Official US Policy on the Internet

I was privileged to be among a couple hundred students and press who attended Hillary Clinton’s on campus speech today about Internet Freedom. After the happenings in Egypt, the new protests in Iran, Yemin and elsewhere, and the whole Wikileaks broohaha, she came forward with a clear, firm policy position on keeping the Internet free. Regardless of what one thinks of Hillary, it was very exciting to be in the room. She is totally in command of her space, polished, poised and on point. A heckler was tackled by police a few feet away from her, yet she never even glanced. In the wake of the Tuscon shootings, I was impressed [although security at today’s venue was tight!].

She referenced 3 key Internet challenges – 1) Achieving libery and security; 2)protecting transparency and confidentiality; and 3) protecting free expression while fostering civility. All of these are obviously timely and are big issues associated with the Internet that are only going to increase. Her point, of course, was that the U.S. was trying to balance all of these.  With regard to Wikileaks, she flat out called it a theft akin to smuggling confidential documents in a briefcase. It was interesting to see her directly address this issue, which caused the State Dept so much embarrassment and trouble. She contended, and in my opinion rightly, that governments need to keep some secrets for good reason – security, safety of those working in risky positions, etc. She also offered that a better answer to ‘offensive’ speech online was more speech – but of the nature to express what’s right, rather than ignoring or brushing what’s wrong under the rug.

Of the many points she made, the speech was obviously a timely policy statement on how the Administration is regarding and approaching Internet Freedom in this incredibly tumultuous time. The fact that such a speech was made by so prominent a person was indicative of the importance of the issue. The State Dept has an enhanced public diplomacy campaign of tweeting in Arabic, with Chinese, Farsi and other languages spoken in internet-repressed areas being added soon. Fascinating stuff.

Tweeting Out?

CNN today is reporting that the number of Twitter users has flattened since mid-2009 http://bit.ly/dtd9G8.  Given how quickly Twitter ramped in early 2009, some are arguing that level of growth would be unsustainable, and it’s getting more to a normal profile of adoption and usage.  But others are seeing its usefulness as limited compared with social media tools like Facebook, and predict Twitter will remain popular with a subset of users but not become a robust business tool.  Are you using Twitter for your business communications?  Or just telling people what you’re eating, where you’re at, and what you’re doing.   Twitter’s usage over the coming months will be an interesting evolution – a best practice, or a fad?

lessons for excomms

Some very interesting commentary and advice from panelists at yesterday’s Silicon Valley IABC luncheon on Turbo-charging Executive Communications.  Even as a seasoned practitioner myself, I learned some things and got some good reminders from three real pro’s who have dealt with all manner of executive styles and needs.  Help an exec prepare by understanding the company’s voice and his/her ability to capture it.  Are they a seasoned speaker?  With what kind of audience – internal? media? investors? customers?  Are they good at only being on script, or do they improv?  Does the improv stay within the approved message realm or get far afield? If too off point, excomms must guide the exec back in to intended messages. Rehearsing is always good – but not all execs will do it, or do it enough to actually be prepared and this can become apparent in a speech pretty quickly.  Memorizing a script isn’t great, but keying off select points on very familiar material will facilitate natural sounding dialog and connection with the audience. Don’t be too technical or dry!!   The best way to demonstrate opportunities and areas for improvement is to video record a rehearsal or a presentation and have the exec watch themselves afterwards.  Coach them, but let them also see it for themselves.  Key point at the luncheon was that ‘execs are people too’ and the continually changing pressures and expectations in today’s work environment require leaders to perform at unprecedented levels.  Good coaching and a little TLC can go an extra long way these days!