Knowledge is the key to communication

BERLIN – “Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die.”

I have often puzzled over this saying – surely one must ask why all the time and not go blindly where others have trodden.

And so I had to ask this most obvious of questions of my panel of bloggers as well as the audience at the PhoCusWright Bloggers Summit: Why do you blog?

The most common answer was, to express myself. One said, to share my opinions because I feel I have sufficient experience to add value to a topic of interest. Another said, to promote my product and services.

In the last few years, blogging has become a universal phenomenon in which everyone has felt free to express themselves, air opinions and promote themselves and, by extension, their products and services. (It’s that old golden rule – by positioning yourself as a figure of authority on a subject, it seems that halo can also envelop your products and services, something most consultants know and do well.)

It has completely redefined communications and – for the purposes of the panel discussion I was moderating – travel communications. In so doing, it has also redefined the roles of journalists, bloggers, public relations practitioners, consultants – really anyone who communicates for a living – in the travel business.

Can a journalist be a blogger? Can a blogger become a journalist? When does blogging become public relations? Is a consultant who blogs better off than one who doesn’t? Does a reviewer (on social networking sites) graduate to become a blogger?

Are journalists then disadvantaged because they have a code of ethics (seriously, some do and abide by them) and bloggers don’t in the free-for-all blogosphere?

Take the case of the “outing” of Prince Harry in Afghanistan – the British tabloids, notorious for their gutter-sleaze tactics, actually respected an embargo while a blog, The Drudge Report, didn’t. As a result, the poor Prince, probably having the most meaningful time of his young, hounded life, had to be sent home.

We could ask all these questions for the purpose of intellectual stimulation (and we should) but what is clear is that the information channels have become so fragmented that the consumer is confused – who should he or she trust when it comes to travel industry information (B2B channel) or travel reviews (B2C)?

The panelists were divided on that question. It depended on the credentials of the individual, they said. If a journalist or blogger has street cred, then his trust quotient goes up.

It’s the reason why we read certain columnists over others, why we value certain opinions over the mass. In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king indeed.

One thing they agreed on is no one trusted “public relations people”. “Who can believe a press release these days?” they said.

Yes, but what do you do now that some companies – Starwood Hotels & Resorts, for instance – have taken on “lurkers” (bloggers who lurk) as part of their communications arsenal?

Here’s what the Starwood lurker does, according to a spokesperson I asked. “Every workday, the lurker goes onto the Internet, and dips into frequent-traveller electronic bulletin boards to check the postings about Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

“In Asia Pacific, we recently hired someone too to cover websites of interest to our Asia Pacific Division. He monitors the many, many connections that exist to our online guests outside the Starwood network of sites.

“Additionally, he works closely with our online marketing team to ensure that our hotels’ credibility is well managed in these sites as well as guests’ concerns and opinions are being managed in a fair and proactive manner.”

Notice the word “manage”.

JW Marriott keeps a blog called “ Marriott On The Move”. According to a spokesperson, a team of about eight people work on the blog which appears about twice a month “in addition to their other duties”.

InterContinental Hotels Group tells me it uses blogs and social networking sites to engage guests and colleagues, for example, its “In the know Travelogue”, a blog that offers insider tips and recommendations from
selected destinations and video content (http://travel.intercontinental.com/); and its Holiday Inn Everyday Heroes campaign which invites guests to
“submit extraordinary stories on work-related challenges, creative
solutions and comical or shocking situations on business trips” (www.holidayinneverydayheroes.com).

Its Asia Pacific chief executive Peter Gowers keeps a blog “to keep colleagues abreast of his observations since he came on board in November 2007” – this has restricted access.

Says the IHG spokesperson, “In recent years, we have worked with bloggers to profile the unique highlights of selected hotels. Certain of our PR outreach with traditional media (print and TV) also now come with online coverage
opportunities. We continue to explore publicity opportunities in the non-traditional media space.”

Marriott includes “only the most relevant bloggers” on their press trips while IHG and Starwood in Asia Pacific say this was something they were actively working on.

So now we have bloggers’ junkets?

In the course of the discussion, what emerged was that just as journalists have to reinvent themselves, so do public relations professionals – perhaps one day the job title of “public relations executive” will disappear from the travel industry?

It’s an old world term that has little meaning in the new world when the “public” is so dispersed, fragmented and information-bloated.

The bloggers also said that journalists felt threatened by the blogging movement “as it could render them less relevant”, said one.

Turning to the travel trade media channel, one panelist observed there was a lack of a real blogging community in Asia Pacific unlike in the US and Europe where travel industry professionals seemed more inclined to express themselves, air opinions or promote themselves.

He is right. We have the traditional travel trade media and their online e-news that keep us informed and abreast of what’s happening through a barrage of press releases, but none of them have really embraced the online space to reflect what’s really going on in Web 2.0.

But we have little considered opinions and authoritative analysis in the B2B space that add value to the travel industry in terms of learning and facilitating real change, in other words, transforming information to knowledge.

This is what I believe all communicators, be they journalists, bloggers, consultants, PR professionals, strive to do – in its highest form, communications is about the transference of knowledge.

Currently, the travel B2B channel is mostly about generating information. The next step is transforming that to knowledge and the person who does that most effectively, using the right tools, will win in the new battlefield that is communications.

So whether you’re a journalist, blogger, consultant, chief executive or executive sous chef, stand up.

Read more of Yeoh Siew Hoon at the Transit Cafe – www.thetransitcafe.com