Q&A: Microsoft’s Dr. Mark Drapeau Talks Social Media
- 10.11.11
- MARLENE HALL – @UVA96
Meet Dr. Mark Drapeau.
He is the social media guru at Microsoft. He is usually out and about at the wonderful galas in Washington, D.C. He loves sharing his technological information with his legions of 20,000 followers on Twitter. He is a well-traveled speaker that puts on several events, such as the “Geek 2 Chic” fashion show. He publishes his own online magazine Publicyte, which is the Microsoft digital magazine about people, places and technologies that drive civic innovation in America.
He was also gracious enough to take a few minutes to chat with Glittarazzi.
Please tell us about “Geek 2 Chic,” which is being held Nov. 8 at Bloomingdale’s in Washington, D.C. How did you found it?
(Note: “Geek 2 Chic” is Nov. 8 in D.C.; Chicago’s is Nov. 2.)
“‘Geek 2 Chic’ is a partnership between Microsoft and Bloomingdale’s, which transforms young leaders in the tech industry into models for a night to raise awareness and funds for a charity having to do with creating the next generation of entrepreneurs in America, something Microsoft greatly supports. The cause is NFTE, the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (http://www.nfte.com), an organization whose work we’ve supported for quite some time.”
“I think Geek 2 Chic is a fun way for Microsoft to show off some of the kinds of smart ‘geeks’ that we spend our time with and highlight the interesting work they do, and also a memorable way to start a conversation about our corporate citizenship and values.”
Please describe your role at Microsoft?
“Since I joined Microsoft a little less than two years ago, I’ve helped to stand up a new group we call the ‘Microsoft Office of Civic Innovation.’ Our small team of seven keeps Microsoft’s public and civic sector division on the cutting edge of technological knowledge, sales strategies, and public communications.”
“One thing I do as the Director of Innovative Engagement for our division is create new things with the goal of communicating with audiences in fresh, memorable ways. ‘Geek 2 Chic’ is one example of that. Another is our new digital magazine, ‘Publicyte.’ Ultimately, I’m interested in telling the Microsoft story in the public and civic sectors well, conducting thought leadership, and broadening knowledge about the important, and frankly, critical, work the company does to improve civic life.”
Tell us about your magazine, “Publicyte.”
“Publicyte.com is one of the things I’ve created for Microsoft in my new role. It’s a digital magazine about technology and innovation in the public sector and in civic life more broadly, and it’s a publication of the Office of Civic Innovation. I’m the publisher and editor-in-chief. We have writers from all over Microsoft, and also writers from outside the company.”
“We launched ‘Publicyte’ in June 2011, and in September we started publishing with monthly themed issues. September was the ‘Connectivity’ issue.”
If someone is throwing an event, what is the best way to use social media to get the word out?
“Well, I think there’s no simple answer to that, but a Facebook event page combined with some targeted Facebook advertising is a very good way. Ultimately, it’s not about social media per se, but about creating a sense of excitement among some key people such that they spread the word of mouth for you using whatever methods they choose. Reaching those “influentials” sometimes is possible through social media, and sometimes not. A good knowledge of your target audience determines a lot about how social media or other communications pathways are leveraged. (I wouldn’t use Twitter to generate excitement about the weekly senior citizens’ BINGO game.)”
What are the must go-to events in Washington, D.C., each year?
“I think this depends a lot on your tastes, but three things on my radar are the ‘Ball on the Mall’ (benefiting the Trust for the National Mall), ‘Fashion for Paws’ (benefiting the Washington Humane Society), and the various events surrounding the ‘White House Correspondents’ Dinner.””
“In 2012, we’ll have a Summer Olympics and a Presidential election season, which will lend themselves to more unique or rare events that no doubt will be worth attending.”
What are you reading?
“I don’t get to read books as much as I would like, but the last thing I read was ‘Moneyball,’ which was excellent. I probably read about 25 magazines a month, ranging from gossip to tech to world news to style. And I read selected articles from the major U.S. and U.K. newspapers.”
What are you listening to?
“Far East Movement, Ke$ha, Lionel Ritchie, Morcheeba, Thievery Corporation, Maroon 5, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Eminem. … I’m fairly eclectic with pop music since the ’80s.”
Who do you recommend following or reading about that is leading the charge in social media?
“Everything is about the buzzword ‘engagement’ now that everyone’s figured out that social media is important. So who’s writing the best general stuff about engaging audiences as a person and as a business? I like Brian Solis’ writing [briansolis.com] a lot — he’s consistent and quasi-academic with his arguments yet never gets boring. Besides his website, he has three books, all of which are worth looking at.”
“If I was going to be a completely independent ‘engagement’ speaker and author, I’d probably model myself a bit after what Brian does. (Full disclosure: I periodically contribute to his blog.)”
What drives you?
“A need to achieve more, and a need to surprise people while doing it.”
What is your key(s) to success?
“Borrowing ideas from varied sources to apply them to problems, not being afraid to challenge norms, and working very long hours.”
What are you reflections on Steve Jobs?
“They say Bill Gates put a computer in everyone’s home. Well, now Steve Jobs has put a computer in everyone’s pocket. He is an inspiring man. His love of everything from technology to art and design to meditation and exotic travel influenced his body of work and allowed him to transcend his company’s brand and become the ‘Edison of the modern era,’ as some people are now calling him.”
“I also think that his high-profile battle with pancreatic cancer should serve as a reminder that there are many, many different variations of cancer that kill our loved ones, even though some get a lot more ‘promotion’ than others.”
How did you get into social media?
“Three things happened:
- One, I got an early Facebook account in 2005 when I was working as a scientist at NYU. But I didn’t see the larger significance then.
- Two, I heard about Twitter in early 2008 and learned that people were thinking about using it for disaster relief, so I signed up for an account and started studying for the Department of Defense (where I was working at the time) the relevance of social media for national security.
- Three, about the same time in early 2008 I went to a Mashable social event or two and got to know that community of early social media and digital leaders, then ended up writing about a dozen pieces for them about social media and government.”
“That year, 2008, was a big year because social media was still a bit underground. At the end of the year and in early 2009, three things ended that relative obscurity: Ashton, Oprah and Obama.”
Where did Cheeky Geeky, your nickname, come from?
“I wanted a catchy name and I thought I wanted to somehow use the word ‘geeky,’ so I was thinking about things that rhymed with it. When I thought of ‘cheeky’ it felt perfect for my personality. Just one of those ideas that come to you in the bathroom, and it’s stuck over the last three and a half years or so.”
How did you get so many Twitter followers? What is the secret behind increasing one’s twitter followers?
“That’s complicated to answer, because there’s all kinds of ways to buy, market to, or otherwise inflate Twitter followers, and the meaning of the numbers are questionable. For example, there are people with a million followers who tweet about a video and can only drive a few hundred views — their ‘audience’ isn’t very engaged in the conversation.”
“That said, yes, I have about 20,000 followers, and that’s relatively high for a non-celebrity. The biggest reason is simply that I’ve been putting out high-quality tweets consistently, every day, for almost four years. Nearly all of my 40,000+ tweets holds some value. I’m not very conversational, I’m more of a curator of knowledge that I translate into my ‘cheeky geeky’ voice for an audience. People like hearing that voice. It’s really not much different from running a ‘texting radio talk show’ to me.”
They have a Digital Capital Week in DC. Please explain what that is.
“‘DCWEEK’ is a week-long festival in the U.S. capital focused on bringing together designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and social innovators of all kinds. Under my direction, Microsoft is a proud sponsor of this unique event from Nov. 4-11, 2011. ‘Geek 2 Chic: DC’ is an official event of ‘DCWEEK.’
“I’m getting ready to beta launch a Microsoft discussion platform with our partner, Synteractive, about the role of technology and innovation in solving some of America’s greatest challenges in government, education, health, and beyond. It’s called the ‘National Piggy Bank,’ and it’s a place where members can ‘deposit’ ideas and discuss how to act on them.”
Get more:
- Follow Mark on Twitter: @cheeky_geeky
- Get tickets to ‘Geek 2 Chic’
- Read ‘Publicyte’: Publicyte.com
- Get more DCWEEK info: digitalcapitalweek.org
- Deposit social media ideas at the ‘National Piggy Bank’
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