Noodling around the web and the blogosphere in preparation for tonight’s podcast discussion about Six Apart’s TypePad outage last Friday, I noticed that in the majority of blog posts I scanned, the bloggers concerned were apologizing for their blogs being offline. “Indelible record” is the phrase that immediately springs to my mind. All those hundreds […]
Category: Communication
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 […]
Looking to the next billion internet users
The internet is growing at an annualized rate of 18% and now has one billion users, says web usability guru Jakob Nielsen. A second billion users will follow in the next ten years, mostly in Asia, bringing a dramatic change in worldwide usability needs. Nielsen’s latest Alertbox report yesterday is packed with useful information and […]
The angels of the north ride again
Following the success of last month’s one-day conference at the University of Sunderland on RSS, blogs and other new media tools, the event is going on the road with another conference in February. Delivering The New PR – How Blogs, Podcasts and RSS Can Work For You (PDF) will take place on Wednesday 15 February […]
Video publishing and other cool things
Interesting developments with video, blogs and mobile phones. Videos of the panel sessions at Les Blogs 2.0 in Paris earlier this month are now available from Vpod.tv, a new video publishing venture from entrepreneur Rodrigo Sepúlveda. You can stream the video (amazing quality) or download the files (big, +/- 200 megs each). (Now’s your chance […]
Salesforce.com and Six Apart outages: What’s the difference?
The anger and frustration over the TypePad service outage last week was an interesting phenomenon. Bloggers are passionate and opinionated! So when I read an InfoWorld story about Salesforce.com’s service outage yesterday, I wondered what bloggers were saying. A quick Technorati search on the term “salesforce.com+outage” turned up just 10 posts. In contrast, a Technorati […]
FIR Interview – Andy Abramson, CEO, Comunicano – December 21, 2005
In this edition of For Immediate Release podcast interviews, Shel and Neville enjoyed a 58-minute conversation with Andy Abramson, CEO of Comunicano, the PR agency behind the blog relations campaign for the Nokia N90 smartphone. Download the conversation here (MP3, 23MB), or sign up for the Interviews RSS feed to get it and our future […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #96: December 22, 2005
Content summary: GM uses video iPod in media relations campaign; a Christmas shopping tale; we’re all tech junkies now; Eric Schwartzman’s interview with Doug Kaye; listeners’ comments discussion; measuring communication old and new; Dan York’s report; the music. Show notes for December 22, 2005 Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #97: December 26, 2005
Content summary: A tag-based search engine, hijacked blogs, censorshop at MySpace, Typepad and Salesforce.com apologize for outages, the New York transit strike, the French parliament encourages Web piracy, a cell phone movie contest, listener comments, and more. Show notes for December 26, 2005 Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 62-minute […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #98: December 29, 2005
Content summary: Say goodbye to ‘Intel inside’; Swicki search; businessman wins spam email lawsuit; PR Value Ratio measurement concept; Podzinger out of beta; listeners’ comments discussion; pithy online communications; CEO tagging; PR issues for Alaska Airlines; the music. Show notes for December 29, 2005 Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #99: January 2, 2006
Content summary: Unveiling Intel’s new identity; Lincoln Group’s new pay for PR play in Iraq; trying out the Podlifter transcription service; MakeBot; intranet trends to watch in 2006; Lee Hopkins report; listeners’ comments discussion; the music. Show notes for January 2, 2006 Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 76-minute conversation […]
Mine tragedy ‘miscommunication’
Today’s news of the tragedy at a coal mine in the US where a dozen miners were killed would, for most people, be just another terrible news story were it not for a truly awful element to it. According to news accounts, information emerged initially that one miner had been killed and one other injured, […]
The best predictions yet for 2006
Unlike many in the PR blogosphere, I haven’t made any public predictions for 2006 (and don’t intend to). If you do a Technorati search you’ll find hundreds, if not thousands, of bloggers who have. Web 2.0 this, AJAX that, blogs the other… Even many of the PR-related predictions are focused mostly on the technology tools […]
Skype 2.0 out of beta
Lots of interesting news about Skype and some of the things they’re announcing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. (Heads up for visiting the CES website: loud Flash intro page.) More interesting news – version 2.0 of Skype software for Windows is coming out of beta today and will be available […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #100: January 5, 2006
Content summary: Top 10 sources; your CV as an RSS feed and podcast; World Economic Forum podcasting and blogging at upcoming event; CEOs’ biggest fears; Dan York’s report; listeners’ comments discussion; upcoming interview; the music. Show notes for January 5, 2005 Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 71-minute conversation recorded […]
Transforming corporate identities beyond the razzle dazzle
The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas certainly was the place this week for many companies to announce a dazzling array of new tech products, alliances and ventures. The best place I found to keep up with what was going on was the excellent Engadget CES blog which had a non-stop stream of posts. Another […]
So what’s wrong with ghostwriting an executive blog?
I’ve been thinking about an item in a recent survey that says only 20 percent of senior business executives write their own blogs. The survey was conducted in October by PR veteran David Davis who published the results last week. Shel and I talked about it last Thursday in show #100 of our biweekly podcast. […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #101: January 9, 2006
Content summary: Wal-Mart and a blog crisis; relaunching The Observer and the role of the companion blog; banned words for 2006; is Google Pack for the enterprise?; ZenCast’s new definition of podcast; Lee Hopkins report; listeners’ comments discussions (competitive PR advantage, congrats on 100 and 101 shows, RSS and podcasts in job hunting, call to […]
GM videocasts new concept car
“What do you think of it?” asks General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz in a post yesterday on the GM FastLane Blog. At the last count, over 225 customers and car enthusiasts have told Lutz precisely what they think of the Chevrolet Camaro concept car, the vast majority of comments overwhelmingly positive. “Build this and […]
FIR Interview – Gerald R. Baron, author, “Now is Too Late” – January 11, 2006
In this edition of For Immediate Release podcast interviews, Shel enjoyed a 55-minute conversation with Gerald Baron, author of the crisis communications book, "Now is Too Late: Survival in the Era of Instant News." Download the conversation here (MP3, 21MB), or sign up for the Interviews RSS feed to get it and our future interviews […]