Len Downie, NPR's On Point - end of newspapers?

Can you imagine being at the same paper for 44+ years (or any job)? I thought Leonard Downie Jr., executive editor, The Washington Post, did a great job with "On Point" today. I was a guest with about 15 minutes to go. Given thoughts on social media, I wish he was staying.Tiny URL if easier: http://tinyurl.com/6fm2vP.S. Did he offer me a job?

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Social networking annoyances

As PR consultants, most of us are on social networking sites. Speaking for myself only, I am on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo (which for some reason I have two accounts thanks to the recent merger with Comcast) and others. Most of the time I find these sites useful for networking. I've used to them to connect with long-lost clients but also to reporters, friends and family. Other times, they can be annoying.

Today I came across a recent PC World article that listed the Top 10 Social Networking Annoyances. As a user of social networking tools, I agree with Scott Spanbauer's list, but I decided to come up with a few of my own reasons:

1. People read too much into things said on these sites. Simple: talk to the person if you are curious as to what something means. I've always said, "The world is not MySpace or any other social networking tool." Communication is one on one, not one to the computer.
2. Why must I have multiple accounts? I know things exist like FriendFeed and other to combine accounts but I barely remember to check the weather daily, not to mention logging into a site very few people are on who I want to talk to.
3. Why do some PR professionals use them the wrong way? As PR professionals, I know reporters ding us on bad behavior (Brian Morrissey of Adweek comes to mind). No one should EVER pitch a reporter using Facebook, in my opinion, unless you have a close relationship with that person and it's okay. It breaks something I think is sacred between PR pros and reporters.

I think that's enough to get me started. What would you add to this list if you could?

Technorati Tags: TopazPartners, Topaz, socialmedia, PR, publicrelations

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Ring that Bell!

Last night at the New England Publicity Club's Annual Bell Ringer awards, Topaz took home a trophy for our work with The Scuderi Group. Topaz was recognized in the category: Product/Service Publicity: Business-to-Business Campaign (The full list of winners is here).



From left: Bill Wrinn, Scuderi Group; Tim Allik, Christina Carlson and Susan Koutalakis all of Topaz Partners (Photo credit: Doug Haslam)

According to the Pub Club's Website, "Since 1969, the Publicity Club of New England's Bell Ringer Awards have been a symbol of outstanding achievement for New England public relations and communications professionals. The Bell Ringer Awards recognize excellence in communications and public relations work in every field and industry, and across all media - print, broadcast, and online."

Congratulations to the Scuderi Team and all the winners of the 2008 Bell Ringer Awards!

Technorati Tags: TopazPartners, Topaz, socialmedia, PR, publicrelations, Bell Ringer Award

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Probecast Interlude

A musical interlude for you, courtest of PRobecast and the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com/). We'll be back on Friday with a new edition of PRobecast!

MP3 File

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