Category: General

Welcome to the online archive of the PR Opinions weblog.

I hosted PR Opinions from March 2002 to August 2006.  Here you’ll find over 1,400 PR-related posts and comments.

You can find my latest posts here:

http://www.tpemurphy.com/blog

 

From March 2002 to August 2006 I hosted the PR Opinions weblog, which not surprisingly covered the subject of Public Relations.

I’ve migrated all the 1,400 posts, rants, and comments from the original PR Opinions site to WordPress and you can view and search the complete archive here:

http://www.tpemurphy.com/propinions/

The latest release out of the Windows Live stable is a beta of Windows Live Writer, a new desktop application for publishing blog posts (and in the future potentially other forms of online content).

Setting aside the fact that the product is from my employer, it’s an interesting application.  It supports all the major blog platforms (WordPress, Moveable Type, Spaces etc.) and along with all the usual formatting options you’d expect, it adds a range of other useful features including the spell checker, WYSIWYG editing and the automatic capability to upload photos to your blog and then add effects to them.

For example:

It also allows you to insert Windows Live Maps and with the release of a Software Development Kit it’s likely there’ll be a raft of plug-ins released that will add even more functionality.

If you’re blogging on Windows it’s definitely worth a look.

Update:

Tim Heuer has already released two new plug-ins for Windows Live Writer. Tag4Writer enables you to add Technorati tags to your post and Flickr4Writer enables you to insert pictures from Flickr.

tags: Windows+Live+Writer

Disclaimer: In an ideal world the opinions I express on this blog and the associated web pages would represent my own personal views and not those of my current, prior or future employers. Of course we know the world is never that simple and I’ll write on this blog with that in mind :).

About this blog

I started this blog back in March 2002.  The original purpose was to try and capture links and content about PR and marketing from around the web.  Unfortunately these days – and 2,400 posts later – I’m not as prolific a blogger as I used to be.

About Tom Murphy

I am originally from Dublin, Ireland but have lived and worked in Washington state in the United States since March 2009.

A big part of my job is digging into how new social technologies and channels intersect with our traditional marketing tools and techniques. So much has changed since I started working in public relations back in 1992, yet the basic fundamentals of great communications have remained constant.

I’ve had the great fortune to work in a range of great in-house and agency roles working with many of the world’s greatest technology brands such as Corel, Gateway, Intel and Microsoft, as well as a range of successful – and of course unsuccessful – independent start-ups. I’ve had fantastic opportunities to work around Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia, North America and Latin America – and along the way worked on the full range of PR and marketing communications functions from strategy to message development, media relations programs, crisis communications, company spokesperson, agency management, corporate social responsibility (CSR), product communications, internal communications, analyst relations, investor relations, stakeholder engagement, and marketing communications.

Thankfully, the one constant through my career has been the opportunity to continuously learn, try new things and drive positive change.

On a personal note, I’m married to the long-suffering Sorcha and we have the world’s best son, Cillian and the world’s best daughter, Anna.

If you want to get in contact:

E-mail: tpemurphy -AT- hotmail.com

Mobile: +1-425-614-614-6

Twitter: @tpemurphy

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tpemurphy

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tpemurphy

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Comment policy: Comments on any of these blogs are moderated. Any comments I deem inappropriate for this blog will be not be posted.  Where those comments are not spam, I will flag that decision with the person who submitted the post. Comments on the PR Opinions blog are closed.

 

I work for Microsoft – it’s always worthwhile to get these things out in the open.

I’m using the new blog features that have been included in the latest beta of 2007 Word to write this post.

Word is obviously still in beta and according to Joe Friend on the Office team [via Neville Hobson] this was a late addition. 

I think it still needs work to make the set up a little easier – and I have had a problem with the date – it defaults to 1970 but given it’s a beta I’m sure that will be ironed out.

Blogging from Word makes a lot of sense to me. But then I would say that wouldn’t I? 🙂

• Listen to your audience: John Scalzi offers a critique of two PR pitches he received for his blog. [Thanks to Trevor Cook]
• For the love of all things holy listen to your audience: Doh!
• Reading for the… well probably not the beach: Philip Young offers some higher end PR reading suggestions.
• A chip on both shoulders: I can’t agree more with John Wagner’s post that it’s helpful to understand both sides of the Agency-Client dynamic. I think the empathy, understanding and insight you get on both sides of the fence is important.
• The New PR: Leaving aside my aversion for the term “PR 2.0” – particularly given the fact that PR 1.2.0.1 isn’t even in beta yet. Fair play to Todd Defren and the folks at Shift Communications who have released a new e-book on the changing PR landscape. It has all the bases covered: blogs, wikis, RSS, social media etc.
• PR 1.2.0.1 now available for download – but it ain’t pretty: 5W PR have created the first “Video PR pitch”… maybe it is actually time for 2.0. [Thanks to David Parmet]

Since I started in PR back in 1991 one of the constant issues I’ve seen discussed and batted around is the low barriers of entry to this profession. The phrase used to be “anyone with a typewriter and a phone”.

Although the professional bodies do a lot of good work there just doesn’t seem to be an appetite for regulation.

I personally think this is one (and only one of many) of the reasons for PR’s poor image. There’s a lot of bumblers out there with no ethics. Astroturfing is a great example. People adopting false identities, creating non-representative representative groups. It’s about as far away from “conversation” as you can get.

There’s some good news. Trevor Cook and Paul Young have kicked off a new anti-astroturfing initiative.

Of course this raises the question, can we stop astroturfing? I fear the answer is no. The very people who run these “campaigns” (and remember typically these campaigns aren’t just B2B PR, normally they are issue of public interest that affect you, your family, friends etc.) are the same people who would never support this. But that doesn’t matter IMHO.

What matters is that PR people are taking the lead in calling out this practice. I hope the next stage will be to publicly attack examples of astroturfing as they emerge.

• PR Bloggers Urged to Fight Against Astroturfing – Trevor Cook
• Join the Astroturfing Campaign – Paul Young
• Join the campaign against astroturfing – Shel Holtz
• Online Behavior & Conduct – Mike Manuel
• You don’t actually need to bottle stupidity [February 2005] – Tom Murphy

This post leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

When a respected PR practitioner, who I have acknolwedged has in many respects been leading the way in online communication (as far as the large agency set go in any respect), takes time to write a pontificating post that takes a swipe at a competitor, I think it smells bad.

Now let’s be clear, GCI were well out of order, whether “Chris” is a Summer intern or an Account Director it doesn’t matter. The comment was ridiculous and shows GCI needs to do a better job educating it’s work force. They deserve a public slapping. We’re clear on that.

However, was that one comment a big enough issue for Mr. Edelman to (shock) publish a second post in a week? Is it an issue that is likely to shake the profession to it’s core? Is it the first time this has happened on a blog? Is there any more room on the pulpit? [Mr. Edelman is not the only one from the agency taking a pop.]

Well the answer to all those questions is no.

It smacks of opportunism.

I think Mr. Edelman should keep the number of a local glazier handy just in case. Maybe he can start writing posts about the everyday “malpractice” that is inflicted on journalists, bloggers and consumers every single day. That would keep him busy.

Chris at GCI, you are a bold boy (and probably not the brightest tool in the box), but I don’t condone the opportunism.

Jaysus what a crowd of preening self-appointed “experts” we have spawned up here on the InterWeb.

Oh you know them….

Dell, an oft maligned target of the Web 2.0 glitterati, have kicked off a blog. Now this is excellent. The company is making an effort to get a voice out on the Internet. Is it perfect? Eh no. Is that the most important thing? No.

What’s most important is they are getting out there. What’s most important is that they are willing to have a discussion.

The reaction from the blogerrati, many of whom are jumping hysterically all over their efforts, belies the immaturity of this thing we call blogging.

Get over it folks.

Well done Dell, keep working on it. Listen to feedback, engage in conversation and learn.

PS:
Some measured commentary from Kevin Dugan, Shel Holtz and Andy Lark.

PPS:
Did I miss the election where all the experts were voted in?