Drew B's take on tech PR

I don't say when I'm going on holiday

I'm going on holiday. But I dont like blogging about it when it happens. People really don't care. Especially when it's only for a few days.

But this is an excuse to excuse me from a few things:

1. I'm going to be getting some spam... my filter's been catching a lot of spam recently ("archy it i, and i like you," they say!?!) from some rinkydink casino from Bulgaria or something, and now I'm away it's going to get worse. So sorry to those people who subscribe to my comments. You're going to kop some shite on here I'm afraid :-(
2. The reason I'm opening up my comments while I'm away is because there's two nice posts that are getting conversations going. One is about the Joseph Dobbie Love Email that's been in the press again today. The second is the Ebay photo I posted the other night. I'm still laughing at it, only some people randomly think it's actually normal. (whooaaaattttt?!)
3. I can't think of a third reason, but I'm a PR person so I say things in threes.

Have a good week!

New PR blogs

Inspired by Stuart's performance at a recent conference, a PR person has started blogging at a blog called Adpoted Northener. Maybe she's a goth too? (it's purple and black :-) Thanks Simon for the link.

Another cabinet minister delivers speech on blogging and social media

Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Education, has made a speech about the need to include blogging and social media into democracy, says Simon Collister.

Bare bottom surprise!! The most hilarious Ebay photo ever

Mrs Drew B just saw this photo on Ebay. Oh my god how annoyed would you be if you were loitering in your dressing gown, with no undercrackers on, and your other half takes a shot of their shitty bike for Ebay... then goes and uses the photo anyway!

Here's a screen grab:

And you gotta love the shouty no-breath description of the bike... pure pikey quality:

MOUNTAIN BIKE NEEDS TO GO SOME ATTENTION REQUIRED BUT WILL MAKE A NICE LITTTLE BIKE YOU ARE BIDING ON FULL COMPLETE BIKE FULL SUSPENSION ADJUSTABLE REAR GOOD BIKE BUT MOTOERBIKE NEEDS THE ROOM ASK ANY QUESTIONS NOTHING TO HIDE PICK UP ONLY PLEASE MAY BE ALBE TO DELIVER BUT WOULD NEED YOUR ADDRESS TO GET PRICE HAPPY BIDDING

Blogger busts fake drug scandal in Big Brother

An Aussie blogger has uncovered that one of the country's TV channels was posting fake threads on its chat rooms about drug scandals. It's big, apparently. Through this blog bust, heads may doubt roll.

Read more at Aussie PR blogger Paull Young's site:

An Aussie blogger has picked up the dodgy Aussie current affairs show Today Tonight creating a fake story about Australian Big Brother. Today Tonight claimed that the folk at Australian Big Brother were trying to cover up a ‘drugs scandal’ - even deleting posts from the official Big Brother forum! Problem was… the forum posts in question were not only from an unofficial forum… they were also started by a Today Tonight producer.

Technorati Tags: Big Brother, Big Brother australia, Nail Polish, Channel 7, Today Tonight

MySpace breaks

My colleague Michael just posted about MySpace breaking down from the heat. IT Week did too, says Lem. Loads of places are offline cos of the heat, it seems. Why not here please!! :-)

Tags: heat, power cut

Joseph Dobbie - that email in full

Joseph Dobbie is the latest eager emailer to be the subject of global humiliation in the media because of a mail that fell into the wrong hands. If you don't know about the story, check the BBC, Times, Guardian or Mirror. It's an example of how, and who, not to chat up when you're only a few emails away from the media. Here's the email he sent in full, which I received today.

Technorati Tags: Joseph Dobbie

Crisis PR blogging

The issue of blogging in crisis PR scenarios is quite a mature one. It's always cropping up in online conversations. But because crises so rarely come along (well, for most brands anyway) the reality is that crisis comms rarely incorporate well-rehearsed social media technologies. Unless, of course, the crisis is caused by blogging, which will then get all the PR bloggerati in a client's PR agency chomping at the bit.

Reacting to a crisis that has arisen on the blogosphere requires all the sound blogging tactics, with a few added extras. But the broader issue of reacting to real life crises using blog technologies is more complex. A good understanding of how this medium works is crucial, but you need to have done it all in a business context before also. My advice would be to know your technologies inside out first, look at he problem faced like you would any business problem, then think social and go for the long tail.

If you're in need of a catch-up, here's five resources to help you on blogging through a crisis:

• Behind The Spin: making a podcast out of a crisis
• Micropersuasion: blog crisis planning 101
• Better Communication Results: how to adapt issue and crisis management to the social web
• PR Opinions: crisis PR - all that glitters is not gold
• Crisis Management Blog: a promising new blog from a UK in-house PR blogger (if it does what it says on the tin)

Technorati Tags: Crisis management, crisis PR, crisis blog
 
 

Blogs say: Skype to launch P2P TV

Remember when Kazaa was bigger than Skype? (ie when Skype didn't exist yet) I thought that P2P phones would never take off. How wrong was I. Well Rumour has it, according to Business 2.0's blog, that the founders of Skype are moving intp P2P TV. It's going by codename Venice. Take a look at the blog buzz going up in the last few days on this chart:

links for 2006-07-25

• Anne Frank 2006: Web-savvy youths record suffering in Mideast - International Herald Tribune
  As the world's gaze has turned to another ethnic and religious calamity - this time between Israel and militants in Lebanon - a question that almost immediately arises is just what Zlata Filipovic, or even Anne Frank, might have made of YouTube.com.
• Blogs Bring News From Lebanon
  Lebanese and Israeli civilians caught in the crossfire are now using the Internet to talk about their experiences, fears and apprehensions via blogs.
• Israelis venting through blogs
  An 18-year-old living in the north of Israel recounts the sounds of rocket fire and having nightmares of her home being struck.