Who’s Been Commenting?

A great reward of blogging is making connections with professionals whose work I respect. Here’s a look at some recognizable figures commenting at rsmithing.com in the past 12 months. Check out the posts to see their remarks:

Mack Collier

Mack Collier commented and said thanks in my post, Blogchat: Sundays on Twitter. As a strategist, trainer and speaker on social media, Collier helps companies better connect with customers. He has been actively immersed in social media since 2005, and in that time has helped businesses of all shapes and sizes better connect with their customers via these amazing tools and sites. [Mack's Site]

Neil Strauss

Neil Strauss commented a couple of times on my post, Last Book Read: Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead. Strauss is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and also writes regularly for The New York Times, having repeatedly made its bestseller list with books such as The Game, Emergency, andEveryone Loves You When You’re Dead. [Wikipedia]

John Boswell

John Boswell generously answered my questions in this post: Interview with MelodySheep and Symphony of Science Mastermind. Boswell is the artist behind autotune projects Symphony of Science andMelodySheep, gaining international recognition and millions of YouTube views for his inspiring musical tributes to Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross andJulia Child, among others.

Mike Sager

Mike Sager said thanks for my quick post inspired by his writing, From Music and Words into Movement – The Fun of Art. Sager is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist. He has been called “the Beat poet of American journalism, that rare reporter who can make literature out of shabby reality.” [Wikipedia] In thirty years as a journalist, writer at large Mike Sager has immersed himself in the lives of pit-bull fighters, heroin addicts, Tupperware saleswomen, and an actress named Roseanne. [Esquire]

Jay Baer

Jay Baer stopped by after I reached him on Google Plus to weigh in on my post, How to Talk About Social Media In Business: 5 Points, Video Interview. Baer is a social media strategist, author, speaker and President of Convince & Convert. Founder of five companies, he’s worked with over 700 brands (including Nike, Cold Stone Creamery, Sony, ExactTarget, and ConocoPhillips) since 1994, including 25 of the Fortune 1000. His blog is ranked among the world’s top marketing resources, and was named #3 social media blog in the world by Social Media Examiner. [Wikipedia]

Alexis Madrigal

Alexis Madrigal noted his use of contrast in my analysis of his work: Contrasts Make Connections. Madrigal is a Senior editor at The Atlantic, author of Powering the Dream, and has previously contributed to WIRED, covering science and technology as a contributor to the Wired Scienceblog. [Twitter]

Also engaging via brand representatives were McDonald’s Corporate in: Fast Food and Fast Lessons in Public Relations and, as a bonus from 2011: Delta Airlines in my post, An Airline Gets it… Right?

What do you think? Have any well-known figures or organizations commented on your work? Have you ever had any brushes with celebrity? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Randi Zuckerberg Just Reminded Us Why It’s Important to Understand Your Customers (Mack Collier)
• Neil Strauss picks up Jessica Alba on Jimmy Kimmel (YouTube)
• Introducing John Boswell – Creator of ‘Symphony of Science’ (Scientific American)
• Mike Sager by Mike Sager (Esquire)
• How The Grinch Saved Social Media (ConvinceAndConvert.com)
• You Know What I Want to Do in 2013? Talk to My Television. (The Atlantic)

Citigroup Eliminates 11,000 Jobs in History’s Most Corporate-Jargony Paragraph Ever

Hoo boy, this is some incredible corporate-speak – as in, “repositioning” out of the company… (via The Atlantic):

Image and link via: Citigroup Eliminates 11,000 Jobs in History’s Most Corporate-Jargony Paragraph Ever – The Atlantic by Derek Thompson.

My heart kind of goes out to the person/team who had to draft this statement – an unenviable task, ripe for ridicule, no doubt subject to hours of agonizing revisions and edits. My heart goes out even more to the newly “repositioned.” But the fact that this missive captures this much attention (mentions on The Atlanticand Twitter, for example) says something – somehow, a nerve has been touched…

It Is What It Is

This is just a lose-lose all around. The company has to do what it has to do, and no amount of careful wording will lessen the blow. Companies can’t stay alive if they have more staff than they need – that’s just a reality of business. And it’s a lousy reality for the newly-jobless that isn’t helped at all by corporate-speak. Maybe there would be less flak coming in if Citigroup at least expressed some kind of gratitude or regret – but would that really have made a difference? Maybe there would be fewer blogs or tales of PR about it, but the repositioning just “is what it is.”

Man, do I hate that phrase.

What do you think? Ever had to be the bearer of grim corporate news? What are your favorite corporate-speak phrases? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Citigroup leads finance world in bullshit-generating capacity (boingboing.net)
• Citigroup Eliminates 11,000 Jobs in History’s Most Corporate-Jargony Paragraph Ever (theatlantic.com)
• Citigroup to cut more than 11,000 jobs, close some branches (stltoday.com)
• It’s OK to Talk About How Women Dress (femination.wordpress.com)

Words Matter. Apple Knows.

Connotation, phrasing, inference… these are all subtle colors of writing that affect interpretation. I don’t think enough businesses consider this, but it’s something Apple Inc. demonstrated keen awareness of recently in noting how its computers are no longer the iron fortresses against virus infections they were once portrayed to be.

Words Matter. Apple Knows. Shot via Hipstamatic, edited in PhotoForge2.

Just like the occasional operating system or software update, Apple’s wording regarding just how safe its computers inherently are got an update recently. As reported in The Atlantic…

Apple is downgrading its antiviral swagger. On the company’s site, its former, blunt message — “it doesn’t get PC viruses” — has been replaced by a more generic boast:“It’s built to be safe.”

And the slogan of the past — “Safeguard your data. By doing nothing.” — has been replaced by the much gentler“Safety. Built in.”

–Megan Garber (& in PC World by Hamish Barwick).

More Accurate? Or CYA?

I find it very interesting how such a subtle change in phrasing notes a major shift in thinking. And perhaps Apple’s thought is that this subtle tweak will be enough to still accurately convey some benefit – although it kinda feels like a CYA to me.

Still, I find it encouraging that understanding shades of meaning and texture of words matters enough to be put into practice by one of the world’s leading companies. Words matter. Writing matters.

What do you think? Is this an obvious CYA on Apple’s part, or a legitimately more accurate way of describing its product? What is another example you can think of? Let us hear from you in the comments!

Related articles

• It’s Official: Apple Computers Are No Longer Virus-Free (theatlantic.com)
• Macs and malware – See how Apple has changed its marketing message(Naked Security)
• First apple computer to be auctioned (bigpondnews.com)
• Apple Drops ‘We Don’t Get PC Viruses’ Schtick (wired.com)
• Bad Apples: New Virus Affecting Mac Computers (Stahancyk, Kent & Hook)
• Visiting Apple, Inc. (Mountain View Hotels)
• The Secret Rules Every Apple Store Employee Must Abide By [Humor](cultofmac.com)