For the past 100 years companies have had the luxury of deciding what products they want to make and sell, what their brand message will be and how they will deliver it to their audience. Communication in PR was based on a one-way, two-step flow of communication through mass media.
The Internet changed that.
We’re in the [...]

I liked Srinivas Kandikonda’s article in Technology News about the need for a social media strategy and although he is writing about media organizations, the lessons apply equally to  any business today.
Here are his main points:
The need for adoption of social media and delivery to multiple mobile devices is increasingly becoming essential for retaining [...]

 
Last week 150 PR practitioners gathered in Palm Springs at the PRSA Western District conference.  One of the keynote panels was about the media and their needs in today’s Web 2.0 world.  After hearing for years that the press release is dead, it was refreshing to hear them say it most certainly is not dead – [...]

It’s been a very busy social media week in LA.  On Tuesday I went to the North American Journeys Summit for DMOs (Destination Marketing Organizations.) On Thursday I went over to Hollywood  to speak at the Entertainment Publicists breakfast workshop on social media and then hared back to Pasadena for Social Media Club,  San Gabriel [...]

Back in 2006 while I was working a paper with Rok Hrastnik we called the phenomenon of online buzz and reputation The Power of Voice.

Since then many companies have felt that power – positively and negatively.  Dell, Dominoes, Naked Pizza, Motrin, Blendtec to name just a few. Nestle has now joined the list.
Nestle is embarking [...]

#PRSA09 How engagement keeps companies way above water. Good case studies show ROI of Social Media and PR.  Tuesday 3 30. Session sponsored by Marketwire.
Why PR Students should be taught Social Media Strategy http://bit.ly/4bLwHp
RT @davidalston: Profs must teach students to use social media tools – employers expect digital fluency (BusinessWeek) http://is.gd/4PeKN
RT @kamichat: Really GREAT corporate [...]

A thoughtful post from Gina Chen, a 20 year veteran journalist, lays out clearly how mainstream media newsrooms should use social media today.
Here are her six points:

News must be immediate. Break the news on Twitter as it happens. Follow up with an immediate blog post that includes live video or audio.
Publish on multiple platforms.  See [...]

The Engagementdb study from the Altimeter Group and Wetpaint looked at the effect that engagement with your customers and audiences can have on the bottom line.  They analyzed major brands like Coca Cola, SAP and Starbucks. The key finding is that those with the highest engagement factor also had the best financial results over [...]

One of the biggest trends in 2009 is the shift to real-time content online, sometimes referred to as Now Media.
And when you say real-time web or the instant news cycle, most people think of Twitter.
“The Real-Time Web is much more than Twitter,” says Richard McManus of ReadWriteWeb in a series about the top 5 web [...]

Last night’s panel at the Social Media Club of LA got into a spirited discussion about the pros and cons of citizen journalism.  The event was covered by Fox 11 news.
Alexia Tsotsis, tech/business lifestyle reporter for the LAWeekly was the moderator. (@alexiatsotsis)
Panelists were:
David Sarno, a Los Angeles Times Internet business reporter. (@dsarno)
Christina Gagnier, [...]