Month: March 2006

Housekeeping…

Tom Murphy

Couple of items I meant to post on previously…

Blogs… they grow up so fast…

Tom Murphy

Since last Friday my blog has reached a stage of development where according to Wikipedia you should start to notice the following changes in tone and behaviour:

  • Delights in wordplay
  • Produces elaborate sentence structures
  • Speech is almost entirely intelligible
  • Changes tone of voice and sentence structure to adapt to listener’s level of under-standing
  • Outgoing; friendly; overly enthusiastic at times
  • Moods change rapidly and unpredictably: may throw tantrum over minor frustrations; sulk over being left out
  • Imaginary playmates or companions are common
  • Boasts, exaggerates, and “bends” the truth with made-up stories or claims of boldness
  • Cooperates with others; participates in group activities.
  • Often appears selfish
  • Insists on trying to do things independently
  • Relies on verbal rather than physical aggression
  • Name-calling and taunting are often used

    • Should be an interesting year.

    Movable Type Weirdness…

    Tom Murphy

    Once again proving that one should actually listen to the wisdom of their elders, I ignored the old adage: “if it ain’t broke..” and now my templates and archives are in an state of major chassis. Don’t worry if they look odd, it’s by design…

    Update:
    Hurrah! All fixed!

    PR Miscellany – March 2006

    Tom Murphy
  • “Citizen journalism won’t supplant professional journalism, but it may actually professionalise it”. [Niall Cook]
  • Josh Hallett on the PR blogger lifecycle.
  • The Hobson & Holtz Report: #123, #122 & #121
  • Dedicated PR Blog Practices?… for the love of all things pure and simple… remember the bubble, remember the BUBBLE…
  • Shel Holtz with some much needed common sense on podcasting…
  • Morgan McLintic offers some advice on getting a job in PR.
  • Todd Defren believes that the traditional models from International PR are broken. Morgan McLintic adds his viewpoint. There is no easy answer to International PR – regardless of what anyone tells you.
  • John Wagner offers some more common sense on remembering the customer and the inherent benefits of doing a good job!
  • PR websites suck… has it ever been any different??

    • Delivering the New PR – London Calling..

    Tom Murphy

    The third in the series of University of Sunderland’s “Delivering the New PR” events takes place in the London Marriot in Regents Park on May 12, 2006.

    The event follows on from successful outings in Sunderland and Manchester.

    The speaker line up will include:

  • Elizabeth Albrycht
  • Stuart Bruce
  • Nevile Hobson
  • Philip Young
  • Me!

    • If you’re in London on May 12 and would be interested in finding out more, click here.

    Ethically promoting a PR blog… c'mon kids…

    Tom Murphy

    If you have an Internet browser or an RSS reader and you have even the most passing interest in PR blogs you can’t fail to have noticed the launch of a US-Style Spin Bunny [RIP] blog.

    It’s called “Strumpette” and it bills itself as follows:

    “What you’ll find here is an honest treatment of the PR business. Why? Because there really isn’t one. Some are sure to argue that point. Fact is it’s quite rare.”

    Then the first post goes after Mr. Rubel.

    Guess what, the gambit works and the blog has got more blog link loving than Trent Lott. But some people are appalled at the cheap shot at promoting the blog. Some bloggers are questioning the ethics….

    Look a little dose of reality is needed here.

    I don’t trust anonymous blogs full stop. If you don’t have the cojones to publicly stand over your posts why should I believe it?

    Secondly kids, this is the blogosphere, your efforts at chiding the author of Strumpette only make its rankings go higher (as I am doing right now).

    Thirdly some people are attacking Strumpette for shameless promotion. Oh Lord. Here’s some advice, can all the PR bloggers posting about Stumpette’s shameless, unethical, self-promotion please step out of the greenhouse with your hands in the air. A number of people taking the moral high ground on this issue are barely two inches from sea level.

    So to summarize:

  • Do I agree with Strumpette? Nah.
  • Do I like anonymous blogs? Nah.
  • Did I read the post? Yep.
  • Will I read it in the future? Yep.
  • Do I give it much weight? Nope.

    • But it’s a diversion… now can everyone get back to trying to work out how to get a higher PubSub ranking.

    Sick of the Edelman-Wal-Mart stuff?

    Tom Murphy

    What more is to be said on the topic that has taken up more pixels than anything else in the PR world this week? Not a lot… complete transparency, as always is a key constituent of blog relations. Here’s a round-up of many of the posts and podcasts…

    From the herd…

    Funniest image…