Category: General

A new site, Communintelligence has launched as the “Communications and PR Knowledge Portal”.

It’s promoted by an Iowa based marketing communications company:

“Communitelligence.com is a new knowledge-sharing portal built and supported by communication leaders, associations, schools and businesses. Our goal is to help improve organizational and human communication by giving Communication, PR and Marketing professionals instant access to expert-led knowledge communities, learning events, resources, associations, schools and businesses. The site uses leading-edge self-publishing technologies to allow topic experts and members to build comprehensive, ever-evolving, wisdom-sharing communities on key communication topics, from internal communication to intranets to visual literacy and writing.”

It’s worth a look.

Footnote:

I see a certain PR blogger’s firm is a featured listing on the site!

 

Mike Manuel points to a new PR blogger Giovanni Rodriguez from Eastwick Communications.

I have come to the conclusion that my parents didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time debating what to call me.  I mean ‘Tom Murphy’ isn’t exactly exotic or unique.

A cursory search on Google brings up PR people, politicians, software developers and playwrights.

Earlier today I came across a blog from another Tom Murphy called “Representative Press” which covers motives for 9/11 and attacks on President Bush.

There’s no biographical details, but just in case you thought I had a side line on political intrigue… I haven’t.

Back in August I took a look at a whole host of different tools that can help with your day-to-day productivity.

The release of the beta Google desktop adds yet another tool to the mix.  There’s been a lot of comments on the new search tool, here’s my two cents.

First up, to dispel a myth, Google desktop works with Firebird/Mozilla just fine.

As a search tool, Google desktop doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of X1 or DT Search but it doesn’t matter in my opinion.

The advantage of Google desktop is that it’s fast, works as part of your daily browsing habit and doesn’t take over your computer.

I’m already a fan. When I am researching something I primarily use Google, when the results come back, at the top of the page, are results from my hard drive. This has already saved me a lot of time.  It only searches Outlook/Outlook Express e-mail, Office documents and Text files but for my purposes that’s perfect.  It also keeps a record of previous websites you’ve visited (you can turn it off) which is a real productivity feature if you’re browsing a lot.

X1 and DT Search give you more powerful features, but if you’re looking for a tool that will save you time finding information in Microsoft Office and Outlook then I recommend this tool.

It is fast and sits nicely with your existing work practices.

Footnote:

Google have also just released an SMS search facility for US mobile phone users.

Jeremy Pepper has posted a story on Robert French, professor of Public Relations and multimedia at Auburn University in Alabama.

Robert requires all his students to blog as part of their course.  That is a great initiative to get students understanding the dynamics of online communication.

Take a look.

Footnote:

Happy birthday to Jeremy on Thursday. I beat him by a day!

How far would you go to protect your brand? Can you censure a customer for their use of your product?

Jim Horton has an interesting example.

BMW have sent a cease-and-desist letter to a porno search engine which displays (amongst other things) photographs of an adult nature which include BMW cars. The site is dismissing BMW’s claims…

“As far as we know, we haven’t done anything wrong. Our search engine is a navigational aid. We provide a way for our users to locate galleries as quickly and conveniently as possible. If we give in to BMW’s claim, other search engines will have a problem as well.” according to Chief Marketing Mike Schwalbach.” 

If you can’t find a blog that covers a particular area that you’re interested in, then start one.

Rick Charles has done just that with his new blog: The Buttonwood Tree which will focus on Investor Relations and Financial PR. 

Craig Silverman has created a new blog that tracks newspaper corrections!

Footnote:

Thanks for Kevin Dugan for the link.

The nature and techniques of Public Relations have changed a lot over the past few years. These changes have impacted every area of the profession from internal communications to community relations, investor relations and of course the most high profile practice area, Media Relations.

Whisper it very softly, but we’re not just talking about blogs, we’re talking about e-mail, instant messaging, changing audience behaviors etc.  The one common element is that all PR pros need to be aware of these changes and how they impact their outreach programs.

On the media relations front, ClickZ’s Executive Editor Rebecca Lieb has a piece on the changes in the media relations area and of course the one constant, troublesome PR people!

On a related note, Rebecca’s colleague, Pamela Parker recently took part in a PRSA online seminar on blogging (with Steve Rubel), her presentation [PowerPoint] covers how blogs impact traditional journalism.  It’s available online and is worth a read.

Like most people, the number of documents and e-mails I deal with grows on a daily basis. 

Trying to manage those documents and find the information hidden in them quickly becomes a major challenge. Well relief may be at hand…

Google have announced the first beta of its desktop search engine.  It’s only just been released so it’s too early to review it, but its worth a look at the very least!

Google searches on your computer – sounds like heaven!

You can download it here.