Three things happened today in PR vs. Blogger world. I'm happy to report all three with a little commentary.
1) TechCrunch Calls a Death to the Embargo and says that "PR firms are out of control. Today we are taking a radical step towards fighting the chaos. From this point on we will break every embargo we agree to." Hrrm. Well, okay. I'm not sure why this comes as such a shock, as Arrington and his team are often NOT happy with PR folks and our smarmy practices. That being said, I am all for open and direct communication between PR folks and journalists. TechCrunch, today was very, very clear about how they will proceed and how they'd like to be pitched regarding embargoes (go ahead and send embargoed information, we will break it). The best comment, by far, was made by a PR person who politely asked Arrington how she should be pitching to TC to build a relationship with the writers- to which Arrington replied- Go Away. The link: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/17/death-to-the-embargo/
2) John Byrne, editor in chief of BusinessWeek.com, posted all of the BusinessWeek Twitter addresses on his blog. In order to support his "Ideas from BusinessWeek readers" engagement tactic, he said that "a good many of us at BusinessWeek have been having great success and fun with Twitter, the hot micro-blogging site that allows users to blog in 140 characters or less." All I've got to say about this one is great, he gets it. Steve Baker gets it too. Heather Green, she gets it. Twitter is a public forum. If a journalist wishes not to engage, then a journalist doesn't have to engage. It's.that.simple.
3) In more hilarious news, a flack challenged a journo to a boxing match. According to Gizmodo, this particular event all started with a blogger asked politely to be removed from an email distribution list because they don't cover the products the firm was pitching. Fair enough. Well no, not fair enough according to the firm's president. Go check out the president's response: http://gizmodo.com/5112457/how-not-to-treat-people-when-pitching-them-stories#c9535804.
So that's it. Those are the big three from today. I've chosen an exciting career, i tell you. Although the endless blogger vs. pr dramz gets tiring, it certainly reinvigorates open discussion about the present and future of the industry i love so much. For now, i'll just keep doing my job the best I know how. And you know what? i'm willing to learn how to do it better.
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1 comment:
"For now, i'll just keep doing my job the best I know how. And you know what? i'm willing to learn how to do it better."
Kudos to you for saying you're open to learning how to do it better. Some PR pro's act like they know it all and they're perfect (a few may be perfect, but most aren’t). I have found the ability to be open to learn and adapt is a quality that is a must in this industry, especially when you have only two years of experience like me.
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