Politics and Social Media Sunshine

Twenty-five years ago, when the shift hit the land in San Francisco and we suffered a the Loma Prieta Earthquake, I was working for Mayor Dianne Feinstein.  One of my co-workers was a smart, headstrong newly minted graduate of the University of California named Jill Osur.  An incident happened in her life yesterday that illustrates the differences in politics in the media then and now.

Minding her business, probably drinking her morning coffee, Jill witnessed a school board candidate named Aimee Moss taking the sign of opponent Sherri McGoff off of her lawn.  Appalled, Jill immediately took to Facebook and wrote about the incident.  Seven hours later, she had confronted candidate Moss, who was evasive but admitted to taking the sign.  Jill posted her account of the conversation on Facebook.  Two hours after that post, the Contra Costa Times picked up the story with the candidate admitting to the caper and blaming “the stress of the campaign.”

It happened at lightning speed one week before the election.

Back when Jill and I worked together, we didn’t have the internet, social media and all the rest. For news, one relied on print, radio and television.  News, particularly in local races for boards travelled slowly.  One newspaper reporter covering a school board race would have to cover multiple candidates at multiple events and would be overwhelmed. A week before the election, the citizen and the offended candidate would have to hammer this beat reporter and hope that they picked up the story.  Election week could have passed and this ethical and possible legal breach might not have seen the light of day.

In California political history this is illustrated by the famous race where an incumbent’s campaign manager was being investigated in a murder.  It took weeks for the opponent to get the story published in a newspaper.  Days after the story ran, a television station picked it up and the camera crew cornered the incumbent. His sound byte that ran on the evening news that night was “What my staff does on their own time is their business.” Glacial news cycle compared to today.

As we are all too aware newspapers have been gutted, most radio stations don’t have news broadcasts, much less a news department and local television stations are way too stretched.  There probably is not a reporter even covering this school board race.  In this instance, it took citizen Jill Osur to report it on her news feed, follow up and then see someone at the city desk report it.

Our democracy relies on informed citizens.  Too often, someone wins a school board race, then a city council race, then goes up the rung to state assembly or senate and then on to Congress while passing under the electorate’s radar in today’s news media vacuum. Citizens need to report what they see and need more outlets than social media to chronicle their interactions with candidates.  Established mainstream media has to be creative in finding ways to cover the local races that have such a huge impact on our lives;

Chef -- The Recipe for Success

As the father of a six month old, I don't get out to the movies much.  Have to catch up when they hit the movie channels or when I have the chance.  A couple of days ago, I caught the movie Chef on a flight out to the west coast.  There are a ton of life and business lessons in the movie.

To quote Shakespeare "To Thine Ownself Be True."

Jon Favreau plays a very talented, innovative, compulsively driven chef who is constantly trying to test himself.  He works at a restaurant where the owner, played by Dustin Hoffman, wants him to play it safe.  The prominent restaurant reviewer is coming in to review the place and owner and chef have different views on what should be served.

"Play your hits" says Hoffman.  He may as well as said "Rest on your laurels."  Always a mistake.  It ends up biting them in the caboose.  The staff and chef are uninspired and serve a meal that underwhelms the reviewer.  Essentially, the review asks "Where is the innovative chef I once knew?"

Social Media Lives Forever

Upset, the chef calls out the reviewer on social media. Favreau's character is a newbee to Twitter and is facing someone who is both agile in response and works for a huge media outlet.  Chef may be outgunned, but he is picking up thousands of followers.  He dares the reviewer to return. When the reviewer comes back, the owner again insists on the same uninspired menu, leading the chef to walk out.  Still steaming, in the critical scene, Favreau returning to the restaurant for a core nuclear meltdown at the table of the reviewer.  All of it caught on camera by smartphones.  Spreads like wildfire over Vine, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TMZ and million other sites.  A mistake you can never recover from?  Wrong.

Own Your Assets

Fine, the protagonist is out of a job at this point and he has a ton of negative baggage.  But, he has picked up a huge amount of followers.  While a publicist suggests going on a reality TV show, Favreau instead builds a food truck and takes off across the country.  His young son is a social media genius and Tweets, Instagrams and Vines about where they are going and what they are doing.  As they go across the country, father and son grow closer and teach each other about their worlds, cooking and social media. As a business, the chef is taking advantage of his huge following.

Ice the Cake

The triumphant return to Los Angeles finds the El Jefe food truck and Chef with gobs of followers and fans.  Who shows up to eat and loves the food, the aforementioned reviewer.  He loves it so much, that he offers to back the chef in opening a restaurant based on the truck cuisine.  Chef will be given full creative freedom.  Now, at this point pride might get the worst of most folks.  But, the chef accepts the offer, realizing there is an opportunity here and that there is huge weight in the unlikely story that two social media warriors unite to build an enterprise.

Pave Your Own Road

Any road to success is not smooth or straight. Granted, no business wants to take unnecessary risks.  Few could survive the embarrassing meltdown.  But, unless you are willing to take some risks, unless you are willing to turn every crisis into an opportunity, you cannot succeed.