You know podcasting has now definitely entered the mainstream when two politicians – one a Prime Minister no less, and both leaders of their parties and members of the government – use the medium in conjunction with two national newspapers to convey particular messages to voters in the UK. Yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Blair was […]
Category: Communication
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #102: January 12, 2006
Content summary: Annoying anonymous comments now illegal in the US; political podcasts in the UK by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Conservative leader David Cameron; US army hires Haas MS&L to pitch editorial content to bloggers; Dan York’s report; listeners’ comments discussion; the music. Show notes for January 12, 2006 Welcome to For Immediate Release: […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #103: January 16, 2006
Content summary: Podcast print magazine to launch; Dutch publisher to publish newspaper with blog content; Power PR makes accountability "guarantee"; gaining first impressions about websites in the blink of an eye; Wikipedia reveals plagiarism by journalist; Lee Hopkins’ report; the pros and cons of offline blog editors; listeners’ comments discussion (the rescue of advertising; meeting […]
The Hobson & Holtz Report – Podcast #104: January 19, 2006
Content summary: An upgrade for Skylook, IABC opens a members-only place for “buzz,” IABC Belgium President Gerry Murray starts a podcast, Shel and Neville talk about corporate blogging (should the CEO blog?, ghostwriting, time-wasting, risks from employee blogging, using a blog in place of PR), listeners’ comments discussion (spam, online editors, PR as relationship management, […]
Eclectic Copenhagen
What do you get when a group of opinionated communicators with blogs get together? A real mashup of opinion, commentary and very lively conversation, that’s what. So it was on Saturday in Copenhagen when I was fortunate to meet with The Copenhagen Bloggers, the cream of the Danish blogosphere who you see in this photo. […]
Podcast entertainment
Last week, Shel and I had a great conversation via Skype with Lee Hopkins. An accomplished business podcaster, Lee’s also a regular correspondent of For Immediate Release, the twice-weekly show Shel and I do. The recording is now online. What it’s about, in Lee’s words: […] We talk about beginnings, mistakes, successes, strategy versus tactics, […]
Disintermediating the news
A thoughtful article on Friday by Richard Sambrook, director of global news at the BBC, on how the internet is disintermediating news: […] News organisations do not own the news any more. They can validate information, analyse it, explain it, and they can help the public find what they need to know. But they no […]
The podcasting opportunity for mainstream media
BBC News: Almost two million BBC radio podcasts were downloaded during December, with the corporation’s breakfast programmes the most popular with listeners. […] Simon Nelson, Controller of BBC Radio & Music Interactive, said: "It’s fantastic to see how the demand for radio downloads has grown since we first offered them in 2004. These figures underline […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #105: January 23, 2006
Content summary: The Bad Pitch Blog; blogging Gonzo the Whale; Washington Post comments brouhaha; science blogs as a vehicle for selling ads; thoughts, commentary and a question from The Copenhagen Bloggers; Lee Hopkins’ report; Shel’s and Neville’s podcast interviews; listeners’ comments discussion (stop talking about rewinding; adopting intelligent evaluation for PR; IABC, corporate blogs, CPRS); […]
Weblogs for PR – plenty of opportunity awaiting
The initial findings of the EuroBlog 2006 survey on weblogs and communication management were published today, offering some interesting analysis on the state of awareness and acceptance of blogs by the PR community across Europe. The survey was carried out online last November and December, and nearly 600 PR pros from over 33 European countries […]
The road to transparency at Davos
The 2006 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum begins today in Davos, Switzerland. The organizers say there will be 2,340 participants from 89 countries including 15 heads of state or government, 13 union leaders and over 30 heads of non-governmental organizations. This year, 735 participants are at the CEO or Chairman level. What makes […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #106: January 26, 2006
Content summary: Search firms’ PR woes, a fake Wikipedia entry, dull Davos, the never-ending press release meme, reports from Eric Schartzman and Dan York, a conversation with Jen McClure, listener comments, the music. Show notes for January 26, 2006 Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 101-minute podcast recorded live in […]
Choice podcasts from Davos
I’ve spent a little time today listening to a few of the audio recordings from the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Interesting listening, many of them, even though they are recordings of speeches and sessions which you can read about in mainstream media reporting. The really interesting ones, though, are the informal and […]
Microsoft’s Windows Live power play
Participating in the first UK preview of Windows Live in London last Thursday evening was a worthwhile experience. This event was the first public (ie, to a private group) UK presentation of and discussion about the collection of new internet-based services from Microsoft that are currently in beta testing. I’ve not yet directly experienced any […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #107: January 30, 2006
Content summary: Windows Live; Google in China; Weber Shandwick hires Jeremy Pepper; BluePulse apologizes and wins; US bloggers get an Amsterdam junket; Cirque du Soleil invites bloggers to Canadian debut; listeners’ comments discussion (paying attention to Technorati); the music. Show notes for January 30, 2006 Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, […]
Conferences are about frameworks and participation
Jeff Jarvis’ rant the other day about conferences strikes a chord for me as I’m involved in speaking at quite a few during the next few months (see the links in the left-hand column). I’m hoping they do not have some of the characteristics of what I saw at one or two events I participated […]
The 2006 Forum: A milestone event for communicators
I’ve just finalized setting up my trip to California at the end of this month to participate in the New Communications Forum which takes place in Palo Alto from 1-3 March. My podcasting partner Shel Holtz and I are running a workshop at the Forum, the Podcasting 101 pre-conference ‘boot camp.’ This is a half-day […]
New magazine for podcasters launched
In show #103 of our podcast last month, Shel and I talked about ID3 Podcast Magazine, a new print publication about podcasting launching in May. Well, you don’t have to wait until May if you want to get your hands on a brand new magazine about podcasting as the first edition of such a new […]
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #108: February 2, 2006
Content summary: New Flash player in show notes; Google continued: China and earnings; Microsoft blog censorship in China; the press release padding trap; Edelman’s new podcast; new podcast magazine launches; what the EU needs is effective communication; is citizen journalism dead?; a job ad from the future; listeners’ comments discussion (moving to the Bay area, […]
Pricey freedom of the press
BBC News: Danish-Swedish dairy giant Arla Foods says the ongoing boycott of Danish products in the Middle East had so far cost it between £40m and £50m. As the Muslim world refuses to buy Danish goods in protest over cartoons published in a Danish newspaper, Arla is losing £1m a day. Arla has also had […]