Category: General

• Keyoe
  (tags: pocketpc health)
• Scribd
  (tags: web2.0 tools ebooks writing)
• trendwatching.com: INNOVATION AVALANCHE
  (tags: Innovation web2.0)
• The Essential Guide to Social Media
  (tags: web2.0 PR marketing)
• Brand Identity: The Guardian (UK) Style Guide
  (tags: media)

• 10 Ways To Game Like It's 1989 – Epic Time Waster – Download Squad
  (tags: games)

I feel a rant bubbling under the surface, but I don’t currently have time or energy to give it the wrath it deserves, so I’ll desist for the moment.

If you read PR blogs, you’ll know that there’s another (yes another) little firestorm brewing on the subject of "the death of Public Relations" – well I say public relations but given many of the "knowledgeable" muppets writing these death posts don’t really have a grasp of what "Public Relations" is, what we’re really talking about is media relations.

While I go and implement my proven deep breathing heart attack avoidance exercises, I’m providing a list of some of the content (both pro- and anti- ).

• PR-Less Pitches  – Peter Himler
• PR-Less launch kicks off a stack overflow of praise – Robert Scoble
• Why hire a PR firm – Todd Defren
• Does good tech need PR? – Marshall Kirkpatrick
• The PR roadblock on the road to blissful blogging – Michael Arrington
• PR is not dead – Brian Solis
• Can I get a big cup of STFU please – Jeremy Pepper
• Jeremy Pepper makes sense – Frank X. Shaw [Supplemental: Communications Evolution, again]
• Does the thrill of the chase make PR obsolete – Steve Rubel
• How Digital PR is changing – Drew B
• The changing role of Public Relations – Mark Hopkins
• PR is dead (again) – Morgan McLintic

 

Bonus links (not death related)

• By far the most amusing PR Week election post  by Geoff Livingston
• Learning from Dell’s experiment with Twitter – Neville Hobson

You know sometimes you sit back and wonder at what is exactly going through someone’s mind before they hit the send button.  It’s another reason why it’s so hard to defend our profession.  Click over to Kevin Dugan for more.

 

Andrew Bruce Smith piles on the pain with a report from Matthew Gwyther, Editor at UK magazine Management Today:

And they’re not all spam offering me four gross of Cialis for $129.99, or a chance-of-a-lifetime opportunity to help some West African whose father has sadly passed away and who needs help getting his secret stash out of the country. No – they’re mostly no-hope press releases from desperate PRs.

 

 

Do you know the four models of Public Relations? Jump over the Bill Sledzik and find out.

 

 

Shel Holtz argues that whilst there may be good reasons for CEOs not to blog, time isn’t one of them. [Bonus link: great video on internal communications – or the lack of it!]

 

 

John Bell has written a thougful piece on "Future PR Skills".

Time would be better spent sharpening our skills on designing and running integrated marcom programs that include all disciplines. Is PR really ready for this leadership role?

 

 

Kami Huyse has a link to Dr. Karen Russell’s presentation on looking at the history of PR (and specifically Ivy Lee’s declaration of principles).

 

 

Filed under interesting.  Neville Hobson reports that Dell used Twitter to field media questions at a global launch today.

Well with three hours polling left, it appears that, not unexpectedly, "Murphy’s Law" has been defeated in the first round of the PR Week blog poll.

BUT… a big thank you to the 200+ people who kindly took the time to vote, I can re-assure you, I am bloodied but unbowed 🙂

Best of luck to the rest of the competitors and of course to the Intake blog which kicked my butt!

To celebrate its tenth anniversary PR Week is hosting a competition to find the most popular PR blog.

Keith O’Brien and the team at PR Week have selected 32 blogs.

[Actually they selected 16 and then asked those 16 bloggers to nominate 16 others, so given I wasn’t asked to select a blog, one of the final sixteen was kind enough to nominate this blog – probably in a sly move to ensure weaker competition 🙂 ]

Given the calibre of the short list, I’m not sure that this blog can survive in such esteemed company, but following the inspiration of Professor David Weinbaum: "while it’s important to win, it’s imperative to compete" :-)   

If you feel like upsetting the odds do wander over here to vote. 

Voting opens on Sunday, August 10th, 2008 at 9pm and closes on Tuesday, August 12th at midnight.

I’m tempted to echo the sentiments of the Chicago politician who exorted their followers to "vote early and often" – but that’s (ahem) below me….

From a purely professional point of view, even if you don’t feel like voting, do visit the short-listed blogs, all of which are great sources of information, thoughts and opinions on the practice of Public Relations:

1. Andy Lark
2. Bite Communications
3. Brian Solis
4. Cone
5. Daniel Lally
6. Drew Kerr
7. Ed Moed
8. Frank X. Shaw
9. Insidedge
10. Jeremy Pepper
11. John Bell
12. Kami Huyse
13. Katie Paine
14. Kevin Dugan & Richard Laermer
15. Livingston Communications
16. Lois Paul & Partners
17. Mark Rose
18. My Creative Team
19. Neville Hobson
20. Peter Himler
21. Phil Gomes
22. Renee Blodgett
23. Richard Edelman
24. Rodger Johnson
25. Rohit Bhargava
26. Sage Circle
27. Shel Holtz
28. Steve Rubel
29. Tim Dyson
30. Todd Defren
31. Tom Murphy
32. Voce Communications

 

I am wading through oodles of RSS feeds and e-mails, here are some things that caught my eye..

 

Filed under: "Rare as hen’s teeth": It is often impossible to find nice things written about our profession online.  Well ladies and gentlemen, we have one!  Shel Holtz has a great example of good work from a PR person, in this case Jim Babb at Circuit City.

The story took a turn for the great, though, when Jim Babb, who works in Circuit City’s corporate communications department in Richmond, Virginia, sent a note to Consumerist. The note is a lesson in how to handle what could have turned into a significant annoyance for Circuit City (the story got 1,935 Diggs, for example, and was covered in an AP story) featuring charges of censorship and allusions to the First Amendment.

 

[Aside: Shel has also  published a comprehensive list of social media resources. Worth a look.]

 

 

Via the bitemarks blog: A report from Jupiter Research has found that less than 5% of of advertisers’ online budgets are going into "social marketing" in 2008.  Some growth potential there I imagine.

 

 

Eoin Kennedy from Slattery Communications (and one of our PR firms in Ireland) has blogged about a new Facebook application they’ve created.  Get Creative provides a respository of creative ideas for marketing or PR programmes.

It is currently in beta testing on Facebook but the philosophy behind it is that you can search for ideas, add your own and comment on other peoples contributions to give them further life. Launched internally we have found that it helps people to start thinking more creatively and watching what trends, ideas and initiatives are happening all around them. It was born out of frustration of thinking up great ideas which disappeared into the far recesses of your mind before you could full capture them. It will be an interesting test of collaboration amongst the public relations, marketing and advertising sectors.

 

 

So the SEC has provided updated disclosure guidance. Neville Hobson has a good, detailed post on the subject.

 

 

ReadWriteWeb has a post on the "future of blogging revealed".  The future or a nightmare? Who has the time? The idle rich? Save me.

Well just back from holidays.

Work and no doubt a very full desk await on Monday morning.

I don’t know about elsewhere, but Dublin has been experiencing incredible rain today (when a person in Ireland calls a spell of rain out of the ordinary, you know it’s bad).

Leitrim, August 2008

Well I am delighted to inform you that I am off for two week’s holiday to the wilds of Ireland with no Interweb, RSS feeds, twitters or e-mail.

See you around the 11th of August…

Trevor Cook has a very interesting post titled "The revolution may not be blogged" which ponders whether the "new media revolution" has stalled somewhat.

Moreover, when they do blog organisations, like Telstra, often find it extraordinarily difficult to see their social media efforts as anything more than just another way to get out messages and push products. In the hands of a PR pro, the opportunity to bypass the ‘media gateway’ can just mean an open invitation to pump out unfiltered propaganda.

Overtime, more organisations will adopt social media tools and they will have to become just a little more open, transparent and accountable to get the full benefit. Sadly, it will be a slow process.

More on Trevor’s blog.

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Heather Yaxley has a great post on "fast" and "slow" Public Relations.

Everyone in PR should know that quick reactions are required when called by media working to deadlines – this Fast PR is even more important in ensuring online media audiences get their fix of Fast News. 

But we also need good old fashioned Slow PR skills in building relationships, identifying possible feature articles, developing individual angles and stories, thinking outside our traditional media relations focus and taking the time to be accurate, informative and effective.

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Bill Sledzik continues his recent strong run with a post on what PR is not..

 

Public Relations is NOT… Advertising… Promotion… Publicity… Media relations… Public affairs… Selling… Marketing…

 

Read the full post here.

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This blog is operated under the "greenhouse code", particularly when dealing with the "outing" of PR people.  Well you just never know do you?  You might be tired one morning, send a sloppy e-mail and next thing you’re RSS-meat of the week.

Mark Rose takes the New York Times’ Joe Nocera to task for Nocera’s outing of a PR person who was pitching on behalf of a manufacturer of "juvenile transportation devices" – I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Fair play for Rose, but the use of the phrase "children have become fashion accessories" is at the very least ill advised.

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Finally, it’s Friday… New Media Douchebag  [Hat tip to Lee Hopkins]