Would You?

A Freak with Scottish Language Lesson. Who says we don't teach as we inform?




It's a fine line between love and, well ... stalking. This one goes out to EW who called it.

Social Media is Like Sex

I took a break the last few weeks because there are these people – who actually bring joy to my life – and they’ve gotten accustomed to me spending a day or a week now and then with … what’s the word? … my FAMILY. I followed along on the igoogle (which I love, btw thanks @billjacobs) when I could but it’s nothing like catching up on the friendfeed, or the twitter machine … It’s clear that I missed a meeting or two.

Naturally there’s all the feverish wrap-up just to be able to get on the plane. Then, when one returns, there are projects that require attention. If you’re lucky some of them are actually revenue-generating.

But I digress.

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks. Kevin Dugan, whom you may know as the prime instigator behind The Bad Pitch Blog
and Strategic Public Relations, found out he’s the 2009 recipient of the Bogart/VonDer/Von Dugan Award.

Or something.

Either way, he really is kind of a big deal. If you get a chance, congratulate him.

One of the actual nice guys (he doesn’t know from me but anybody who marries his college sweetheart and still writes about her like this is a good guy in my book) suffers a loss and shares it very publicly.

I’m sure all of us pass along our condolences and best wishes.



And to task:

We all were captivated over whether social media was source of “personal branding.”

Or not.

One of the high priests of the SocMed or SM (yes!) or whatever the hell we’re calling it this week to stay under 140 characters said NO.

Then said YES.

Or maybe.

I don’t know. I got bored.

You know how when you’re reading a book on the plane and you’re tired and you realize that two or three pages have gone by? And you know you’ve read every word but absorbed none of them?

Yeah, it’s like that.

When did Carlos become king of all Atrusia? Wha’?

Then, one of my favorite public relations bloggers (and thinkers) declared WAR on messaging.

Not MESSAGES, mind you, just MESSAGING.

A definition is provided for your convenience so you don’t miss the distinction.

Semantics for fun and profit.

Or prophet as the case may be.

S’anyway …

How is Social Media Like Sex?

You can talk about it. Or, you can do it.

This is not to say that talking precludes doing, just that you can’t do both at the same time.

And just like in high school, the more you talk …



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Garbage Day*

We all had good snicker a few months ago when two-time presidential and one-time veep candidate John Edwards (no, the other one)made his first public appearance after his affair was revealed opposite the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. That was just good planning. Even more fortuitous for him -- if not for the good people of Tbilisi -- was that it also was the day Vladimir Putin decided to roll his considerable military hardware into Georgia (no, the other one).

Tuesday is Inauguration Day in the States. The mother of all garbage days. If you've got bad news about your organization and it's only good for a news cycle or two, 10:00 a.m. EST on the 20th is the most wonderful time of the year.

Even better for you, if not those R/TV grads at your local radio station, is that there may be fewer broadcast journos around to notice. My colleague Yancy Deering points out that the NY Post and WSJ are reporting that Clear Channel is going to dump seven percent of its staff tomorrow.

Coverage has said that it’s mostly behind the scenes and sales people, but Radio and Records says they are looking to replace local air talent with national programming. That could mean more voice-tracking on music stations, or it could mean a local host or two is replaced with a national show.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your dumpsters.

UPDATE* from the Cinti ABJ outlet



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Happy Christmas Your @$$

A CSR Classic

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Worst Christmas Song Evah!

Over at Days in Eden, a Cincinnati urban blog, the management unwittingly and foolishly has issued a challenge. This hubris cannot go unpunished. I have no choice but to unleash the terrible beauty of the Yuletide badness that is:



May Nat have mercy on us all.



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Bonus Beat

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Deep Thought

If you looked only at the current first page of this blog, you'd think me a terrible scold.

And this of a guy who just yesterday inadvertently told a dirty joke to a room full of Procter & Gamble's big-time professional marketers.

Thanks, again, David.



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CSR: Corporations Don't Go to Heaven

Everybody -- well most people -- wants to do the best-right thing. But we all make compromises everyday and corporate social responsibility is no exception. If an economic enterprise doesn't gain some tangible advantage from its good works, it violates the laws of nature for it to spend any resources pursuing them.

If that sounds cynical, it's not. But yeah, it does sound cynical.

This message brought to you by a child's vocabulary list from not long ago. I was asked if philanthropy meant "doing good works for the benefit of others."

"No," I said. "That's charity. Philanthropy is when you pay to have things named after yourself."

This is not a criticism of CSR or public philanthropy. It was simply inspired by this.

Are you gettin' it?






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When Philosphy Rhetoric Becomes Principle

When I worked in government that epoch ago, there was a big movement to let the business leaders in town tell the city and county how best to manage their resources. Naturally, being contrarian by nature, I thought that was so much BS. In fact I remember saying at the time that makes about as much sense as saying, "Well, GM had a bad quarter, so let's send in some politicians to fix it."

It's really amazing how all those people who told us "Government is sooo inefficient! We have to run it like a business!" get all up in the vapors when the opposite is suggested.

Of course the opposite is just as true.

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