With apologies to Orson, two recent news events have folks questioning citizen journalism. CBS had an embarrassing lesson in citizen journalism while Apple got an expensive lesson. This Is New. And It’s Important.The bottom line is that dwindling media resources make citizen journalism a must-have, not a trendy nice to...

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Anyone else getting a ton of junk email/invites/notifications on Facebook?Maybe it’s just a sign of age, or soc net fatigue, but I created a short video that offers a guideline** for sending email/invites/notifications on Facebook.The video is not about any one person or a specific group. It’s the inspiration of...

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♫On ze catwalk I do my little turn….♫ Just in time for Fashion Week, Chanel dropped a new application into the iTunes App Store. Chanel’s Haute Couture Show F/W 08/9 puts its latest fashions into the palm of your hand. This application is smart. It includes a quick video of...

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Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out service has been getting more attention and, as a result, more members. Nearly 30,000 people get emails from Shankman filled with media requests. Specific media requests are what sales people would consider a qualified lead. Unfortunately PR people are still not closing the sale....

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Jeremy Pepper snapped us out of our navel gazing recently with a well-deserved question. “Can Social Media Do What It Claims?” One of the more exciting opportunities for social media is how it can enable non-profit organizations to boost awareness and support for their causes with powerful stories. Rather than...

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This is being posted here while Blogger holds the Bad Pitch blog hostage. I'll spare you the explanation of why I posted this. But I would like to extend my sympathies to the families of Bernie Mac and Issac Hayes. Subject: Is Samuel Jackson Next? Death Comes in Threes… From:...

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Last week there was a snafu at Blogger and a robot mistakenly identified a lot of blogs as being spam. Blogger claims to have fixed that problem. Then on Monday, the Bad Pitch blog was locked out. Nearly a week later, we’re still waiting to get access. Somehow it’s fitting...

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1) Nike 100 – Beijing, China | The Cool Hunter Nike turns its 100 innovations from the last 50 years into a museum and creates a shock and awe brand experience in the process. 2) Are You Developing a Social Media Monitoring & Engagement Strategy? | Voce Nation Mike Manuel’s...

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Come to the second Cincinnati Social Media Breakfast to listen, share, network and learn along with other area marketing and new media professionals. Making communications more effective with multimedia is the theme of the free morning event as the definition of content continues to morph and include everything from 140-character...

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Can a backstage pass create a connection between a brand and a consumer? The British Prime Minister and Lenovo are both trying to find out. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has had a Twitter Twitter account set up for some time now. Brown recently built on this for the G8 Summit...

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SlideShare is to PowerPoint as Flickr is to photography and YouTube is to video. But without detailed speaker notes, SlideShare can be like watching the TV when it's on mute. That said one of my presentations has been selected as part of SlideShare's Spotlight on PR 2.0. The presentation expands...

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Years ago en route to a client meeting I asked my then colleague, a hack turned flack, if writing ever gets any easier. My heart sank when this ex-journo told me writing is the hardest thing he does every day. But his point was writing is a labor of love....

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FedEx just announced it’s dropping the Kinko’s from its name and becoming FedEx Office to "describe the wide range of services available at its retail centers." FedEx purchased Kinko’s in 2004. Waiting four years to drop the name might seem odd for a company specializing in overnight delivery, but it’s...

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"Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two--and only two--basic functions: marketing and innovation. “Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business." – Peter Drucker It’s up to us to make this...

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A reporter and I just discussed the PR industry’s use of Friend Feed. It’s for what I assume is a short, but well-intended story that shows the publication is tuned into PR nerds, er, early adopters. It just seems a bit early to be writing it. I’ve only been actively...

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This pitch from Chris at Ketchum is sexist. But it's also funny, short and timely. It’s for a smart guerilla marketing idea from Best Buy’s Geek Squad. ___ Not even the Geneva Convention can save us from the torture about to hit screens tomorrow. Sure “Sex and the City” will...

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Admit it. At some point, in some form or another…Twitter pisses you off. I’ve been there and back. That’s from a post detailing why I think Marketing and PR people should try Twitter. Rather than cross-posting it here, I’ll build on it. People are time-starved and don’t want to spend...

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As information disperses wildly/widely through personal channels, marketers must revert from “sticky” mentality to “slippery.” Sticky websites require lures and hooks to get people to our sites and then lock them in. Slippery ideas enable wide distribution of our brand into daily life (Originally articulated by Mark Earls via Fallon’s...

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No, it’s not about you. Props to the ringmaster of reality checks, Jeremy Pepper, for inspiring this cartoon. Comic via Build Your Own Meat

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A handful of PR agencies are up for work around the Beijing 2008 Olympics, including "public relations strategies to be used before the games, media background and market analysis on how China is perceived in the West." Via Mediabistro OK, before I give my perception, I’ll invoke tenets from two...

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