So, AT&T has jumped into action in response to the growing chorus of complaints about the deteriorating quality of the company’s wireless network: they’ve posted a video by someone called Seth the Blogger Guy. (He’s actually Seth Bloom, who works in the telco’s PR group.)
How can so-called mommy bloggers navigate the murky territory of sharing advice with other mothers versus getting paid for the products they promote?
In the rapidly shifting era of blogger and media relations, we can expect one thing to occur as we forge ahead: mistakes. It happens to the best and the worst of us.
Newsflash, courtesy of PR agency Edelman: Young people don’t feel warmly about the music industry, presumably because they are harshing their mellow and trying to stop them from pirating music. Leave aside the dubiousness of a PR agency telling other people they have a PR problem, and take a gander at these supposedly damning statistics …
If you’re still wondering why the media world is getting turned on its head, consider the following anecdote. A few years back, representatives from the Industry Standard, Wired and Upside were invited to a public-relations gathering to talk about how they decide what to cover. After they finished their prepared remarks, a young woman in the audience stood up to ask a question. “You talk a lot about tricks and tips on what we should do,” she said. “But I’ve done all that and I still can’t get you to cover my clients.” The reporter from Upside recognized the opening and rammed a Mack Truck right through it. “Ma’am,” he replied, “you need better clients.”
Silicon Valley journalist/blogger Tom Foremski had had enough. Two years ago, he wrote a poison pen letter to the PR industry in a blog post titled “Die! Press release! Die! Die! Die!,” in which he exhorted publicists to break down press releases into sections, tag the information and provide links to more sources. … Much to Foremski’s great surprise, PR pros actually listened.
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