Social Media Conference Coming to WDW ...

[wdwmagic]

I just was forwarded a post from the DisBoards (won't post it here because I have no idea what the rules are regarding it) by old pal Merfie who took a blogger to task as apparently Disney Social Media included a very large group of bloggers/podcasters/webmasters in 'secret research tours' of Fantasyland's new venues last week and told them when the area would soft open (so they could be there), but demanded that they not release it to their followers.
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I believe that rant was targeted at WDWMAGIC. Not that I am surprised - the green eyed monster often comes out with the wannabes.

And I can also tell you it is way off base.

 

[Taylor]

I'm trying to find that rant what do I search for?

 

[SyracuseOrange]

I'm perfectly calm already. I had a week's plus worth of Pixie Dust and booze (and that was after hanging out at DLR between Emmy events over 12 days). As you've described your role now, it seems like you're one of those individuals who is leveraging social media expressly for your employer. That is very different than what I am speaking of. Unless I'm mistaken, you aren't masking your role at your company (and won't be at your new company) to those followers of your products/services. That's VERY different from what Disney is doing. They are dealing in deception and spin. ... I just was forwarded a post from the DisBoards (won't post it here because I have no idea what the rules are regarding it) by old pal Merfie who took a blogger to task as apparently Disney Social Media included a very large group of bloggers/podcasters/webmasters in 'secret research tours' of Fantasyland's new venues last week and told them when the area would soft open (so they could be there), but demanded that they not release it to their followers.



That's amazing really. They're flylng Mommys from Jersey, Iowa and LA to London now?!?! Seriously, what exactly were they whoring? What was the product? Did you blog about it? And I appreciate your honesty and openness thus far. Most social media folks want to hide under rocks, which again speaks to the way the business is today.



Using social media is smart. Doing what Disney has done, isn't. I see no gains at all. ... I'll repeat something that got me in all sorts of hot water last year on another Disney place, but have you seen these people??! Seriously?!?! These are the people Disney needs to pander to?



It wasn't meant as an attack. I have a VERY low opinion (earned, I guarantee you) of most folks working in social media today.

Thank you for your responses & honesty. I think there was some miscommunication between us, but it appears to be cleared up now. I agree with most of what you're saying about people who mask their identities, and some slimy tactics that many individuals and companies are using in social media these days. And even if your opinion of our field is low, please know that there are some people (like myself) that do it honestly.

And I'll PM you the link to the blog post I wrote about the event in London.

 

[TalkingHead]

Boy, that's classic Merf indignation.

But I gotta say the exchange is about invites/uninvites is interesting...

 

[Mouse Detective]

Dude, say hello to life. Stop whining and ing yourself. I'm tired of reading your drivel.

I happen to find WDW1974's posts quite informative. You know, there is a way to block certain people and then you won't see their posts. Try it.

 

[alissafalco]

Dude, say hello to life. Stop whining and ing yourself. I'm tired of reading your drivel.

So, which blog do you write for?

 

[njDizFan]

Boy, that's classic Merf indignation.

But I gotta say the exchange is about invites/uninvites is interesting...

yes that was pretty interesting. What exactly was the moral to the story...be nice to disney and they will be nice to you. I think everyone knows that and any lifestyler trying to state otherwise is just diluting themselves.

 

[WDW1974]

I believe that rant was targeted at WDWMAGIC. Not that I am surprised - the green eyed monster often comes out with the wannabes.

And I can also tell you it is way off base.

How do you know it was targeted here? He was talking to a DisBoards member named 'Tropical Wilds' who certainly doesn't appear to be you (unless you have an alter ego there) and he/she was speaking about being let in on the 'secret' early.

I have no desire, btw, to praise Merfie. I have tried to be nice to him because he is quite knowledgable and passionate about WDW, but he is the angriest person in the fan community.

That doesn't mean he isn't right about the way Disney operates. I don't believe it was cool for Disney to tell bloggers/webmasters/podcasters (Lifestylers) that the area would open at a certain time so they could be there to obsessively 'document' every square inch of the area and to give Disney massive doses of free publicity, but also tell them to not tell any of their followers who might have chosen to try and get in on the fun for themselves.

 

[WDW1974]

Thank you for your responses & honesty. I think there was some miscommunication between us, but it appears to be cleared up now. I agree with most of what you're saying about people who mask their identities, and some slimy tactics that many individuals and companies are using in social media these days. And even if your opinion of our field is low, please know that there are some people (like myself) that do it honestly.

And thank you for the professional response.

Honestly, I see a role for social media when used correctly. I don't believe Disney is using it correctly and it is proven to me more by the day when I see and hear things.

It's gotten to the point where I view both Disney's Celebration Place Social Media Cabal and many of the Lifestylers sorta like the TMZ show where all these losers are sitting at cublicles getting paid absurd sums to make fun of celebs ... they really aren't 'working' ... I don't see many in social media actually doing anything of substance, certainly not Disney. I can't say it enough, but I'd love to see Duncan and his entire team fired. Not that it will likely happen because Disney is like a boulder moving down a hill.

And I'll PM you the link to the blog post I wrote about the event in London.

Thanks. I see it ... but have a backup and don't want to spend a beautiful Saturday in front of the screen. But I'll look at it and you'll hear from me by Monday.

 

[wdwmagic]

How do you know it was targeted here? He was talking to a DisBoards member named 'Tropical Wilds' who certainly doesn't appear to be you (unless you have an alter ego there) and he/she was speaking about being let in on the 'secret' early.

His rant begins after for the first post in that thread, which is a link to WDWMAGIC. He later moves onto Tropical Winds.

 

[WDW1974]

His rant begins after for the first post in that thread, which is a link to WDWMAGIC. He later moves onto Tropical Winds.

Ah, thanks. I'll look at the entire thread when I have some time ... but it's not like he just hates this site, he hates them all and WDI most of all. I would pay to see him and Tom Corless wrestle in a kiddie pool filled with peanut butter and jelly!

Oh, do you have any plans to actually come to WDW and sample the new offerings this year?

 

[SeaCastle]

Is there any accountability for how much money is being spent on social media, particularly at Celebration Place? With all of the cost-cutting happening at P&R, I'm curious as to why Social Media is getting what seems like carte blanche to spend huge amounts of money on people who would be going to the parks anyway. Is there any sort of return on investment?

 

[maxairmike]

Part of it is because social media is still a "work in progress" when it comes to understanding all of its effects, positives, negatives, etc. so some of the larger companies (and even some smaller ones) are willing to throw as much money at it as traditional marketing and sales to try and figure it out. Its an interesting field, in that metrics are harder to figure out in the way that you need to compare to the intangibles of the community that social media is meant to build around a brand/company/product/service. At least, that's part of my take on it.

Not that I necessarily "agree" with the carte blanche in a case like this, because a willingness to experiment is a net positive, but there do have to be limits.

 

[TalkingHead]

Is there any accountability for how much money is being spent on social media, particularly at Celebration Place? With all of the cost-cutting happening at P&R, I'm curious as to why Social Media is getting what seems like carte blanche to spend huge amounts of money on people who would be going to the parks anyway. Is there any sort of return on investment?

Apropos of nothing, some of us think it's a W.A.S.T.E. of money.

 

[Clever Name]

Part of it is because social media is still a "work in progress" when it comes to understanding all of its effects, positives, negatives, etc. so some of the larger companies (and even some smaller ones) are willing to throw as much money at it as traditional marketing and sales to try and figure it out. Its an interesting field, in that metrics are harder to figure out in the way that you need to compare to the intangibles of the community that social media is meant to build around a brand/company/product/service. At least, that's part of my take on it.

Not that I necessarily "agree" with the carte blanche in a case like this, because a willingness to experiment is a net positive, but there do have to be limits.

General Motors and many other large companies have figured it out. They think that social media is not worth a dime. They still participate in the free ads but they won't pay for ads:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmu...ebook-ads-dont-work-pulls-10-million-account/

 

[asianway]

Is there any accountability for how much money is being spent on social media, particularly at Celebration Place? With all of the cost-cutting happening at P&R, I'm curious as to why Social Media is getting what seems like carte blanche to spend huge amounts of money on people who would be going to the parks anyway. Is there any sort of return on investment?

Excellent question. At a company the size of Disney, especially with its bloated bureaucracy, you can't buy a box of paper clips without a lengthy PowerPoint presentation. Al Lutz harped on this in the Pressler era and I think the current climate at TDO it's probably worse. The thing is, when you create a "deck" you are going to push things in the direction you want them to go, conveniently leaving out details that don't support the direction you(and your leaders) want them to go.

So as far as justifying ROI, good question. Even Lou doesn't have 15k twitter followers. I have no clue what that equates to in podcast downloads and unique website hits. I also have no idea how he needs to "prove" any of these metrics to Disney.

Then layer in Allears, TP, Dis, Ricky, , and their counts. Then assume there is a LARGE amount of overlap in their fan bases.

So...how far is this social media sphere of influence? How many of those people are captive, and "preaching to the choir"? How do you quantify incremental direct revenue to WDPR as a result of these efforts? You can't.

Even the most ardent pixie dusters on this site will say the doom n gloomers are a small subset of a small subset, and a small groups opinions don't matter. In the grand scheme, how much money are they bringing in to cover the department wages and all the freebies? How much is offset by loss of goodwill due to some of the questionable dealings?

Lots of moving parts, something doesn't smell right to me, you, and others. Is there something else going on? Hmmm

 

[SeaCastle]

Apropos of nothing, some of us think it's a W.A.S.T.E. of money.

Excellent question. At a company the size of Disney, especially with its bloated bureaucracy, you can't buy a box of paper clips without a lengthy PowerPoint presentation. Al Lutz harped on this in the Pressler era and I think the current climate at TDO it's probably worse. The thing is, when you create a "deck" you are going to push things in the direction you want them to go, conveniently leaving out details that don't support the direction you(and your leaders) want them to go.

So as far as justifying ROI, good question. Even Lou doesn't have 15k twitter followers. I have no clue what that equates to in podcast downloads and unique website hits. I also have no idea how he needs to "prove" any of these metrics to Disney.

Then layer in Allears, TP, Dis, Ricky, *****, and their counts. Then assume there is a LARGE amount of overlap in their fan bases.

So...how far is this social media sphere of influence? How many of those people are captive, and "preaching to the choir"? How do you quantify incremental direct revenue to WDPR as a result of these efforts? You can't.

Even the most ardent pixie dusters on this site will say the doom n gloomers are a small subset of a small subset, and a small groups opinions don't matter. In the grand scheme, how much money are they bringing in to cover the department wages and all the freebies? How much is offset by loss of goodwill due to some of the questionable dealings?

Lots of moving parts, something doesn't smell right to me, you, and others. Is there something else going on? Hmmm

I think that you hit the nail on the head. There really doesn't seem to be a way to justify spending all of this money on the most niche market of theme park visitors. I haven't an idea for the budget of the social media program, but it just does not make sense to spend all of this capital on marketing for people who would attend the parks anyway. If this is a way of "rewarding" fan bigwigs for astroturfing? Even then, the most visible "names" in the fan community are just that - confined to the fan community. Does the "fan community" constitute enough of Disney's revenue to justify concentrating all of this money to flatter them? It's not as if someone like Lou Mongello is going to defect to Universal if Disney didn't give him an in.

 

[nytimez]

Excellent question. At a company the size of Disney, especially with its bloated bureaucracy, you can't buy a box of paper clips without a lengthy PowerPoint presentation.

It's even worse than that at Disney. If my department has a box of paperclips, I can sell it to your department at a profit. This is actually encouraged.