I talked about it previously, but since then, Twitter has really become my hub of communications. Today, I logged into Twhirl, and only had a couple of updates. This doesn't happen.... ever . The idea that Scoble hadn't tweeted in close to 48 hours? Sheer lunacy.
I Google'd all over to see if today was some "national twitter off-day" or something, but didn't find anything. Turns out.... Twitter's feeds are having some issues, and I am only getting feeds from 2 of the people I follow.
This morning has been like trying to work with one hand... and it's really sad :-(
Monday, April 21, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Bloggers and Flacks
Chris Anderson started this whole bloody mess by creating his very own version of The 300 (and even taking it further by making it 329).
Sure- Lots of us in PR laughed when this was posted, but I can assure you that it was only after we used Control-F a few times to make sure our name wasn't included.... and then our firm wasn't included.
Today seems like a really great day to roll out a fun new idea, based on what's happening in the Blogosphere.
Marshall Kirkpatrick, from RWW laid out tips for working with ReadWriteWeb, which was met with some ire in the comments, and some good responses. Ironically, one commenter points to another blogger (Stowe Boyd), who is complete going the other direction from Marshall.
Adam O, from Mashable, posted his thoughts on the subject as well.
So... in the spirit of Channeling my inner-Peter Shankman (if you haven't seen Help a Reporter Out... it's completely worth it for Flacks)- I've created a website.
It's called Pitch-A-Blogger.
Why do this? Well.... it's simple. There are lots of tools out there for PR pro's that focus on giving us background on reporters (that said... it's still good practice to actually READ what reporters are writing). However, none of the tools out there have good information about bloggers.... perhaps because there's so many of them.... or perhaps because the service are lazy.
Who knows?
Why bloggers should feel safe: Well... for starters, I am a Flack.... and it seems to me that I am putting my Flack reputation on the line by trying to make this worthwhile. Second off.... not everyone in my profession sucks.... so I'm hoping to create a tool that makes this more obvious.
So, let's see how this goes. Updates will periodically be provided here at AFTB.
Sure- Lots of us in PR laughed when this was posted, but I can assure you that it was only after we used Control-F a few times to make sure our name wasn't included.... and then our firm wasn't included.
Today seems like a really great day to roll out a fun new idea, based on what's happening in the Blogosphere.
Marshall Kirkpatrick, from RWW laid out tips for working with ReadWriteWeb, which was met with some ire in the comments, and some good responses. Ironically, one commenter points to another blogger (Stowe Boyd), who is complete going the other direction from Marshall.
Adam O, from Mashable, posted his thoughts on the subject as well.
So... in the spirit of Channeling my inner-Peter Shankman (if you haven't seen Help a Reporter Out... it's completely worth it for Flacks)- I've created a website.
It's called Pitch-A-Blogger.
Why do this? Well.... it's simple. There are lots of tools out there for PR pro's that focus on giving us background on reporters (that said... it's still good practice to actually READ what reporters are writing). However, none of the tools out there have good information about bloggers.... perhaps because there's so many of them.... or perhaps because the service are lazy.
Who knows?
Why bloggers should feel safe: Well... for starters, I am a Flack.... and it seems to me that I am putting my Flack reputation on the line by trying to make this worthwhile. Second off.... not everyone in my profession sucks.... so I'm hoping to create a tool that makes this more obvious.
So, let's see how this goes. Updates will periodically be provided here at AFTB.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Did a code-caddie just get it right?
Lots of folks are blogging about the fact that Comcast- the evil company that was throttling BitTorrent ... the cable company who's skipping the FCC Hearings .... and the same guys who set Dave Winer into a tizzy.... has actually done something.... dare I say it?.... proactive for customer service.
In case you missed it.... Comcast now has someone monitoring Twitter for customer service problems (the major irony here, of course, being that people without their internet connection are actually using their cell phones... you know.... the whole wireless thing that I think eventually kills off Comcast and friends.....to complain.)
While I don't necessarily share Nick O'Neil's absolute glee for a brighter future in customer service from ISP's... I think it may be time for me to tip my hat to the company, albeit with a somewhat skeptical viewpoint. After all.... the mainstream isn't using Twitter (yet).
Call it my jaded view of ISP's.... but I can't shake the feeling that this might be a PR move to attempt to get in/stay in the good graces of the tech scene and its reporters?
In case you missed it.... Comcast now has someone monitoring Twitter for customer service problems (the major irony here, of course, being that people without their internet connection are actually using their cell phones... you know.... the whole wireless thing that I think eventually kills off Comcast and friends.....to complain.)
While I don't necessarily share Nick O'Neil's absolute glee for a brighter future in customer service from ISP's... I think it may be time for me to tip my hat to the company, albeit with a somewhat skeptical viewpoint. After all.... the mainstream isn't using Twitter (yet).
Call it my jaded view of ISP's.... but I can't shake the feeling that this might be a PR move to attempt to get in/stay in the good graces of the tech scene and its reporters?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Yes... I can !!?^&$@'ing Hear you
So, as a PR guy, I feel like I may be crossing the line here, but hey, it's cool.
There's tons of media members who have publicly flogged PR people.
See here for Chris Anderson's rant, which is likely the most famous (and quite possibly the most hilarious) of the floggings. I admit it... Chris's rant was really on point, and I hope any reporter would tell me if I was walking that line. True story... I have never sent out a pitch letter without reading at least 3 of a reporter's stories, and the firm I work for really frowns on carpet bombing reporters.
But... this has to be done.
I get ton's of Google Alerts. Inside PR Secret: We read lots of things about our clients and clients' competitors. If you're in a situation where you're working with a PR firm, ask your day-to-day contact what Google Alerts they are reading on your behalf, and feel free to offer additional keywords that may have an impact on your business.
I digress.... if you check out my company's website, you may realize, one of our clients is a company named HearMe.
So... now... backstory aside.... as a PR guy... I realize this isn't my place to ask journalists for a favor... but I am going to do it anyway.
If you're a journalist, and you're reading this... I implore you to stop using "Can you hear me now?" as the title of your story. I get it.... it's catchy. Verizon is still using it today, so it even gives readers a feeling of familiarity. But, in the past 10 days, I have received at least 3 stories daily with that exact title.... most of them from fairly large newspapers and magazines.
It's no longer original... so please.... let this annoying catch phrase go the way of WHAZZZZZZZZ UP and the talking bud. weis. errrrrrrrr frogs.
There's tons of media members who have publicly flogged PR people.
See here for Chris Anderson's rant, which is likely the most famous (and quite possibly the most hilarious) of the floggings. I admit it... Chris's rant was really on point, and I hope any reporter would tell me if I was walking that line. True story... I have never sent out a pitch letter without reading at least 3 of a reporter's stories, and the firm I work for really frowns on carpet bombing reporters.
But... this has to be done.
I get ton's of Google Alerts. Inside PR Secret: We read lots of things about our clients and clients' competitors. If you're in a situation where you're working with a PR firm, ask your day-to-day contact what Google Alerts they are reading on your behalf, and feel free to offer additional keywords that may have an impact on your business.
I digress.... if you check out my company's website, you may realize, one of our clients is a company named HearMe.
So... now... backstory aside.... as a PR guy... I realize this isn't my place to ask journalists for a favor... but I am going to do it anyway.
If you're a journalist, and you're reading this... I implore you to stop using "Can you hear me now?" as the title of your story. I get it.... it's catchy. Verizon is still using it today, so it even gives readers a feeling of familiarity. But, in the past 10 days, I have received at least 3 stories daily with that exact title.... most of them from fairly large newspapers and magazines.
It's no longer original... so please.... let this annoying catch phrase go the way of WHAZZZZZZZZ UP and the talking bud. weis. errrrrrrrr frogs.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The new and the shiny
Here's a confession that most PR people hate to/won't admit:
I didn't have a blackberry and I liked it that way. In the PR field, especially when you've got clients all over the world, you really do expect that clients may need things at weird hours, and my thought was always along the lines of this:
If it's really important, you can call my cell phone.
In a typical day, I am never more than about 4 minutes away from an internet connection, so most likely... I can get a client whatever they need within 15 minutes. I tend to save really important things to Google Docs, that way I can access them anywhere.
Then... last week... it happened. My VP informed me I was getting a blackberry.
In the few days since, I have a few observations, that I thought were worth passing along
So.. there it is. No links or discussions of stuff going on... just my first few days with a blackberry. Any advice for getting myself to step away from it (or worse, any recommendations on apps I should be looking to download?). Hit me up in the comments.
I didn't have a blackberry and I liked it that way. In the PR field, especially when you've got clients all over the world, you really do expect that clients may need things at weird hours, and my thought was always along the lines of this:
If it's really important, you can call my cell phone.
In a typical day, I am never more than about 4 minutes away from an internet connection, so most likely... I can get a client whatever they need within 15 minutes. I tend to save really important things to Google Docs, that way I can access them anywhere.
Then... last week... it happened. My VP informed me I was getting a blackberry.
In the few days since, I have a few observations, that I thought were worth passing along
- I am so used to text messaging that having a QWERTY keyboard took some getting used to (I can't tell you how many times I tried to type the letter C and ended up with "aaa")
- I am literally addicted to it. Out with friends for a drink? Yup... I'm checking my e-mail. First thing I do in the morning and last night I do at night... Yup, I'm checking my e-mail. Waking up at 3am to run to the restroom?... Yup, I'm checking my e-mail. You get the point.
- I think I have sprained my thumb playing brickbreaker.
So.. there it is. No links or discussions of stuff going on... just my first few days with a blackberry. Any advice for getting myself to step away from it (or worse, any recommendations on apps I should be looking to download?). Hit me up in the comments.
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