Polite Conversation The U.S. Food and Drug Administration held public hearings on November 12 and 13 to help it determine how FDA-regulated companies may use the Internet and social media to communicate. While the 12-member panel listened to a parade of experts, people in the Washington, D.C. audience and those linked in via webcast tweeted live about the testimony. No guidelines necessary. Meanwhile, about 225 miles away in New York City, I was settling into my seat at The Social Consumer conference. Keynote speaker Heather Oldani, Director of Communications for McDonald's, stepped onto the stage and began her presentation about the company's foray into social media. Suddenly, an animal rights protestor leaped to the lectern, grabbed the microphone, and began pleading with us to call upon Golden Arches executives to stop what she called “the inhumane slaughter” of chickens. Oldani stood her ground, thanked the protestor for sharing her concerns, and continued her presentation. The audience booed the persistent protestor and she left the auditorium. Guidelines understood. We live in a time when controlling the conversation is not possible - whether it takes place in cyberspace or in person. All the world truly is a stage when anyone with a YouTube account or a Twitter page has access to a global audience. As a result, the public conversation ranges from sophisticated exposition to soapbox rants. Think Randy Pausch delivering his last lecture vs. Kanye West dissing Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards. The rules of polite conversation and public discourse are widely known and, for the most part, observed. The rules of social media are still in flux. It remains to be seen if the FDA can establish social media guidelines that are effective and enforceable. But the agency may make progress now that it is seeking to listen, rather than to control.

November 2009 FDA and Social Media The Social Consumer Speaking of Winners Talk to Me Let's keep the Dialog going. I'm listening. Twitter: @JillVitiello LinkedIn: Jill Vitiello E-mail: jill@vtlo.com Web: www.vtlo.com Phone: 732-238-6622 Know someone who would be interested in reading Dialog? Forward to a Friend. Manage My Account

FDA and Social Media If a public "hearing" enables genuine listening, then the FDA got an earful in November. More than 800 people applied for the opportunity to speak for 15 minutes before the 12-member FDA panel. About 70 were selected to share their viewpoints at the "Public Hearing on Promotion of FDA-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools.” The presenters came from hospitals, biopharma companies, healthcare systems, advertising agencies, Web vendors, and patient advocacy and consumer groups. The FDA convened the hearings in response to an outcry from the healthcare industry after the FDA issued warning letters to 14 companies in April, accusing them of violating regulations around fair balance in their Web-based communication. To get a glimpse of what was discussed, watch PorterNovelli’s Peter Pitts’ recap of what he calls the “Super Bowl of FDA hearings.” FDA will continue taking written input through February 2010, so keep those cards and letters coming! Just don’t expect easy answers or quick fixes for this multi-faceted issue. By the way, did you know the FDA uses Twitter to share information about product recalls? Follow them at http://twitter.com/fdarecalls.

The Social Consumer

I recently had the privilege of moderating one of the roundtable discussions. My topic was The Convergence of 3 Trends: Social Media, Gen Y & Cloud Computing - What Leaders Need to Know Now. The participants in the two 30-minute discussions I led were smart and generous with their expertise. Our discussion about cloud computing prompted John Perez of Service-Push to mention Salesforce.com, a cloud-based customer relationship management application. His company sells a plug-in product that helps sales reps monitor conversations in Twitter and look up information about sales leads across all social media sites. Sounds useful.

In both sessions, we went around the table to see if anyone could offer a succinct definition of cloud computing, an issue that is keeping corporate CIOs awake at night with worries about data security. It’s one of those things that everybody thinks they understand, but has a hard time explaining. To see what I mean, watch this brief video Cisco posted on YouTube.

Cloud computing is a term that describes using the Internet as a computing platform. Instead of software and applications residing on your own computer infrastructure, it exists on the Web. The word “cloud” comes from the symbol for a group of networked computers that are connected to the Internet. When engineers draw diagrams of computer networks, they symbolize the Internet as a puffy cloud shape. If you use Gmail, you are using cloud computing.

Shout out to the New Jersey chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for sponsoring The Social Consumer event and inviting me to moderate the roundtable.

Speaking of Winners

In preparation for its IRIS Award competition, the NJ/IABC held a 6 in 60 session where six previous award winners shared in the space of an hour what it takes to win. I spoke about Vitiello Communication Group’s most recent win for an essay published in The Influential Executive called "How to Write a Really Touching Year-End Letter, " and provided tips on how to compete effectively. Read my "Six Steps to Success: Winning an IABC Award."

Special offer: As a winner of numerous IABC awards, including the Gold Quill, and a consultant to numerous award-winning companies, I’d be happy to share my expertise with you. Schedule your free 15-minute phone consultation on entering your work for an IABC award. Send an e-mail to arlene@vtlo.com for details.