Interesting concept from B2B marketing expert Paul Dunay. He says businesses should take a holistic approach to social media, not assign it to just one person — and effectively get rid of their social media directors. (Although the Chamber probably shouldn’t, since theirs is a really nice guy with a mortgage.) No, in all seriousness, I have plenty of other duties to keep me busy. And I would argue, as he does, that it still makes sense to have one person monitoring the entire social media operation, even if many people are using it. At any rate, the point is to get you thinking about getting people at all levels involved. It relates to a Smaller Indiana conference I recently attended where a speaker relayed that one large international company has no marketing department, because it feels everyone who interacts with people outside the business are, in effect, marketers:

At a recent ANA conference I was interviewing Brian Wallace VP of Digital Marketing and Media for RIM when I heard him say “2 years from now- if I still have a Director of Social Media – I should be fired!” and after thinking about that I can’t help but agree with him.

The theory here is as CMO’s appoint a head of social media in their organizations, it fosters silo-like behavior and departmentalizes social which by definition runs counter to the behavior within the organization you are trying to instill!

As the “lightning rod” for all things social at Avaya – I have tried not to accept the mantle of being the head of social media and instead be more of a caretaker of social activity across the company. I agree you need someone to know what is going on across the company socially but you should not confine social to just a few select people.

My social media team has grown from 7 people at the start to now over 75 people as part of a “virtual cross discipline team” that meets weekly about social activity. And I often wonder how will I push the barriers of that team out – to be more like 15,000 people acting socially in a coordinated, passionate way about our brand. Said differently how do we make social part of the very DNA of the firm?

Ideally, I think you need to treat the role of the Director of Social Media as a way to activate the entire organization socially and then when that’s complete – move on to something else. What’s your view?

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council contends recent developments in international trade are actually promising for the U.S., despite a decline in recent years:

Two stories are to be found in the latest trade numbers issued by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. One is bad. The other offers hope.

The first story is about a historic decline in trade for 2009 overall. U.S. exports decline by 15 percent – from $1.83 trillion in 2008 to $1.55 trillion in 2009. The story on imports was even more striking – a 23 percent decline from $2.52 trillion in 2008 to $1.93 trillion in 2009.

These trade numbers go along with the reality that the U.S. economy in 2009 experienced its sharpest one-year decline in more than six decades.

The second story is that this dramatic decline in trade, which specifically ran from July 2008 through May 2009, has since reversed course. Exports hit bottom in April, and subsequently climbed for eight straight months. Meanwhile, imports bottomed in May, and have increased in six of the past seven months, including for four consecutive months.

Export and import levels have still not climbed back to where they were in mid-2008, but exports (seasonally adjusted) were up by 17 percent in December 2009 versus April 2009, and imports were up by 23 percent from May to December.

Again, it is important to understand that rising imports mean expanded sales by and opportunities for U.S. firms, while increasing imports signals at least some life in the domestic economy, that is, consumers and businesses are buying more imported consumer and capital goods and services.

If you’re an optimist seeking hopeful signs in this tough economy and harsh policy climate, then trade is the place to look. Now all we need is for the President to follow up with his pro-trade rhetoric in the State of the Union with pro-trade policy actions.

We reported last week on the efforts of several states (Texas being the latest to file suit) to stop Environmental Protection Agency regulation of greenhouse gases. The reasons are many, including devastating impacts on the economy.

Add a few more powerful players to the mix — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and a leading Senate committee member. Both want to employ the Congressional Review Act. Here is an explanation:

Barbour is floating a draft letter to governors at their winter meeting asking Congress to use the Congressional Review Act to reject EPA’s endangerment finding. That finding cites climate change as a risk to public health and welfare, which the agency is using as justification for pursuing regulations.

"In addition to placing heavy administrative burdens on state environmental quality agencies, regulating greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act will be costly to consumers and hurt the U.S. economy, resulting in job losses," according to Barbour’s draft.

This echoes an effort by Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Lisa Murkowski, who is expected to call for a vote on a resolution in March to use the Congressional Review Act to block EPA, spokesman Robert Dillon said.

She needs 51 votes and has 40 co-sponsors for her disapproval resolution, including three Democrats led by Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln.

Murkowski’s effort, and those by Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton and others in the House, are not expected to be successful, given Democratic control of Congress and opposition from the president, who could veto a resolution even if it gets through both chambers.

But it continues to raise the argument that efforts by the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders to limit U.S. greenhouse gases are serious threats to the economy heading into this fall’s elections. 

Even though we have been heavily involved in candidate recruitment this election cycle, the candidate filing period was full of surprises and plenty of candidates wanting to serve Indiana at the Indiana Statehouse and the U.S. Capitol.

Here is the complete list of filings (PDF).

We will write more analysis next week, but here are some early highlights:

• Eighty-three candidates filed for U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives. Someone pull out the history book and tell me the last time the party holding an open U.S. Senate seat did not have a candidate on the primary ballot.
• U.S. Senator Bayh, Congressman Steve Buyer and Congressman Brad Ellsworth will not be returning to Washington in their current seat. Ellsworth is vacating his congressional seat for a run at the open U.S. Senate seat.
• The early scoreboard on the race for control of the Indiana House is 30-11 for the Republicans. There are 30 districts currently held by a Republican without a Democratic challenger and 11 uncontested for the Democrats. Each party has until June 30 to fill a ballot vacancy for the general election.
• The Senate scoreboard is 23-10 for the Republicans. This includes seats not up until 2012 (Republicans control 18 of those 25 seats).
• There are eight contested primaries in the Senate. Three are on the Democratic side and five on the Republican side.
• There are 38 contested primaries in the House. Ten are on the Democratic side and 28 on the Republican side.
• Sue Errington and John Waterman are the only two incumbent senators with a primary.
• There are 19 House incumbents with a primary: Charlie Brown, Dan Stevenson, Chet Dobis, Don Lehe, Doug Gutwein, David Wolkins, Shelli VanDenburgh, Tom Dermody, Bill Ruppel, Bill Friend, Jack Lutz, Jacque Clements, Tim Brown, Dan Leonard, Dick Dodge, Tom Knollman, Woody Burton, Phyllis Pond and Mary Ann Sullivan.
• There were a total of 263 candidates that filed for the Indiana General Assembly.
• Only 17.1% of the candidates were women.

Look for more analysis over the next several days on candidate filings. Please feel free to add to the conversation and post your comments or questions.

Our next BizVoice magazine (available online February 26) features four Northwest Indiana leaders talking about what it’s going to take for the Region to thrive economically. Extension of the South Shore rail service (a mainstay from South Bend to Chicago and stops inbetween) is part of the discussion, but the following didn’t make the final cut for the story.

Leigh Morris, who is chairman of the Northwest Indiana RDA (that’s Regional Development Authority) and oversees the Indiana Toll Road for the state Department of Transportation, noted the two proposed South Shore extensions are "from Hammond south through Munster and down to Lowell and Crown Point; the other one is an extension from the main line down to Valparaiso in Porter County."

As for the timelines, Morris adds, "Both of these projects are in the process of feasibility evaluations and studies. There are a variety of issues that have to be addressed. The RDA’s position is that both of these routes must be studied sumultaneously. We may do one before the other, but it is not one or the other; it’s both."

With existing rail corridors in place for both, "they could happen fairly expeditiously, within a five-year time frame. One or both could be well underway or even in operation in that time frame. A lot of that depends on being able to assemble the dollars that are involved (more than a billion through regional, state and federal resources).

The public reaction, in Porter County in particular, has been negative as the message about affordability (50% federal match) and economic development opportunities has been overshadowed by that nasty three letter word — tax.

Morris summarizes: "We’ve allowed people to think that we’re going to extend these railroad tracks down here, and there will be a bunch of people getting on the train and going to Chicago. It’s so much more than that. This is the catalyst that will cause major new investment and the creation of new sustainability in our communities."

On the passenger and freight side, Morris offers an interesting tidbit. "We have probably the single most congested piece of rail in the entire national on the Norfolk Southern between Porter, Indiana and Chicago." Stimulus funding is pending to address that.

Read this story and more from Northwest Indiana (and from both K-12 and higher education) in the March-April BizVoice.

In his recent Economic Club of Indiana speech, education reformer Kevin Chavous offered a pretty simple criteria he uses to determine if he will support a new education initiative. If it helps students learn, it’s got his support.

I have a feeling Chavous likes this one. Sure, the details are yet to be played out and a pilot program will debut in 2011in eight states, but letting qualified students leave high school early (after two years) to begin college seems to have strong possibilities. As some excerpts from news articles below explain, others may pass the required tests but opt to stay to engage in more college preparation. Something that offers options and opportunities has the makings of a winner.

Kentucky, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont will participate in the program, which will be operated through the National Center on Education and the Economy in Washington, D.C. A grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will pay for the pilot program.

It’s scheduled to begin in the 2011-2012 school year, with 10 to 20 high schools participating in each of the eight states. It’s not yet known which Kentucky schools might join the program, the state department of education said.

Marc Tucker, president of the National Center for Education and the Economy, said the effort ultimately would "prepare dramatically more students for college success, and greatly reduce the high number of students who now take remedial courses in college."

The program wouldn’t be for everybody, but could appeal to young, high-achieving students who are bored with high school and want to move on, said Cindy Heine, associate executive director of Kentucky’s Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

"We’ve been concerned for many years about students who find high school to be not challenging enough or irrelevant for their future plans," Heine said. "This could be a good option, because they could move right on into really relevant material for future jobs or other opportunities."

Each state participating in the initiative would approve as many as five "board examination" programs, such as the the College Board’s Advanced Placement program or the ACT’s QualityCore.

High school students in those states could then take one of the exams at the end of 10th grade. Those who passed would receive a high school diploma, and could choose to enroll as full-time students in any two- or four-year, open-enrollment college in their state without having to take remedial courses, officials said.

Sophomores who passed the exams also could elect to stay in high school and take classes designed to prepare them for selective college enrollment later on.

Looking back at the times I rode the school bus during my high school years reminds me of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – not the Clint Eastwood movie, but my own version. There was the good (spending time with friends), the bad (rowdy passengers) and the ugly (I’ll never forget the time an unsuspecting upper classman making his way on board was greeted with a chorus of, “Junior on the bus!”; apparently, it wasn’t cool to ride the bus past the age of 16). But what could have made those trips pass more quickly and perhaps curbed some of the mischief was riding bus No. 92 – known as the Internet Bus – in Arizona.

According to a New York Times story, a district – comprised of 18 schools and 10,000 students – mounted a mobile Internet router onto one of its buses last fall with the goal of reducing misbehavior and enhancing students’ academic performance. It’s working. Officials are finding that students are making more of an effort to complete homework assignments during long commutes to school (the one mentioned above has a 70-minute route each way) and on the way to sporting events. Plus, they are less likely to hassle one another because the technology provides a distraction.

The investment was relatively minor, given the potential returns: $200 for the router and a $60 per month Internet service contract. Schools and districts in Florida, Missouri and Washington, D.C. also are planning to take advantage of the technology, provided by a company called Autonet Mobile.

Now, I know disobedience won’t magically disappear and kids won’t automatically become dedicated students just because Internet access is available. But, so far, it’s making a difference on bus No. 92. Maybe somewhere, there’s a “junior on the bus” tuning out the mocking chatter by picking up his laptop and escaping into something educational.