Because the ways are many and varied. If you needed any evidence that brands are doing social media all wrong then look no further than a recent survey sponsored by Ragan’s PR Daily and several partners. The statistics are jaw-dropping: Only 27 percent of brands have a dedicated social media team Sixty-five percent of brands […]
Read moreHas Journalism Become Elitist?
The answer, unfortunately, might be yes. At one point, only a couple of decades ago, newsrooms were filled with reporters culled from the ranks of blue-collar and working class families. When I started in journalism, newsroom were gritty places. Profanity was not only common, but as permanent as the water stains on the ceiling tiles. […]
Read moreSaturday is the New Friday
Let’s face it: The 40-hour work week is dead. And all that blather about 4-day and 3-day work weeks is just that: blather. Workers, especially professional workers, have lost the gains made by labor unions in the 19th and early 20th centuries to win the eight-hour day and 40-hour work week. The Fair Labor Standards Act […]
Read moreWhy Tech Companies Love Patents & Hate Copyrights
Technology companies adore patents. They gobble them up like Pac-Man snacking on digital pellets. And they use the patents like clubs to bludgeon everyone and anyone who dares “to violate” them. Patent battles are making headlines everywhere. As a recent Boston Globe article noted: “Patents have become a costly and controversial part of the business […]
Read moreFile Under: Facebook Weird
Bizarre stuff happens on Facebook. And mostly it’s because people forget that nothing is private on Facebook. The latest case of what can only to called “Facebook weird” happened this week on the Pigalle restaurant Facebook page. An unhappy diner posted a complaint on the page (which has since been removed). She described her Thanksgiving […]
Read moreIs Facebook Dead as a Marketing Channel?
Of course not. Let’s not get crazy here. But believe it or not there seems to be a mounting number of alarmist obituaries about Facebook’s effectiveness as a marketing platform. If there were any truth to this speculation then we might as well ring the death knell for the Internet as a marketing platform was […]
Read moreSo Many Bad Videos
It is amazing how many bad videos are made by brands and business professionals. It’s scary. Horrifying, in fact. Here are just a few random examples from corporate/business videos I’ve seen recently (names left off to protect the extremely guilty): A video of two social media consultants talking about the importance of content filmed on […]
Read moreSocial Media = Closed Networks
By now every has likely heard about Twitter suspending the account of journalist Guy Adams of The Independent for the crime of rankling NBC’s collective ego by disparaging the network’s Olympic coverage. Adams tweeted out the corporate email address of a NBC executive as part of his ongoing complaints about the coverage. Twitter flagged the […]
Read moreSocial Media Will Not Cure Cancer
One aspect of social media I dislike immensely is the sense of magical thinking hovers about it. Some of the medium’s most rabid advocates possess a spooky evangelical zeal about digital communications. At times it can feel like snake-oil salesmen who promise miraculous cures. That’s why it’s not usual to find bold proclamations that social […]
Read moreThe Tip of the Social Media Iceberg
A client recently quipped: “How hard can social media be? All you have to do is write some tweets and status updates. What’s the big deal?” It was difficult to know where to start. Because calling “social media” tweets and status updates is like calling public relations writing press releases or thinking that advertising is […]
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April 9, 2013 


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