Post 10, 2009: Some reasons why Twitter is and is not the new e-mail.

April 20, 2009 in P-aaaaargh!, Web 2.0, social networking

I’m getting a fair few Direct Messages and @messages from Twitter friends – and folks like PRs.
They’re using it as an alternative to conventional messaging tools like e-mail.
Is it a good idea?
Perhaps, because Tweets are:

Short! (mercifully so compared to many emails)
Intimate, thanks to Twitter’s rules it is very hard to spam someone
Deniable – Email is [...]

Post 7, 2009. Twitter Do’s and Don’ts for PRs

March 2, 2009 in Work, social networking

I’m getting so many PR followers these days, and so few of them seem to do much more than open an account, that I figured it could be useful to offer some advice on how to get the most from Twitter.
So here goes!
Dont’s
Don’t lurk. Twitter has become very conversational. If you are listening, but not [...]

Post 1, 2009. Twitter is not a zoo in which PRs can watch journalists work

February 9, 2009 in P-aaaaargh!, Worst practise, social networking

The big trend of my year so far has been the daily ritual of checking out my new Twitter followers. They’re coming thicker and faster than ever.
And about half of the new ones are in PR, as that industry seems to have decided that Twitter is important to their work.
Now I have no problem with [...]

Post 70:08 Social networking saves my bicycle

November 24, 2008 in Bicycles, Web 2.0, social networking

Last week my nicest bike, a road bike with carbon fibre forks,  was stolen.
I rode it to the station, locked it on a bike rack and … when I returned it had gone.
I parked it there because it is 10 metres from the entrance to a train station and in full view of a shop. [...]

Post 69:08 Globalism schmobalism

November 11, 2008 in Globalism, Web 2.0, Work, social networking

A few months ago, a large software company invited me to the USA for one of its events. I would have flown at the nice end of the plane and been entertained grandly for the duration at a cost of $15,000-$20,000.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked the local outpost of the vendor for a [...]

Post 60:08 Speaking in a human voice

August 26, 2008 in Freelance life, P-aaaaargh!, Web 2.0, Worst practise, social networking

I’ve bene thinking a lot, lately, about how to put a human voice on PR so that it works better on me.
The thinking comes from a recent bout of PR from a major vendor that has decided everything they do is epoch-making. A .3 release is a revolution. A .4 release has become a remaking [...]

Post 57:08 An old favorite returns and more social media musing

August 11, 2008 in Freelance life, P-aaaaargh!, Web 2.0, Worst Pitch Ever?, Worst practise, social networking

Twice in the last week PRs have sent me material in emails with several others cc’ed or included in the To field.
In one case more than 100 email addresses were there to be harvested.
To me this is the most basic breach of email etiquette (and privacy!) imaginable and quite astounding in this day and age, [...]

Post 56:08 Can PR 2.0 and Web 2.0 co-exist?

August 4, 2008 in Globalism, P-aaaaargh!, Web 2.0, social networking

I’ve just seen a deck of slides that represents Web 1.0 as companies controlling the message to the community and Web 2.0 is all about the community controlling the message.
So here’s my question: can PR and Web 2.0 co-exist?
My belief is that PR is all about helping companies control their message, the better to protect [...]

Post 54:08 Much better corporate social media

July 25, 2008 in P-aaaaargh!, Web 2.0, social networking

Vuki* was kind enough to send this link, to a Dell blog explaining one of the company’s new products.
It is actually pretty good because you get to see the product in action. The spokesblokes talk like real people and even make some dorky, self-deprecating, jokes that make them seem like real people, not corporate drones. [...]

Post 52:08 More big questions

June 25, 2008 in Globalism, Politics, Random, Ranting, Web 2.0, social networking

There’s a very interesting OpEd in today’s SMH, in which the authors describe YouTube as ” home port for lip-syncers, karaoke singers, trainspotters, birdwatchers, skateboarders, hip-hoppers, small-time wrestling federations, educators, third-wave feminists, churches, proud parents, poetry slammers, gamers, human rights activists, hobbyists.”
They go on to say that they see YouTube as having a role similar [...]