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    Online observations of public relations, marketing, advertising and social media; the occasional frivolity; and The Rundown show notes. Jump in, the water's fine.

    Please Note: Everything posted on this blog is my personal opinion and does not necessarily represent the views of my employer or its constituents.

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Progging was easier when I was a student

Posted on November 29, 2006 by Luke Armour

preach.jpgWhen I was a student I found it easy to preach blog prog. So, maybe progging won’t be a new word in 2006. But, not only did I have a little more flexibility in my schedule, but I was full of grounded theory, hypothetical situations, and self-righteous indignency. However, 5.5 months into my professional agency career and I’m a little more hesitant to jump up on my soapbox.

Maybe it has something to do with fewer minutes in the day to write about what’s on my mind. Maybe it has something to do with fewer minutes in the day to read up on the blogosphere that used to get me all charged up. Maybe it has something to do with fewer things to say without giving too much away. For instance, I’m super keen on transparency, but I also don’t need to be dragging my clients or co-workers into the blogofray. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’m not as pompous about public relations as I used to be. It’s that ivory tower syndrome, where it’s easy to sit and pass judgements on the folks out in the trenches doing the work. Not that I think I was ever that harsh about the flacks in the field, it was just easier to see black and white from my academic point of view.

And as much as I don’t want to quote CC, he’s got a very good point about “managing the gray,” because there are no black-and-white lines in this business and you do have to learn to manage the subtleties therein.

So blogging is harder. I’m not angry about anything, so that eliminates that.

I guess the wind has been taken out of my sails. So just give me time to get all riled up again about something.

Besides, it won’t be long before Youngie is in the neighborhood and all hell breaks loose.

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Filed under: Admin Notes, Public Relations | 6 Comments »

Friday Frivolity – Vote for Turkey of the Year

Posted on November 17, 2006 by Luke Armour

I got a note from Beth Farrell, former OPR co-blogger who sent along this note.

In celebration of Turkey Day aka Thanksgiving, vote for the biggest turkey of the year. Click on the link below or click here http://www.party411.com/thanksgiving-turkey.html . Thank you!

Beth

After months of exhaustive research, Party411.com has narrowed the list down to 11 very qualified candidates for TURKEY OF THE YEAR.

Each nominee for Turkey of the Year was selected based on his or her moral character, revolutionary ideals, intelligence or overall contribution to society – or lack thereof.

All nominees were advised earlier this morning of their nomination, the following is what each had to say:

George W. Bush

“I’d like to thank Texas and my wife Lydia, um Linda, um Laura. Hee hee hee.”

Dick Cheney

“In my defense, Whittington does kind of resemble a pheasant!”

Kim Jong Il

“I’m not afraid of the U.S. I’m not afraid of the U.N. I have a Nuke.”

Hugo Chavez

“Bush es el Diablo!”

John Kerry

A democratic spokesman advised us that the party has asked Mr. Kerry to refrain from speaking to anyone, ever again, for as long as he lives.

Mel Gibson

“They started every war. They killed all the dodos. And they’ll be the reason the moon crashes into the Earth and kills us all.”

Paris Hilton

“Could someone turn out the lights?”

Terrell Owens

“There’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is a ‘TO’ in touchdown.”

Tom Cruise

“Katie is my anti-depressant.”

Britney Spears

“Kevin, you drive me craaaaaazy, so bye bye bye.”

Ken Lay

Mr. Lay could not be reached for comment because he was buried with Enron’s money.

Vote for your favorite HERE. Each vote is an automatic entry to win a free life-size cutout, either of a Turkey of the Year nominee or other celebrity. Twelve cutouts will be given out in all.

Disclaimer: Beth is engaged in some sort of “work” for Party411.

Filed under: Frivolity | Leave a comment »

A Virtual PR Geek Dinner

Posted on November 16, 2006 by Luke Armour

Update: I made New PR ! Thanks, Constantin.

Well, I had this crazy idea. And like a fool I acted on it. I couldn’t help it. It was driving me crazy. I had to let it out.

Since I’m in Ohio and jealous of all the geek dinners and social media events, I made one up. Yes, I fabricated a geek dinner with some influential PR podcasters and me at a bar.

And well, sure, I took a few creative liberties. But only at the expense of other people, see. Deep down, I’m sure they truly appreciate the attention.

Special thanks to the guys at Inside PR (Terry and David) and For Immediate Release (Shel, Neville) for being good sports about this (I hope). Special guest appearance by Paullscilla, Queen of the Desert.

It comes in at 11:10, and my testers enjoyed it. I hope you do to.

Link straight to the mp3 here.

Filed under: Frivolity, Social Media, Virtual Geek Dinner | Tagged: , , , , , | 32 Comments »

The Newspaper Dichotomy

Posted on November 15, 2006 by Luke Armour

I just recently found the American Journalism Review and am obsessed with it. Lately I’ve noticed that I’m becoming more and more fascinated by the journalism side of our jobs. There are so many reasons this could be, most of it is my profession. Kevin Dugan has had a lot to do with it, too.

The article “Center Stage” really intrigued me. It’s about how four large newspapers are coping with print and online, merging the two, and keeping the whole machine running. It’s amazing. Check it out.

Really puts into perspective the journalism dichotomy of print vs. online and how we as PR pros need to understand the flip side of the coin…or the third side of our triangle, if you’d rather.

Filed under: Future of PR, media relations, Public Relations | Tagged: , | Leave a comment »

Studio 60: I’m a curse

Posted on November 6, 2006 by Luke Armour

I’m a fan of the show. I love it. I look forward to watching it every week. It’s the only show I watch.

Sadly, if rumors are true, I’ll be done watching TV again for another few years. I have a tendency to find and enjoy shows that will be canceled quickly. I’d go into detail, but some of them are private and I don’t know you well enough to disclose that information. Rest assured. They were all really good shows. This is one of them. There are even some good PR lessons to learn in these shows. Certainly the fast-paced, hectic deadlines are familiar.

Maybe these this will help:

Sign the petition here or see

Save NBC’s “Studio 60” Petition

Filed under: Public Relations | Tagged: | 9 Comments »

Beth Farrell wins SNCR Award of Merit

Posted on November 5, 2006 by Luke Armour

My friend, former co-blogger and former fellow graduate student won an award from the Society for New Communication Research for her outstanding work in non-profit blogs during her graduate studies. She posted about it here and on her own presentation page. The SNCR posting reads:

The Society’s awards program honors innovative organizations and professionals who are pioneering the use of social media (i.e., blogs, wikis, podcasts, collaborative tools and other forms of participatory communications) in the areas of marketing, public relations and advertising, politics, entertainment, academics, and community and cultural development…

In the Education category, two Awards of Merit were presented:
· Vanderbilt University News Service
· Elizabeth Farrell for a student research project.

Beth was nominated by the outstanding Auburn U professor Robert French who sent her case study in for consideration. If you know Robert, you know he is passionate about social media and he also does great work in the non-profit arena. He was particularly interested in Beth’s work from the start and was impressed with the results.

One thing you need to know about Beth, her work is incredibly thorough. Professors remember her for her great work, her great formidable, solid, thorough work. Robert told me in an IM that her work is “quite…um, comprehensive.” I’m not making fun, well, I might be. Because Beth’s work is incredibly well planned out and somewhat exhaustive. Other students used to love having her in classes with group work. Me included.

Social media is changing the world. Whether people want it to or not. Whether people think it is or not. I just hope communicators, especially PR folk, get it together to be champions of this change in the way the world builds and maintains relationships. That’s why I got into PR, to tell stories, to be a voice. I’m especially intrigued by the SNCR work, and their tireless efforts to bring new communication into the light.

Congratulations, Beth, and good luck with the future plans.

update: added a link

Filed under: Proud of PR, Public Relations, Social Media | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Friday Frivolity – Pie Charts

Posted on November 3, 2006 by Luke Armour

From Boing Boing.pacman.jpg

Filed under: Frivolity, Public Relations | Leave a comment »

The Google Aquires JotSpot

Posted on November 1, 2006 by Luke Armour

logos.jpg So, Google picked up JotSpot. I found out about this when JotSpot emailed me to assure me of my uninterrupted service.

JotSpot is a wiki service that I have used in the past. I like it’s functions, but have always found the interface to be slightly clunky. I haven’t used it in the last few weeks, but have wanted to implement some joint wiki projects at work. Maybe now I can consider it.

The email reads:

Why is Google acquiring JotSpot?

Google shares JotSpot’s vision for helping people collaborate, share and work together online. JotSpot’s team and technology are a strong fit with existing Google products like Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Google Groups.

What does this mean for JotSpot customers?

We believe that joining Google will accelerate our team’s vision of offering users the best collaboration platform on the web. Google shares that vision and presents us with the world’s best environment for delivering on it. We’ll be taking advantage of Google’s world-class systems infrastructure and operations expertise to ensure that access to your JotSpot is fast and reliable. We can’t share any of our plans publicly just yet, but we can tell you that we’re incredibly excited about the possibilities. We can’t think of a better company to have been acquired by.

Should be interesting. I’m very excited for what this will do to wiki services. I truly believe that as the world gets smaller and geography becomes less of an issue for collaborations, we will need tools fine-tuned to facilitate these projects. In fact, I could be wrong, but I believe FIR guys (Shel, Neville) are writing their podcasting book using JotSpot. So there’s a real life example for you. This is one to watch.

Update: Here‘s an NY Times article about the acquisition.

Filed under: One to watch, Public Relations | Tagged: , | Leave a comment »