Silverstein’s private firm has become responsible for managing the nexus where the private sector and public sector often clash most, from insurance claims turning into protracted legal battles to public outcries over building plans. The veritable boatload of bad press suffered by Silverstein himself and the controversy of the tower plans and pace of development have made it an uphill media battle for the hearts and minds of angry New Yorkers.
Silverstein Properties hinges their media campaign on face-to-face interaction targeting the local community. Here, their website serves as their primary -- and often only -- tool for self-promotion via new media. (Image from http://www.7wtcevents.com/)
what they do online
Deitrich sat in front of a computer, ready to show his company’s website and prove a point: it’s better than what you think. He revealed a number of media projects Silverstein Properties has been promoting. These have included inviting young photographers from around the world to document the current site as well as incorporating continuously streaming prose and poetry on New York City’s history in the lobby installation of 7 World Trade Center.
According to Rebecca Shalamoff, the New Media and Communications Manager at Silverstein Properties, the website is their main – and often only – point of online interaction with the public. They focus on “creating a resource where people can use whatever information we have about the project.” That includes photographs, videos, and an updated section of good press. “I do many other things, but if we’re just focusing on new media,” Shalamoff explains, then they use the website “just as a resource [to] try to give exposure, to get people involved in the project, linking up to other websites, posting new stories, responding to enquirers.”
7 World Trade Center has become their primary point of interaction where “just having events where we display [artisans’] work” becomes a focal point. “A lot of what we do is tied to the community so as much as we can engage and bring people to events at the building we do.” For that, they have created a dedicated website for 7 World Trade Center, functioning the way a website for a restaurant, bar or any other event space would; a ready space to use, without mention of the tortured history or surrounding construction sites. With the space becoming more known, “a lot of people are coming to us” says Shalamoff.
what they don’t and probably won’t do
When it comes to truly reaching out, however, what Deitrich did not show when going through the company’s website is telling: no Facebook page, no Twitter feed, neither Friendster nor MySpace and no blog.
Shalamoff’s reasoning for this is clear, “Yeah, we could get a bunch of fans out there, but what are they going to do for us? At the end of the day, it’s reaching to the people in [key] positions that can help us.” Those key people include members of “community boards, the downtown business alliance, downtown art groups, you know, other businesses in the area.” To reach them, their website provides an online presence, but most of their engaging happens via email and telephone calls. Mostly, they set up meetings for more face-to-face time; “I think that’s the big thing.”
“It’s a big treat for a lot of people just to come to visit the building and take pictures.” This, above other media efforts, has been most successful according to Shalamoff. The international photographer project that Dietrich showed, for example, “was good” according to Shalamoff, “but it didn’t have a huge impact on the company’s reputation.”
Online, one of most challenging aspects of maintaining the website has been keeping up with the news and selecting the best stories because there are so many stories and so much bad press. For that same reason, the hesitancy to do more online is clear: “Because Larry Silverstein has been vilified over the years, we have to be careful because a lot of people are against us, because it’s such a controversial project [and] because it’s so polarized, why would we want to feed that?”
Shalamoff recounted one story where someone set up a Twitter account for Larry Silverstein. After one or two tweets, “a blog said it wasn’t active, so people said nothing was happening at the World Trace Center.” In comparing Silverstein Properties media strategy to that of non-profits or NGOs, she noted “it’s different than just an organization that has just a general positive image. We’re opening ourselves up to detractors.”
While maintaining updated photographs of the project’s progress has been one of the most successful aspects of the website, especially for people outside of New York, but the company tries to stay away from publishing definitive plans. “We don’t want to put things on there with a date and then people say look, it’s not happening.”
In addition to an angry public, the company is also worried about a greater online presence leading to friction between its partners. “In some situations we don’t want our opinions to be publically known, which is why we never did a blog because if we did that then we would have to address any issue that comes out.” For example, if one of the company’s partners undertakes an initiative, “and if our reaction is basically that it isn’t a smart thing to do, we wouldn’t want that known. It prevents a good partnership from being able to work together well.”
There are also legal concerns: “If you made it public about the proceedings that are going on, especially since we’ve been in arbitration, it goes to legal, so if we say or do something it could come up in another issue.”
www.wtc.com documentary arts project
future plans
For now, future online plans include possibly revamping the current website for a “fresh look” with more flash elements. This year, the company considered setting up a Facebook page and a Twitter account, but they again concluded there was little value to it. “The truth is we never really gave it a shot, so I don’t know how well we can say that it worked or failed for us; but it’s not enough that we felt like it was something even worth doing.”
What Dietrich ultimately laments is the lack of public support that may not help with the strategic development of the company, but it could possibly quell a few rumors and abate a bit of the bad press. A greater online presence could help us all with the image that comes to mind when we think of the WTC reconstruction efforts.
lessons for the non-profit world
It is hard to think of a non-profit or NGO involved in a project as controversial as the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site, or underneath the aegis of a man as disparaged as Larry Silverstein, but there are still a few lessons nonprofits can glean from Silverstein Properties.
What not to do: Is silence really golden?
A firm with more access to capital and financial backing than most non-profits can dream of can have all the material resources it needs to create the best and most exhaustive online presence possible. Ultimately, though, it might not be worth it. Time and energy may best be spent offline, picking up the phone, setting up a meeting and going out for face-to-face over Facebook interaction.
What to do:
In conjunction with the face-to-face interaction, while they may not be on Facebook or Twitter, Silverstein properties still puts a lot of energy into a designing and maintaining a solid website. It has become an effective reference point for the local community and those who want to be in touch with them and want to use the space that the company is offering.
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Michael Cervieri
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