, maybe we can de-confuse the world some. Maybe...

Just read on Chris Brogan’s site a serious critique of Amazon’s Cloud Service . Reminded me of an insight I had while researching web presence for a Fortune 500 company. Every company at that scale has a web presence and reputation/status. That extends pretty far down the pipeline, too. Most every company has some presence on the web (I’m sure there are a few that the web is completely ignorant of, but I expect that to be challenging to find). Consider how many people use the web for research. Whether prospective new hires, students or activists, people will find all kinds of information about your institution on the web. Therefore, community management/social media management is critical for a company. At least one person should be scouring the web looking for opportunities to discuss the company, it’s products/services, and address issues. This must be fully transparent, however. Dialog needs to include both the positive and negative. Oh, and yes there are vile trolls out there. They...

So, in the interests of expressing my interest in blogs, public affairs and communications, I've launched another blog, Digitized Collective. My goal is to focus this on how communications is being changed by the "digital medium". Sounds cool, eh?