C3 commentary in Finnish (and swift social media help)

I’ll start by acknowledging the obvious: I have an ego and it’s not small.

This post will share some praise for me and the Blueprint for the Complete Community Connection. Yes, I do enjoy being called a visionary and having people in Finland encouraged to check out my writing and I don’t mind telling you about that. But I hope this post will also illustrate how the connected world of social media works and show the value of digital tools. The story involves blogs, email, three different social networks and a Google translator. And it all took place in less time than it will take me to write this blog.

I received a pingback this morning on my blog, alerting me to a new link to the C3 blueprint. I clicked on the link and didn’t understand much at all in the Mediablogi post by Matti Lintulahti. I was puzzled about what language it was. It had lots of umlauts, but I took some German in high school years ago and knew it wasn’t German. Some of the words had a bit of a Russian sound, but I had never seen umlauts in Russian. I wondered if it might be another Slavic language, but the blog wasn’t using the Cyrillic alphabet. Didn’t seem quite Germanic or Slavic.

Here’s the paragraph where I’m named: 

Kokeneen journalistin Steve Buttryn luotsaama muutos on nimetty kolmeksi C:ksi (Complete Community Connection). 3C:n mallissa mediayhtiöstä tulee alueensa yhteyspaikka KAIKKEEN mitä yhteisön asukkaiden ja yritysten tarvitsee tietää ja tehdä elääkseen ja tehdäkseen bisnestä alueella.

We were well past my knowledge of European languages (I was pretty sure I had the right continent). After clicking a few links on the blog, I still didn’t have it nailed down, though I wondered if it might be Finnish. I tweeted: “If you understand this language, tell me what this guy’s writing about me and the C3 blueprint. http://bit.ly/ORkVx” 

I figured if I had time later, I might try pasting it into a Google translator. My tweet also posted to my Facebook account, since I use an application that posts tweets as Facebook status updates. Rick Thomason, a Florida newspaper publisher who is a Facebook friend, responded at 8:34 a.m.: “I thought I might drop it into a translator, but I don’t even know what language to tell it to translate from! YIKES!”

OK, then I had to know myself, for my own curiosity and to answer Rick’s. I answered him at 8:36 a.m.: “Looked like it was mentioned positively. But the language certainly flummoxed me. I might try dropping into several translators and see if I find one that claims it.”

So I went to Google and clicked on language tools. I did try Russian first, with no luck. Next I tried Finnish. Bingo! I responded on Facebook to Rick at 8:39: “It’s Finnish.”

That message crossed in the ether with this 8:40 message from Rick: “It’s Finnish…and it is complimentary! Just dropped parts in a translator. You are called ‘visionary.'”

Then came an 8:41 message from David Reed, an El Paso journalist and also a Facebook friend: “He’s from Finland. Found him on Linkedin. Social Media Consultant & Partner at Red Tail Media.” I checked and Lintulahti did indeed have a LinkedIn profile.

Rick responded at 8:42 with a link to a Google translation of a paragraph. I was so busy with the Facebook messages, for which I get email alerts, and with my own Google translations, that I hadn’t checked Twitter since my post. But soon Tweetbeep alerted me by email to tweets responding to my request on Twitter. Christine Irizarry, John McGlothlen, Mike Coleman and Paul Nus (who also emailed) had responded on Twitter, two identifying the language as Finnish, two steering me to Google’s translation tools, one using LinkedIn to tell me about the blogger and one suggesting a way to look for Finns.

I asked one question on Twitter and received answers from six people by email, Twitter and Facebook from four different people, identifying the language and the blogger and helping me figure out what he said.

As for Google’s translation tools, they aren’t (yet) so smooth that they translate conversationally. But you can gather the essence of the blog (yes, it is flattering) from the translation:  

Creative upheaval during reform their visions are important. Even more important are visionary leaders who have the courage and the ability to drive the vision into practice.

In Eastern Iowa, USA is an experiment in which a traditional media company, Gazette Communications, in the process of modernization kernels of degrees. Chief, the title has changed: “Editor” is now “Information Content Conductor.”

An experienced journalist Steve Buttryn luotsaama change has named three C to UO (Complete Community Connection). 3C’s model, a media company will be the contact area of the place what ALL the residents and businesses need to know and do to survive and carry out the business area.

The rhetoric masks a lot, some of which is Buttry tells 38-page plan.

Essence, it is a matter that the media company to reverse the nuclear activities journalistic products IMPRINT community-oriented communication service providers and their customers kaupallistajaksi.

The traditional display-based Advertising retain the new model is important, but business growth comes from, how well the media can serve the business of direct sales, local search marketing, direct marketing, and various marketing services.

News journalism will remain the heart, but my journalism will expand the existing communally. Local community should be according to the news of finding and making, to acting as a watchdog of the sport a wider track. More and more relevant is to tell what is going on right now instead of yesterday. Multimedia, storytelling, and various database content importance is growing. 3C’s model of media in aggregate of all external, including competitors, to produce the best knowledge of the community and in their own area.

Steve Buttryn luotsaama change the way it is difficult to implement for any media company, but the pilot project, it is worthwhile to monitor the Finns. Because we also have to find a media visionary leaders who are able to lead a very productive media companies a new path of success even when you have the resources to make the change voluntarily, not forced back against the wall.

Fortunately, in Finland there are already examples in this direction reaching thinking, where the media has left the building itself in its own territory to the key point of information, opinion, consumers and businesses. One of the first steps in this direction are a reader of newspapers, blogs, Helsingin Sanomat, “My Town” and the provincial newspapers Ilkan Pohjalainen and “Services”.

Add the local residents and businesses yhdistämispalveluja needed. Their foundation is the media company’s new business, creative thinking and innovation. Once the vision to practice.

As halting as the computer’s translation is, that makes a whole lot more sense than some of the blogs you read arguing that newspapers will somehow save themselves by charging for digital content.