I Love It When a Grammar Debate Breaks Out!

My Facebook account is a sort of merge of my personal and professional worlds — I share some friends on Facebook who I primarily engage with on Twitter, but I also have friends from my “secret life” (note: it’s not so secret, really) as a poetry slam organizer, and IRL friends and even people I went to high school with. (Who I never would have reconnected with if not for Facebook.)

But occasionally, Facebook’s a very fun place for me to be, and today is one of those days. Two conversations same up simultaneously — from different FB friends, different worlds — asking about the correct possessive form to use for the singular s — s’ vs. s’s. In cases like this, in the media world, I defer to AP Style. But I also, in the debates I plunged myself into, queried myself on the first example that came to mind — Lou Reed singing, “And I feel just like Jesus’ son.” So, I joined Team S’, even though I know I’ve used s’s, perhaps in leaning toward my grad school days when MLA with *the* style I defaulted to in everything. (Except in my anthropology classes, when I had to shift over to APA.)

But it tickles me that possessives are the topic of the day, and I’m thrilled that Facebook’s a spot where a bunch of us can have that conversation, be it poets, fellow publicists, or even my wife, on her iPhone from the San Antonio Zoo with the kids.

Back from Blogging Hiatus, and the Blog Going Forward

Hello, everyone. It’s been a crazy couple of months around here. Those of you following me on Twitter and Facebook know that I’ve been keeping relatively active in Social Media land, but clearly not here on the blog.

Part of it has to do a whole lot of busy, which is what I like to be. Some great new clients have boarded — including the National Trauma Institute, dedicated to the funding and development of research addressing trauma injury in the United States, and Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop, the best dessert bakeshop in Austin, largely responsible for the completely awesome Cupcake Renaissance we’re experiencing in Austin. Also, my longtime client, the National Hispanic Institute, celebrates 30 years of developing Latino leadership this year with a full slate of summer programs.

Part of it also has to do with deciding what to do with the blog’s direction. Blogs are especially fascinating to me when you’re able to witness them evolving. Initially, I’d intended for this blog to be observations about PR and the media as a PR practitioner. I still think that’s valuable — but I want to make sure it’s rooted more in my day-to-day and week-to-week than the esoteric. Plenty of PR blogs address questions like “Is the press release still valuable?” (A: Yes, as a backgrounder to support the direct contact you’re making with a media person), but not enough answer tougher, of-the-moment questions like “What do I do about that client who owes me $2,000?”

So my intention is this — soon, every Friday (and whenever else the mood strikes me), once I’m through what is turning out to be a very busy summer, you’ll see insights about what I learned or what was reinforced for me during the week.

This week, it was about working beyond the 9-to-5 work day window. I’ll do that for my clients. There’s a point at which I want to unplug from the work day, of course, but sometimes, 9-to-5 isn’t enough to contain everything that’s happening.

This week, I had an author through on a leg of his book tour, and one bookstore called after his reading Tuesday night with questions about whether he’d left behind too many books. It was worth it to hear the event coordinator declare her and her co-workers “groupies” (their choice of words!) based on the reading. This morning, I met that client outside my office before 8 a.m. with promo materials for a future date before he drove nine hours to another tour stop. President Obama gave a speech in Cairo of great import to another client, and did so at 5 in the morning our time. Last night, I interviewed several members of an organization I work for to prep for an article I’m writing for the group’s publication — and the only time we could all get together was 7 at night. It’s part of doing PR in 2009, and I’m fine with that, though I suspect that I owe my kids a trip to the zoo to make up for it.

If You’re Wondering More About Twitter …

Occasionally, I’ll run across something too funny to not post. The video below is a very funny look at Twitter from the folks at SuperNews. A good reminder that — as useful as it is for connecting people, and as powerful as it is to keep us informed — some of us can sometimes take it a little too far.

Enjoy!

More Doom and Gloom for Newspapers (and Maybe What Should Happen)

This Time article is a pretty sobering overview of 10 U.S. papers that may have to either shift to online-only delivery or disappear completely. There are some huge names on this list — papers like the San Francisco Chronicle, the Miami Herald, the Boston Globe, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It’s stunning to see them here. They’re regional papers. They’re arguably papers of record for their respective states. If you’ve been following suggestions for what the future of newspapers holds, here are some options:

1. Existing as an online-only paper. Intriguing option, but online advertising needs to get more innovative to be attractive to potential advertisers, and print readers will have to condition themselves to read the paper in online form. Will there be some sort of hybrid format giving us online delivery but a print experience? Will online layout have to change to replicate the print experience more faithfully? Or are we prepared to lose whatever segment of readership can’t or won’t make the leap?

2. Adopting a non-profit model. It’s easy to make a joke and say that some papers are already there, but maybe the answer lies in a public radio model of underwriting, fundraising drives, and membership. A big question: Will subscribers and single-issue buyers be willing to donate under this model? And can newspapers function under this model effectively?

3. Accepting government subsidies. It’s happening in France. It doesn’t bode well for the newspaper as the Fourth Estate, and I think it would produce some serious ethical quagmires down the line, but would we better off with no newspaper at all versus one that receives some level of government support? Could there be a way to protect a newspaper’s autonomy and still allow tax dollars to go to it?

Loving newspapers and news coverage is a large part of why I’m in PR. I came from the world of newspapers. I worked at a college paper in which we typed articles on typewriters, sent them in a pneumatic tube system to the typesetters who waited (in the basement, no less) to retype the copy, and then laid them out for press using waxers and exacto knives and border tape. In the days I freelanced for the Seattle Times, in pre-Internet days, I’d file overnight concert reviews by reporting to the newsroom after the concert ended, waiting for a guard to let me in, logging into a copy editor’s computer, and composing the review in eerie, late-night silence. I would miss newspapers if they went away.

But newspapers need to figure out now how to live online. Does it mean a premium for more comprehensive access, like ESPN charges for its insider features? Could the newspaper host articles on one particular company on a dedicated page? As a PR professional, I would love to have a page for each client, showcasing the coverage that newspaper has given that client, and know that the link won’t disappear to the paid archives in a month. What can newspapers do to help individual subscribers personalize the articles that come to them, using all the various devices available for accessing online content?

I’m eager to see how newspapers will adapt, and if the recession will spur them on to the innovation possibly now. Believe me, I’m rooting for the newspapers to make it, even if they move beyond ink and paper.

Wherefore Twitter?

I recently was questioned by a friend in an online forum about my ongoing use of Twitter. She professed her hatred for Twitter, and wasn’t sure what was the reason to type in <140 character posts rather than just write something substantive and good. (Assuming substantive = good and short = not so good.)

For me, Twitter is most successful when you’re viewing all tweets together. Individual Twitter accounts reveals things about what those authors are writing, their personality, their wit, and how they see the world. Together, however, they serve as a personalized newsfeed, helping you understand in this information-heavy world what’s immediately occupying people. I’ve been struck in recent weeks by Twitter’s immediacy. The emergency landing of the US Airways jet in the Hudson, breaking news on a court case impacting a client, the New York Post’s recent and misguided Obama cartoon, Laura Hall being freed from jail — all delivered to me initially via Twitter, before I’d encountered these bits of news anywhere else, with official news agencies’ tweets side-by-side with friends and colleagues watching the news.

If you’re out there, how do you use Twitter? Do you like it? And if so, why?

Networking for the Greater Good of the Planet: See You at Twestival Tonight?

This was too good for me to pass up — I love the chance to meet my fellow Twitter folk, and the Austin Twestival tonight, like other Twestivals around the planet, will be supporting charity:water, bringing clean drinking water to people who desperately need it.

So, if you’re Austin and you’re part of the growing Twitter network, get a ticket and then come by Aces Lounge around 8.

By the way, on Twitter, I’m @philwest, making observations about my work day, the media, and very occasionally, I even cop to eating peanut butter and Nutella from a spoon.

On Collaboration

I’ve been busy the last couple of weeks talking with colleagues of mine about some possible projects on which we may be collaborating. For small firms and independent PR practitioners, I believe that forging alliances and collaborating with one another is not only good for the client, but good for everyone on the team. As a PR jack-of-all-trades, I can most of the things that clients are looking for. But we’re in a day and age where more and more of us are specializing and owning certain areas within the PR spectrum, and in some cases, it’s better for the project to have those people on board, giving the knowledge that comes from giving more focus and attention to a particular area.

More importantly, good ideas and innovations are born out of conversations. Even if I don’t end up collaborating with colleagues on certain projects, the discussions allow me to think and engage in new ways. I not only get insights and energy germane to the project in question; I sometimes also get insights and energy that helps fuel projects I’m currently working on.

I also learn from my colleagues — which is important given the quickly-shifting ground we’re finding ourselves on these days. One of the reasons I do PR in the first place comes from a desire to learn and pass on knowledge. And I’m not alone in that — I’m lucky to have colleagues that are willing to share their knowledge as well as pass along the knowledge you’re willing to share. The more we continue learning, the more we can continue to help our clients. And in collaborations, those discussions and that learning becomes absolutely vital to the campaign.

Really, It’s Not the Itchy and Scratchy Show: PR-Journalist Relations

If you follow PR through blogs, you might have run across these three posts in the last few days — What PR people should know about journalists, and this companion piece, and this response. I concur with Thomas Lee, who makes the point in the response post that good PR practitioners know how journalists operate and act accordingly. I also like that Lee points out how it’s a two-way street between journalists and PR people — we depend on each other to a large degree, especially in the current economic climate.

My latest round of befriending some of my favorite media contacts on Facebook reminds me how much I genuinely like the people I’m contacting. I’m certainly not the only PR person to have come through journalism school to get to PR. I’m watching the Seattle P-I’s struggles, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s recently-declared bankruptcy, and the #journchat tweets on Twitter with genuine concern. While I think it’s useful for PR practitioners to be mindful of the climate under which journalists and producers operate, and while I think online dialogues about them can be instructional for new PR practitioners, I find most of my contacts with journalists to be respectful exchanges between colleagues and even, in some instances, friends — all invested in a common goal of telling stories and providing information and insight.

Scene From My Christmas Vacation: How to Do PR at 70 Miles an Hour

I literally did PR at 70 miles an hour several weeks ago — driving over the Atchafalaya Swamp on I-10.

And from the parking lot of a Wendy’s somewhere in the middle of Louisiana.

And from a deck at one of my favorite Houston restaurants — which was unfortunately overlooking some rather loud construction, but the deck was big enough for my kids, who were stir-crazy and needed some good old fashioned running around and screaming time.

Part of this speaks to the amazing technology we can access in the name of keeping in touch with one another. I have a Blackberry, and without it, I couldn’t do PR in 2009. On my family’s trip back home from New Orleans — the Monday after Christmas — I was getting calls and e-mails and text messages about First Night Austin, the amazing New Year’s Eve event that allows more than 800 artists to wow 100,000 people in downtown Austin to celebrate the New Year and the arts.

In an earlier era, I would have been incommunicado for the length of that trip. Depending on what earlier era you’re talking about, calls or faxes or Usenet message boards would have been unattended as I drove home. The good news is the rules have changed. You’ve no doubt heard or even contemplated the pitfalls of being in Blackberry Nation — you’re never really “off” work, we’re addicted to information — but I’d much rather be where we are than back in the ’70s wearing out my dialing finger on a rotary phone.

As a PR practitioner, it’s great to have technology that makes information arrive instantaneously. It helped immensely leading up to First Night, and on the day of the event, it was a lifesaver more than once. (I’ve used walkie-talkies for event management before we all had cell phones, and believe me, I much prefer cell phones with text messaging ability.)

It’s not the easiest thing to coordinate interviews and generate coverage from a moving car, but I embrace any new innovation that allows me to connect media with good stories. Seeing this report about in-flight wireless makes me believe that sometime soon, I’ll be pitching journalists from a plane, and that will, even with the advances we’ve made up until now, completely blow my mind.

A Quick Bit of Advice for Your Website

I’ve been working on a proposal this morning, as well as doing website inventory for a new client, and so I’ve been looking at their websites with a keen eye.

For small companies like mine, the company website is one of the great equalizers. I know that I can compete with larger PR firms, based on my record of media hits and my ongoing relationships with media and with past and present clients. My website is how I make sure that information’s getting out to prospective new clients. For a lot of us, it’s the first and only piece of information people see.

Therefore, it’s helpful to get an inventory from someone who had nothing to do with the formation of your website. Here are some good basic questions to give you the feedback you need:

* What are my impressions of the company?
* Do I get a sense of how successful the company is?
* Do I get a sense of how well the company can meet my needs?
* Is there anything on the site that’s inconsistent or incongruous?
* If I’m interested in doing business with this company, can I make contact with someone there?

Certainly, you can do your own inventory, but it’s likely that the website content is intuitive to you, as you’re the one who created it. Find someone who has the same computer literacy as your target audience, and be prepared to make the necessary adjustments once you get your report back. It can be an eye-opening experience on not just your website, but how you’re marketing yourself to the world.