Inside PR 2.69: TV or not TV…that is the question

September 22, 2011 • admin • PR

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Gini, Joe and Martin start off by announcing they’ll be attending the PRSA International Conference in Orlando, Florida, October 15 to 18 as ‘roving reporters’ roaming the halls and recording episodes of Inside PR. If you have any suggestions for topics or would like to do an interview, please let us know.

Inside PR is also sponsoring a tweetup at the conference on Monday, October 17 – details to follow. We hope to see you there.

Joe then talks about a post on the Niemen Journalism Lab blog, ‘A Vast Wasteland Revisited’, to mark the 50^th anniversary of FCC Chair Newton Minnow’s speech about television’s potential for greatness… or garbage (i.e. the wasteland).

He feels the ideas resonate more than ever today with social media and especially Facebook, which can be seen as another ‘vast wasteland’.

Martin segues into some of the changes Facebook has made recently including the ability to subscribe to feeds from people you’re not friends with and its new lists function. Gini thinks the change is an interesting play on privacy and if you just want to communicate with friends, you should turn off the subscription option. Gini uses Facebook for business publicly and is more private about her personal profile.

Joe thinks this could be the week Facebook lost it by overcomplicating things and introducing too many features. He believes Twitter is a great news feed; Google+ is the place to have conversations with smart people and blogs are where you go to read and comment on long-form ideas.

Martin mentions the fact that you now have lists on the left side between groups and pages and the defaults aren’t working well for him. For example, the college default is a random group of friends who happened to go to the same university he did at some point and doesn’t have any cohesiveness beyond place.

For our second topic, Gini talks about Netflix CEO Reed Hastings saying how the company ‘messed up’ the way it handled the price increase. She believes he shows some humility because, while Netflix had moved away from listening to its customers and made the decision in a boardroom, a customer uproar caused them to admit they were wrong.

Gini goes on to say it’s clear Netflix wants to shed its DVD service and move to streaming, but from a communication perspective, they should have had better counsel. Joe discloses that one of his clients works in a similar space – but as an outside observer, he’s impressed when any company is honest with its customers. It will be interesting to see if their actions are enough for people to give them another chance.

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pron Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.68: The Evolution of Journalism

September 15, 2011 • admin • PR

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This week on Inside PR, Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and I discuss how two interesting studies – Twitter active users and bit.ly link active length of time – intersect with the departure of Michael Arrington from TechCrunch and the evolution of journalism.

The interesting thing to note is that Twitter shows they have 100 million active users. But, as Fred Wilson points out, there are 400 million monthly unique visitors on Twitter.

Four hundred million monthly uniques.

This statistic, alone, demonstrates the value of Twitter as a newsfeed and we discuss the implications of this on both the fourth and fifth estates.

Then to add a layer, Michael Arrington, who infamously has said he doesn’t care if he’s right, he just wants to be first, was publicly fired from TechCrunch because of ethical concerns around his newly created CrunchFund.

We discuss what this means both for social media and journalism, as we know it.

And to add one more layer, Matthew Ingram blogs that it’s not just nice for media to be social, it’s imperative. He says journalists have become complacent and stopped engaging, assuming their readers will come to them.

In response to Ingram, Dave Weiner argues that journalism is becoming obsolete because it was a response to publishing and it was, but now we can all be distributors. And Ingram responds with saying that it’s not becoming obsolete, but rather, evolving rapidly.

The point of all this back and forth is that, as communications professionals, we need to understand there are profound implications to the way we’re getting our news, how content is being created, and what is being published and distributed.

We discuss how journalism (the fourth estate) is about providing context and expertise and citizen journalists (the fifth estate, or citizen witnesses, as Joe calls them) provide quick information without that context.

And these wonderful discussions are all wrapped up with some exciting news that you’ll want to hang around to hear!

You’ll find the links bookmarked on Diigo as IPR268.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.67: Summer’s over and IPR is back

September 7, 2011 • thornley • PR

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We’re back. Ready for another year of Inside PR. And we hope you’ll be joining us again for a discussion of communication, technology, community and the impact they are having on us.

We start off today’s podcast with a discussion of corporate social responsibility – an issue Liza Butcher raised in a comment last week. Gini talks about the preference people have to work with a company that gives back. Joe cites Guy Kawasaki’s suggestion in Enchantment that you “should be a mensch.” Among other things, this means that you should “help someone who can be of absolutely no use to you.” Martin underlines this point with an example of a company that risked appearing self serving and self congratulatory in acting upon their social responsibility.

We also talk about the We the People site that is being launched by the White House. Joe compares it to the British Prime Minister’s Number10 Website, which also has a petition function as well as links to policy consultations. Gini argues that the site falls short of its potential by making the culmination of the process a response from policy makers in the White House. Martin wonders about the requirement for 5,000 expressions of support as the threshold at which petitions will receive a reply. Is it an arbitrary number? Or is there some rationale for this?

Finally, we talk about the recent news that monitoring service VMS shut its doors recently. Katie Paine published a thoughtful post on why the service failed. One of her arguments is that some longstanding suppliers are focused on giving their customers what they feel comfortable with. Newer entrants like Radian6 and Sysomos are innovating to provide the marketplace with new insights. Services that don’t match them will fall by the wayside.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.66: The real podcaster

August 12, 2011 • admin • PR

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For those of you who don’t know, Inside PR is not just the voices you hear every week, but there is a hard working producer behind the scenes.

Every week, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joe Thornley drop their files off in Dropbox and patiently wait as an episode magically appears before them. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Inside PR producer, Kristine Simpson, works her own magic and produces the show.

This week, Gini, Martin, Joe and Kristine “hung-out” on Goggle+ to talk about the behind the scenes of the Inside PR podcast and Kristine gives tips on how to produce your own podcast.

Here is Kristine’s 5 step guide to creating your own podcast:

1. Upload and edit

First you need your voice files – the file that includes your recording. If you are multiple people, use separate microphones to create separate files. This makes it easier to edit out background noise. Upload all files in to an audio editing software, I use Audacity.
Then edit the content. Take out bloopers, add in intro and outro music, take out background noise, and remove barking sounds from Gini’s dog.

2. Export and level

Now time to export the file. Export it as a WAV. file so you can drop the file in Levelator. Levalator automatically makes all voices the same volume. When you record with two or more microphones, someone is always louder than the other. And some people just naturally have a louder voice. Levalator ensures everyone speaks at the same volume.

3. Export the MP3

Although a WAV. file is a popular audio file, convert your file to a MP3. It is very easy to do with Audacity and it shrinks the file to be more manageable and it makes it easier to download. MP3 files are also more popular and can play in various audio and video players.

4. Upload to Libsyn.com

If you make your podcast available through iTunes, your podcast can easily be made available to your followers. Followers can also subscribe and receive new podcasts instantly to their iTunes library.

Once you have created an iTunes account for your podcast, you simply need to upload your finished MP3 on to Liberated Syndication (or Libsyn). Libsyn then makes the podcast available on iTunes. Libsyn also provides you with links (embedded and direct), which you can use to share through social media (i.e. a blog post).

5. Share

There are many ways to share your podcast. Inside PR writes a blog post every week to accompany the podcast. Each week a different host writes the show notes and I push it live on the blog.

The Inside PR blog is a WordPress blog, which makes it easy to add plugins that allow followers to listen to the podcast directly on the blog post.

Follow those five steps and with a flick of the wrist, magic! The podcast is created.

Listen to this week’s episode of Inside PR to hear more about producing a podcast. Kristine also talks about the intricacies of being a producer – i.e. She can tell Gini, Martin and Joe apart, just by looking at their vocal waves.

If you want to connect with Kristine or ask her more questions about producing a podcast, you can find her on Twitter, or catch her blogging at Running a PR life.

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.65: To leave or not to leave…that is the question

August 4, 2011 • admin • PR

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We start this week with a question from a listener, LaBrandon Dates: How do you know when it’s time to search for a new job and can a person stay positive in a company with a negative or non team-oriented culture?

Thanks LaBrandon – great question! We’re going to answer from the perspective of employers and employees.

Joe Thornley left a company after 11 years when he realized the people he’d come to work with – the ones who shared his values – had all gone. The company had been acquired, the culture changed and he was no longer happy. If you’re not happy, he says, you shouldn’t spend 20 seconds at a place because life is too short.

Gini Dietrich left Fleishman because she wanted a change from the city where she was based, though she liked the people and the firm. At another agency, she had philosophical differences with colleagues and left because she realized there was no common ground.

Martin Waxman was at a Canadian firm that was acquired by a multinational. And because some of the senior leadership couldn’t accept the change, it felt like individuals were working for different entities rather than a single company and that hurt morale. He stayed about a year longer than he should have and says it’s important to ask yourself the tough questions early and then decide whether or not to leave.

Joe comments that talented people who are miserable make others miserable but they can always get a position at a place where they’d be happy. But before you start looking, be honest with your supervisor and share what you feel and why.

We don’t know anyone who was fired for admitting they weren’t happy in a job.

Gini introduces our second topic. She recently noticed that large companies are looking to smaller, more nimble, boutique firms when they’re conducting an agency search and wonders if this is a trend or possibly an economic shift.

Joe remarks that it’s the slowest recovery he can remember. People are being careful where they spend money and need to show results. On the other hand, he’s seen more businesses coming into Canada with consolidated budgets that are going with multinational AORs rather than a Canadian firm.

Martin says he’s been working more closely with U.S. agencies and adapting their initiatives. He feels PR budgets haven’t grown – a good client is one that comes back flat. Which leads to the question, how can we accomplish more with less?

Gini believes PR people should acquire more marketing skills. And unless we do that, our industry may become extinct…

What do you think? Can PR successfully adapt? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.64: PR and the Murdoch Affair

July 26, 2011 • admin • PR

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Jeff Jarvis unloaded a real roundhouse on PR and the News of the World affair and Rupert Murdoch’s appearance in front of Parliament.

The blog post discusses how coached Murdoch seemed during his appearance and how he completely missed transparency in his answers.

Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and Gini Dietrich set the stage for PR and the Murdoch affair and discuss who we, as PR professionals, are responsible to.

It’s an interesting topic, to begin with, because it seems impossible for people to disconnect how we (as a generalization) feel about a personality and the reality of what’s really going on. How the news media portrays a man and how we, as a society, condem him for something his employees he did.

But we all agree that, as leaders, it’s our jobs to take responsibility for the mistakes our employees make…even if we weren’t aware they were going on. The communication is something such as, “I don’t condone what my employees did. I take responsibility for their actions. And this is what I’m going to do about it.”

The conversation then turns to true PR, just like marketing, should be in the best interest of the customer. Not in the best interest of the company. Not in the best interest of the stakeholders. Not in the best interest of the employees. But in the best interest of the customer.

We all need to ask ourselves: Are we helping our clients spin a story (as you know, Spin Sucks) that makes them look better or are we helping them effectively communicate with their customers?

And the last point was one raised first by David Weinberger where he says:

If I were Edelman PR, I would probably agree to take on NewsCorp, but only if I were satisfied to a reasonable degree (yes, them’s fudge words) that NewsCorp was ready to tell the truth. (Clients do lie to their PR companies. The first time Edelman catches NewsCorp lying to them, Edelman should quite publicly drop them.)

From there we discuss how our jobs, as PR professionals, is to be there for the public interest and to tell the truth.

Joe raises the question of hubris of the super rich. He wonders, aloud, if they feel like they’re above the law and don’t have to be honest with anyone, including their agency.

All three of us hope that is the case with Rupert Murdoch. We hope the industry isn’t shady enough that our peers would suggest their client lie and blame his or her employees without taking any responsibility. But maybe we’re all really naive.

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Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.63: A show about nothing

July 22, 2011 • admin • PR

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This week on Inside PR, Joe, Gini and Martin decide to try something new.

First, Joe talks about the beautiful weather. As Joe mentions the blue skies and bright sun, Joe’s rebellious side emerges and he suggests the group should play… hookie!

As Gini and Martin gasp at the idea, Gini thinks: “I can watch the Tour.”

Martin, still hesitant, tries to bring Gini and Joe back to the show by suggesting topic ideas. But with nothing but Google+ and the same old news, Martin admits defeat.

And the Inside PR team skips out early to enjoy the beautiful weather.

So, take this opportunity to catch up on previous Inside PR shows, if you are new to Google+ check out the review of Google+. Grab a book and read under a tree, for book suggestions check out Inside PR’s summer reading list. Or take a trip to the past and listen to the very first Inside PR episode.

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.61: Summertime…and the reading is easy

July 6, 2011 • Martin • PR

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A few weeks ago on Inside PR 2.58, the summer movie releases gave us the idea to talk about films on PR. And thanks to a suggestion from Jody Koehler, we’re opening the page to PR (and business) books we’re currently reading and a few ‘classics’ we’d like to recommend.

Here’s our list:

Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman – a smart and insightful primer on curating or creating content.

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff – the bible for any PR person moving into the digital world.

What Would Google Do by Jeff Jarvis – while it’s not PR/communications focused, it helps you think about your spheres of influence and how to connect with them.

Welcome to the Fifth Estate by Geoff Livingstone – a new book that offers a perspective on understanding and working with citizen journalists.

Outcome-Based Marketing by John D. Leavy – a book on measuring results and new rules for marketing online.

Funny Business by Jeff Silverman – the president of Yuk Yuk’s, Canada’s comedy club chain, looks at the business of showbiz and how all his ventures were successful because he built communities.

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky – about the world we’re living in and the technological revolution we’re living through.

Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management by James E. Grunig – for anyone preparing for their APR. Check out how relevant his two-way symmetrical communication model is to social media.

The Trusted Advisor and True Professionalism by David Maister – how to gain an understanding of business problems that need to be solved and become a trusted counsellor.

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman – well worth reading for anyone who is creating content to get a sense of the trivial and the consequential.

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky – takes off on the ideas he presented in Here Comes Everybody and examines the productivity capacity we all have – if we get off the couch.

Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger – opens your eyes to what happens to information when it’s digitized and freed from physical constraints.

Army of Entrepreneurs by Jennifer Prosek – a great primer in how to set up a successful PR consulting business.

Hope that gives you a few ideas to read on the beach (or anywhere) this summer. Do you have any other suggestions? We’d love to hear from you. And we’ll be expecting your book reports in the fall – no extensions :).

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.