Age 10 to 60 – through Make-up & Photography « Gems Sty
12 11 2009
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Headline Writing Drives Traffic – The Buzz Bin
9 11 2009
Writing a catchy headline sounds simple, but it is one of the most important aspects of social media posting if your goal is to have people follow your links.
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Google: You too could win millions in stock | Relevant Results – CNET News
3 11 2009
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B.L. Ochman’s blog: 10 Things Social Media Can’t Do
2 11 2009« Top Five Reasons Why Free is a Good Business Model & How We Plan to Use it to Retire Before We’re 90 | Main | Think There Are No More Real Heroes? Meet Zoe Koplowitz »10 Things Social Media Can’t Do
By B.L. Ochman
Amid the endless pronouncements about social media — often shortened to “social” these days by consultants trying to sound like they know what they are talking about — is the reality that social media is not a solution, or a sure bet.
Social media can’t:
- 1. Substitute for marketing strategy
A Twitter campaign, or a Facebook page that announces your weekly specials is not a marketing strategy.
2. Succeed without top management buy-in
Social media requires a way of thinking that includes willingness to listen to customers, make changes based on feedback, and trust employees to talk to customers.The culture of fear (of job loss, of losing message control, of change) is ingrained in corporate cultures. Top management has to want to change.
Be viewed as a short-term project
Social media is not a one-shot deal. It’s a long-term commitment to openness, experimentation, and change that requires time to bear fruit.
Produce meaningful, measurable results quickly
One of the complaints about social media is that it can’t be measured. But in fact there are many things that can be measured: including engagement, sentiment, and whether increased traffic leads to sales.Those results can’t be produced or measured in the short term. Like PR, social media marketing often produces its best results in the second and third year.
Be done in-house by the vast majority of companies
A successful social media campaign integrates social media into the many elements of marketing, including advertising, digital, and PR. Opinion and theory are no match for experience, and the best social media marketers now have more than 10 years of experience incorporating interactivity, blogs, forums, user-generated content, and contests into online marketing.You need strategy, contacts, tools, and experience–a combination not generally found in in-house teams, who often reinvent the wheel or use the wrong tools.
Provide a quick fix to the bottom line or a tarnished reputation
Social media can sometimes provide quick results for a company that’s already a star. When a well-loved company like Zappos, or Google employs social media, its loyal fans and followers pay attention.However, there’s a lot of desperation in a lot of corporate suites these days, and many companies seem been convinced that a social media campaign can provide a quick fix to sagging sales or reputation issues. Sorry, nuh, uh.
Be done without a realistic budget
Building a site that incorporates interactivity, allows user-generated content, and perhaps also includes e-commerce doesn’t come cheap from anyone who knows what they are doing.Even taking free software like WordPress and making it function as an effective interactive site, incorporating e-commerce, creating style sheets that integrate with the company’s branding, takes more than time. That takes skill, experience, and money.
Guarantee sales or influence
Unless your effort can pass the “who cares” test – and most simply can’t – your social media efforts will fall flat.And unless you know how to drive traffic to your contest, video, blog, event, etc. you’ll have little more than an expensive field of dreams.
Be done by “kids” who “understand social innately”
You can climb Mt Kilaminjaro without a sherpa guide, but why would you? Experience and perspective can make the trip easier, or even save your life.Companies trying to run social media without experienced consultants waste time, money, and reputation on their efforts. And then, sadly, many decide that this new-fangled approach doesn’t work.
Replace PR
No matter how great your website, video contest, blog, Twitter strategy, etc. you still need publicity. Or you may end up with a tree falling in the forest, and nobody hearing it.
Categories: Alternative Marketing, B.L. Ochman, Internet strategy, Marketing Strategy, Social Media, Social Media MarketingTags: what social media can’t do social media marketing social media strategy BL Ochman corporate social media strategyComments
Great article. But a couple of the points sound like excuses to not bother with metrics (which are still useful for communicating with management and a couple sound like excuses not to build internal capability and instead rely on consultants. You’re right that here is a lot social media can’t do but there is a lot more it could do.
Posted by: Peter Thomson at October 31, 2009 3:44 PM
You could replace “web site” or “the web” for “social media” in this entire article and move back twelve/thirteen years, and it would sound just about right.
And you’d probably be preaching just as much to the choir as I was then, and will reach an equally sadly small number of the people who really need to hear this.
But it’s a noble effort! Perhaps in less than ten years, the windmills you are tilting at will become turbines of business as the web has?
Posted by: Shava Nerad at October 31, 2009 3:51 PM
Are you trying to frighten people on Halloween B.L.? Way to tell it like it actually is!
Posted by: Tom Asacker at October 31, 2009 4:21 PM
This is a much needed reality check for all businesses, big and small. Your first point is such a valuable one. None of the TACTICS used in social media can replace sound marketing strategy, they are merely pieces of a whole puzzle.
Posted by: Maria Reyes-McDavis at October 31, 2009 4:46 PM
Great list BL. It’s been a while since I came on to a post so true and universal. When will be all understand that social media is only a title to a tool that means nothing if there’s no good content/communication to support it. –Paul
Posted by: Paul L’Acosta at October 31, 2009 11:04 PM
Now for two things that social media can do as we all know that nothing beats face to face interaction which was most of the downfalls referenced in this article.
Social media is not going away so everyone may as well learn from this article and learn how to drive traffic with the use of social media or make up another top ten list of doables.
Posted by: Linda Goffigan at November 1, 2009 6:45 AM
Peter: you’re preaching to the choir. I’ve been helping companies integrate social media into their marketing since 1996. Of course there’s a lot social media integration can help companies accomplish – if they view it realistically!!!!
Posted by: BL Ochman
at November 1, 2009 12:39 PM
Excellent article, B.L. It’s great to hear an opinion on the subject other than that social media is a godsend to businesses.
I am a student in the PR diploma program, and I find many of my courses focus on the numerous benefits of social media and yet the potential fallbacks are not nearly given enough attention.
Great imagery from Maria Reyes-McDavis, a small piece of the puzzle is the scope of social media when it comes to PR.Of course, the Facebooks and the Twitters are not going away anytime soon, but it’s important not to let the hype surrounding them to blow their roles out of PRoportion.
Posted by: Maria Zavidova at November 1, 2009 10:48 PM
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m so happy to see that first point re Marketing Strategy front and center. So many people/companies are guilty of “marketing flavor of the month” disease and seek to jump on the latest trend. All of those “flavors” are still just tactics…and tactics FOLLOW strategy, not the other way around.
I believe it’s clear that social media is here to stay, and used properly can have many benefits over time. But, as you point out, it’s not a short term fix or solution. And, we must also recognize that the “flavors” will continue to evolve going forward.
It’s for these reasons that marketing fundamentals and principals still need to lead the way for defining any Brand or company’s tactical or programmatic efforts, including social media.
Net: Great post!
Posted by: Ted L Simon at November 2, 2009 1:19 AM
Social Media isn’t the ‘magic’ money-making tool that a lot of people seem to think it is. Well done you for pointing that out in an interesting and informative blog post.
Posted by: Amelia at November 2, 2009 4:37 AM
This is a great list and I think much needed wake up call for any company that uses or is planning to use social media.
As a PR student at Humber College, we have been focussing alot on how social media has become so mainstream practically over night. It seems as though some business are just following blindly. I feel that your fist point is very important it seems as though social media “campaigns” are somewhat taking over regular old marketing campaigns.
Posted by: Marion at November 2, 2009 8:27 AM
I totally agree, apart from one thing: I call it “Social” as it is a natural shortening and I think it is pretty acceptable to do so. I notice you use “PR” rather than writing Public Relations in full, does this make you any less knowledgeable in that area? Likewise with terms like Mobile, Web and Email – They are just one word associations.
Posted by: N.E Consultant at November 2, 2009 10:19 AM
Great points, I agree. Now for all of us communicating it in the market place and allowing business owners to absorb it in ways that they can wrap their brains around it.
Posted by: Michele Price at November 2, 2009 10:37 AM
I totally agree with B. L. What we need to remember is that roughly only 10% of our audience is really active in social media. And ’social’ means just that – you have to socially link to everyone with whom you’re communicating. A sound total marketing strategy should always take precedence.
Posted by: Linda Hardman at November 2, 2009 11:21 AM
BL, you hit the nail on the head! I’ll bet a lot of organizations have these misconceptions.
Posted by: Elaine Fogel at November 2, 2009 11:55 AM
Using Twitter and Facebook doesn’t make you a successful marketer any more than MS Word makes you a writer or Photoshop makes you a designer. These are tools. And not only do you need to master these tools, but you need to know when and where to use them. And this must be part of an overall strategy.
But as with any new technology, some people will think technology by itself is the answer, others will run far away from it because it’s new and frightening. The successful ones will learn how to master it and how it fits in with their business.
Posted by: Larry Chandler at November 2, 2009 12:14 PM
You see all these posts/articles about how great social media is and what it CAN do for a company, but you don’t see posts very often about what social media CAN’T do. I wonder if that means I’m cynical? Either way, great post and excellent points.
Posted by: Nick Shin at November 2, 2009 1:24 PM
You would probably HAVE to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro without a “Sherpa.” Sherpas are native Tibetans, and assist climbers in the Himalayas. Mt. Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania.
Hard to believe that you couldn’t fact-check that for a post made up of two-sentence hyperboles.
Cheers, everyone.
Posted by: C. B. McGillivray at November 2, 2009 2:05 PM
BL, your list is a great reminder of the importance of integration.
Many thanks!
tcPosted by: tracey at November 2, 2009 2:32 PM
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Banning Social Media Is Counterproductive – Search Engine Watch (SEW)
2 11 2009
Banning Social Media Is Counterproductive
By Erik Qualman, Search Engine Watch, Nov 2, 2009
Columns | Contact Erik | Subscribe to Newsletters | RSS Feeds | Biography–>Banning social media in the office is almost becoming trendy lately. It reminds me of the 1984 movie “Footloose,” where a town banned rock music and dancing.
In today’s version, instead of starring Kevin Bacon, perhaps either Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter) or Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) could star in the lead role. Just as we now look back on “Footloose” as being rather silly, the same will probably apply to these social media bans.
“USA Today” reported October 22 that 54 percent of companies completely block Facebook, whereas another 35 percent apply some form of limits. That leaves only 11 percent that don’t put any limitations on Facebook use in the work force.
Why does this feel like déjà vu? Probably because a few years ago many companies banned Web mail (Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, etc.) in the work place. A few years before that, companies banned the Internet at the work place.
And it’s not just companies that placed these types of bans; teachers often ban mobile phones in the classroom as well. Is this the right thing to do?
Banning social media at work is:
- Analogous to banning the Internet.
- Analogous to banning the phone because you might make a personal phone call.
- Analogous to banning paper and pens because you might pass a note that isn’t related to class or work.
- Could potentially signal to workers and future recruits that your company just doesn’t “get it.”
Wasting Time on Facebook Actually Makes You More Productive
“People who do surf the Internet for fun at work — within a reasonable limit of less than 20 percent of their total time in the office — are more productive by about 9 percent than those who don’t,” according to Dr. Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing at The University of Melbourne.
Before we dive back into the workplace, the teacher example is an interesting dilemma to review. Some phones have such a high pitch ringer that the teachers can’t hear them while the students’ younger ears can hear them. But, is this really a technology issue, question, or problem? Or is it a historic problem that teachers have been wrestling with since the first school opened?
Whether a student is whispering, day dreaming, sleeping, passing a note, doodling, or sending a text, it’s all the same thing. The teacher isn’t reaching them. Recently, Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s chairman, said for his first four years on the job he was looking for new critics, when all along he should have been looking to produce a better product or store experience.
Capturing students’ attention has been historically difficult. The teacher’s task isn’t an envious one. However, the really good teachers have been able to overcome the hurdles presented them.
If you ban today’s technology, does it solve the problem? Probably not. Also, texting is probably less intrusive than whispering, or passing notes, as it doesn’t affect the others in the room as much.
Also, a good student might suffer as they may be potentially looking up something on their mobile browser that the teacher is covering to either fact check or see if something visual clicks with their brain in a way that’s better than how the teacher is attempting to explain it. Or, if they have already grasped the concept, why shouldn’t they be able to learn something else new and exciting at their fingertips?
Some teachers may benefit by leveraging this technology in the classroom; students have grown up with technology. Rather than being lectured at, they’re used to dynamic interaction with various technologies and sources to provide possible answers.
It also depends on the age of the student. This is applied more easily to college students than say middle school students, where anything that could possibly distract attention from the teacher isn’t good (it’s also another reason why our teachers should be paid more as it’s one of the most difficult jobs around and now teachers have the added challenge of keeping abreast of new technology).
Company Restrictions on Social Media
Banning something like social media could send the wrong message to employees and potential recruits as a company that “doesn’t get it.” Also, how can companies learn what to do in social media if they aren’t allowing their employees to even use the tools?
All new tools have a learning curve. When people started using phones in the work place they had to be educated not to make 30 minutes worth of personal calls, call internationally, or speak too loud.
More recently, when e-mail was introduced, classes were held in the workplace on tonality of e-mails, not replying to all, not wasting much of the workday on e-mail, etc. With social media, similar instruction and guidance should be given to the work force. For example Facebook IM chatting with your friends may not be the best use of your time, and it will make it difficult for you to achieve your goals, nor is it wise to status update “glad I’m out of the jail I call work for today.”
An employee either produces desired results or doesn’t. If one employee reads Wikipedia during their break time but produces 40 sales per week and another employee reads books outside during their break but only produces 15 sales per week, which employee would you keep? If you’re in the business of making money, you’d keep the one producing 40 sales per week.
“Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days work, and as a result, increased productivity,” Coker said.
Some employees might benefit from having social media in the work place. If you’re in outbound sales for home insurance it would be helpful to receive a tweet from a friend in California indicating that the wild fires have taken a sharp turn toward Orange County or that the telephone lines are out in Minneapolis. Or to see a user-generated picture or video of the fires taking place that includes a geo locator on them.
Or think about sales in general. What are two of the top rules of sales? Listen and know the customer.
Google isn’t so great at supplying real-time results, but social media certainly is (there’s a reason why deals were cut between Bing, Twitter, Google and Facebook last week). So, if I’m a salesperson about to make a phone call, technorati, search.twitter.com, and Wikipedia are helpful tools for figuring out what the heck is being said about this prospect or prospect’s company. Why would you ban tools that are valuable to your work force?
One possible answer: you don’t trust them not to abuse the sites for other reasons. Is that a social media issue? I’d argue it’s a workforce issue.
Also, whether you’re at work or in the classroom, when you treat people like kids by not trusting them, expect them to behave like kids. Is that what you want?
Do you think Apple or Google bans people from these sites? Their stocks are up 140 percent and 79 percent respectively this year. They must be laughing out in Silicon Valley.
Occasionally some bans make sense. For example, a university that bans downloading music on their network because of bandwidth issues is reasonable. Other bans (like those in “Footloose”) are just silly.
Don’t ban social media. In the near future we’ll look back and say “Remember when we used to ban social media? What were we thinking?” Don’t be a dinosaur, because after all, they became extinct.
Roe
November 2, 2009To say that teachers should not ban cell phones from their classrooms is madness. We’ve seen in the media how stupid kids are today with their cell phones (“sexting,” for example). To think that teens are at all capable of restraining themselves from texting, Facebooking, or doing anything else distracting on their new smart phones shows a serious disconnect between the author and kids today. I’m 25, but I can still juxtapose myself into some teenager’s shoes and see clearly what I would be up to if I were still going to boring old high school. Public education is in bad enough shape right now. There is absolutely no upside to allowing in another fortuitous technology which will do nothing to improve their understanding of the class and will in all likelihood make it harder for these kids to concentrate.In short, the minds of the youth today are going down the drain thanks to TV, video games and the Internet (or more accurately, thanks to parents not taking a more active stance in mediating their kids’ use of these technologies). Smart phones are just an extension of all of the above, but in a small hand-held device which can be easily concealed and used in a classroom. There is no benefit to social networking in a classroom. That classroom IS the social network they should be focusing on.
Mr CurtainsNovember 2, 2009I think there needs to be a compromise here. Business are correct in blocking social media, I can say that from my own experience when I was working in a call centre. I was more easily distracted, the quality of email responses I was sending out was considerably low.
There is no doubt concentration levels are lower.Infact, quite interestingly I work for myself now and block certain sites to prevent distractions.
But I agree there probably shouldn’t be a total ban. A compromise of some sort should be achieved.
Such as blocking access during peak hours and restoring access during off peak hours.
Erik QualmanNovember 2, 2009Mr. Curtains:Thanks for reading and commenting. Your note/phrase was of particular interest to me “In fact, quite interestingly I work for myself now and block certain sites to prevent distractions.”
You, being self-employed, are in control and put these “blockers” in place. Maybe the compromise for workers is that they are still given the control, but they can ask for, or better yet be given the ability to block certain sites if they don’t have the self-control to avoid them. While others that do have the self-control still have access to everything.
This is similar to someone on a diet not having chocolates laying around their desk. Or a chatty cathy turning off their cellphone during working hours. Maybe that is the compromise while still giving the employee the proper freedom to excel.
Thanks for contributing!
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BiographyErik QualmanErik Qualman is the Global Vice President of Online Marketing for EF Education, headquartered in Lucerne, Switzerland. With more than 26,000 employees in 53 countries, EF Education is the world’s largest private educator.
His book “Socialnomics: How Social Media has changed the way we live and do business” was released from Wiley Publishing in August 2009. Qualman is a frequently requested speaker within the Internet and marketing community and also maintains a social media blog at www.socialnomics.net.
Qualman has been highlighted in numerous publications, including: BusinessWeek, AdvertisingAge, USA Today, Forbes, PR Week, Investor’s Business Daily, eWeek, Media Life, Direct Marketing News and Direct Response Magazine. He has also been interviewed on various radio and television outlets. Qualman is also a published fiction author.
Prior to joining EF Education, Qualman helped grow the online marketing and eBusiness functions of Cadillac & Pontiac (1994-97), AT&T (1998-2000), Yahoo (2000-03), EarthLink (2003-05) and Travelzoo (2005-08). Qualman holds a BA from Michigan State University and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin. He was also first team Academic All-Big Ten in basketball at Michigan State and still finds time to follow his beloved Spartans.
Article Archives by Erik Qualman
Four Steps to Social Media Marketing Success - Oct 19, 2009
Is Google a Social Media Company? - Oct 5, 2009
Will Social Media Drive a Web Without Walls? - Sep 21, 2009
Social Media for B2B - Sep 7, 2009
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Local and Social: It’s all Coming Together - Oct 30, 2009
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Business Wire Conducts Video Interview of Warren Buffet – Oct 30, 2009
Google Flu Trends Intense in Canada, High in United States – Oct 30, 2009
Search Engine Watch Stat Headlines
Top Search Providers for August 2009 - Sep 15, 2009
Top 10 Search Terms by Category, August 2009 - Sep 11, 2009
Big Brands Missing from Social Media Ad List in June - Sep 4, 2009
Global Search Market Share, July 2009 vs. July 2008 - Sep 1, 2009
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SearchDay | Consumers Head Online for Local Business Information - Oct 16, 2009
SearchDay | Targeting People Who Control the Links - Oct 15, 2009
SearchDay | Tips for Organizing Your Landing Page - Oct 14, 2009
SearchDay | Saturating Your Message in Search Marketing - Oct 13, 2009
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The Case of the 4,000 Twitter Followers Who Don’t Care | Community Organizer 2.0
24 10 2009
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The 27-Inch iMac Is the New Apple TV | Gadget Lab
22 10 2009
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HOW TO: Create a Branded Version of TwitPic
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Department of Defense to Announce Balanced Social Media Policy
24 09 2009by Heather Forsgren Weaver
American Forces Press Service
9/23/2009 – WASHINGTON (AFNS) — Defense Department officials plan to
forward a social media policy to the department leadership within the next
two weeks that will balance the pros and cons of social networking sites,
the department's top public affairs official said on National Public Radio's
"Talk of the Nation" Sept. 22.
"I think there are two issues that need to be balanced," said Price Floyd,
principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. "No. 1,
you need to recognize the benefits taking part in social networking sites
and social networking media give you, as well as the risks involved. And I
don't want in any way to shortchange the risks.
"I believe [the policy] … will encourage the use of social networking
because of the benefits that are there, but also understand and underscore
the risks there," he added.
Social media generally refers to using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other
interactive media tools to communicate with ever-expanding networks of
family, friends and colleagues. Currently, Mr. Floyd said, the department
does not have a policy on the use of social media.
"Right now there is no policy on working with or in social networking sites
or media. It's currently under review," he said. "It's on course to be
finished within about two weeks."
Introduced on NPR as the department's "social media guru," Mr. Floyd said
not everyone in the department feels the same because they worry that
operational security — OPSEC — will be violated.
"In the past, when a Soldier, Airman, [Sailor] or Marine sent home a letter
to their family or loved ones and had information in it that might have been
sensitive, it could have been read by two or three people, and that was it,"
he explained.
"The problem now with social networking is that when you Twitter that
information that might be sensitive … or put it on your Facebook page,
thousands of people see it immediately, and then thousands more could see it
as it's forwarded on to others," he said. "The ramifications of making a
mistake, of putting things that shouldn't be on there on those sites, are
even greater than they used to be."
Noah Shactman, editor of Wired magazine's National Security Blog 'Danger
Room,' was also a guest on the NPR program. He noted there are dozens of
overlapping policies about what various branches of the military are allowed
to do. The Marines, for example, recently banned Twitter and Facebook from
its official networks, while the Army ordered that its networks be allowed
access to the sites.
"That's just one example of how there's a lot of tension within the military
about whether to use these sites or not, and that's why I think this review
is very helpful," Mr. Shactman said.
The operational security concerns "might be a little overblown," Mr.
Shactman said, noting that a 2006 study revealed independent military blogs
only had 28 security violations during the course of a year, while official
military sites had more than 1,800 violations of those same security
policies.
Mr. Floyd said he used his Twitter account to get feedback on the Marine
policy ban when it was announced. Most people who responded said they wanted
folks to have access, but "a large minority" said they understood there were
security concerns.
"These people were on Twitter saying, 'Yes, this should be blocked,' so not
everyone who uses social networking sites is in favor of having complete and
open access," he said.
Many of the people who called into the NPR program spoke in favor of more
regulation of social media sites, even as they pleaded for more constant
access to their deployed loved ones.
One former soldier, Matt, who served two tours as an officer in Iraq, said
using social media in Iraq earlier this decade was distracting to his
troops.
"I've also heard comments from other commanders on the ground that they need
to be focused on the fight, not what's going on at home," Mr. Floyd said.
"But I've also heard lots of comments about how it was easier to reintegrate
once they came back."
Mike, a noncommissioned officer who served a tour in Afghanistan and two
tours in Iraq, said for his soldiers to have "seamless communication with
their families was absolutely helpful to morale."
Kira called in to say she talks to her deployed boyfriend in Iraq via Skype,
a free video chat service. She thanked Mr. Floyd for being able to use
social networking, but she said she also recognizes the risks it poses.
"It might seem innocuous, but if the right pieces of information are put in
the right order, then that can really put our troops in danger," she said.
"I think [operational security] needs to be emphasized more within the
military community."
Mr. Floyd pointed out that some military commands have been using social
media for years: Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, commander of U.S. European
Command and NATO's top military commander, launched his Facebook page and
blogged while leading Southern Command.
Recruiters also are using social media to keep in touch with troops who have
signed up but have yet to report for duty, Mr. Floyd said.
"I was at the Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, several weeks ago,
and they're going to use Twitter to keep in touch with recruits before they
show up," he said. "They also use Twitter to let their recruits know how
they can earn credit towards promotion even before they show up for their
first day of duty."
Overall, Mr. Floyd said, he believes there is a general misunderstanding
about social media.
"A lot of people think of it as a new way to get information out. So in that
sense, when we went from blast faxing information to blast e-mailing, people
were so excited you could push one button and reach so many people," he
said. "And they believed that Web 2.0 is just the next extension of that. I
believe that's just a fundamental misunderstanding of what Web 2.0 is all
about."
It's not so much a way of getting more information out, he said, it's also a
way of engaging the American people, and "in the case of the military,
engaging internally with our internal audience of several million members of
the Defense Department."
The department's newly revamped Web site, www.defense.gov, is designed to
engage the public in discussion, Mr. Floyd stressed. He added that he is not
concerned that things may be posted that haven't been strenuously scrubbed -
"things that may not be — quote-unquote — 'approved talking points' from
public affairs."
"I actually welcome that sort of talk and chatter on the Web," he said. "I
believe it shows a Pentagon that has multiple voices, and it gives a
transparency to our decision-making process that I believe is good."
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Kevin McNulty