Don't blame the technology...

by Janine Carpenter

Please bear with me on this one… I have a few stories to tell - they’re all pretty random but there is one common message. So here goes:

Story 1:
Recently, while waiting at O.R. Tambo International for my flight home, a happily married couple (well so they claimed) decided that I looked like a nice, friendly person to share their life story with (mental note: take a book and never look up). They went on to tell me about their wonderful life together, how long they been married, blah, blah, blah - must be honest I almost Dave’d in my mouth! To cut a (very) long story short they had no kids of their own but did have 4 “wonderful” godchildren aged between 7 and 15.

Then, out of the blue, they announced that the Internet is evil and it is corrupting our children … well, as you can image I/new age mum choked on my drink, all the blood rushed to my head and for once I was speechless (thank God cause I would have been rude, had I been able to breathe). I composed myself and asked why they would say such a thing and they went on to tell me how the Internet preys on young children and that it was causing the next generation of kids to be disobedient, lazy etc. I could honestly not believe what I was hearing and was hoping to get into it deeper when they turned to me and asked “so what do you?”… eMarketing I said proudly. And the conversation came to a grinding halt as they suddenly realised they had an urgent flight to catch!

Story 2:
About 3 months ago while doing my much loathed after-work-shopping ritual I saw the headline: “MXit destroyed my marriage” on cover of a You magazine. I got such a fright I rammed my trolley straight into the back of some poor shopper (oops!).
But, really! WTH (what the hell!) – Yes, I understand they are trying to sell magazines and MXit is a sensational topic but how on earth can anyone in their right mind think it is acceptable to make a statement like that? I obviously don’t know the couple involved but from where I sit it would appear that if a technology can ruin your marriage you should probably not have gotten hitched in the first place!

Messaging is nothing new … it’s been around for as long as I can remember all that MXit did was streamline existing technology and made it cheaper. The technology's awesome!
It really comes down to how we manage technologies!

Story 3:
A few years ago (8 or so) I collected my daughter, Sade from aftercare I noticed a massive bump on her head … after many questions I discovered that a 13 year old bully had told my precious Sade to climb a tree, hang from a branch and then let go…
Quite unimpressed I did what any protective mum would have and instructed the boy to climb the tree hang upside down and let go - don’t worry it was a tiny tree and the only thing he bruised was his ego! When he hit the ground I told him something which I hope he remembers forever: Bullies are not cool and if you bully you too will be a victim one day - there is always going to be some one bigger and meaner than yourself!

That was a long time ago and times have changed, now we have a new issue on our hands - cyber bulling. This is what it’s called when kids use cellphones with Internet capabilities to torture classmate through emails, websites and blogs. Typically (my nerves) the cellphones are getting blamed!!!!

My message is simple: The Internet is definitely not evil and MXit is an awesome low cost communications tool (something that is urgently needed in South Africa) and any way you look at it a bully is a bully online or off.
Moms, dads, uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers… Peoples! Take the time to understand the technologies and appreciate the benefits as well as the risks before you blame the technology because ….HELLO… It’s not the technology, it’s us!

2007/11/16 | permalink | comments (3) | trackbacks (0)

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Recent Comments

Kat on Engaging as a Company

I agree with you. There are some things that should ideally not be discussed by an employee in the public sphere.
Would a communications policy have stopped the said journo from speaking out? He/she must have known a huge risk was being taken? I suppose it's also an incredibly difficult thing to predict. The lack of control can be alarming.
I'm definitely interested in seeing a more specific list, so if you find it do share.
Thank you for your comments :). Here's hoping there's a good coffee shop close to you..
vincent on Engaging as a Company

I guess the mark of a well crafted brand starts at HR policy for new recruits - ensuring that they fit the brand's/corporate's persona. So in that sense yes you could argue that left to their own devices employees would, regardless of an online communications policy, communicate in a style the sponsor would approve of. Not sure if that's always the case but I'm inclined to agree with this generalization.
I think what is also important is that the individual writing within the bounds of a sponsor's site does so in a restricted locale. You can police your own domain if you're a corporate, you can't necessarily control the individuals mouth outside of it. For instance on twitter, personal blogs and forums. Owing to the nature of niche stardom you could argue that the employee comes to represent the brand, more so than that personifies the brand in organic conversation with consumers and would carry significant weight both within corporate sites and externally. Making some individuals very wary to write for their companies at all.
For instance in our not too distant past a prominent journo got the boot for publishing his gripes with his employers and their professional ability - he was promptly fired...He would no doubt have been policed on a company blog but owing to the fact that he chose to represent the company elsewhere he took his brand and the papers brand with him - dragging both through the mud as traipsed on towards epic-failuredom...
So to come back to a point, there is definitely a sense that the policies as listed above are quite ambiguous. Even you yourself suggest that requisite legalese is absent, and I have to assume that such legalese would include a fairly long list of do's and dont's. I have a list somewhere laying about which dictates in a very bland corporate fashion how to represent the brand in public - if I find it I will share it with you.
Perhaps its worthwhile to enforce points like "don't tell secrets" and my own favourite, "for the love of god don't gripe about the boss who you've publicly named online"...
That's my mental-riff for the day, I'm afraid I veered rather uncharitably off course but such is the nature of thought.
Now if only the company I worked for had some decent coffee!!
Kat on Engaging as a Company

Transparency is a key issue - as is allowing people to carve their own niche.
My thinking is that people engage with a personality - an individual personality - in conversation more than with a collective. It's just easier. A company personality surely reflects the people who work there as well as a crafted (constructed?) image that the stakeholders choose to present. While you want engagement it's not the same as speaking to an individual.
There are definite risks involved - but I would lean towards allowing people to carve a niche.
vincent on Engaging as a Company

Couldn't have said it better. Nice post, it is most certainly something corporates are going to struggle with. How much transparency is too much? Who should be allowed to represent a brand and to what extent should the individual be given the opportunity to carve their own niche rather than extol the virtues of the mother - brand?
Who knows. We shall soon see as this year pans out and we find out how the big media players tackle the rise of the cost effective digital media channel.
Kat on Engaging as a Company

It is a tough issue, and I can understand why you've never published. I would encourage you to do so though - you probably have a feeling for when your writing reflects your voice and when it doesn't - and the rewards are worth it.
Thanks for reading Wendy. :)

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Don't blame the technology...

by Janine Carpenter

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