The Business of News Chapter I – The Town Crier Chapter II – The Printing Press and Newspapers Chapter III – Radio Chapter IV – Television Chapter V – The Web Chapter VI – Mobile Alerts Chapter VII – Blogs OK, yes it’s just a crude and simple representation of the evolution of news. My point is that blogs are merely the latest chapter, and not the only means for breaking news today. I think the New York Times…
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Conversation Has Left The Building
Earlier this year, I wrote “The Value of Online Conversations,” to share and talk through my thoughts related to improving the quality of online discussions in the face of potential degradation and decentralization of important online discussions. We live in the era of Social Media, which represents the socialization of content and conversations as well as the creation of communities around thoughts and ideas. People are the hubs of information and we’re witnessing the creation of mini-societies that expand, contract,…
Now is Gone is “Now” an Award Winning Book
What a surprising and incredible way to end an unbelievably tumultuous week. Good friend and co-author Geoff Livingston and I were informed that our book, Now is Gone, was awarded Silver in Axiom’s 2008 Business Book Awards. We tied Linda VandeVrede’s book, Press Releases Are Not a PR Strategy, in the Advertising/Marketing/PR/Event Planning category. More than 400 books were judged for the awards, and a little more than a 100 won medals. The official awards ceremony is in New York…
Should PR Agencies Blog?
Sam Lawrence lit a fire under those in Social Media and PR today by sharing a story about whether or not his PR agency of record should blog about working with Jive Software. Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Brogan, Strumpette, and many others discussed it on Twitter (my favorite place for listening to and joining amazing and insightful conversations.) Sam’s headline says it all, “I want our new PR Agency to blog about us but they don’t want to.” He’s certainly no…
The Value of Online Conversations
No, blogs are not dying. No, blogs are not going away. Blogs will continue to serve as one of the driving forces for the democratization of how content is created, shared, and also internalized. All forms of user-generated content will continue to excel…maybe to a fault. In conjunction with how blogs are continuing to influence the evolution of online conversations, micromedia is also inspiring new forms content creation and in turn, contributing to the spike of mostly irrelevant conversations. Steve…
PR for Startups Now Available as a Free ebook
I recently spoke at an SVASE StartUp University event in San Francisco to discuss PR and how startups can effectively leverage the right strategies, tools and tactics in order to gain visibility at every stage of their growth – without breaking the bank. Early stage and bootstrapped startups must embrace DIY (Do it Yourself) or outsourced PR as their product reaches advanced alpha in order to build strategic visibility without losing precious time. It all starts with answering a several…
New ebook: The Art and Science of Blogger Relations
Happy New Year everyone! The discussion around blogger relations is more relevant now than ever. And quite honestly, with every debate, exploration, and analysis, these conversations only fuel the advancement and improvement of Public Relations overall. It makes us think. Lest we forget, there is a significant percentage of bloggers, reporters, and analysts who think we’re useless – we’re merely spin artists who focus on pitching, blasting, and cranking out poorly written press releases. We contact people without caring or…
PR Advice for Startups
In celebration of Alex Iskold’s brilliant toolbox for startups on Read/Write Web today, I’ve decided to join the conversation to help startups make PR work for them now and in the long term. PR is one of the most misunderstood disciplines in the marketing department and many startup entrepreneurs and even veteran executives are quick to under estimate and under value it, or on the contrary, expect PR to solve all of their marketing needs all with just one email…
Don’t Throw Out that Social Media Rulebook Quite Yet
…use some of it as a reference guide instead. I have to hand it to Chip Griffin. His recent post, “Throwing Out the Social Media Rulebook” is thought provoking to say the least. In his post, Griffin assertively proclaims, “I’m here to tell you that most of the rules are bunk, and we as an industry to ourselves a disservice by frightening off potential participants with absurd proclamations of the way things must be.” I like it. I agree with…
Bloggers Versus PR – The Aftermath and What We Learned
Aaron Brazell of Technosailor hosted an incredible and informative roundtable to discuss the state of PR, reporters, and bloggers. The conversation was focused on five questions and included the answers of Doug Haslam, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Cathryn Hrudicka, Marc Orchant, and yours truly. Following is the complete Q&A; with my answers to help make it easier to read. The complete balance of everyone’s answers are available at Technosailor. (Also scroll down to the bottom to download this as a Word doc…
