POSM #2: Give me another viewpoint please

Last week we introduced our first POSM (Practicioner of Social Media) and he was exuberant in his acceptance speech, I wish the orchestra hadn’t started playing that early, but hey, we have to get to the advertisers. Let’s hope number two is as tickled. Read this for a reminder of why I’m doing this rather than the traditional “social media best practices” meme.

Without further ado my friends, the second POSM:

Geoff Livingston, Livingston Communications and The Buzz Bin

The intersection of public relations and social media has been very difficult for some to understand and in the process feelings have been hurt, careers trampled upon and egos shattered.  Not for Geoff Livingston however, in fact it is quite the opposite.  I’ve “known” Geoff now for about 18 months from our time on Twitter, blogging, Social Media Breakfast and of course his terrific book “Now is Gone”.  Go ahead…ask me how many social media and/or marketing books I’ve read in the last 12 months (my wife can vouch):

1. Waiting for your Cat to Bark by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg
2. Media Rules! by Brian Reich
3. Now is Gone by Geoff Livingston

As a general rule I loathe “how-to do marketing” books, particularly the ones about Social Media (since there are two new ones each week anyhow). They are typically filled with pointless examples that have nothing to do with my business nor easy to understand techniques for the uninitiated.  These three books all break that mold and Geoff’s in particular.  The Now is Gone site continued the conversation (at the time) and Geoff was very interactive on The Buzz Bin blog and Twitter throughout the book process. He even visited Boston to talk about the book, one of several face-to-face events Geoff seems to do every week.  When we talk about social media being a mix of on and offline activities, Livingston lives up to that thought.

But in a social media industry full of ‘yes-men’ and ‘yes-women’ I think the part I appreciate the most about Geoff is his ability to disagree with folks, trends, tools and practices.  He brings a thoughtfully contrarian viewpoint to a conversation that all too often sees people just nodding in agreement with each other.

Let’s put it this way; Geoff often says what I’m thinking and is not afraid to call bullshit on ’social media experts’ that are creating unnecessary noise, and that includes myself. Anytime I see a post or a Tweet from Geoff I know it will be worthwhile.  At the same time, Geoff is constantly teaching folks through his blog on how to adapt to new media and evolve their skill sets.  This is what I liked the most about “Now is Gone”; its ability to teach people the best ways to make this new era of communications work for their company and themselves.

As with Todd before him, Geoff is a POSM who can admit when things go wrong, and do it in a transparent manner, involving the community.  The best example, of course, is the acquisition that never was and Geoff’s subsequent video post. You will also see this on a micro level with Geoff, who ferociously replies to comments on his blog, helping to always make it an interactive conversation. At the end of the day, Geoff is one of the five people who really got me moving in social media and henceforth will be known (at least on this blog) as one of the original five POSMs.

(Picture Credit: Pic of Geoff from David Alston)