From 6/20/11:
Had an interesting lunch today with an old friend and media industry wunderkind. He is well aware of my online Spirited persona (and as that evil twin WDW1974 on various others sites over the years) and enjoys reading my rantings and ramblings and observations (most of the time, anyway).
He had a very interesting take on the subject at hand.
Social Media is supposed to be all about getting closer to your core. Reaching out and touching them and (oops, about to go all Neil Diamond here) and adding more customers by making a connection.
Folks have criticized me here for calling out folks at WDW Social Media like Thomas Smith and Gary Buchanan for failing to come over here and play (actually, discuss the whole very serious subject in an intellectual fashion) saying they would never do that and it could open them up to legal issues and blah, blah, blah.
The whole point (and what my friend was getting at today, and I felt for a very rare occasion like an intellectual inferior for not thinking of this, or articulating it) is that folks like Thomas and Gary and all the faces you see blogging on The Disney Parks Blog are supposed to be making connections with the fan community. And yet ... they have no online personality. Nobody knows what they're like ... or what they're favorite WDW attractions are and why (since we have a thread going). Perhaps, that's because they love every park and attraction equally, which of course isn't true but would be what the company would like to spin. Because everything's MAGICal and they couldn't possibly have faves because it would also mean there are things they don't like (imagine if Gary Buchanan can't stand MuppetVision or Thomas Smith hates DAK).
Don't want to go off on a tangent too much, but I do feel like a stallion ready for a run ;-)
There are no faces, no personalities, no back and forth with the fans, even on the official site, there's never any dialogue (answering a basic question doesn't qualify). How is this Social Media exactly?
As my friend, who has been advisor to some of the biggest names in media pointed out over burritos, YOU (meaning ME) have an online presence, a personality that transcends one Disney site (his words, not mine). People may loathe me or love me, but they read me, and they know what they're going to get: integrity and honesty. In essence, as my friend pointed out, I am ''engaging in social media in its purest form'' through my posts and the discussions that follow.
Again, where is that in Disney's approach? Where is Thomas Smith? Actually, WHO is Thomas Smith? Let's go higher. Don't want to be accused of picking the low hanging fruit.
Where's Duncan Wardle? (As an aside, my friend likened Duncan's grasp of BRANDING to a tenured-college professor that has no knowledge outside of academia of the real-world application of what he speaks of in a core requirement for your degree).
What does Duncan think? About anything related to TWDC and the parks and the BRAND?
What about Zenia Mucha? She's the head of all corporate communications for the company, writes PR for Bob Iger himself and somehow is listed as the Publisher of D23. Where are her interactions with the fans and the fan community? Make that, with the consumer base?
How is publishing your press releases to the Disney Parks Blog somehow social media?
I dunno, neither does my friend (you don't want to know his IQ), but it seems like The Spirit has more of an online legit social media presence than the talking heads (that say little that the fans don't already know, and they don't bother to acknowledge or engage them) of Disney Social Media.
I really need to get my Spirited tees made ... and those tour guide caps too! ;-)
