PRBreakfastClub

In case anyone missed it, on Tuesday of last week the FTC settled their eight-count complaint against Facebook alleging they “misled users about the use of their personal information.” Essentially the FTC was claiming that Facebook had knowingly made changes to their privacy settings in December of 2009 that automatically made aspects of user’s profiles public by default without their permission.

At issue is the inability for Facebook users to have control over who sees their private information (name, picture, city, gender, friends, etc.) and who doesn’t. Twitter has also been a Target of the FTC, and settled a similar case back in June of 2010 for failing to safeguard user information.   Read the rest of this entry »

“I heard you missed us… we’re back!” -Van Halen, “Hot For Teacher”

While you may not have the flair of good ol’ “Diamond” David Lee Roth, this time of year can still be a perfect opportunity to show your networking chops. Ok, so you are shuddering at the thought of going back to school. Don’t. You should really be relishing the chance to grow your relationships: in school and in the community.

See, we are always networking… whether it be at school, out with friends, or online. Think about your last PRSSA meeting, Twitter chat, or Facebook group discussion. Did you talk about how you can help with an event or talk to a respected pro about setting up a lunch discussion? Bingo! You are networking. Read the rest of this entry »

By now, our world has experienced and started actively using the latest in social platforms. Google+ launched to excitement and rightfully so. Google has been looking to enter the social space for some time. But, I think we need to temper this giddiness a bit. Much like Facebook and Twitter before it, time is needed before we can really understand how Google+ will fit into our plans. Should we do our due diligence on it? Absolutely. Any good social media manager or PR professional should be researching and planning to uncover any which way it can be used effectively.

In the last few weeks, though, I’ve seen that it will be a “Facebook killer.” I’ve also read numerous stories telling me that LinkedIn needs to watch out because Google is coming with “Google+ for Business.” The old adage, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” fits here. How can anyone truly know what it will do to Facebook? We had no idea that Facebook would eventually make MySpace irrelevant. Who saw Twitter becoming a success? Read the rest of this entry »

I was scouring the blogosphere last week after getting some recommended posts via re-tweets. Of the three I read, all had different definitions of engagement in social media. In our ever changing world, we’ve had to define and re-define certain aspects of PR and marketing. I would think we’d have engagement pretty well narrowed down by now.

However, I don’t think having a solid definition of engagement is a real issue. Why? Because we all talk about engagement in certain ways. Some see that re-tweet that directed me to a blog as the ultimate form of engagement, while others believe that it is responding to a post on Facebook. And if you got into an argument, both of these answers COULD be correct. Read the rest of this entry »

Some quick thoughts from a marketing, PR and ad perspective on Google’s just announced new foray into social networking — the terribly named Google+ (as Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land terms it*).

As I tweeted earlier in the day:

keithtrivitt: Prediction: Ad buyers will be all over Google+. More open analytics plus more targeted networks to tap into http://t.co/usHznta

I like that Google has started out by opening Google+ to only a select few and allowing them to invite their friends. Read the rest of this entry »

Going back to an earlier post of mine, at “another” blog the issue will certainly begin to arise for the recently hired (or anyone really) who may have the pleasure of administering Facebook pages on behalf of clients, or your own firms – “How do I separate work (client), work (colleagues and bosses), and friends on Facebook?”

After all, for the last n number of years Facebook has been your playground and you’d like to keep it that way – at least a little bit. Further, for the “older” folks who have a larger outside-of-work life they’re now dealing with the question of friending clients on Facebook. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, I wanted to weigh in on two issues related to Facebook that are gaining attention from PR pros and marketers alike: the fallout of over the Facebook/Burson-Marsteller ethics flap and the growing fascination over Facebook ‘Likes.’

Regarding the recent ethics flap, I made quite clear last week my belief, as well as that of PRSA, that the tactics B-M engaged in were unethical and improper. Now, I want to turn my attention to The Economist’s examination into what this incident portends for the future of media. Read the rest of this entry »

Veronica Wei Sopher brought up a great ethical and business question on Facebook the other day. Simply: Do you accept Facebook requests from clients?

Interesting question, right?

As I contemplated that question, I started thinking about my personal stance on that issue. By nature of being a solo consultant, I tend to view this issue a bit differently than I would if I were working for a large agency. After all, the client is really buying “me”–not ACH Communications (or any other brand name). So, when a client buys you–it usually means 1) They feel you know your stuff, and 2) They believe you’re easy to work with and like you (and not always in that order). So, for me, the “friend” issue is pretty darn important. And, I actually put a lot of time and effort into breaking down the barriers with my clients. Read the rest of this entry »

Unless you were living under a rock last week, you likely have heard about the big ethical flap that PR firm Burson-Marsteller found itself in after it was outed by USA TODAY for engaging in an attempted smear campaign on behalf of its famous client, Facebook, against Google. “Whisper-Gate” it’s being called.

Long story short: things blew up — dramatically — in one of the most egregious displays of unethical practices our business has seen since Edelman got caught in 2006 for its fake blogging tactics on behalf of Walmart. Let me be clear: B-M’s actions on behalf of Facebook were unethical and improper.

All of the details of this epic tale have already been fleshed out (including new revelations over the weekend from WIRED.com reporter Sam Gustin that B-M was deleting negative posts about the firm on its Facebook wall) in the hundreds of stories that were written last week. Now, it’s time to consider the long-term impact this will have on PR.

Will our profession use this as a teachable moment; an opportunity to reassess our commitment to serving the public interest and being ethical counselors to our clients? Or will we just brush it aside as yet another instance of an ethical lapse taking center stage for a couple of news cycles.

Speaking as someone who manages advocacy for PRSA, a professional organization that strongly advocates for stringent ethical standards in PR, I sincerely hope it is the former. This unfortunate incident has cast a negative shadow upon our profession; one we can ill afford to become the de facto standard operating procedure.

And I believe that, on the whole, the majority of PR professionals are ethical and have the public’s best interest in mind. While B-M certainly made an ethical lapse in this case, we should give the firm some credit for admitting in a statement that “When talking to the media, we need to adhere to strict standards of transparency about clients, and this incident underscores the absolute importance of that principle.”

All that said, I was a little shocked to read in PRWeek UK a quote from Speed Communications MD Steve Earl that, “Smearing is an integral part of PR.”

I won’t try to get too high and mighty about this topic, but I will say this: Smear campaigns and unethical non-disclosure of clients and/or clients’ intentions are most certainly not an integral part of PR. That type of work is unethical and against most recognized global standards of ethics in the profession, including the PRSA Code of Ethics.

Thankfully, Mr. Earl’s assertions were counterbalanced in the same PRWeek article with a more sane statement by Fraser Hardie, senior partner of Blue Rubion, which just so happens to represent Facebook in the UK. Mr. Hardie made it clear that his firm had no knowledge of the B-M smear campaign and he went further by taking the stance that his firm is not willing to cross the line between advocacy and smearing.

This incident was an embarrassment to all parties involved, and more broadly, to the PR profession. It was also unethical. But I’m confident we’ll learn from this and add additional value to our work by keeping the public’s best interest in mind, even if that comes at the expense of our clients’ wishes.

We just need to take statements like Mr. Earl’s with a fine grain of salt to get through the murk.

A few weeks back, I sent out an innocent tweet about a new poll that showed PR pros preferred using Facebook over Twitter. Fellow PRBC-er, Jeff Esposito, read me the riot act about how he was sick of PR people taking ourselves so seriously.

Here I will quote Mr. Esposito: “I am sick of the self-promotional BS spewed lately. Last I checked our job’s function was to make co’s look good.” I tried to rack my brain about what my link had to do with this topic. After a bit of back and forth, we discovered Jeff mixed up my tweet with someone else’s and now he owes me a drink.

Yet, in the confusion, he did make a point. Do PR pros have a tendency to throw a pity party for ourselves? Recently, CNBC called Public Relations the #2 most stressful job in America (obviously, they did not fact check the salary portion). When I heard this news, I was ready to pop open a bottle of tequila and wallow about how bad I have it, how difficult my job is, and so on. Read the rest of this entry »