The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #95: December 19, 2005

Content summary: Latest survey on corporate blogging; the declining trust in corporations; Google buys AOL stake; Pheedo study on ads in RSS; Gmail on cell phones; Topix.net accepts user content; Steve Rubel quits Across the Sound; Lee Hopkins’ report; listeners’ comments discussion (why blogs and wikis are so good; a Christmas list for communicators); does blogging equal transparency?; the TypePad communication crisis for Six Apart; upcoming interview; the music.

Show notes for December 19, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 95-minute conversation recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 38MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this Edition:

Intro:

• 00:28 Shel introduces the show; what the show’s about; how to contribute your comments; upcoming interview on Wednesday December 21 with Andy Abramson on Nokia’s blog relations campaign; update on the FIR Frappr community

News Briefs:

• 02:37 Latest corporate blogging survey highlights commercialization and ghost-writing as major concerns by PRs and marketers
• 07:37 World Economic Forum survey on the declining trust in government, corporations and global institutions – the results aren’t good
• 11:56 Google buys stake in AOL; changes afoot with how advertising may be incorporated in search results and elsewhere
• 16:22 Pheedo study shows stand-alone ads in RSS feeds are highly influential on click-through rates
• 19:11 Gmail now available on your mobile phone
• 22:58 Topix.net acccepts user news contributions – a further sign of convergence between mainstream media and citizen journalists
• 24:57 Steve Rubel steps down from Across the Sound – what impact will the loss of one of the two co-hosts have on the podcast?

From Our Correspondent Down Under:

• 28:58 Lee Hopkins reports – a proud father with a hoarse voice; a wrong font and bad syntax; aligning all the pieces of the puzzle for ‘nuanced communication’

Listeners’ Comments Discussion:

• 38:28 David Phillips with the reasons why blogs and wikis are so good and such a threat to the control freaks
• 42:29 David again, with an audio Christmas list for communication professionals

Features:

• 47:39 Does blogging equal transparency? An issues discussion on the IABC Chair blog
• 58:31 The consequences for Six Apart following the TypePad service outage on December 16 – what happened, customer relationship issues, Six Apart’s communication efforts (including podcast interview), blogger conversations; comments from Sebastian Keil and Dennis Howlett; what now for Six Apart: business issues and the role of communication. Tell us your views on this issue.

Outro:

• 90:45 Neville wraps the show; how and where to send your comments; reminder of interview on Wednesday December 21 with Any Abramson; where to find the show notes
• 91:54 Outro podsafe music via the Podsafe Music Network – Did You Think by Adrina Thorpe

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute – see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday December 22…

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)