Communicators gotta get messy, says IABC speaker

“Roll up your sleeves and get in.”

Guest speaker Doug Lacombe, VP for western Canada at CNW Group, was referring to the world of social media today as he spoke to a bunch of us communicators while we enjoyed a tasty lunch at Steamworks Brewing Company Uber Lounge in downtown Vancouver, BC. This interesting talk was part of the Vancouver Sun Speaker Series put on by the B.C. Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

The self-described “Canadian railway brat, ex-newspaper guy, closet tech weenie” advised us to use the tools of social media because “it’s the one guarantor of your future career in this messy, fragmented world.” He suggested a few good starting points as: Twitter, subscribing to some RSS feeds, and joining blogging communities.

Social media tools offer many avenues for communicators to get their message out, but media aggregators need a better process for filtering content. He said it’s problematic that online news consumers don’t really know if they are getting the real deal when it comes to content. Readers may have trouble distinguishing "unfiltered crap" from "real stuff." When we subscribe to aggregator services, we could be getting anything from the freaky conspiracy theorist in his basement to a bona fide journalist who checks facts and admits bias. One simple way to check out the credibility of bloggers is to see if people are leaving comments; if not, be wary… (a-hem, hey there readers, leave a comment okay?)

Doug's newsfeed blinking12.ca is dedicated to the VCR generation who might not have known how to change the time displayed on their VCRs and hence ended up with a blinking 12:00. hehe

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