In taking a quiet break from working on the PowerPoint presentation I’ll be using in my workshop at the New Communications Forum 2005 next week, I was reading the Financial Times online when I came to an article by FT columnist Jonathan Guthrie yesterday entitled Don’t be seduced by PowerPoint (paid subscription-only access). Guthrie says: […]
Category: Communication
The Red Couch gains traction
Things are beginning to move with The Red Couch, the collaborative work on producing what could be the definitive business book on why companies should blog, by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. This is no ordinary business book project: Most of this project is being executed in the public eye, via The Red Couch blogsite. […]
Boeing starts an executive blog
Following the General Motors executive blog earlier this month, another Fortune 100 company takes a step into the blogosphere – aircraft maker Boeing has started a public blog. Written by Randolp S. Baseler, Vice President Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, his first post on 17 January in Randy’s Journal sets the scene for what he expects […]
Podcasting described simply
When explaining podcasting to people who don’t know what it is, how do you describe it? I’ve tended to rely on the relatively complex Wikipedia definition or this one on Webopedia: Podcasting is similar in nature to RSS, which allows subscribers to subscribe to a set of feeds to view syndicated website content. With podcasting […]
Taking a stand on ethics
This morning, I left a lengthy comment on Jay Rosen’s blog in his Bloggers Are Missing in Action… post on ethics in PR that generated lots of blog posts and comments on posts yesterday (go to Rosen’s post to see the many comments there, and see my post yesterday for a recap on what this […]
Blogs make perfect aids to learning
BBC News: Blogs are increasingly being used by academics and students. Until a few months ago, the attention paid to web logs, or blogs, focused mainly on politics and the media business. […] Now, the technology that has been an alternative source of news to many academics is being incorporated more fully into university life. […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #4: January 24, 2005
Show notes for January 24, 2005. Welcome to our weekly podcast, a 57:25-minute conversation recorded live via Skype from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Download the file here (MP3, 24.9MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For this, you’ll need ipodder, software that lets you […]
The Napa experience Day 1
From my own perspective, the first day of New Communications Forum 2005 has been an enlightening experience. As I’ve presented one session and led two workshops, I’ve been able to participate in only one other workshop (Shel’s on blogs in crisis communication, which I commented about earlier today). The workshops I led today addressed the […]
The Hobson & Holtz Report – RSS Special Edition – January 26, 2005
Welcome to a the RSS Special Edition of the Hobson & Holtz Report, a 23-minute conversation recorded live at the New Communications Forum 2005 in Napa, California, USA, on January 26, 2005. In this show, we interview Fergus Burns, CEO of Hookable Media Ltd, the creator of Nooked, the RSS service for corporate communications. Listen […]
EPIC: The age of participatory communication
I’m blogging in the keynote presentation being given by Andy Lark that starts the second day of the New Communications Forum 2005. Andy advocates how the age of participatory communication that has already dawned will change forever the way we communicate. To illustrate this, he presents EPIC, an 8-minute video showing a concept of what […]
Insights on GM executive blog
If you’ve been wondering who was behind The GM Fastlane Blog, General Motors’ step into the public blogosphere by executive blogger Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, Susannah Gardner at Buzz Marketing with Blogs has the details: The blog was result of an ongoing conversation between [PR agency] Hass [MS&L] and GM about blogs. It is run […]
Panel discussion: Blogging and branding
Highlight points from the panel – pictured, left to right: Anita Campbell, Evelyn Rodriguez, Dan Taylor, Andy Lark – moderated by Elizabeth Albrycht. The panel addressed the broad theme of how the connectedness of blogs and other networked media creates both threats and opportunities for corporate brands: Where are conversations occurring and how does this […]
Panel discussion: Blogging and journalism
Highlight points from the panel – pictured, left to right: Dan Forbush, Tom Foremski, Jeremy Wright, Heath Row – moderated by Dan Forbush. The panel addressed the impact of blogs on their work, their general view on the value of blogs as a communication channel, and how best to promote their blogs. Tom: Blogs are […]
The Hobson & Holtz Report – Jeremy Wright Interview – January 27, 2005
Welcome to a the second Special Edition of the Hobson & Holtz Report, a 30-minute conversation with Jeremy Wright recorded live at the New Communications Forum 2005 in Napa, California, USA, on January 27, 2005. A high-profile business blogger, Jeremy authors the Ensight blog and is now focused on building his new venture, Inside Blogging. […]
Opportunity knocks for corporate communicators
A few immediate reflections on The New Communications Forum 2005 which took place in Napa, California over the past two days. I’ve posted commentary on some of the workshops and panel discussions; others have also posted during the event (Guillaume de Gardier has a great post with links to many of those posts). I will […]
GM executive blog and the role of PR
General Motors’ Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, is not the only one blogging The FastLane Blog, GM’s executive blog. Last Friday, Tom Stephens, Group Vice President, GM Powertrain, joined Lutz as another senior GM executive blogger. This fits with the intent of this blog as this statement on 5 January says: The FastLane blog is your […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #5: January 31, 2005
Show notes for January 31, 2005. Welcome to our weekly podcast, a 71:55-minute conversation recorded live via Skype from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Download the file here (MP3, 33.7MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For this, you’ll need ipodder, software that lets you […]
Who’s blogging at Google and Yahoo
Olivier Duffez’ Search Engines News has published two useful lists of some Google and Yahoo employees with public blogs: Google employee blogs (34 names) Yahoo employee blogs (8 names) He plans to add to the lists as he gets more information, so those totals may change. Thanks, Olivier, useful information.
Making Tablet PC evangelism wholly transparent
Having bloggers evangelize Microsoft’s Tablet PC is what Steve Rubel suggests as an answer to Robert Scoble’s vexation on the seeming invisibilty of the Tablet PC: So Microsoft, if you want to save the Tablet PC please take the hundreds of thousands of dollars you might be earmarking for a new ad campaign and invest […]
Comments fuel engaging conversations
The GM FastLane Blog is attracting quite a lot of commentary and opinion, with varying views being expressed on how effective it is as a means of engaging with GM’s customers. I’ve posted commentary, too, most recently on the role of PR in its development and some insights on how it started and how commenting […]