Most people have never heard of the term Pareidolia, let alone know what it means, but nearly everyone has experienced it. Have you ever looked at the clouds and saw the shapes of different animals? That’s what Pareidolia is – the “imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist”, according to the World English Dictionary. Basically it’s seeing animals in the clouds or Jesus in your toast.

When we look at Rorschach ink blots and see something other than a blob of ink – that’s Pareidolia too. Tell me, what you see? (She asks in her best Dr. Freud impression…)

Pareidolia is a type of Apophenia, (so many big words today!), which is a more generalized term for seeing patterns in random data (source: Urban Dictionary). Numerology is a great example of this!

Where am I going with this? Here’s where…

As I’m sure you’d agree, creative individuals are more likely to see patterns in random things than the average joe. Well, accordingly to the article Characteristics of Highly Creative People, creative people make more use of their “mental raw material and practice less intellectual regulation”. Essentially what that means is creative people spend more time thinking about things from every angle/view possible and then they come up with more angles, seeing more than what the average person would.  While doing this, the dorsolateral prefrontal region of their brain – responsible for things like censorship – becomes way less active, allowing them to express more options and outcomes.

For today’s Picture Perfect Tuesday I am sharing view along the Ottawa River that we overlook while speeding past in our vehicles. Nature Scene Seen:

“how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?”

When Chris Messina, a social technology expert, sent that tweet in 2007, everything changed.

Thanks to Messina, we now use Hashtags to make our posts searchable. They are “categorically arranged so that others can easily search for the topic and participate in the conversation”. (hashtag.org) And this past Tuesday, the Hashtag #BellLetsTalk campaign for mental health awareness raise $5,472,585! The campaign resulted in 109,451,718 text messages, mobile and long distance calls, tweets and Facebook shares.

While useful, like when it raises $5,472,585, sometimes Hashtags can be distracting, especially when the are peppered throughout the body of a text. Have you ever wondered how your posts translate into everyday conversation? What if we spoke in Hashtags in daily conversation? Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake show you how absurd that would actually be in the video below. It’s been out for a while, but still worth sharing:

Do you have a PR crisis plan in place? If the shit was to hit the fan today, would you be able to spring into immediate action? Would your VPs know what to do?

Having a PR crisis plan is like having insurance. You need it, but hope you never have to use it. So before something goes wrong it’s important for key people in the organization to know what their individual roles will be.

• Who will respond to media requests?
• Who will be the media spokesperson? Are they comfortable with public speaking? Do they know your corporate messaging?
• Who will monitor your social media and respond to comments/questions?

Today I wanted to share with you some quick tips for surviving a PR crisis.

• Release a statement right after the incident. If you need to apologize, the do it right away.
• Apologize again on a national news, own up to any bad behaviour and share any corrective actions your company will be taking. Transparency is key here. Think Michael McCain and his public apology for Maple Leaf Foods Listeria incident a few years ago.
• Cancel any promotions and/or tours promoting your latest projects/products.
• Have a prepared statement for company spokespeople is obvious, take the extra step to ensure employees are aware of the company’s key messages.
• Be active on social media. Respond to comments, positive AND negative. Social media is a good method of monitoring public perception.
• Wait for the media circus has calmed down before returning to “regular business”.