Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Greas-ing It Up, Greece Style

Hello! I'll be on a 2 week hiatus as I sail the greek seas. my trip begins and ends in Athens and i'll be at a few islands in between. I'll be sure you fill you in on all of the wild times upon my return. be good, internet world.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Hey Madonna, My Mom Says Not To Worry About Turning 50

No, seriously, that's what my mom said. In an Associated Press entertainment story about Madonna's 50th birthday that ran just about everywhere, (Forbes, MSNBC, Philly.com, Salon.com, Yahoo, etc) my mother- Dale Lieberman- was the lead quote for the story. She also happened to be the only non-media person to be quoted. Here's the story:


Madonna: An unlikely inspiration for 50-plus set from Associated Press>

Thursday, August 14, 2008

i wish i had this problem

if i had this problem, i would have created this blog first. incredibly entertaining:

http://theleilatexts.blogspot.com/

at least you'll know if grandma got run over by a raindeer

Today, my colleague received an email: “Claire Eisenstein added you as a friend on Facebook”

Claire Eisenstein would be her grandmother.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

almost thirty and going on sexless (no, no, not me - virginity-until-marriage is a notion i've bypassed)

there's a guy i know. let's call him Gavin. he's dating a girl i hardly know. let's call her Farrah. gavin says the relationship with like farrah is like dating back in high school... except a lot of us were actually having sex in high school. Gavin and Farrah are not. They are, however, smooching at the end of movies (i'd think that a real tear jerker marathon with Leonardo DiCaprio dying in Kate Winslet's frost-bitten arms might drive you to the yum, but what do i know).

not sure exactly why, but i can't shake the feeling that this is odd. it's not SO odd that they are not doing the sexytime... as they say, "to each their (sad, sexless) own". I think the part that's odd to me is that they've not really spoken much about this.

i believe that communication has a place in successful relationships. sounds basic, right? BUT GAVIN DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THE REASON BEHIND FARRAH'S CELIBACY! When asked, he's audibly, and visually, frustrated about the circumstances- uttering brooding questions. But he's not directing those questions toward her! Perhaps if he'd just ask her why, how long, what it means, etc. then he'd have an answer he could live with (or not). He's going to end up breaking up with her without ever talking to her about what's bothering him.

because this is meant to be a serious blogging experience (rather than anonymously detailing the lives of my friends), let me bring this back to public relations. to my tech bloggers: if we PR people are not giving you what you want and what you need, will you please just talk to us before you complete negate us from your existence? if you give us background and tell us how your way is different, then perhaps we'd be able to coexist- maybe even enjoy the ride. you'd think it would be so basic.

best of luck to gavin and farrah. i know you have it in you.

Did somebody say PR isn't dead? Well look at that. We've got a friend. Oh, wait, he's in PR too.

Brian Solis is smart smart smart. We're lucky to have him on our side. Here's what he's got to say (full article from PR 2.0 blog is here http://www.briansolis.com/2008/08/pr-is-not-dead.html):

"Let's not forget that some of the very bloggers who are suggesting that great products or people don't need PR are also among the first to tell you that they will not cover your news once the first person has already written about it, citing that it's "old news" - even if it's only a few minutes old. There are some incredibly adept PR professionals who can help companies do the right thing, the right way. There are also many more PR people simply working the grind and dispassionately pumping out garbage and tarnishing the PR industry in the process."

Working the grind sounds a little dirty. I don't think i'd like to become a star grind worker. But i do want to be passionate. If you know me, you know i'm passionate about lots of things and really really don't care at ALL about others. (i guess that's not so unique) In any event, the public relations industry is one of the things that I AM passionate about (others include vices like wine, tall European men, books, travel, quality time with family, a great foundation of friends that I admire, etc). So thanks, Brian Solis. We're not so extinct. We're trying to thrive.

i know this happens annually, but it's not my favorite

Ah, slow news time. Doesn't feel like slow news time, but it must be, as tech bloggers are smarmingly negating public relations as a profession. To say it 's a changing prefession is completely valid. This much I buy. A stagnant profession just won't do. But Mike Arrington, at Tech Crunch, actually headlines with "The PR Roadblock to Blissful Blogging." Are we really a hindrance to creativity? You give us a lot of credit!

Seriously? If startups had press flooding their inboxes, perhaps my profession would be negated. But for clients who have no idea where to begin- sorry mike, but there are appropriately evangelistic CEOs who do not know they ought to immerse themselves in techcrunch- sometimes PR is a good starting point. there are PR people who are true evangelists for their clients, wanting to spread the word because their clients have a viable model. I know this, because I am one of them. I want to pitch appropriately, I want to garner great stories for my clients. I want to introduce my client to the appropriate channels to get involved in, the appropriate communities to actively participate in, and hopefully introduce them to the right media. I'll even let the journalist/blogger decide how to write the story. (is that really so rare?).

Isn’t it possible that we can work in happy web harmony under mutual terms? Why does it matter where the discovery to write about something comes from- pr person vs stumbling upon something through a community? Isn’t the end result - the piece of news you create- the important part?


The article is here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/13/the-pr-roadblock-on-the-road-to-blissful-blogging/#comments

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

you didn't event this theory, but it's a good one.

The following mashable post, via a Steve Rubel post, goes into "the changing role of public relations." Perhaps i'm no authority (one point for self-deprecating humor) but i truly do not think that this is such a new idea.

Here's the post: http://mashable.com/2008/08/12/role-of-public-relations/#comment-1086125

Now, i'm a fairly passionate PR person. I truly believe in a value and need for public relations professionals. That being said, i don't agree that the above is a wholly new mentality...A good PR person is never a gatekeeper... although i believe my MCOM 101 class defined PR as such. It all just seems a little bit basic. No blogger or journalist likes spam. No blogger or journalist likes being pitched off-beat. No blogger or journalist likes a gatekeeper or waiting for interviews. It's true- there are PR people who don't get it - hence, Kevin Dugan's incredibly entertaining Bad Pitch Blog.

Some of us really do get a thrill out of developing great relationships with journalists/bloggers, providing information and resources in a timely and effective manner, and just straight connecting. I don't need to shape the story, that's your job. I can give you the facts and connect you with my client (hopefully the things I am working on are newsworthy and I believe in them enough to pitch them). And hopefully, the end result is great for everybody- client, PR practitioner, and blogger/journalist. but again, is this really a new thing? shouldn't it have always been this way?

We've all got a job to do, here. I think we can come up with some terms that make all of us comfortable and successful. Come on, Scoble, give us another chance. At least the ones who care.

my second blog post ever

not long after the first, i'm back. i've now missed my train due to my first blog post. hopefully i don't miss that wall street journal opportunity on account of blogging. just kidding, that will never happen- i am an animal about my work. but apparently, i'm an animal about other things, as well.

When I asked PikPR (http://www.blogger.com/profile/08628445144975919362) via every social channel possible (twitter, DM, IM) why the first blog post scared her, the answer really made me laugh out loud..(Mostly because we've never actually met and sort of because it's kind of true). Her response was "the thought of you running loose in blog form is scary. who knows what will be covered."

Whatever, maybe she's right. Time will tell. Okay, now it's really time for me to be off to potentially invigorating/potentially awkward conversation with old friends.

my first blog post ever

this whole "first blog" thing feels somewhat like losing my virginity, albeit, much less stressful (sorry, jason X, wherever you are and WHOEVER you are, ha). honestly, i just felt like it was time to break into blog world. i read a lot of blogs- in fact, i devour them like little brett easton ellis novels, scouring the internet for good fits for my clients, good places to live and laugh around nyc, and even hot blogging dudes to force into my aquaintance(exibit a: http://twitpic.com/7gwf). Twitter only fueled this fire- i know "short and sweet" is the whole point of microblogging but who said 140 characters is enough? So here i am.

in any event, welcome to my blog. I can't promise to keep up with it. I'd say I'll try my best, but I say that about so many things (i stopped biting my nails for a whole month this year). I can promise, though, poignant and witty observation of all things in franiland. call me self-centered, i don't care.


tonight, i'm off to meet up with friends i've not seen since mid-highschool. if you've been in this situation, you know that this can end up really good or terribly tedious and draining. I'm hoping for the former and will let you know how it goes.

hrrm, i think i need an editor.