EOCAWKI: Optimize This

As someone who relied on personal relationships with my friends in the media and was accustomed to a high degree of autonomy and creative license in my writing, I confess that the advent of social media sometimes took me out of my “comfort zone" at work.  It’s not that I don’t use social media personally, but I found it harder to adapt to the restrictions it imposed on a professional level. For example, I like nice tight prose but simply could not see how 140 characters could possibly be enough to convey anything meaningful, much less explain a complex matter.  

One of the hardest things to get used to was the requirement to submit much of my work to the “SEO” or “Search Engine Optimization” group for review before it was published or distributed. I certainly understood the need to make sure that our material could be found online easily, but it felt to me a bit like the quality of prose took a backseat to whether it was searchable.  Very often, what I thought was a clever or compelling word or phrase was altered or eliminated in favor of something much more run-of-the-mill but more “searchable.” Since I really liked coming up with funny or unusual ways to say things, it bothered me a bit that that particular skill did not seem to have as much value as it used to have. Yet, since SEO was the goal, I did try to consider it in my writing. I thought perhaps the easiest way to do that would be to deliberately use terms that someone is most likely to search for. But that didn’t pan out.  According to Google, (Who else??) the top 10 search terms last year were:

1. Powerball

2. Prince

3. Hurricane Matthew

4. Pokémon Go

5. Slither.io

6. Olympics

7. David Bowie

8. Trump

9. Election

10. Hillary Clinton

Also high on the list were “Gmail”, “Craigslist”, “Amazon”, “Yahoo”, and “Porn.”  

Since I worked exclusively in the financial services field, weaving those particular terms into a typical press release in a way that made some sense would have required a good deal more creativity than I have. And I don’t think I’d have gotten away with it in any case. So, I decided to retire instead and haven’t looked back. Now I can forget about being searchable and focus on things that are important, like picking the right Powerball numbers or playing Pokémon Go.  Or maybe I’ll sit here and write this stuff and post it online where no one can find it. Then I’ll go swim some laps. After all the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are just three years away.

EOCAWKI: I've Got a Secret. To Tell the Truth

One of the nicest compliments I ever received was paid by a senior journalist at a well-respected publication who observed upon my retirement that I always “played it straight.” I took that to mean that I represented my employers well but never intentionally misled anyone or worse yet, lied outright. That’s not always easy to do when people want information that you have but just can’t share. Walking the sometimes fine line between circumspection and deception can be tough for a PR person, but it’s vitally important because in professional life, as in personal life, trust is the key to enduring and effective relationships, and trust is built on truth.  

I tried to maintain a strict separation between my personal and professional lives but I'm glad to say that they were frequently bridged when trust led to mutual respect, admiration and friendship. In fact, my oldest and dearest friends are people I met at work; many are current or former journalists whom I would trust with my life. Sadly, I suspect it’s a lot tougher today to forge those kinds of bonds.

In a world of “alternative facts” and science denial, where high public officials and their representatives seem willing to lie brazenly, repeat outright falsehoods and viciously attack those who challenge them, it can be much more difficult to discern the truth that underpins trust. At the same time it’s never been more important to do so. For that reason, I offer a few thoughts that might be helpful:

If a flack tells you something that’s new

But you feel that it just can’t be true

Then hold onto your horses

And check out other sources.

That’s always the right thing to do.

When your boss has a tale set to tell

But you know that it’s false, full and well

If he will not belay it

Then refuse to relay it.

It’s something you just shouldn’t sell.

When officials elected to lead

Insist that you pay them all heed,

But their words are so phony

And they’re full of baloney

It’s essential then not to accede.

If the truth is dispensed with wholesale

Then democracy’s destined to fail.

But the answer’s not hate

It’s our own Fourth Estate

Where the truth and the facts should prevail.