Going out on top - happy new year

I’ve always been a sporadic blogger so it’s not that big a stretch to become a non-blogger - at least in this forum. Business has been booming - taking an increasing portion of my time. We’ve re-designed our website, re-calibrated (I love that word) our business and I can’t pay attention to this blog anymore. But, everybody likes to go out on top, so I find some small degree of solace knowing I am STILL the #1 Sidewiki comment on the Twitter homepage!

Blogging less here means I have more time to read blogs I enjoy. My favorite blog: 3QuarksDaily.

Blogging less here also means I can pay more attention to my theatre blog, where my heart is these days: markrosenyc.com

All bloggers should support the struggle for freedom in Iran. Image below from Tehran 24 | also check FRONTLINE: Tehran Bureau for updates and THE LEDE, The New York Times

Five PR bloggers worth following, derived from random scans of intelligence, original thinking and personality in the PR blogosphere: #1 tomforemski - leadoff batter | #2 occamsrazr - the Leonard Cohen of PR bloggers | #3  [chrisbrogan.com] - the merry prankster of social media | #4 Richard Edelman - the Philip Roth of PR | #5 Loren Feldman - incendiary pupeteer

Some favorite posts:

• Alex Rodriquez Comes to His Senses - What Next?
• MLK & RFK Brothers In Battle
• Google Sidewiki is PR Game Changer
• Kristen Revealed
• So you want to break into public relations?
• What is Your Wikipedia PR Strategy?
• Mahatma Gandhi & Business

HAPPY NEW YEAR. Peace. Health. Freedom. Prosperity.

PRBlogNews, launched June, 2005. Archived, December 30, 2009.

The Future of PR

Do we have a future? We will discuss that tomorrow at Virginia Commonwealth University PRSSA PROmoting Success event.

 

See slideshow on the Future of PR

Wild Wild Wiki World

Wikipedia is the antithesis of PR. Wikipedia is an enormously powerful force on the Internet and bedevils PR, even when it is scrupulously professional and fair and beneficial to the general good of the public - fulfilling the evolving credo of the Wiki Media Project.

Wikipedia is often in the first tier of responses in a search. Wikipedia influences perceptions, decisions, SEO, and other online and offline content that relies on Wikipedia for background. Wikipedia does not claim to be ‘fact’ - rather verifiable information that comes from credible ‘independent’ sources. So, if you are connected to the story in any way - PR rep for a client - you are a conflict of interest and cannot contribute to Wikipedia about that client.

To understand the Wiki world I created a Wikipedia user page and developed ‘test’ content that adheres to Wikipedia’s stringent Neutral Point of View criteria. Wikipedia has a ruthless band of roving volunteer editors who remove anything they feel is posted by an un-objective source or is in any way tainted.

To the uninitiated, the Wikipedia world can be confusing, time intensive, and lead to questionable or no result. It is a world where the wisdom of the masses’ predominates and traditional PR methods of influencing editorial do not apply. 

Bottomline:

• You cannot manipulate Wikipedia or you will get slammed and perhaps marked for life (all edits are recorded - no wrong deed goes unpunished).
• Contributing to Wikipedia projects, like WikiProject Investment, can help you learn the Wiki way and establish relationships with other editors.
• Change to a Wikipedia page, unless it is on someone well know, can take months or even years.
• You cannot control content on a client. Anyone can change Wikipedia content, even anonymously.

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back in the NYC buzz - new media capital of the world

L.A. is really nowhere when it comes to PR new media and Seattle isn’t even on the map. Coming back from those two places to Lindsay Lohan screaming from the headlines of the newspapers on the streets of the upper west side you realize that New York has an identity in this new communication renaissance: we’re the new media capital of the universe, as we should be. Rupert Murdoch in your face, baby. Where else would the vanguard of new media spring from?

The PR agency business is heavily concentrated in New York and Silicon Alley is re-emerging with a greater focus and new identity. Media relations has its greatest significance here because this is predominately where the media is headquartered. PR, Advertising & Marketing are duking it out for the New Media dollars - this is where the main event is.

Read more

Do You Weally Wanna Wiki?

Wikis sound cute but they can be clunky and forbidding and mysterious. What’s a wiki? Very simply, it’s a web page or a web site that can be edited easily by multiple users (think Wikipedia). By all rights the wiki is the most elegant, simplest, cheapest web-based collaboration tool available. It can be used for individual projects, enterprise-wide initiatives, a family reunion, any event that requires collaboration between two or more people. I first became aware of wikis through New PR Wiki launched and maintained by wiki maestro Constantin Basturea (PR meets WWW). New PR Wiki is the single best source for resources on PR 2.0, and it is a living repository that is badly in need of a fresh look and new input. The chronology and lessons of the revolution are within New PR Wiki, including great background on astroturfing and social media releases. I will always be indebted to Constantin for helping me see that there can be such as thing as global Internet-based public relations scholarship, from Romania to the U.S., and that contributing to a wiki really builds the global knowledge bank.

So, I’ve been waiting for someone to figure out how to simplify and package the wiki for the masses. Is PBwiki here to lead us to wiki nirvana? Make a free wiki as easily as a peanut butter sandwich. How can you resist a tag that tasty? Built-in search, RSS, 10 MB storage free, 1-click backup, revision history. Take the tour here.

If you weally wanna wig out on wikis read Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, and find out how to prosper in a world where new communications technologies are democratizing the creation of value.