We were gathered at our bi-monthly Boys' Lunch at Michael's last month when one of "the boys," a very senior media-minded communications executive, looked at me incredulously when I said I actually read Bernoff's Groundswell, Jarvis's What Would Google Do, and Godin's Tribes, among others.He definitely thought I was either drunk on the Kool-Aid or in need of a new life.Just as the number of new media confabs have proliferated in recent years so have the number of published works heralding in ... Read Full Story

What a weekend! No, I'm not referring to the Yankees two-out 9th inning rally that suddenly subdued those Hoagie-eating Philly fans. I'm talking about @ev, @biz and @jack's decision to open up Twitter Lists to more than the chosen few. It literally unleashed the curatorial curiosity in all of us.I can't recall another more buzzed-about (and time-consuming) software application release, but then again I happen to follow Tweeps who get all a-twitter over such things. Isn't the quick uptake ... Read Full Story

The Council of PR Firms executive director Kathy Cripps had a twinkle in her eye as she looked out across the expanse of The Yale Club’s Grand Ballroom in New York City yesterday morning. In spite of these recessionary times, the Council’s annual Critical Issues Forum drew a full house and a fair share of industry luminaries, many of whom are featured in this video.All the big and mid-sized agencies were there, except perhaps for one, to hear the all-star panel featuring General Electric CMO... Read Full Story

Ad Age's Mike Bush today visits with a number of PR pros who wax poetic on how their clients bypass the media filter to reach customers directly.We've covered this for a few years now, but it hasn't gone so far as to dismiss the value of media relations for advancing a client's communications objective.Bush writes: "...as the body count of magazines and daily newspapers continues to rise and the once-robust news and feature holes of surviving publications shrink along with reporting staffs,... Read Full Story

With Michael Jackson mania poised to start all anew, it's curious to watch how Mr. Jackson, once k.a. "Wacko Jacko," may emerge as a whole new fellow.Here's a tweet from the west coast editor for The Daily Beast: KateAurthur Kudos to the Michael Jackson fans mad about the movie whitewashing the "grim truth" for the name of their website: this-is-not-it.comApparently, there's so much "the crowd" will take when it comes to spinning the truth. But who's to blame: Ken Sunshine, the Jackson fam... Read Full Story

Boy oh boy. Apple (AAPL) is on a real tear. Boffo earnings and equally boffo rumors including one alleging that Verizon is testing a 4G iPhone (take that AT&T!), keeps that brand in a state of PR nirvana.As a result, the company's legendary PR department continues to grow in stature. Deservedly? I wonder.It seems like eons ago when Apple couldn't get any mainstream respect. Does the name Gil Amelio ring a bell? After my former Intel client jumped ship to join Apple's PR team, she i... Read Full Story

PR Newser's Joe Ciarallo and AllThingsD's Peter Kafka's eyebrows were respectively raised when a PR (?) rep for the upcoming ad:tech conference attempted to barter for their editorial coverage.Here's a piece of the proposed offer as outlined in an email:"ad:tech will provide:* Twitter announcement of your involvement with ad:tech New York to our 6,800+ followers.* Your choice of: a free pass to the exhibit hall (valued at $35) or 35% off a full conference pass." "We ask you provide:* No less ... Read Full Story

The digital marketing cognoscenti are nearly unanimous in their advice to newbie clients seeking to manage/advance their brands' online reputations. Listen first! After all, how could a company know where to apply its marketing/PR muscle (and tools of engagement) without knowing what is being said about it?Listening to (or monitoring) the online conversation is so essential that it has spawned a cottage industry of specialist providers. Among them: Radian6, Converseon, Visible Technologie... Read Full Story

It made perfect sense. Why not glom onto the current national obsession for the national pastime to spark media interest in your company's predictive technologies? I'm speaking of course about the baseball playoffs, and more specifically about the two teams that will end up in the season-ending best-of-seven.One enterprising company claims to have analyzed some 40 years of baseball stats to conclude that this year's World Series will be an all-southern California affair. In fact, the quant... Read Full Story

If you've been following the digital discourse set off by the alleged $11,000 fine levied this week by the FTC against some bloggers, then you might enjoy Thursday evening's Twitter exchange between BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis and Mediashift's Mark Glazer (@mediatwit).In case you've been out of the country, the FTC finally instituted its guidelines designed to ferret out commercial deception in the social spheres. Mathew Ingram managed to tease out the tête-à-tête by twipping off Jeff to Mark... Read Full Story