Mary Beth Kemp at Forrestor Research recently published her notes from a recent talk entitled “What Role for the CMO in Social? The Research.” Its a great summary of the various practical ways that CMO’s in companies can use social media. As I read the article, I realised that over the last 2 years, thrudigital has helped organisations (some huge multinationals, and some small businesses)  to do every single one of these.

When prospective clients ask what we can do, sometimes its difficult to explain, because “social media” brings different value to different parts of the organisation. For the PR team, it might be reducing the cost of traditional PR by engaging leading bloggers. For the customer service team it might be about finding out the problems customers are having with your products. For the product team, it might be about bringing 1000 customers together in a private community to co-create a new product design. For the executive team, it might be about delivering high-level reports giving insight on the competitive positioning of the organisation in the minds of the masses. And I could go on…

Social media is not a tool, and it is not even a new playground. Often its not “social”, and sometimes it hardly involves “media”. It is not a hat that one person in the organisation can wear, and take off when they go home. Its a term that is pathetically indefinable, and certainly overused. But as many organisations are starting to find out, this new landscape, where messages are not broadcast but conversational by default, where the market is comprised of millions of publishers not just consumers, where networks and groups are almost instantly creating, and dissolved, around topics both mainstream and niche.

What it requires from organisations is not a new campaign, but change. Every social media project we have been involved in has required a change of process, structure, or behaviour by the organisation in order to be most effective. Yes, its difficult. But companies all over the world are managing it.

Exciting times.

At thrudigital, we have worked on a number of public sector contracts (including the Number 10 Facebook app, and websites and widget delivery systems for the NHS and its member organisations). And we are very excited about the opening up of government data, so that developers can build applications and services on top. Power to the people, and all that…

So whilst doing our duty and monitoring our government’s discussions through the wonderfully open Hansard (a record of all Parliament and House of Lords discussions), we came across this beauty, and felt compelled to share it (our favourites are underlined).

House of Lords – Wednesday, 3 March 2010

Asked By Baroness Finlay of Llandaff

To ask the Chairman of Committees what measures are being considered to improve pest control in the Lords’ part of the Palace of Westminster.

The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): My Lords, the administration is fully aware of the problem with mice in the Palace of Westminster and is taking all appropriate measures to minimise their numbers. We retain the services of an independent pest control consultant and a full-time pest controller. The current focus is on poisoning and trapping, blocking of mouse access points, and more frequent cleaning of bars and restaurants to remove food debris. This programme was intensified over the February Recess and fewer sightings of mice have been reported since.

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: I thank the noble Lord for his reply. How many calls have there been to the mouse helpline? Has the accuracy of that information been checked, given that the staff report seeing mice on a daily basis at the moment in the eating areas? Has consideration been given to having hypoallergenic cats on the estate, given the history? Miss Wilson, when she was a resident superintendent in this Palace, had a cat that apparently caught up to 60 mice a night. The corpses were then swept up in the morning. Finally, does the noble Lord recognise the fire hazard that mice pose, because they eat through insulating cables? It would be a tragedy for this beautiful Palace to burn down for lack of a cat.

The Chairman of Committees: My Lords, there are a number of questions there. I cannot give an answer to the number of calls made to the mouse helpline-if that is its title. I suspect that it would not be a good use of resources to count them up. But I am well aware of the problem of mice, as I said in my Answer. It is something that we take seriously.

As for getting a cat, I answered a Question from the noble Lord, Lord Elton, last week on this matter. I was not aware that such a thing as a hypoallergenic cat existed-I do not know whether our cat at home is one of those. There are a number of reasons why it is not a good idea to have cats. First, they would ingest mouse poison when eating poisoned mice, which would not be very nice for them, and there would be nothing to keep them where they are needed or stop them walking around the House on desks in offices or on tables in restaurants and bars-and maybe even in the Chamber itself. Therefore, we have ruled out at this stage the possibility of acquiring a cat, or cats.

Lord Bradshaw: I have spoken continually to the staff in the eating places in the House and I acknowledge that there has been some diminution in the number of mice around. But could I press the noble Lord, because further action needs to be taken? I know that this is an old building, but mice are still here and we are talking about places where food is served. I have no magic solution, but perhaps the consultant who is being employed might have some answers.

The Chairman of Committees: My Lords, I am well aware that there are still mice around. I saw one in the Bishops’ Bar only yesterday evening. I do not know whether it was the same one that I saw the day before or a different one; it is always difficult to tell the difference between the various mice that one sees.

We believe that the problem is getting better. Cleaning is one of the measures we are taking, as I outlined in my original Answer. As I speak here this afternoon, the Bishops’ Bar and the Guest Room are being hoovered, so we can get rid of the food scraps from lunch. If you were a mouse, you would rather eat the crumbs of a smoked salmon sandwich than the bait. Therefore, we want to remove the crumbs as quickly as possible.

Lord Pilkington of Oxenford: Why should I and noble Lords trust the Executive to deal with mice when they cannot deal with the economy?

The Chairman of Committees: My Lords, I do not actually deal with the economy. I am glad to say that that would be above my pay grade, whereas trying to deal with the mice is probably just about right for me.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: My Lords, I was in total ignorance that there was anything of the nature of a mouse helpline until this Question Time. Can the Chairman of Committees tell us what helplines there are for Members of the House on other issues that we do not know about?

The Chairman of Committees: I rather hope that we do not have too many other ones. I was not going to advertise the existence of the mouse helpline, although it was advertised some time ago. Indeed, I invited Members of the House to telephone when they saw mice. The trouble is that when the person at the other end of the helpline goes to check this out, very often the mouse has gone elsewhere.

OMG. Suddenly a hung parliament seems the least of our worries…