Public Facebook: The Story About The Story

Facebook: Social Media No Longer a Movie

The Facebook story has opened a historic chapter. The social media firm is now a public company.

Stock Chart Captures Facebook's First "Public" Day

The public can buy or sell Facebook shares.

Facebook trades under the ticker symbol $FB.

Its debut, called an Initial Public Offering ("IPO"), did not go smoothly.

A significant technical delay frustrated traders trying to see their buy or sell orders.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will look into the technical glitch, according to reports.

Whatever was wrong got fixed. Trading of Facebook stock finally started.

Shares spiked above $42, before ending the day very close to the opening price of $38.

At last look, the number of shares traded in its public debut exceeded half-a-billion. That's huge volume.

The business coverage of the event was extraordinary, too. Wall-to-wall, as we say in a newsroom.

Opinions vary on the stock's behavior from here. Here's one analysis.

What's more important, however, is this:

You can now watch Facebook "the stock," in addition to the movie about it and founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Simply put, a Hollywood script is no longer needed to tell Facebook's business story.

Facebook's performance can be tracked daily via a stock chart.

And its chart may well serve as a barometer on the health and future of social media.

Charts speak volumes about your business. Listen, interpret the story they tell.

Does your PR firm do this for you? As clients know, I do:  "I watch you...for you."

Look in on Facebook from time to time.

Happy Birthday, Richard Feynman, Physicist, Pioneer

“I was born not knowing and have only had a little time to change that here and there.”

Richard Feynman, Ph.D.

One of the most respected scientists of the past century, Richard Feynman was a brilliant physicist, Nobel Laureate and U.S. Educator.

I had the pleasure to know him at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Enjoyed Dr. Feynman presenting his theory on quantum computing.

After his talk there was a long pause.

Then, a world-class engineer asked: "But what about stimulated emission?"

Dr. Feynman: "I never said it would be easy." Classic Feynman.

May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988

If I Ran Your Newsroom: Put News Online

Streaming Your TV Newscasts Could be Good Business

If I ran your newsroom:

Streaming local TV newscasts "live" online...
...is a competitive advantage.

Narrative:

• I just returned from back-to-back trips, one overseas, one to Michigan.
• The trips kept me from home for most of a month.
• While away, I tried to watch Colorado newscasts on my computer.
• But I couldn't do so; I lacked local choices.
• I sometimes found myself watching stations from Los Angeles and Indianapolis.

That Means?

• That means your station lost a potential viewer, as well as online traffic.

I would've even paid-per-view for the option. I need and devour information.

Station management may find the "live" option difficult to offer for a variety of reasons.

That said, using my experience as a free test-case, make a strategic business case for streaming your content online.

Run the potential numbers.

Start with your competitor's data. They have the advantage for the moment.

Thoughts about Tornado "Tourism"

Tornado Tourism Maps: Controversy in Joplin, Mo.

"Tornado Tourism." It's apparently the next phase of a natural-disaster, at least in Joplin, Mo.

The city's Convention & Visitors Bureau now has maps highlighting spots of special viewing interest from the horrific EF5 tornado of May 2011 that killed 161 people.

Local hotels are handing out the maps, too.

A spokesman says the maps are not meant to capitalize on the destruction, but to provide education.

Local residents disagree. Read the comments on the Facebook page of Joplin radio station Newstalk 1310.

And some 700 people to date have "liked" another Facebook page, Joplin Citizens Against Tornado Tours.

So the perception is that the maps are about tourism. Not education.

And this perception, real or not, is now the reality.

The other reality? There was nothing to like about the Joplin tornado. Watch this video, especially the end:



In crisis management training, I talk about the general stages of a disaster:

• Preparation / Training
• The event
• The aftermath
• The response
• Recovery
• Lessons learned / Training
• "Anniversary" coverage, (e.g., "It's been one year since... .")

In addition to the loss of life, the Joplin tornado caused more than a billion dollars in damage.

Eaten to the ground were entire neighborhoods.

A damage map from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is jaw-dropping.

And now the tragedy is the stuff of an apparent new phase in natural disasters: "Disaster tourism." Follow the map - see destruction.

There are lessons and memories from the Joplin tornado that should never be forgotten.

The community needs to recover, first.

Yes, the event should become a "living" source of education and awareness, too.

But people need to rebuild, and decide how best to honor memories through future generations.

And do so before tourist buses and “looky-loos” decide their own paths.

Supporting a long-term recovery featuring compassion, sensitivity and respect would seem to be a better role for the Convention & Visitors Bureau...than "education" maps about this tornado.

Healing a community should come before any appearance of promoting historic tragedy.

After all, as it says on the front-page of the Bureau's website: "Welcome to Joplin...We're Just Right."

Show us "right."