To others, it means reading, writing, talking and learning about other people's opinions, views, lifestyles and industries.

Since public relations is all about interaction and communication, we are at the forefront of all blogging. Let's face it. We like to talk. We like to inform. Doesn't blogging seem perfect for us?

• PR-Squared: This is my favorite public relations blog. Written by Todd Defren, head of SHIFT Communications in Silicon Valley, Ca., his writing is easy to understand and puts public relations in plain English. He also makes many references to other PR professionals who you might find interesting.
• PR 2.0: Brian Solis, head of FutureWorks Communications in Silicon Valley, Ca., expresses his views on public relations through PR 2.0. Most of his posts focus on social media tools and tactics.
• Unspun: This blog is written by the employees at SHIFT Communications. It's definitely more relaxed and informal. You can tell when different authors post, and they always make funny pop-culture and relevant references. This is a good 'un!
• The Bad Pitch Blog: Written by PR masterminds Kevin Dugan and Richard Laermer, it is definitely more of a "hint-hint" blog. They give great tips and one-liners. Many of their posts are about pitches that have gone wrong or right.

I could give you soooooo many more, but we must start off small! If you have one you'd like to add, make a comment on this post and tell us! We'd love to hear.

Oosah launch party at the Harry Denton's Starlight Room (apologies in advance for not knowing people's names):

From left to right, Erica Ogg, Rob Balousek and Andrew Mager

"Untitled" by Z Andrei via Flickr under Creative Commons License

Jennifer Manos & Maragaret Clark a la our PR agency.

"Untitled" by Z Andrei via Flickr under Creative Commons License

Erica from CNET looking adorable. (Yes, I am loving name tags right now. LOL)

"Untitled" by Z Andrei via Flickr under Creative Commons License

.

Powerset launch party a la Mighty:

SHIFTers being sessy!

"Club Powerset" by Official Powerset via Flickr

Holy ish, Julie Crabill is talented!

"Club Powerset" by Official Powerset via Flickr

This is why we need to have more professional lighting in this world.

"Club Powerset" by Official Powerset via Flickr

"Club Powerset" by Official Powerset via Flickr

"I can has an umbrella?"

"Club Powerset" by Official Powerset via Flickr

I'm going to be vain and say SHIFT employees are friggin' hot tamales... (Kayla Kooyman and Marie Williams)

"Club Powerset" by Official Powerset via Flickr

.

More photos of the Powerset launch party on Flickr.

Cheerios!

UPDATED:

One more Powerset shot:

Marie Williams (SHIFT), MG Seigler (VentureBeat), Chris Morrison (VentureBeat), Kayla Kooyman (SHIFT), Evan Borders (KTVU Fox 2)

"2008-0064 11" by tychay via Flickr under Creative Commons License

Put together by the Society for New Communications Research, the NewComm Forum is now in its fourth year. After last year's rocking event in Vegas, this year's event in Sonoma County should offer a more relaxing--but equally stimulating--experience. Check out our top 5 "must sees" at the year's event:

5. Opening Keynote with Joseph Jaffe

We're big fans of Joseph's Jaffe Juice and its fully-integrated approach to social media. By Looking at conversations with consumers through all media and across the marketing and advertising departments, Joseph helps us understand the true impact of our campaigns. We also like his sense of humor.

Session Mood: Let's give 'em something to blog about...

4. Detour Ahead: Closing the Road to PR 3.0 featuring Darren Barefoot, Constantin Basturea and Brian Solis.

Always ahead of the curve, Constantin's New PR Wiki has been a staple since 2004. We hear he's also doing some pretty cool things at Converseon. If you don't know, Brian Solis is on the forefront of fighting for "2.0.' His man-on-the-scene bub.blicio.us blog, combined with PR 2.0, might make you think he spends all his time at his computer, but somehow he manages to be EVERYWHERE.

Session Mood: Futurama

3. A Conversation With Jim Long, Tom Foremski, and Shel Isreal

Brilliant. New media. Line-up. Mad props to Jenn McClure and crew for getting NBC to let go of Jim (aka newmediajim) long enough to appear on stage with these two pioneers of the new media space. Tom gave us some valuable insight last fall when he appeared on socialTNT's "3Q's in 3Min," and Shel is such an icon, he has people lampooning him with puppets. Expect nothing but an interesting discussion on the state of the media.

Session Mood: Eureka in the Tweet

2. Building Your Brand With Conversational Media featuring Kami Watson Huyse and Geoff Livingston

Kami Huyse and Geoff Livingston are some of the top feeds in our Google Readers. Check out Kami's recent case study examining the ROI on social media and the launch of a new roller coaster at Sea World. She's a stickler for tracking and measurement, and is therefore an important voice in the progression of social media PR and marketing. Geoff's Buzz Bin is like a workbook for new media marketers and PR peeps--and don't forget his book!

Session Mood: Energized

1. Perspectives on the Social Media Release featuring Todd Defren and Maggie Fox

This, to us, is without a doubt, the social media PR Thilla in Manila of 2008. That makes Jenn McClure into Don King, and we'll let you decide who is Muhammad Ali. Todd Defren is the inventor of the social media news release. He's also our colleague at SHIFT. Maggie Fox from Social Media Group has worked on Multimedia Releases for Ford Motors (See our analysis of one of her campaigns here). It will be interesting to see what Maggie thinks of Todd's SMR version 1.5, just released last week.

Session Mood: CATFIGHT!

These are just a sampling of the amazing sessions in store in Sonoma. We also hear there will be some great research released this year, with topics including new media influencers and implications for PR, customer care and brand reputation in the social media age, and how to measure progress in communities.

Sadly, socialTNT will not be able to make it this year. Due to client work, we will both be at Web 2.0 Expo. You can, however, catch us at the Social Media Club Tweet-up tonight at Adobe. Geoff Livingston and Brian Solis will be there to talk about their book. Hope to see you there!

Don’t miss a post: Drop socialTNT into your RSS reader [what’s that?]. Better yet, subscribe to socialTNT by email!

Steve Hall put up a great wrap-up of the discussion at AdRants.

Thanks again to Emerson for organizing such a great forum.  It's great to see my school taking steps toward getting students into this space.

Every Thursday, socialTNT channels the spirit of citizen journalism by putting bloggers, reporters, PR pro’s or anyone with something to say about social media in front of the camera for a short, three minute interview. The videos are meant to encourage dialog between PR/communications practitioners and marketers on the future of media.

This week, socialTNT met up with Chris Heuer, partner at social media communications firm The Conversation Group. He's also an executive and cofounder of the Social Media Club. In today's episode, Chris tells us his definition of social media and proclaims that PR is dead.

When Chris and I met, we started talking about his book, a discussion of social media tools for internal communications. He enjoyes bouncing ideas off of people to spawn creativity.  He also prefers working in collaborative, Socratic environments, so it's not surprising that Chris cofounded the Social Media Club as a venue to share ideas about emerging media.  This manifested itself throughout out our conversation; every time one of us would say something clever, he'd jot down notes in a a Moleskine notebook, potential ideas for the book. After a few minutes, our chat diverged away from his book and into a discussion of  social networking, disposable attention, and brands.

As Brand managers everywhere try to stifle social media and maintain a uniform brand image, Chris promotes opening up. Instead of silencing employees, companies have to let go. To maintain, companies have to trust and educate their employees. To support his theory, Chris broke out a power point slide with a quote from Thomas Jefferson:

"I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but
people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not
to take the power from them, but to inform them by education."

Fun Facts About Chris

• Once taught Interactive Advertising at the Miami Ad School
• Has a Virtual Assistant outside the country
• Does not have or use an RSS reader
• Is a hit-and-run Twitterer
• In July 2007, married Kristie Wells, VP of Customer Advocacy at Joyent, the company that used to host Twitter
• Prefers in-person, real world communication over its online counterparts, but you can still find him on Facebook and LinkedIn

Ever wonder exactly what social media is? Chris's succinct definition is not to be messed. He also explains what changes Public Relations and Marketing will need to make in order to stay alive. Check it out:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.481974&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Wow. A lot to chew on. Is PR dead? Has social media killed it? What do you think PR will need to do to evolve? Is Schizophrenic Branding a problem? How do marketers deal with multiple voices coming out of their company? Let us know in the comments.

Quick Note: Today marks the first day socialTNT's "3Q's in 3Min" is available for download on iTunes. Yup, that's right: Now you can view our video interviews with today's top reporters and social media experts anywhere you want. Watch us on the train, at the gym or even at the break room of your stodgy PR or marketing firm. The last seven episodes are currently available in high-quality video, with the full library coming soon. Oh, and it's all available to you for FREE! :)

Also, don’t miss a post: Please add socialTNT to your RSS reader [what’s that?]. Better yet, subscribe to socialTNT by email!

[The above photo, “Utterz Meetup House of Shields - Chris Heuer” by Brian Solis, is used under Creative Commons]

The problem, as he explains in the structure of his post, is one of bullet points, embedded links and sections, rather than the conventional narrative structure.  Meaning, the press release doesn't pretend to be a pre-fabricated story for lazy editors.

With some compromises, it had a happy ending s he noted on For Immediate Release (Show # 319,) but it re-opens the topic of whether the SMR is ready for prime time.

There were big objective: to increase access, provide context, make it seo friendly, and the big one, to leave out the spin.  The last is a big one, since most editors don't want a PR department to write their stories, but give them the hook. Big difference. Then there's the convenience factor of the embedded links, one-click image downloads and the delicious and technorati tags.

Getting all these in one place, for many organizations is a work in progress. We love our 'shared folders' and our media pages, but they're not exactly accessible and journo-friendly.

Maria and I have been traveling, celebrating holidays, starting new jobs and beginning new semesters--we have been busy bees here in Boston.

I started my first job at SHIFT Communications on January 22, and I have been thoroughly enjoying learning the ropes and figuring out new things. I've been meeting great people and I'm looking forward to building a career at SHIFT.

Just wanted to throw a quick update on here--it's Superbowl Sunday, so I need to get ready to cheer on my Patriots!

The press release evolves again Maggie Fox's Social Media Group, which is one of the most innovative boutique agencies specializing in new media marketing, has developed a new version of the Social Media Press Release (SMPR), which was pioneered by Shift Communications in 2006.

The SMPR differs substantially from the traditional press release, which is often long, detailed and inflexible. The new format emphasizes many points of entry, so that journalists and bloggers can pick and choose the information - and the media - that they wish to use. The latter point is important. With so many media outlets today using images, audio and video to tell a story, the traditional press release doesn't meet their needs very well. The SMPR makes room for story-telling through whatever media the publisher wishes to use. It requires more work on the client end, but should result in much better results.

Another innovation in this new version is its use of popular back-end services like YouTube and Flickr to host content. This means that people can find the information through search engines as well as via the press release.

Maggie has made the template available for anyone to use under a Creative Commons license. She has a more detailed explanation here. Or you can just download the template in PDF format.

This has been a stop and start and stop topic for my team since March 2007.  Hope this year we have better luck.  This is not a big complaint, because our team was able to turn on some other very cool features like a Chip Shot section for mini updates tailored for journalists and tech bloggers.

The SMPR differs substantially from the traditional press release, which is often long, detailed and inflexible. The new format emphasizes many points of entry, so that journalists and bloggers can pick and choose the information - and the media - that they wish to use. The latter point is important. With so many media outlets today using images, audio and video to tell a story, the traditional press release doesn't meet their needs very well. The SMPR makes room for story-telling through whatever media the publisher wishes to use. It requires more work on the client end, but should result in much better results.

Another innovation in this new version is its use of popular back-end services like YouTube and Flickr to host content. This means that people can find the information through search engines as well as via the press release.

Maggie has made the template available for anyone to use under a Creative Commons license. She has a more detailed explanation here. Or you can just download the template in PDF format.

BTW, Maggie was our guest on episode 16.

Way back in the day, a brand was a symbol burnt into the hide of an animal to symbolize ownership. Modern day branding burns a stream of messages into consumers’ minds to reinforce the image or idea a company wants. A brand can also be identified by its logo or trademark, but traditionally a brand symbolizes a promise or experience a company aligns with a product or service through consolidated messaging.

Over the last couple of years, the notion of “brand” itself has been changing. With social media, consumers now have the ability to publish and spread their own messages about a brand through forums, blogs, Facebook groups, etc. This can create a sort of schizophrenic branding: Corporate messaging vs Consumer perception/messaging--also known as “reality”--clashing for the loudest voice. As Dell proved, modern brands have to step up to the plate and accept, interact and engage with the consumer, or they come across as being abstract and aloof from reality.

But consumer voices aren’t the only ones vying to be heard in the modern brand. In many companies, you have employees who blog. The new media tools allow all the voices within the company to have a chance to be heard, unseating the talking-head spouting corporate values/messaging from the ivory tower. As the blogosphere grows, I think these voices will become more splintered, but still add to the discussion and image of the brand. For example: Not that I would consider Todd Defren the ivory tower, but his blog combined with my blog, the SHIFT employee blog Unspun and Marie Williams' Flackette blog help shape the brand image at SHIFT Communications. People looking for our services can find these voices and get a sense of what we are about as a firm.

The Twitterverse will be progressing more like the blogosphere. Since Twitter requires less effort than blogging, pretty soon you will have several people from a company Tweeting. For example, there are several of us that use Twitter at SHIFT. We engage with each other and our followers in a series of small conversations. As more tools come into play to harness the power, people will be able to follow our team (a micro-community), creating another extension of SHIFT Communications' brand.

Since the new brand, to me, is the conversation that the corporation, its employees and its consumers are having, the new, evolved brand will need to get social, embrace social media or get passed by.

What do you think the modern brand is? Which came first, social media or the splintered/schizophrenic brand?

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[Above photo, "No. 59" by racatumba on flickr, used under Creative Commons]

Last week, the New York Times told the world my age, so I don't mind telling you guys that yesterday, I turned 31. Moving in to my 30's has caused me to examine where I've been, where I'm at now, and where I'm going.

Two years ago, I moved to San Francisco from Berlin, Germany, with nothing but a suitcase of clothes and a box of books. My younger brother, Mike, was going through a lot of rough times after doing a very courageous thing and needed some emotional support. He offered me a computer and a roof if I moved out to live with him. In tough times, all we have is family; I couldn't refuse, plus I was having my own patch of bad luck.

Berlin is an amazing city. Besides Barcelona, there is no other city in the world, to me, that has such an amazing art and music scene. As a musician/performance artist/graphic designer/photographer/writer, I was knee-deep in the scene. I had a great job at an Entertainment and Event firm, some musical partners, and a monthly party.

In the winter of 2005, everything changed when I returned from vacation to find everything in my life gone. Someone I'd been helping get back on their feet took everything I owned. In addition to clothes and everything else normally found in an apartment, other things stolen include: DVDs, four years of journals, my laptop, recording equipment, backups/originals of my digital photography and writings. Even though I had a nice job, there would have been no way for me to save money and buy replacements for any of those things. I didn't have means to create my art. And, worse than anything else, it felt like all my children had been kidnapped. After six months of sinking ever deeper into depression, I accepted my brother's offer, packed my bag and moved to SF the week before Halloween 2005.

Two years later, I'm happy and healthy. My brother is engaged to an amazing woman. We no longer live together, but I do live with an incredible group of people. I also work at one of the most kick-a firms in the healthiest work environment I've ever experienced.

It's been such an amazing ride over the last two years. Every day feels like a blessing, and some thanks are in order:

• My parents for raising me and kicking my butt.
• My grandparents for instilling a work ethic and sense of spirituality. Also for making me realize I can "create my own world."
• My brother for his support. He's my sounding board.
• My aunts, uncles and super-star cousins for making me smile.
• My BFF's around the world. You know who you are. You know what you do.
• My housemates for creating a peaceful living space and for putting up with my silliness.
• SHIFT and all the SHIFTers, especially my team plus Todd Defren and my mentor, Parry Headrick, for embracing and bolstering my creativity.
• Mad props to Lindsay Olson at Paradigm Staffing for pairing me with the right firm. She seriously is the most amazing PR recruiter I have met. Also, I've gotta thank all my references :)
• TO ALL THE "3Q's in 3 Min" GUESTS: You guys are awesome! Thanks for the pleasure of an interview.
• TO EVERYONE ON MY BLOGROLL: Thanks for bringing me a social media utopia when I was working at a place where I couldn't experiment.
• TO ALL MY READERS: Thank you SOOO much. You make socialTNT possible. You inspire me daily. You are the reason I do this. (And if you haven't done so, please subscribe to my feed. ;-))

I can't wait to see what this next year will offer. Hopefully, you will stick around and experience it with me.

Happy Friday, everyone!

[Photo above, "Heart no. 2" by bymanu on flickr, used under Creative Commons]

As always, The Rundown is my weekly LIVE podcast featuring an analysis or summary of something by a knowledgeable person - and me.

As principal, Defren leads client services and business development efforts for SHIFT. More importantly he and his team have been instrumental in bringing the Social Media Release to life. I have some questions of my own about that, about what prompted him to get involved in the whole movement and what it means to public relations and journalism. I also plan on asking him what it's like to bop from Boston to San Fransisco like a tennis ball. Don't miss this exciting Halloween edition.

The Rundown airs on Tuesdays at 1:30pm Eastern. Because it’s live, your calls are welcome. Whenever I have I guest you’d like to talk to, question or heckle, just call in at (646) 716-8329. You can also email your text or audio comments to me before the show and I’ll fit them in. The archives will be available at my BlogTalkRadio host page or by subscribing to the show’s RSS feed. You can also subscribe to the show on iTunes.

[audio=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/therundown/2007/10/30/the-rundown-with-todd-defren.mp3]

Links from The Rundown with Todd Defren

• Social Media News Releases Gain Momentum
• UPDATED: The Future of the Social Media Release is in Your Hands
• The Social Media Newsroom Template
• Social Media Release Template
• Solis' How To 1
• Solis' How To 2
• NMRCasts RSS Feed

Texas had one helluva rainy season this past summer and the spiders are LUVIN it. Instead of their usual solitary orbs, the spiders are spinning one giant, all-encompassing web. Various species of arachnids have come together to form communities, catch some buzz and then share files flies. Entomologists are rushing to be the first to dub this new era "Web 2.0."

Sound familiar?

In his Dallas Morning News article, reporter James Hohman says experts believe the giant spider web--found just 50 miles east of my happy birthplace, Dallas--was created due to an abundance of food:

"Normally they are cannibalistic and their webs are separated," said Allen Dean, a Texas A&M University entomologist who examined 250 specimens collected at the site along a trail at Lake Tawakoni State Park. "They live in harmony because there's so much food available."

Wow?! A vast supply of food, huh? Do tell more!

“Tetragnathidae are usually solitary spiders who build their own webs and mind their own business,” he said. “Here they are sharing a lot of foundation strands that are all over the place. They don't have individual webs anymore.”

According to Hohmann, some experts even say “the web represented an evolutionary advancement among arachnids, which typically do not work together.” Sounds like spiders have realized the potential of sharing and using the new web to help get enough bread for everyone.

Now where have I heard that before? Hmmm. Maybe from reporters ushering in the era of social-media or from every progressive PR blogger out there.

Listen, people, in case you don't know, we are in the (hopefully) beginnings of another tech boom spawned by the growing investment in social media. Silicon Valley is happy. PR peeps are happy. But is everyone feeling the love?

The other day, someone told me I'd finally been brainwashed. Couldn't I see that all this talk about "open"and "sharing" was just BS? In the end, aren't we all at war, competing for the same new business? My answer is "jein" (Ya-eyen: German slang compound word formed by joining "ja" yes and "nein" no).

Sure, we do compete for clients, but let's move our thoughts from spiders for a sec and shift to bands. Bands may be competing for the same gigs, but are they enemies? No. It's healthy competition and they are all members of a community. They move in and out of each other's bands. Some collaborate here and then go play drums over there. It's all chill. It's a healthy competition. The thing is (back to spiders): It's rainy season and there are more flies and mosquitoes than there have been in years; we aren't competing for grub.

Ok, ok. I wasn't doing PR during the (eek) last bubble burst, but I've heard stories. Yeah, it sounds horrible, but we have to dwell in the moment.

Closed-systems, hording and cannibalism leave firms isolated and alone. Let's evolve, learn the new system, spin webs together and share the benefits. Who knows, maybe during the next dry spell, after the wind has blown Web 2.0 away and the surplus of flies are all gone, we can take a little of what we learned with us.

"The continuing number of egg sacks suggests high productivity, as biologists say," Mr. Quinn noted. "The females are fat and happy so to speak. They have done well so far by laying so many eggs that the spiders continue to prosper."

Time to prosper indeed. It's a community! Let's exchange ideas and all eat our fill. It's an exciting time in history. The ways people are consuming media (text, audio, video) are changing, and I'm pretty excited about being a part of that.

Some might call me an idealist. Maybe I've had too much SHIFT Kool-Aid. But I'm happy and, like any spider with a belly full of flies, I'm productive and growing.

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