From Anne Clelland:

Handshake 2.0’s very business model very thoughtfully walks that very fine line between journalism and public relations that I described in Addressing the Journalism vs. Blogging Debate.

To make that line wide and strong so I can stand firmly on it with both feet, I follow my own advice:  I tell the truth.

Handshake 2.0 is a business news and public relations site.  That means I, and Handshake 2.0’s writers, generate traditional journalism pieces - articles, features, editorials.  That means I, and Handshake 2.0’s writers, generate for our clients non-traditional public relations “creative” because we do social media PR - also termed digital PR - not print.

Like on a print newspaper or magazine page where journalism and “creative” sit side-by-side,  on Handshake 2.0, journalism and PR sit, not side-by-side, but, because it’s a blog, above-and-below.

When we’re writing about a client, we say so.

I oversee the content of the site.  To the best of my ability to determine so, the content is accurate. If I'm uncertain about what a company is doing or why, we won't cover it, even if they would like to become a paying client.

Here’s an example of a business news journalism piece from Handshake 2.0:  Clicking Back Over the Years - Most Wired Town in America.

Here’s an example of a public relations piece from Handshake 2.0 for one of our clients:  Sheriff of FurnishWEB.

Do you know why I founded Handshake 2.0?  Because I couldn’t help it.  I’m a fan.  I’ve lived fifty years on the planet and I’m as starry-eyed about people and what they create as ever.  Handshake 2.0 showcases and celebrates people and what they create in business. 

To complicate things, here’s an example of the tossed salad of Web 2.0-social media-digital media-journalism-PR:  a free blog post we offer regional businesses - a Handshake 1.0 - because I’m a fan.  A pic and company descriptions from the featured companies’ Web sites.  We don’t write it, so it’s not journalism, and they don’t pay, so they’re not clients.

And get this:  Handshake 2.0 is a nine-month start-up.  To generate the first content for the site, we would feature a company in a blog post - even though my mother told me not to - by giving it away for free.  We’ve got lots and lots and lots of companies on Handshake 2.0 that aren’t clients.

As I wrote in a post about the potential intern who asked, "What do we do?", the business plan I write in the morning is obsolete by the afternoon.

Can you tell I'm passionate about being a part of the uncertain, fast-paced change and evolution of online business - with all its ethical complexities - through Handshake 2.0?

Thanks to Lindsey Eversole, Member Services Manager, VT KnowledgeWorks, for her camera work.

From Anne Clelland:

The definition of the boundary in online content between citizen journalism - blogging - and public relations, marketing, and advertising “creative” is a hot topic of discussion, delineated thoughtfully, for example, by the Wall Street Journal in Paid to Pitch and ReadWriteWeb in Journalism 2.0:  Don't Throw Out the Baby.

Here’s the way I see the context for online content:  We trust journalists.  We’re cautious about PR pros, marketers, and advertisers.  We trust journalists to report the facts as they know and understand them.  We believe PR and marketing types report “the facts” that will entice us to buy.

This, then, is the hard question:  When I go online and read a blog post, is it the truth? 

Is what the blogger has written informed by his or her best knowledge of the facts as he or she understands them?  Has the blogger shared true experience and genuine opinion?

Or was the blogger paid to pitch?  If so, can what the blogger wrote still be true?

On a print newspaper or magazine page, journalism and PR or advertising sit side-by-side.  If the “creative” is in the form of text, it’s marked “Paid Advertisement.”

I think there’s only one solution to that problematic question asked of online content, “Is it the truth?”

Tell the truth.

If you’re paid to pitch, say so.

Handshake 2.0 has a very interesting business model.  It's a business news site and a public relations site.  And it's a blog. 

Some of our posts are written by us as journalists.  We've been the very first source of some news, in print or online.  And some of our posts are written by us as publicists for our paying clients.  On those posts, we say so.

And some of our posts are neither.

It's a very interesing business model in this evolutionary phase of business in the world of Web 2.0.

Thanks to Robert Geller, @rgeller, for the story idea and WSJ link, and Ken Maready for the ReadWriteWeb link.

Connecting you through wine

Innovation is at the heart of technology-based businesses.  Some companies actually encourage employees to spend time trying innovative ideas, hoping the process will lead to a new product.  When that happens at a winery, you get Rockbridge Vineyard's Pinot Noir, 2008, white.

When wine makers faced an abundance of Pinot Noir at harvest, they decided to create a white (blush) wine from the widely popular red varietal.  The result is a wonderful white, with champagne flavors and sweet characteristics.  Innovate - try it with anything!

***

Today's Eclipse, the wine recommendation for Handshake 2.0, is written by Rik and Melissa Obiso, co-owners of Eclipse Winery, LLC, a new winery located in the New River Valley of Virginia.  Eclipse Winery, LLC plans to open to the public as early as 2012.  The Eclipse Winery story, Couple hope grapes will yield dream business was featured in The Roanoke Times.  You can read all the Today's Eclipse columns and more about Eclipse Winery on Handshake 2.0.

You can follow Eclipse Winery on Twitter @eclipsewinery.

He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song
All the little birdies on Jaybird Street
Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet

"Rockin' Robin,' by Bobby Day, made immortal by Michael Jackson

From Anne Clelland:

“I’m a reporter,” I heard someone say as I listened to my voice mail.  “I read your tweet.  I’d like to follow up with you on a story I’m doing.”

Uh-oh.  Which of my tweets on Twitter had attracted a reporter’s attention?

My mother told me, “Never write anything on paper you can’t have the whole world read.”  Z. Kelly Queijo derived rules for the use of social media based on similar wisdom from her mother.  Gary Cope became thoughtful about his social media content upon learning his new boss uses Facebook and Twitter.  Mine is not a publicly traded company, so I don’t have to worry about SEC regulators following me on Twitter.

I’ve been mindful of the content of my tweets.  They still attracted attention.

What’s to be tweeted?

I wrote that Twitter is my downtown - a commercial district, an economy - so I try to contribute to a downtown conversation.  My tweets seem to fall into several general categories:  I tweet about my business, my clients’ businesses, businesses in my locale and in my social-media-made global economy, a charity event I’m helping organize, links to thought-provoking posts or stories, personal insights when I have them, and occasional personal news when, for the intangible ways that social media creates a sense of human connection, because I feel called to share.

Tools exist to follow lots of people and sort their tweets by keyword.  The tools I use are my own eyeballs and I read the tweets of those I follow.  The remainder of my tweets are reply tweets, or retweets of the tweets of those I follow.  My reply tweets are my two cents on a tweet or conversation, or an invitation to converse.  I tend to retweet what I find humorous, wise, moving, or more daring than I would tweet alone.

Maybe that’s what got the reporter’s attention!  I broke my mother’s rule, retweeted someone’s sass, and got in trouble for it!

And, hey, how did the reporter read my tweet?  The reporter is not on my list of followers.

Therein lies the challenge of the use of Twitter.

All tweets, of course, are public.  Globally.  Anyone can find anything on Twitter.

Having followers and being followed on Twitter creates the illusion of a private, downtown conversation that passersby might overhear snatches of, but not really understand.

Nope.

One of the reasons I feel comfortable using Twitter - most of the time - is because I accept a universal human truth.

I cannot control what others think of me.  Not about how I look, what I say, what I do, what I write, or what I tweet.  No matter how I dress my body, or don’t dress, no matter how I attire my thoughts and feelings in words, or reveal them, someone is going to take offense, disagree, or scoff.

It’s the deal with being human.  And it’s definitely the deal with putting it out there, online or off.

As I approach the milestones of six months on Twitter and 1800 updates and I reflect on my use of this Web 2.0 tool, I am having an insight.

The reason I am willing to write – to tweet, to blog, to use Facebook, to use whatever new Web. 2.0 content tool comes along – is this:

I’m willing to take responsibility for my words.  Both the wise and the foolish.

The reporter?  Lerone Graham, a journalist for @roanoketimes wrote a comprehensive, thoughtful piece and quoted my words.  I am proud to take responsibility for them.

***

Grateful thanks to William Sydor for the use of his original photograph of robins.

From Giovanni Diviacchi:

Bill Gertz of the Washington Times wrote last week, "President Obama will soon get his souped-up, high-security BlackBerry for use in and around the White House and during presidential travel, said Obama administration officials."

That sound you hear is the phone ringing at the desks of thousands of Purchasing Managers across the country from their CEOs requesting the same BlackBerry model.

***

Giovanni Diviacchi is a business analyst and stand-up comedian in  Washington, D.C.

From Z. Kelly Queijo:

As someone who spent seven years working as a telecommuter, I know what it means to work for someone who “gets it” when it comes to managing telecommuters. Mollye Rhea, who grew up in Martinsville, Virginia, and graduated from the College of William and Mary, is founder of the Atlanta-based For Momentum. She is one of those who “gets it.”

After serving eight years as Group Vice President of Strategic Marketing Alliances for the Arthritis Foundation, Rhea left to form For Momentum. She began as an independent consultant with specific goals for balancing work and family life. “My business plan and structure was built specifically to address life/balance issues with wanting to be able to spend more time with my children.  I was losing 2-3 hours a day in commute time that, by working from home, I was able to reintroduce back into our lives.”

As her clientèle grew, For Momentum emerged as one of the leading cause marketing firms in the country. Cause marketing is what happens when a non-profit organization and a for-profit company form a collaborative partnership to raise awareness and funds for a specific cause.

For Momentum has managed national accounts that include partnerships for Holiday Inn Express & Reading Is Fundamental, One Warm Coat & The Weather Channel, and CASA &  Fred Meyer & Littman Jewelers.

Throughout this growth, she sought others who were interested in enjoying a meaningful career with balance. Rhea looks for someone who is “an independent, self-starter who is motivated by the project goals/deadlines vs. a time clock.”

Finding the right person is the first challenge; how to lead and direct comes next. Rhea has created administrative and reporting systems that support independent offices. “When we do need to convene on a subject or for training, we schedule a group conference call.  By using 'free conference call' technology and other low cost technology tools, these virtual meetings are very effective and efficient.” 

An internal web-based intranet hosting project case studies and resources can be accessed by all staff and every client account is managed by team pairs so that each team member can benefit and learn from the other. All team members are within a 50-minute drive to downtown Atlanta.

They meet face-to-face 3-4 times a year to mingle socially and to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Rhea says “That social connection is the one factor that can’t be achieved solely on conference calls!”

At a time when more companies are embracing work from home days or considering telecommuting as a possible business model, Rhea has figured out how to achieve efficiency and balance for her work, her life and her team.

***

Z. Kelly Queijo, writes about business and technology, people and their passions.  She is a frequent contributor to Handshake 2.0.  You can follow her on Twitter, @zkellyq.

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go downtown, things'll be great when you're
Downtown - No finer place, for sure
Downtown - Everything's waiting for you

- "Downtown," lyrics by Tony Hatch, made immortal by Petula Clark

From Anne Clelland:

In the Lynchburg, Virginia of my father's youth, his grandfather owned a barber shop in the center of downtown.  Within strides of each other were doctors, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, bankers, restaurant owners, and merchants - from dime store owners, to booksellers, to jewelers. 

They talked.  When groups formed, while some talked, others listened.  From each other, they learned the latest business news, some expert business practices, and some not-so expert.  They were part of, and created, a local economy.

While I appreciated the depth of expertise and relationships I gained from working at a single organization or business, I unconsciously developed a mono-view.  We talked, but we talked about the same industry with the same people over and over again.

To meet others in other industries, we had to attend meetings and conferences.  Our encounters were brief, usually superficial.

On Twitter, I follow CEOs, entrepreneurs, real estate agents, software developers, PR professionals, leaders of non-profits, a writer, a medical student, a localvore, and some quirky folks I’m not exactly sure what they do.

We talk.  We’re a group.  When others talk, I listen.  From them, I learn best business practices, and not-so best, in sustained conversations with industry sources to which I have never had access, and could not now have in my small town.  I am part of a global economy. 

Are the conversations as enlightening as in-person, long-term dialogue with co-workers?  No.  But the lights are a lot brighter than in mono-view.

I live rurally, but, on Twitter, I go downtown whenever I want.

Bird house and backyard garden in Blacksburg, Virginia

Photograph by Robert H. Giles, Jr., a Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus.   He writes High Five for Handshake 2.0, and two blogs, The Survivalists and Faunal Force. 

From Bob Giles:

“Whether you sell a product, a service, or an idea, you must be able to influence other people as leaders do,” said Ron Karr in his introduction to Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way: The 7 Traits of Great Sellers.

Karr suggests selling outcomes rather than products or services.  This parallels systems thinking related to objectives. He stresses performance, the threesome of selling more, in less time, at a higher profit.

(I was struck by the similarity in emphases between Karr and Peter Fingar in Dot.Cloud: The 21st Century Business Platform Built on Cloud Computing.  Both focus on serving the client or customer.  I wrote about Dot.Cloud and cloud computing here.)

I tried studying the book as a way to teach, for I saw (before retirement as a professor) my role as selling an idea or, when feeling Skinnerian, selling a behavior. I’m convinced that the messages of the book would have made me a better teacher. It will make me a better lecturer. I'm finding it useful to consider Karr’s five beliefs of effective leaders and the seven traits of such leaders.

I liked these: “Leaders pose questions that lead them and their prospects toward a zone of shared opportunity, and as a result they find it easy to earn time, interest, and attention from other people.” (p.114), and "Leaders open conversations with a potential new ally by asking issues-based questions." (p.119)  And this as an example of an illustrative question, “Can you share some thoughts on how you plan to measure the success of this project?”

As an ecologist having worked with ideas about predictable change in natural systems, (ecological succession) I found well-grounded Karr's ideas on tables of likely consequences for improved decision-making.

From Karr's view, I can see my past teaching and selling mistakes and possibilities for change.  Although Karr's title is  Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way, he's optimistic, not very "get out of the way.” There are a lot of good ideas (and other things) to be sold.

***

Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way: The 7 Traits of Great Sellers was received by Handshake 2.0 as a review copy from Wiley.

***

Robert H. Giles, Jr. writes High Five for Handshake 2.0, a business news and Web 2.0 services enterprise of Handshake Media, Incorporated, a member company of business acceleration center VT KnowledgeWorks. 

The opinions Robert Giles expresses are solely his own and are not necessarily shared by Handshake 2.0 or its clients, sponsors or advertisers. 

Feel free to follow Robert H. Giles, Jr. on Twitter @Bob_Giles

Robert H. Giles, Jr. is a Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus with a vision for a rural land management system.  He writes two blogs, The Survivalists and Faunal Force. 

Handshake 2.0 brings you edition #23 of Connecting People in the RNR with Stuart Mease.

Stuart Mease describes what he sees as a new regional divide - those online and those off.  He urges businesses and organizations who operate exclusively in either "region" to join ranks and connect in both.

Stuart Mease is an organizer of the Roanoke Creative Communities Leadership in Virginia.

To learn more about the Roanoke Creative Community Leadership Project, feel free to review the list of Creative Connectors, the press release (.pdf), more on the program from Virginia Tech, a post from Creative Connector Mike Dame, the site, Roanoke, Virginia's Creative Communities Leadership, this article from the Roanoke Times, and to follow the program on Twitter @roanokecreative.

***

"RNR" refers to the Roanoke Valley and the New River Valley of Virginia.

Stuart Mease writes the blog Connecting People.  On Stuart Mease's about page, you can find myriad ways to connect with him online and in person.  You can find out more about Stuart Mease on Handshake 2.0.