Breaking News Backstab

Jonathan Zaleski, the director of The PR Collective, a nationwide consortium of boutique PR agencies (to which I belong) has started a new blog called SpinisIn. It's all about the "PR lifestyle."

I particularly enjoyed his entry entitled the Breaking News Backstab, about the times in which his big PR events were eradicated by breaking news stories, such as the Pope dying right before his big event at Dodger stadium. Give it a read and enjoy.

How corporations should deal with blogs

Recalling the story of how Sony blew it with bloggers when one such blogger discovered secretly installed Sony software on his PC (and then discovered that it was transmitting his music selections to Sony over the internet), this OpinionJournal column gives some pointers for how corporations should deal with bloggers.

Firing bad customers

We know about the cost of obtaining good customers, but what about the cost of keeping bad ones? Sometimes the best thing for business is (perish the thought!) firing customers that cost you more than they're worth. Awhile back I heard about how FedEx would send notices to costly customers that they were no longer going to be doing business with them, and (going one step further) pointed them to the nearest UPS store location. So they got rid of people who were drains on their business and dumped them on the competition. Brilliant!

Today I read in ComputerWorld where Sprint is firing customers.

The First Wiki Novel

From ComputingUnplugged:

Publisher launches Wiki novel
British publisher Penguin has launched a Web-based, collaborative novel that can be written, edited or read by anyone, anywhere thanks to "wiki" software, the technology behind Web encyclopedia Wikipedia. The novel, "A Million Penguins," went live on Thursday and its first lines are already being written, edited and rewritten by enthusiasts. Penguin, which embarked on the project with a group of creative writing and new media students, says it is using the novel as a test of whether a group of disparate and diverse people can create a "believable fictional voice."

What is a wiki? According to TechTarget.com:

A wiki (sometimes spelled "Wiki") is a server program that allows users to collaborate in forming the content of a Web site. With a wiki, any user can edit the site content, including other users' contributions, using a regular Web browser. Basically, a wiki Web site operates on a principle of collaborative trust.

The best known wiki is Wikipedia.org, an online encyclopedia in which anyone can contribute or edit content.

The idea of publishing a story with a wiki is certainly novel (sorry, couldn't resist). It will be interesting to watch how the story changes as the contributors create plot twists. Is that a story destined to go nowhere because a huge committee is involved in writing it?

Wikis hold great promise for practical business applications, from collaborating on projects to developing policy and procedure manuals to enabling users of a technology product have some control and input into the formation of a users guide.

The second rule of kayaking

As a kayaker, this ditty that I received from Merge Gupta-Sunderji caught my attention. It's also makes a great point about good communication:

The second rule of ocean kayaking

Just a couple of months ago, I went ocean kayaking for the very first time. Not only was the experience thrilling, but I got an unexpected lesson in the importance of communication.

As my husband and I climbed into our two-person kayak, the instructor gave us the simple instructions. "Just two rules," he said. "Get a rhythm going, and verbalize your intentions to your partner at all times." "Piece of cake," I thought as I climbed into the front seat. And I was right, until we stopped for a snorkeling break a couple of miles from shore. My spouse, with the best of intentions, turned around to grab my snorkeling pack from behind him. Except ... he didn’t tell me what he was planning to do! If you’ve ever kayaked, you know what happened next. One moment I was staring at the blue sky, and the next moment I was treading water and looking at the underside of orange polyethylene. When the kayak tipped, everything -- people, snorkeling gear, sunscreen and sunglasses -- was now in the ocean. I spluttered my way to the top. "You’re supposed to communicate your intentions," I reproached my husband. "I thought you knew," came his chagrined answer.

Do you sometimes assume that people can read your mind? That your employees know what results you expect of them, that your co-workers will meet your unstated deadlines, that your supervisor will magically understand why you had to leave early? Whether it’s your employees, your co-workers, or even your significant other, don’t get so caught up in the rhythm of what works well that you forget to communicate your plans and rationales. Instead, remember the second rule of ocean kayaking: verbalize your intentions.

Merge Gupta-Sunderji helps turn managers into leaders. Through engaging keynotes and workshops, she gives people specific and practical tools to achieve leadership and communication success. Contact her at www.mergespeaks.com or 403-605-4756. I saw her speak at a IABC conference. She's very engaging and informative...so much so that I actually signed up for an e-newsletter (something I typically avoid).

Game du Jour

Ah...the Internet. Filled with great information and tools to increase our productivity, right? No, it is the biggest productivity killer ever invented--but it's so darn wonderful we can't get enough of it.

One of the biggest time killers of the Internet is searching the world wide web for "bargains." You pit our desire for a good deal with our penchant for friendly competition, and you get massive successes like eBay. First there was auction sites, and then later came "one deal a day" sites such as Woot.com.

For most "one deal a day" sites, you are in a rush to get in on the deal before supplies run out. There's a new one that will really kill your time--and supplies are unlimited.

Game du Jour offers one heavily discounted casual PC game per day. It starts at midnight and the deal lasts for 24 hours and then a new game is available. If you are into "casual games" and not necessarily the action-packed assassination and warfare games, this is a great site for you.

So what does this have to do with our favorite topic? Essentially, Game du Jour is a marketing company that helps software companies get a rush of sales of their product and increase brand awareness. They introduce your game to people that might not otherwise know about it. Considering how enormous the game development sector is, this kind of publicity can help to really boost awareness of that product and get gamers interested in the rest of your line.

Study: 2 of 5 bosses don't keep word

The Office is a great show. I think it's just so funny because the boss is such a doofus...and yet many of us can relate to his character because of bosses we either have or have had.

Now there's a study that shows the impact of bosses truthfulness and its impact on those they supervise. "Nearly two of five bosses don't keep their word and more than a fourth bad mouth those they supervise to co-workers."

The result of bad managers are poor morale, bad communication, a rumor mill, a revolving door of incoming and outgoing personnel, etc.

Will it Blend? Great viral marketing

Looking for another time waster on the Internet (other than this blog)?

Go have some fun at WillitBlend.com. The PR geniuses at Blendtec have produced a series of videos in which they blend a variety of everyday household items and answer the question I'm sure we've all asked ourselves: Will it blend?

Check out the iPod! And, in time for Christmas, see what happens when he tries to blend a couple Nutrackers!

This site is great fun...and a good example of how a business came up with a viral marketing approach that draws attention to their website, gets people to talk about it (like I'm doing now), and shows off the features of their product. Very, very savvy!

Now excuse me while I go buy a Blendtec blender!

Five Best Books on Public Relations

OpinionJournal published Michael Kempner's list of five best PR books:

1. "Propaganda" by Edward Bernays (Liveright, 1928).

2. "American Hero" by Larry Beinhart (Pantheon, 1993).

3. "The Eloquent President" by Ronald C. White Jr. (Random House, 2005).

4. "Thank You for Smoking" by Christopher Buckley (Random House, 1994).

5. "All's Fair" by Mary Matalin and James Carville (Random House, 1994).

Other than "Propaganda," authored by the father of the public relations industry, the rest of the list are surprises. These are not your typical PR text books, and I'd never even heard of "The Eloquent President," a book about the eloquence of Abraham Lincoln. I'm a big Lincoln fan, so I don't know how I missed it, but I'm off to BN.com to pick it up.

Regarding "All's Fair," this is a terrific read. I'm proud to own a signed copy--signed by BOTH Matalin and Carville. They were the keynote speakers at the IABC conference in Washington DC in '95. If you haven't read it yet, go get it. It's fun for political junkies (like me) and PR pros (also like me). Enjoy!

PDA Users Suffer from Email Overload

I love my Palm Treo, but do I think it makes me more productive? No. Isn't it SUPPOSED to make me more productive? Yes!

Well, a study put on by my beloved International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) found that 85% of the 1,700 business communication professionals interviewed had productivity issues thanks to email.

Sixty-two percent of respondents to the IABC survey said they receivetoo much e-mail, compared to 75 percent of PDA users. In addition, almosthalf of the respondents (44 percent) agreed that they send too much e-mail. In comparison, 56 percent of PDA users are guilty of sending too much e-mail.

I'm not sure that my Treo's email capability is what hurts my productivity...it's just always being available (as with any cell phone), and having it loaded with games that are too fun to pass up when I have some time to kill (ok, time that I COULD spend doing something more productive).

Oh well...productivity is highly overrated.

What Abe Lincoln can teach us about email

Telecom expert Tom Wheeler says that Abraham Lincoln, the first U.S. president with access to the telegraph, developed a personal code of electronic communications that modern-day netizens would do well to adopt in their email habits.

Wheeler describes Lincoln's "T-mail" etiquette and the lessons we can learn from it, like:
Less is More - Whereas many saw the blank telegraph form as an invitation to an essay, Lincoln's telegrams were short and to the point. "Your long despatch of yesterday just received," Lincoln chided General George McClellan about a 10-page telegram sent in May 1863. Then the president required only three additional sentences to reply to the general's endless essay.

Responding to a long-winded message with only a few words is indeed a great way to train others how to use email.

Read about it here:

What Abraham Lincoln Taught Me about Email

RSS is killing blogging

From ComputingUnplugged:

RSS is killing bloggingBefore RSS, Web surfers could just browse and google for news, opinions, and hacks. Since RSS feed readers became popular, only the highest volume blogs get personal syndication. Small bloggers are getting no RSS Traffic and minimal browsing traffic. RSS is killing bloggers, so bloggers ask, what can be done for us underdogs?"

Jason Calacanis of AOL and Engadget.com once stated that a secret of successful blogging is "fresh and frequent blog postings." So readers subscribe to only the most frequently updated and well known blogs RSS feeds leaving for-the-love-of-journalism-bloggers "under the syndication radar." Simply due to low posting volume, the vast majority of key bloggers get little to no readership. The founders of ZNITCH.com made it their mission to level the playing field and expose non-celebrity bloggers using what they call, "the opposite of RSS."

Mobile Etiquette

One of my favorite mobile tech analysts is Gerry Purdy, now with Frost and Sullivan. Here are his tips on the new social etiquette required because of public use of mobile technologies:

Social Etiquette in Mobile

New mobile technologies create wonderful new capabilities, but they also create the need for new social dynamics. The most obvious benefit is the ability to make or receive a call wherever you are. This can be a lifesaver when you’ve arrived at the airport on a flight and want to know where your ride is. It reduces anxiety, and the person picking you up is relieved to know that you’ve arrived. All is good.

Now, take that same capability and put yourself in a restaurant or another quiet place, such as a church. Someone is trying to reach you, and the phone goes off and makes a loud noise. You’re embarrassed and others near you are bothered. The person calling doesn’t know that you’re in a quiet place, and it just deteriorates into a bad situation. Thus, new mobile technologies create new services that really benefit users, but they also create the requirement for a new “mobile etiquette” that we must develop so that the capabilities are utilized, but are only done so in the right social rules of etiquette.

Let’s review that restaurant situation again. Someone needs to reach you. It could be a nurse desperately needing to reach a doctor about a patient. Or it could be a family member that’s trying to reach you about an important matter. You know that it’s impolite to have your cell phone ring in quiet places, so you put your phone on vibrate mode. The person calling doesn’t know if you can talk or not, so they know that it’s best to send you an SMS text message asking if it’s OK to talk. You feel the phone vibrate, look at the screen, and text back that you’ll step outside so you can talk. Thus, using “mobile etiquette,” everyone’s needs are met and the new “must reach you now” capability is still able to be used.

Now, take a different situation that involves data. Often, it’s just not socially acceptable to bring your notebook PC into a meeting. The screen creates a barrier between you and the others in the meeting. You are clearly doing email while others are talking. What do you do in this situation? Pray of course! You walk into the meeting with your BlackBerry, Palm Treo, Nokia e61, Motorola Q, or other similar device. You feel the phone vibrate and notice that you received an important email. You hold the phone under the table and pretend to “pray” while you “thumb” your reply. The same is true for SMS messages. As a result, some important topic can be addressed without bothering anyone in a meeting.

Just like with any other technologic advance, things taken to extreme are not positive. For example, if you tried to answer 40-50 email messages while you were in a meeting, others would know what you were doing and feel that the slight diversion to address something important had been violated by your not participating in the meeting.There are some times that you need to turn your cell phone off or not even look at the display if you feel it vibrating in your pocket. Every situation is different, and you have to adapt the new technology to the surrounding social setting.

There is a new network infrastructure under development, called IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), that will help most of us handle difficult social situations. IMS will provide “presence” and interactive messaging so that you can see if the person you’re calling is available to take a call or not. That alone will be a tremendous advance in the use of mobile phones.

My recommendation is simple: honor people’s privacy and use mobile technologies in ways that are socially acceptable. I’m glad that we have created wonderful new communications capabilities with cell phones, but a responsibility goes along with those capabilities, and that is to use them in a manner that is acceptable to most social situations.

Journalists surveyed on effective PR contact

From the Publicity Insider (www.publicityinsider.com):


Unless you work in a newsroom every day, it is hard to gauge reporters' likes and dislikes when working with publicity seekers.

Thanks to public relations firm Bennett & Company's annual surveys, we can take the media's pulse. Here's some findings from their Annual Media Survey:

• Email: Fifty-eight percent of all journalists surveyed preferred email as the main way to receive information, followed by wire service (15%), regular mail (13%), fax (10%), and telephone (4%).
• In addition, 70 percent of journalists said that they read every e-mail they receive except for obvious spam. Bill's Note: Keep in mind these results are the media's preferences - not what gets the best results for the publicity seeker. When appropriate, the telephone's human connection is still a publicists' best friend.
• Personalized Address: Fifty percent of the media polled said they respond more readily to a personalized address and 4 percent said that a general editor address will do. The remaining 46 percent did not have a preference. Many noted that while they do not have a preference, personalized communications reach them quicker.
• Availability of Multimedia: Fifty-nine percent of media polled said that the availability of multimedia (photos, charts, graphs, audio and video) does enhance the chances of a story being used.
• How important are weekend, night and cell numbers for contacts on news releases? Back in 1990, 44 percent of journalists said they were not necessary. Currently, 72 percent deem full contact info important.

CTIA Day II

Had a few good meetings today... I really like Audible.com--though I remember that they were the ones that got slammed by the keynote speaker at a PalmSource Developer's Conference for their awful website. You can use Audible to put your podcasts, audio newscasts or audiobooks on your Java, Palm, Symbian, or Windows Mobile device. The company makes it very easy for you to have your favorite content downloaded to your device in minutes and purge your system of old content. Very cool.

Macroport is pretty cool. www.macro-port.com. They allow you to put content on a storage card, and the software on the card identifies what kind of device it has been inserted into and then automatically launches your content in the proper format. Users usually don't know what kind of operating system they have on their device, so this makes it irrelevant. If you publish content--examples I saw were promos of video games and trailers for upcoming movies--this eliminates the stupid factor when dealing mobile content.

JuiceCaster is one of my favorite things I've seen here so far. Juice Wireless now allows you to publish your pictures, text, videos to whatever website you have that enables HTML publishing. Then you can share it with a select group of people or with the public as a whole. The demo I saw was a video they took with their cellphone, uploaded to the juice account, then downloaded on another mobile device to be viewed, then also available on a personal blog. There are so many potential applications for this, but just for personal use it's a great way to share pics and videos with family and friends scattered all over the world. They say that JuiceCaster "connects the user's cell phone to their entire online life." See it at www.juicecaster.com. I dig it.

More to come later. I need to get to the airport.

CTIA news

Today was my first full day at CTIA and it's been a fun rush of meetings...mostly with people I know, but I also took the time to check out a press conference and look for the smaller "what's new" people. Amazingly enough, according to their press releases they are all the "leaders" in their industries. Never heard of them, but I digress.

This one is pretty cool, actually. A London-based company called Mobix announced peer-to-peer mobile video sharing called "Shoot 'n' Share" in which you can send videos to your friends from your mobile phone. You can send them to another phone, an email address, or a website, or you can send them to a cell phone from your online video storage website.

www.mobixinteractive.com

Bango has signed a mobile search marketing agreement with Yahoo!, and "will offer Yahoo search advertising products and services to mobile content providers, through the integration of Bango's platform and Yahoo's mobile marketing service. This also creates a one-stop solution that allows businesses to establish a mobile presence and billing capability, then create mobile search advertising campaigns on Yahoo to target users who are looking for products and services through their mobile devices."

www.bango.com

My favorite subject: taxes! Keep your filthy taxes off my wireless (and my Internet while you're at it). MyWireless.org launched a new ad campaign to shine a light on how state and local taxes and regulations "threaten to pull apart" the nation's successful wireless framework.

www.mywireless.org

CTIA IT Wireless & Entertainment

I'll be traveling to CTIA next week in LA and will be blogging from the event. I'll report on social networking, mobile marketing and electronic communications that is cool and noteworthy--the greatest cutting edge stuff I've ever seen I'm sure.

I'll also have a photo SplashBlog set up so you can see pics as I'm moving around the show.

I've got great meetings set up and I'm excited about the stuff I'm going to see there.

Radio Shack fires off an email

Well, another big case of the impersonal termination of employees via electronic means. Radio Shack sacked 400+ workers and alerted the immediately displaced workers via email. I wonder if the email message was colored pink?

I don't care if you personally alert people in advance that they may lose their jobs, and if they do it will be electronically, that doesn't make it an acceptable approach. It may not be personal to you (yeah, it's just business, got it), but it's personal to them. These are people who dedicate themselves personally to their job with your company and you owe it to each and every one for a supervisor at some level to personally be the bearer of bad news.

"Google" is NOT a Verb (lest ye be sued into oblivion)

The lawyers for Google have something to earn a few fee dollars on now. I just saw a tidbit in Tidbits about how these wiley lawyers are all bunched up about the word "Google" being listed as a verb in the latest edition of Websters and have been sending out terse notes to media organizations that they had better not use the word as a verb.

This is the problem with being too successful and establishing your brand as a universal word for something like web-searching.

Poor Google...getting their company name in the dictionary. How sad for them.

Firing someone by Texting them

I love text messages, especially since they're so easy to fire off with my Treo. "Fire off?" What an ironic choice of words considering the story I just read:

U r sckd: worker fired by text message

No matter how awful it is to can someone to their face (trust me, I know), let's not get so impersonal that firing someone with a text message ever becomes acceptable.