Media Relations

Ready To Share Yourself With The World? Marketers Are Quietly Salivating

Do you enjoy Facebook?  Are you pretty relaxed about what you say?  Have you carefully walled off certain items, wanting privacy?

Marketers are anxious, waiting for a "let down" of the public guard.  When that happens, they'll be able to mine social media to a new level of research, a closer step to understanding the American consumer who has embraced online social activity.

So if you use Facebook, and you decide to click on "public" for your site....be prepared.

Full story here from BusinessWeek.

Funny Headlines - Read & Enjoy While Newspapers Are Still In Business

I'm a loyal subscriber to the Columbia Journalism Review.  At the back, the publication collects funny headlines, submitted by readers and groups them under the heading "The Lower Case."    Some great samples for Friday humor!

It's A Good Day When The News Headlines Are Funny!

Time to laugh a little, hopefully not too much at the expense of others.  Once again, some gems...real headlines featured in the Columbia Journalism Review.  Enjoy!

Big Changes At Utah Business Magazine

Utah Business is going through a big change.  It has a new publisher, Tyler Dabo, the magazine's former advertising director (photo below right), and a new executive editor, David Kennard.

The changes were announced by the publication'sowner, Utah Business Publishers LLC.  Longtime publisher Martin Lewis is no longer with the company, and a news release states he has left Utah Business to pursue other business ventures.

Here's the release:

 

Utah Business Publishers LLC. announced today the promotion of Tyler Dabo to the position of publisher of Utah Business magazine.  Dabo had previously worked as advertising director at the South Jordan-based magazine. He will take on management of the publication and business organization. 

The company also announced the hiring of David Kennard as the executive editor of the magazine. Kennard, who has an extensive news background, will direct the magazine's editorial staff.

Roy Brown, president of Utah Business Publishers LLC. made the announcement Friday, June 12, 2009, saying he looked forward to continuing a strong tradition of leadership in Utah's business community. “Going forward, we are confident that this talented management team will provide the useful information, that Utah business leaders have come to expect from Utah Business magazine,” Brown said.

Dabo said he looked forward to strengthening ties between the publication, its advertisers and industry leaders. “I’m excited to develop relationships in the business community and increase the visibility of Utah Business and the connections it has locally,” Dabo said. He also said he felt “properly groomed by Martin Lewis,” former publisher and editor-in-chief.

Lewis, former publisher and editor-in-chief, has left the company to pursue other business ventures. 

About Utah Business: Utah Business magazine is Utah’s only monthly statewide business publication. Utah Business Publishers LLC produces the monthly Utah Business, the Magazine for Decision Makers; annually the state’s only annual Book of Lists, comprehensive information and rankings about the state’s industries, from accounting firms to Web designers; the annual Business Utah, the official publication of Utah’s Governor’s Office of Economic Development; and the quarterly Wasatch Digital iQ, Utah’s Technology Magazine; UB Daily e-mail news briefing, and weekly industry-specific newsletters.

About Wasatch Digital iQ: Wasatch Digital iQ magazine is Utah’s only technology magazine. It is dedicated to helping foster the growth of Utah’s high-tech economy. We cover Utah’s high-tech companies and deliver timely news and information to local and national business leaders. We believe Utah has much to offer the world through its people’s innovative work in the hardware, software and life sciences fields. Wasatch Digital iQ provides a quarterly printed magazine, a Website featuring new articles daily and a Daily iQ e-mail newsletter. www.digitaliq.com.

"The Rise of Freelance Nation"...Money Magazine's Prediction About The Emerging Economy

Been thinking about starting your own PR firm, or becoming a consultant?   The time is almost over-ripe and I suggest you take your plunge sooner, rather than later.  Competition is about to heat up, according to the July 2009 issue of Money magazine.

In an article on top trends in the new economy, Money predicts "The Rise Of Freelance Nation,"  citing that an estimated 30 percent of today's workforce (about 42 million people) are either freelancers, independent contractors, part-time or temp workers. 

AND...in the next 10 years we can expect that number to grow to 40 percent.  Ravin Jesuthasan of Towers Perrin is quoted as saying, "Companies want a workforce they can switch on and off as needed."

Read all about it here.  By the way, I've never regretted the creation of my own business back in 1996.

Supervisors Speak No Evil...Why?

Disclaimer: University of Phoenix is a client. I have not been asked to blog about this (my own choice).

Paranoia abounds in the American workplace.  Cutbacks, layoffs.  Even if your company is in great shape, you are probably still anticipating some kind of bad news.

Which brings me to something of great concern to PR practitioners...getting management to communicate well, even communicate the bad news, or communicate at all.

The University of Phoenix has a research center and just awarded a grant to study how supervisors are communicating with employees during this financial crisis.  I'm anxious to see the results of this six-month project.  If top management loves research, and the research finds they need to communicate better....perhaps they will listen to us :)  When I get results...I'll pass them along!

Read more here. 

Getting Paid "Twaid" To Tweet - Ad Dollars March Into Twitter

Imagine being paid, just like a celebrity who endorses product, to tweet about something?  According to today's ADWEEK,the same company offering bloggers compensation for writing about a product, IZEA, is moving into Twitter.  Call it: Pay per tweet.

New careers are being created.  Question is, will those who take payment be honest and credible?  Will they disclose their compensation? 

Those who venture into this new phase would be wise to treat their online reputations just as they do the ones they have in the non-cyberspace arena.  Let me quote William Buffet: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."