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I consider London to be one of my home-towns – I grew up in a government-service family, we moved frequently, and one of the places we called home was London in the ’60s and ’70s. I watched, with deep sorrow, as large parts of Greater London, and then Birmingham, fell under the torches and bricks of rampaging looters, ostensibly in protest of the death of Mark Duggan in Tottenham during what was either a traffic stop or a drug-squad operation. Whichever version is true, the aftermath was crystal clear: chaos. Fueled by SMS technology, unrest armed with bricks and gasoline spread like wildfire across the London suburbs: Tottenham, Ealing, Barnet, Camden, and a host of other communities became war zones. Scotland Yard was caught flat-footed, with the recent leadership shake-up driven by the Murdoch mess getting blamed for their slow response. The viral nature of 21st century communication is a powerful tool – for good, or for ill. Like the viruses it takes its name and nature from, “viral” has no morals. It just knows one thing: SHARE ME. The danger compounds itself by what’s usually seen, in the heat of the moment, as the only way to prevent chaos, to control the message: shut down free access. That’s what governments in the Middle East are doing to shut down their citizens’ demands for free democracy, and what the British government was asking companies like Research in Motion (the Blackberry folks) to help them do: shut down the viral vector. SMS technology, social sharing. It’s a dangerous game, that shutting-down. Because once you’ve started, where and when do you stop? When the High St. stops burning? When the last street is cleaned? After some kind of vetting-council “approves” you for re-connection to Facebook? The lesson here is the same one…

It’s fascinating to watch something take hold in the zeitgeist (look it up). Particularly when it’s something that has been solidly planted in one’s own personal zeitgeist for … ever. The hot topic in business social media right now is humor. As in “bring the funny to get attention and customers” – which is true, but is also a dangerous recommendation. Riddle me this: if laughter is the best medicine, why aren’t more doctors telling great jokes? Other than Ken Jeong, and he’s not actually seeing patients any more. Recommending that marketing teams use humor is like tossing your 16  year old the car keys and saying, “you’re old enough, go drive!” It might be true, but it’s very dangerous, and it’s likely to end in tears and big legal bills.  Just ask Aflac – their recent experience with business humor via their loose cannon of a spokes-duck pitchman, Gilbert Gottfried, did exactly that. Here’s what you have to do to put humor to work for your corporate messaging strategy: hire a comedy writer. One who understands both comedy AND business. Who can work with you to identify what makes your target customer(s) laugh, who can help you build some organic and authentic comedy that will make your message penetrate and motivate your audience. Full disclosure: I’m a writer. I’ve done stand-up for years. I haven’t pushed the comedy thing much in the business arena over the last couple of years because whenever I did, it was to the sound of … well, not silence exactly. It was more like speaking Urdu to a room full of Inuit: blank stares. The key here is that combination of humor and business sense. You have to understand strategic brand messaging in order to stand it on its ear. Using humor in social media requires…

Independence Day marks the birth of the United States of America, originating on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia when the Founding Fathers stopped arguing long enough to sign the Declaration of Independence. As a nation, we’ve been arguing ever since. About what “freedom” means – am I free to shoot my neighbor’s dog because it’s barking 24/7? Am I free to shackle my rebellious teenager to a radiator? Am I free to make my employees work without pay? (Note: the answer to each of those questions is “no,” but that doesn’t mean folks won’t fight for their right to do any/all of them.) About what “rights” are (the original Founding Arguers discovered they needed to revisit the “rights” question in 1789, when James Madison introduced what became the Bill of Rights as a set of legislative articles; that argument continued until the Bill of Rights was signed into law in 1791), about who has rights (black people, even if they weren’t enslaved, had limited rights until the 20th century; women couldn’t vote until the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920), and about what kind of rights immigrants have until they become US citizens (they are granted the same Constitutional rights as citizens, no matter what talk radio might lead you to believe; they can’t vote, they can’t work without a work permit, but they have the same right of habeus corpus, Miranda rights, etc.) As our quadrennial Silly Season starts to ramp up in preparation for 2012 federal elections, let’s remember that with rights come responsibilities. Here is my suggested Bill of Responsibilities: All citizens have the right to their opinions. They have the responsibility to share them without resorting to verbal, or physical, violence. Yes, Rush Limbaugh and Keith Olberman, I’m talking to you. All citizens have the…