Helpful Service Grades your News Release

Here’s a cool tool you might want to try out. It’s HubSpot's Press Release Grader. This is a free online service that evaluates your news release. Some results it will provide are: a “gobbledygook” score, readability levels, link analysis, word cloud and SEO score.

Todd Defren shares his summary on his PR Squared blog, as does Melissa Underwood of Ragan.com.

The grader’s web site even has provides a very helpful six-minute video overview that walks you through the process. Check it out!

CBS Sunday Morning Rebuttal Defends PR

An excutive VP at CBS Sunday Morning has provided a rebuttal to Andrew Cohen's commentary (see my previous post). Author Gil Schwartz is executive VP of corporate communications for CBS. He's also known as Stanly Bing. On June 22, CBS Sunday Morning aired his response, titled "Defending Public Relations."

Chapter President-Elect Sends Letter to PRSA about Andrew Cohen Rant

Related to my previous post about Andrew Cohen’s rant, our chapter’s president-elect,
Robert E. Sheldon, APR, sent a letter to PRSA’s president & CEO, Bill Murray. This was in response to the open letter the Murray released immediately after the CBS Sunday Morning show aired. Sheldon’s letters are below in their entirety (with his permission), I didn’t ask for Murray’s permission, so I’ve only summarized his comments.

Has anyone pointed out that Scott McClellan is not even a member of PRSA - and probably wouldn’t be able to abide by the Code of Ethics anyway? THAT should have been the whole point of the answer letter from PRSA - that what McClellan did was NOT public relations in the sense that PRSA defines it, it was bald-face, deceptive marketing. Reputable PR practitioners belong to PRSA and abide by the Code of Ethics. The reality is that we don’t set standards for the "PR profession," we only set standards for PRSA members. And we PRSA members are only a minority of all the people who profess to be in the public relations profession.
– Robert Sheldon, APR

Murray responded with a letter essentially stating that his strategy was to focus on conduct of all PR professionals, whether or not they are PRSA members, and to hold up the Code of Ethics as guide for all.

Sheldon sent the following in response.

Thanks for the quick reply. I agree that we need to promote our standards for the whole of the profession, but we also need to constantly clarify what is and is not public relations. In the public’s view, being a PR professional today is right up there with used car salesmen, snake-oil hucksters and greedy CEOs - because that’s all they see. But being a dissembling apologist for an unethical client is NOT public relations, in my view - it’s manipulative propaganda -- and PRSA needs to constantly tell the public what the difference is.
– Robert Sheldon, APR

We’d love to hear what you think.

Note: A misspelled name has been corrected on 7/1/08

Help a Reporter Out

Just three months ago, Peter Shankman (Peter is the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique marketing a PR strategy firm located in NYC) started a new project he calls "Help a Reporter Out," or HARO.

The service allows journalists to submit requests for "experts" when working on a story. Peter then compiles the requests and sends them out to his subscribers - flacks like us for the most part. The requests range from "I'm working on a story on waterproof makeup," to "What has made Americans -- especially parents -- so fearful?"

Peter encourages flacks from all backgrounds to sign up, because - as he says - sooner or later a journalist will need you or an expert from your organization for something they're working on.

I signed up for the service when I heard about it on PROPenMic, but I've also seen talk on Twitter.

I know what you're saying...this sounds like all those other listserve services where I can sign up to be an expert and pay a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars annually to be included in the "expert" list. That's where this one is different. It's free.

That's right. I said it's free.

As Peter says on the site "It takes me a few minutes each day to do this, and the good Karma is immeasurable. So I'm not charging. If you really feel like sending me a donation or something, why not just send a few bucks to an animal hospital or animal rescue society somewhere. Some good places are Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, or The National Search Dog Foundation. That'll keep the good Karma flowing."

OK...I hope he doesn't take a page out of the Associated Press handbook and try to charge me for copying all that text off his site.

Anyway...

I've gotten a few e-mails each day since signing up, and I've responded to one. Some of them contain the reporter's complete contact information. Others are "anonymous," which means you send your information to Peter, who then forwards it to the reporter. If that person wishes to get in touch with you, they can.

He's gotten more than 10,000 subscribers in just under 90 days, and he's now aiming for 20,000. In each e-mail he encourages us to forward information about the service to our friends (I'm choosing to do it this way) so he can get more and more people signed up.

The one thing he is absolutely adamant about is that you not waste the reporter's time. Again, to quote Peter: "Promise us one thing: When you join, you'll promise not to email a reporter with an answer that doesn't match what they're looking for. In other words, you won't waste a reporter's time. Promise?"

As far as I'm concerned, this is a win-win for journalists and flacks. They get access to thousands of experts in a plethora of fields, and we get the opportunity to strut our stuff and look like heroes when we land an interview with a journalist we might not have otherwise had access to.

Once this grows some more and is no longer taking Peter "...a few minutes each day..." I'm not sure how it will remain free...at least for the flacks...but for now...enjoy it! Sign up!

And, if you're on Twitter, follow Peter at "skydiver."

PRSA Responds to CBS Attack on the Public Relations Profession

On June 1, CBS Sunday Morning aired a commentary by their legal analyst, Andrew Cohen, in which he accused all PR folk of essentially lying for a living. “Show me a PR person who is ‘accurate’ and ‘"truthful,’ and I'll show you a PR person who is unemployed,” he said.

The impetus for his statements was the release of Scott McClellan’s tell-all book. But Cohen took an unjournalistic leap by extending his criticism to our entire profession and directly citing (sarcastically) the PRSA code of ethics.

Later the same day – a Sunday I might add – PRSA Chairman & CEO Jeffrey Julin released an open letter in response. A little bit later, he issued a video response on YouTube.

Individual PR professionals came to the defense of each other as well. To read one of several impressions, visit the blog of Kami Watson-Huyse, APR. On June 2, Andrew Cohen responded in a blog post saying: “I am now the target of a public-relations effort to ridicule my effort, my points, my character and integrity. I expected nothing less.”

Personally, I think it’s clear nothing we say will change Cohen’s mind. So, at this point, it’s fruitless to try. First, he’s mistaken to even consider McClellan’s role as equal to that of other PR positions. That’s politics. It’s an entirely different world, which is not to say honesty is absent or excused. But it’s different.

Second, he refuses to see the true purpose of public relations. PR cannot succeed when it is based on deceit. In fact, we are in the truth-telling business. Sometimes that means telling our bosses what they don’t want to hear. And it’s about relationship building, not treating audiences like pawns to be manipulated.

I’ve been active in San Antonio’s PRSA chapter for 14 years. I don’t personally know any PR person who spends his or her days trying to “convince people that a turkey is really an eagle,” as Cohen describes.

I am not claiming we’re perfect or that we don’t need to continually hold ourselves and each other accountable. That’s why we join professional associations like PRSA.

And while Cohen is free to speak his mind, given his position and influence he bears as much responsibility to be honest and as accurate as possible. There is no evidence to support his claims about the bulk of our profession. Instead he’s given in to his emotion and personal preconceptions. And in doing so, he has damaged the reputation of the profession and of CBS Sunday Morning. He should be required to issue a correction during the next Sunday Morning program.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Join a Discussion about "PR Spam"

Have you heard of the term PR spam? It’s the practice of blasting out news releases or pitches to lists of contacts with no attempt at tailoring pitches or even verifying that the recipients might be the least bit interested in the content. It’s probably been with us as long as media have been around.

The hope is that if you shoot out hundreds of identical pitches, something will stick. There’s no real strategy involved. Perhaps it’s worked at times. It never has for me.

As many of our local PR leaders can attest, more effective media relations involves knowing who you are pitching and why. It means designing the pitch for them specifically. It takes more time, but it has a much bigger pay off.

Since spam is the electronic equivalent to junk mail. The term PR spam has come along to describe those sales, marketing and pitch e-mails that are thrust on reporters.

And because of the ease of sending e-mails, the volume of PR spam is growing exponentially. While reporters have mostly tolerated our bad and lazy behavior, bloggers aren’t so willing. We’ve seen them lately ranting online about it, blocking PR spam e-mail domains and publishing the names or domains of offenders. So, rather than the story becoming in the story, the mis-pitch becomes the story.

Of course, many of these spammers are people doing public relations work without any public relations expertise. I wish that was the whole problem. The fact is, many large and small PR firms have been called out.

That leaves us with several questions, like: How are we training our PR staff? How are we holding ourselves accountable? How are we measuring media relations success?

I am bringing this up now to tell you about a live call-in online discussion that is taking place on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. For Immediate Release will host the discussion on FIR Live on BlogTalk Radio. And you can join in. Get details on the FIR blog.

Two Cents: Twitter is a Powerful PR Tool

Cross post from PRSA San Antonio Byline, June 2008 issue.

I don’t usually give advice this way. But, if you are not using Twitter yet, it’s time. Today. Normally, I would suggest you check it out when you have time to see if it’s a good fit for you. But not in this case. If you are in public relations – and likely if you’re not – you need to understand Twitter. And to understand it, you have to use it.

Simply put, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service – meaning once you sign up (easily), you can send updates (or “tweets”) of up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter web site. You choose people to follow so you can read their tweets, and people follow you to read yours. Over time, you’re part of a community.

If you’ve been waiting to see if this fad will catch on, the waiting is over. Twitter has become a powerful tool for communication for organizations, communities and individuals. Many news stories are breaking on Twitter first because people experiencing whatever it is are tweeting about it in real time.

Here are just a few ways people and organizations have already been using Twitter:

• Comcast is using Twitter to respond to customer-service related tweets.

• The Red Cross is using Twitter to send emergency updates to communities experiencing a disaster and universities are using it to notify students about emergencies.

• Small businesses are using Twitter to drive traffic to their web sites and generate sales (though hard sell and creepy tactics aren’t tolerated among Twitter users).

• Individuals are getting questions answered quickly (when visiting a new city, Dan York asked suggestions for a store that sells boots).

• At least one charity non-profit has been formed by Twitter users in response to a woman’s honest tweets about her breast cancer diagnosis (see Frozen Pea Fund).

• Southwest Airlines uses Twitter to let customers know about deals.

• Journalists at Read Write Web discover tech news tips on Twitter first on a regular basis and they use it to solicit interview questions via Twitter.

• Conference speakers instruct audience members to submit questions via Twitter and monitor Twitter traffic to get immediate feedback on their event.

• A professor uses Twitter to communicate with his students between classes.

Granted, there are other tools like this one. And some of them are more stable and have better features. But Twitter was first. I’ve listed some resources for you for when you have questions.

But don’t keep studying it. Do it. And let me know what your Twitter name is and I’ll post it on our blog so others can find you. Oh yeah, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/clgoodman.

Resources
The 10 ways I learned to use Twitter in 2007... (aka Why and How I use Twitter)

Newbie's guide to Twitter

Twitter in Plain English

The Top 5 Ways Smart People Use Twitter

Twitter for Academia

How to Use Twitter for Marketing & PR

QuickStart Can Help New PR Professionals with Career Direction

Here is another announcement from PRSA national.

Once they’ve left the hallowed halls of their colleges or universities, new public relations professions should have an idea (an inkling, maybe) of the direction they want their careers to head. Should they look for a job in the private sector, in a corporate communications or public relations department? Are they thinking they want to work in the public sector at a government agency, or perhaps a public relations agency?

For the undecided, PR QuickStart, is a resourceful tool that offers free Web-based training in public relations for new professionals.

PR QuickStart provides an overview of the fundamental skills required to work in public relations and what to expect if a person decides to work for a public relations agency. The updated PR QuickStart curriculum is divided into three courses: (1) What Is Public Relations? (2) The Agency Life, and (3) Media Relations.

The site is packed with case histories, news articles, video and links to other industry resources, as well as tips and advice from public relations professionals at different levels. Members will find links to industry newsletters, public relations blogs and job boards. PR QuickStart also is a great place to refresh your public relations knowledge.

PR QuickStart is collaborative partnership between the Council of Public Relations Firms and the Counselors Academy. For more information, send an e-mail to Carolyn Marr or call her at 212-460-1420.

PRSA Launches Updated JobCenter

From the PRSA national e-newsletter

If you are looking for a PR job or if you are an employer who is recruiting PR folk, this news could be helpful. The following is from an announcement by PRSA.

Using our JobCenter is now easier and more functional than ever. PRSA recently launched the updated and redesigned JobCenter, which is now a fully featured site that offers more information and easy-to-use functionalities for job seekers and employers. Posting a resume is now free. We also added an anonymous resume posting option for job seekers. Employers now have the benefit of pre-screen filters, bulk posting and a user-friendly candidate management system. Moreover, PRSA has developed a new heavily discounted pricing structure for members. To post a job or resume, visit the JobCenter.

Posting a resume on JobCenter gives members access to a public relations and communications targeted community of more than 32,000 members, including more than 9,900 students, as well as a database of 45,000 communication professionals from across the country.

In addition to enhancing the JobCenter design and functionality, PRSA also has engaged TopRank Online Marketing to provide search engine optimization and promotion services to extend the visibility of JobCenter listings on Web sites, such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live. TopRank works with some of the largest companies on the Web, and we look forward to using their expertise to help JobCenter users get even more value from their listings through improved search engine rankings.

Massive Fire at Our Lady of the Lake

Our hearts wept for the sisters, students, faculty and community of Our Lady of the Lake University as the century-old main building burned last night.

For out-of-towners who haven’t heard, this beautiful structure was built in 1895 by the Sisters of Divine Providence. It has become a powerful symbol to San Antonians, in partas a news anchor stated, because so many of our residents would not have been able to attend college if it hadn’t been for Our Lady of the Lake.

That building contained the administrative offices, communications offices, computer labs and dorm rooms for international students. More than half of the city's fire fighters tended to the fire.

On a public relations note, the university should be commended for posting updates on its web site – while the fire was still blazing. The most urgent news update for distant relatives was that everyone was evacuated safely and there were no injuries. What a blessing.

University President Dr. Tessa Martinez Pollack last night stated that we will rebuild, reminding the community that when the sisters of Divine Providence arrived here 113 years ago, they started with nothing.

Today, their legacy is strong beyond words. And their strength is more solid than stone.

Blogging the Del Oro

By Robert E. Sheldon, APR
PRSA San Antonio Chapter President-Elect

“To have a little recognition, that is very nice, you dig. It is good for the ego, for the psyche.”
– Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon, an iconic American jazz tenor saxophonist and Jazz Hall of Fame inductee, got it right when he spoke those words – probably to an audience of his peers after collecting one of numerous awards throughout his career. I was thinking about the emotional, soothing, ego-stroking and positive quality of recognition as my wife, BJ and I were attending the sixth Annual Del Oro Award banquet on May 1.

How many of us wonder, in the push and rush of our public relations careers, whether what we’re doing is any good? Did we break new ground? Craft the perfect press kit? Create abundant awareness and goodwill for our company or client? It’s something that all of need to know at least once in a while.

Our PRSA chapter meted out 37 separate awards that night. That represents nearly a third of all our members in San Antonio, and that should be a comforting equation. It means that most of us are probably doing very good work if we are able to gather together to hand out actual, physical awards to about a third of our number. The truth is that much good work goes unrecognized by organizations and employers of all walks. That’s a shame. More bosses and organizations need to learn how recognition motivates people.

The number of different awards is also a measure of how diversified and segmented our profession has become. We are not all PR generalists or the public face of large corporations or organizations in the news media. The task of communications has become so large and important that it takes specialists of all kinds – people who talk, people who draw, people who write and people who create big ideas. None of us does it all – or we would have just one big Del Oro Award -- and a very short banquet.

We saw young up-and-comers get a nod from their peers that they were doing well right out of the chute. We saw veterans getting recognition for a lifetime of splendid, ethical counseling. And, we saw many mid-career professionals getting kudos for the results of their talents. This is as it should be, because we need recognition at all stages of our careers – when we’re first starting out and need to know that we’ve chosen a good career path; when we’re half-way through our working life and need a reason to keep going; and when we’re in the twilight of our careers and need to know that it was all worth while.

With all the celebration that evening, it was easy to forget the many individuals whose entries were not chosen for recognition. I have been in that category before – as have many of you – and it’s not a fun place to be. But on the positive side, with 37 awards to give out every year, each member ought to get some award about every three years. At least, mathematically. Ah, if only it worked that way!

No, the entries not chosen usually had some fatal flaw – underfunding, no research, seat-of-the-pants-planning, or no way of measuring results. Sometimes that’s all the company or the client gives you to work with. Maybe there ought to be a category for the best “no-budget, no time for planning, do-it-because-the-client-told-you-to” PR program. Hmm. Don’t hold your breath.

In the meantime, let’s try to imagine what it must feel like to bask in the glow of the spotlight and hear the accolades of your peers. Because, it’s one of the drivers of excellence, the explosive spark of accomplishment and part of the reason that we’re all here.

Yes, recognition is a very nice thing. You dig?

Thoughts on the PRSA San Antonio's Del Oro Awards Event

Thursday's PRSA San Antonio's Del Oro Awards banquet was quite an evening. The crowd was the biggest we've ever had. It was nice to see first-time PRSA award winners and hear about some amazing PR work. We also had winners present from the Corpus Christi police department. The news release with a photo was sent out by Business Wire yesterday.

I had the privilege of sharing a table with three sons of Juanita and Tex Taylor. Our biggest individual award is named after the late Tex Taylor. His wife passed away a few weeks ago. Several of the speakers talked about Tex's generous support of young PR professionals.

I'm also happy to say we raised good money for the Marilyn Potts Endowment Fund. In the silent auction, I personally took home vouchers for 17 pizzas (if you know me, you'll understand).

Our PR Professional of the Year winner, Kami Watson Huyse, APR, has shared her wonderful speech on her blog. I've been given permission to share the speech of our Horizon Winner, Randy Escamilla below.

Fellow Honorees or Stars as we're called tonight: Kelly, Kami and Adrianna; fellow PRSA members; Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word;ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all very much!

I have to tell you a little story: When I found out I was the recipient of the Horizon Award I sent out an email to some of my friends. One of them, quickly responded, "Could this be Divine Intervention?"

Certainly, this could not have happened without help from Above. And, fortunately I have had rich and meaningful guidance from friends along this new-found journey into public relations.

Exactly three years ago this month-I left a fun and crazy career in TV news. There was no doubt I'd transition into public relations...and I've had to learn that PR means much more than just press releases.

I would not be here tonight without the guidance and support of the Public Relations Society of America and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. There are Sisters present here tonight -- giants of our community. Please stand and be recognized.

And it's not by accident that both organizations; PRSA and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, share values and missions which mirror each other with a clear focus on ethics. Two great institutions which not only invite me to join-to be a part of---but allow me to serve. And what an honor that is.

The truth is, tonight's award is not about me. It's about the people who really have allowed me to further my knowledge, interest, investment and love of public relation
specifically Sister Walter Maher, Kami Watson Huyse, APR, and Pascual Gonzalez.

I'd also like to acknowledge Bob McCullough, APR, and Lorraine Pulido-Ramirez who nominated me for this award. Please stand and be recognized. I'm also grateful to the late Marilyn Potts, our Chapter president, who we lost tragically a couple of years ago. I met Marilyn at my first PRSA mixer and she immediately made me feel welcome. It is Marilyn's warm and genuine spirit which lives on in our Chapter and encompasses PRSA.

Never could I have imagined just a few years ago that I'd be travelling around the world as part of a team working with the world's poorest people and saving African babies from AIDS. It's part of my journey in this honorable profession. And this award is for them.

Tonight, we are called stars of public relations. Stars are bright, warm and glowing. Stars always shine brighter when they're part of great constellations.

It's an honor for me to receive the 2008 Horizon Award and to be a part of the great constellations of PRSA and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

Thank you!!!

A Visit with Marilyn

I haven’t told anyone this, except my husband. A couple of months ago, I dreamed of Marilyn Potts. I was sitting at a luncheon table when she walked in and sat next to me. Someone was speaking at the podium, so she remained quiet. But there she was: tall, happy and kind.

I’ve never been one to take much stock in the meaning of dreams. I don’t even own a dream interpretation book. Still, this one struck me. In the dream, I kept looking around for someone else to notice that a ghost was at my table. But everyone nearby was new to our group and hadn’t known Marilyn. They weren’t aware of the legacy that follows her.

It’s fitting really. The whole reason we started the Marilyn Potts Endowment Fund after her death was to support young people as they transition from college to the professional world of public relations. It was something Marilyn did herself.

The reason I am bringing this up now is that our Del Oro Awards banquet is next week. There will be many things to celebrate, like our individual winners – Kelly G. Morris, APR, Kami Watson Huyse, APR, Adriana R. Garcia and Randy Escamilla – along with the great PR work of our campaigns and tactics winners. But we also will be raising funds for the Marilyn Potts Endowment Fund. We need to raise a few thousand more dollars in order to be able to start dispersing funds. And there is a class of seniors who could use our support right away.

So I hope that if you attend the banquet, you will either make a hefty donation or bid on several silent auction items. In fact, if you lose something you bid on, I hope you will write the check anyway. If you can’t be there, you can still make a donation.

How natural it will be someday, to see many more new and young faces at PR events unknowingly surrounding Marilyn’s spirit and fulfilling her dreams for them.

PRSA Silver Anvil is Now on Facebook

PRSA has created a Facebook page focusing on the Silver Anvil Awards. Here is the text of the announcement:

Visit the PRSA Silver Anvil Awards Evening event page on Facebook to keep up with latest news about the industry's most recognized and prestigious award program. The icon of best public relations practices, the Silver Anvil Awards will be presented on Thursday, June 5, 2008, at the Equitable Center in midtown Manhattan. The Silver Anvil Awards Evening has been named the “#1 Public Relations Industry Event in New York” by BizBash in its annual “New York’s Top 100 Events,” and will feature special guest celebrities along with pre-eminent public relations professionals who have risen to the top of their game in a highly competitive contest.

Use the Silver Anvil Awards Evening event page to invite others to learn more about the event and post your photos from the 2007 Silver Anvil Awards Evening. As we get closer to June 5, we'll post more updates, including podcast links, webcast dates, video clips and post-event photos.

Get Well Soon Charlie!

Our dear friend and PRSA leader, Charlie Kenworthey, APR, Fellow PRSA, underwent surgery for an aortic aneurism on April 9. He is out of ICU and is now recovering. Many of our members have asked how to share their get-well wishes. Cards can be sent to 1103 River Vista West, San Antonio, Texas 78216.

I've got Social Media Block

Like a ton of other people who work in offices, I'm blocked from quite a few web sites, many of them social media-related, at work. I do public relations for a large hospital system and I understand security. I get it, we deal with a lot of sensitive information – almost none of which I have access to. I also understand when you have thousands of employees that there is potential for a lot of "lost" time if said employees are playing around on the Internet while at work.

My challenge with not having access is that I monitor media and do media relations for my system and I don't have access to the same information that the reporters do. I also have some employee relations duties and I don't have access to a lot of the sites that might tell me how our folk are feeling. If they post on Facebook, MySpace, or YouTube, I'm out of luck. I can't see what they might have said when I'm at the office. So I look when I'm home after my son's gone to sleep.

Since tracking employee feelings outside the workplace isn't my main function, it's not that big a deal to look while I'm at home. The real problem comes when a reporter asks for something related to a site that is blocked to me. Here's a recap of a recent conversation I had with a reporter:

Reporter: We've found some video on YouTube showing patients being transported by an ambulance service. Can you look at the video and tell me if it's a HIPAA violation?

Me: Um, I don't have access to YouTube and wouldn't comment on another organization; but, I'm happy to direct you to a good resource to help you understand HIPAA.

Reporter: You can't look at YouTube [I'm pretty sure I hear laughter in his voice]?

Me: No, it's a site that is blocked on our system.

Reporter: Wow. So anybody can say anything about your hospital and you won't even know it?

Me: Well, anyone can say anything about our hospital because it's their right to do that. But, no, if I wanted to check from work, I wouldn't know.

Reporter: Hey, if I ever come across anything, I'll let you know!

Me: Gosh. Thanks.

I follow a group of people on Twitter who are so incredibly smart, well informed, and sharing that I'm constantly learning from them via their Tweets. When I first came to this health system, I noticed that Twitter was one of the blocked sites. When I asked our IT guy to see if I could have it added to my "safe" list, he got back to me with this funny answer, "Sherry, Twitter is listed as a 'match making' site, so we can't okay it. I thought you were dating someone?"

Great. So not only was I blocked, the IT guy thinks I'm trying to hook up while at the office. So, now I post to Twitter through text on my personal phone and I read using my company BlackBerry (but can't post through BB because its Java function has been disabled). It's worth it to me to have access to the group I'm following – I learn something almost every day – but it's so convoluted!

If you want another take on the "Blocking" visit Shel Holtz's campaign against corporate blocking. For me, being blocked from sites is a pain but not really a huge hindrance to my work. For a lot of people though, it can be a real strain. Shel's got a great source of information about it on Stop Blocking!

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on blocking. Has blocking been a strain on your professional time? At what point can employees be trusted to not abuse the system by hours of shopping online or chatting with friends?

What do you think?

New Media, New Influencers & Implications for PR

The Society for New Communications Research has released the results of its study, "New Media, New Influencers & Implications for the Public Relations Profession." You can download the whitepaper online. Below is quoted from the executive summary:

Public relations professionals today are confronted with an astounding array of new communications channels. Internet-based social media tools like blogs, podcasts, online video and social networks are giving voice to the opinions of millions of consumers. While mainstream media continues to play a vital role in the dissemination of information, even these traditional channels are increasingly being influenced by online conversations.

The "new influencers" are beginning to tear at the fabric of corporate communications and marketing as they have existed for 100 years, giving rise to a new style characterized by conversation and community.

The Society for New Communications Research set out to conduct an examination of how influence patterns are changing and how communications professionals are addressing those changes by adopting social media. The goals were to discover how organizations:

• Define new influencers;
• Communicate and create relationships with them;
• Use social media to create influence; and
• Measure the effects of these efforts.

The larger goal of the study was to use these discoveries to offer a set of recommendations to professional communicators.

This is quite a thought-proving report. I urge you to read it and see how the findings compare to how your organization is approaching and measuring social media impacts.

Even Spys are Blogging

If you think your organization’s work is too sensitive to blog about. Think again.

The Israeli Secret Service has launched its own blog. That’s right. Spys are blogging.

The blog is authored by four agents, shown only in silhouette, talking about their jobs and recruitment and answering questions from readers. According to the BBC story, the agency is hoping to debunk myths and nurture recruitment.

This is just one more demonstration of the fact that starting an organizational blog doesn’t have to mean revealing all your business secrets. But there may be something related to the work you do that people would be interested in having a conversation about.

It just may take a little creativity. Luckily, that’s what PR people are good at.

More Resources on Using Twitter

In my last post about Twitter, I suggested you read Dan York’s post, “The 10 ways I learned to use Twitter in 2007... (aka Why and How I use Twitter).” In addition, I’m providing links to some additional resources about using Twitter. (By the way, I found some of these through Twitter posts by my followees and the others through a search in Delicious, another tool I’ve recommended.)

Using Twitter to Help Communities
Blog post by Nate Ritter

From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too
Five-part series by Jennifer Laycock

Part one gives step-by-step directions on getting your Twitter account up and running.

Part two explains how to send messages and take advantage of the Twitter follow/followers system.

Part three explains how Twitter can help you meet new people.

Part four discusses the power of Twitter in terms of driving traffic and launching viral buzz.

Part five discusses use of Twitter as a news source.

The Big Juicy Twitter Guide
Very useful seven-part series by Caroline Middlebrook

The Several Habits of Wildly Successful Twitter Users
From the Slacker Manager blog

Newbie's guide to Twitter
By Rafe Needleman

PR Director Escamilla Blogs about Client's Humanitarian Work in Zambia

PRSA member and former local television reporter, Randy Escamilla, is currently writing for one of the blogs hosted by the San Antonio Express-News. Randy heads up public relations for the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. On Friday, he left with some of the sisters on humanitarian mission to Mongu, Zambia -- the poorest and most remote part of this African nation. They will be continuing their work to save babies from AIDS.

While there, Randy will be sharing stories with us through a blog that is part of the SAEN's "Postcards" blog series.

Read Randy's story to learn more about the Sisters' work over the next two weeks of their trip.

But also take a look at this creative tactic of using a temporary blog to tell a story from the other side of the globe.