PeterHimler

In a November 1969 speech, the much beleaguered U.S. President Richard Nixon borrowed a page from the Frank Luntz book of deceptive, but catchy phrases when he said: "And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support." The term silent majority entered the American lexicon. It was a euphemism for all those domiciled Americans Mr. Nixon believed represented the prevailing sentiment on the issues of the day, but lacked the wherewithal to express... Read Full Story

One of the points I had hoped to emphasize in my last post was that Twitter, blogging, Facebook and Google+ offer an even more controlled communications environment than what a fastidiously prepped/messaged executive might face in a media interview. David Carr may give Rupert Murdoch props for his more authentic Twitter persona, but it's Mr. Murdoch who's thumbing his nose at Mr. Carr and his colleagues in the Fourth Estate whose journalistic scrutiny Twitter has allowed him to sidestep. This... Read Full Story

"The modern chief executive lives behind a wall of communications operatives, many of whom ladle out slop meant to obscure rather than reveal." David Carr -- David Carr of The New York Times  lamenting the way many CEOs have long interacted with members of his profession. Not surprisingly, he lays the blame on communications professionals. The quote appears in his must-read column today on Rupert Murdoch's sudden embrace of Twitter. More on that below. He's right, and wrong.  Yes, the PR pro... Read Full Story

How important are consumer-generated reviews in your purchase-making decisions? If you're like me, the answer is VERY. When assessing hotels, the write-ups on Virtual Tourist and Trip Advisor invariably make or break my booking. The reviews on Yelp play the deciding role in tipping the restaurant scales. Same with Fandango for movie reviews. Then there's the granddaddy of them all, Amazon, which recognized the intrinsic value of its customers' reviews early on in the game. It even applied for... Read Full Story

In case you hadn't noticed, a very refreshing bi-product has risen from the ashes of the rather acrimonious breakup between TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and his wealth-creating nemesis, AOL. The tech/social news-savvy site PandoDaily , led by former TechCrunch ed-at-large Sarah Lacy (aka @sarahcuda on Twitter), burst onto the scene only a week or so ago and already is a must-follow in my stream. PandoDaily's Sarah Lacy Some initially dubbed it TechCrunch II, but I'm finding PandoDaily... Read Full Story

My social life is a mess. And I know I'm not the only one mired in the digital muck. Here's the latest digital lowdown, which stands   in contrast to just two years ago:  I'm feeling pressure to bolster my presence  on the red hot Pinterest even though the app couldn't find the image of Danny Meyer's new downtown dining spot on the home page of Eater.com, which I had hoped to add to my hot NYC restaurant board. I still get daily emails from Empire Avenue even though it's been months since I... Read Full Story

Blog Maverick It turns out that my post last week about item #11 on Mark Cuban's list of 12 Rules for Startups -- "Never Hire a PR Firm" -- set off a firestorm that prompted a more nuanced response from Mr. Cuban. In his expanded view, Mr. Cuban did not disavow his disdain for the PR industry. In fact, he even attempted to school the PR community by drafting a sample pitch letter. More on that in a moment. My first post  mentioning Mark Cuban came in August 2005 during the nascent days of... Read Full Story

Scott McNealy In March of 1998, the straight-talking CEO of Sun Microsystems travelled to Washington to testify before Congress on the then-monopolistic ways of one famous tech company out of Redmond, WA. Scott McNealy, with whom I sat the following morning in the green room of NBC "Today," had this to say: "The only technology I'd rather own than Windows would be English," McNealy said. "All of those who use English would have to pay me a couple hundred dollars a year just for the right to... Read Full Story

Maverick Marc Cuban That NBA champ, author , and billionaire blogging maverick Mark Cuban offered up some mostly sound advice to the startup community this week in a post titled " Mark Cuban's 12 Rules for Startups " on Entrepreneur.com. I say mostly because his #11-ranked recommendation read as follows: " Never hire a PR firm . A public relations firm will call or email people in the publications you already read, on the shows you already watch and at the websites you already surf. Those... Read Full Story

WIkipedia founder Jimmy Wales Shortly before Christmas, I ran into an old friend who oversees social media for one of the big-branded management consultancy firms. He confided in me that he was having an issue with Wikipedia. Wikipedia wouldn't grant him editing privileges, as a PR person, even though the information on the site about his employer was inaccurate. His question to me: should he pose as someone else to make the necessary changes? I immediately said no. As untenable as the... Read Full Story