Another Black-Eye for PR

It's been another busy week in tech PR. I keep thinking the next month with ease up a bit but November now looks busier than October. I like it busy. Good PR generates [momentum] (I used "inertia" here incorrectly - thank you, Elizabeth!) and it’s fun to be a participant in the race.

I came up for some air this evening to catch up on some blogs and learned that PR folks took another shot in gut today. Dan Gillmor wrote a post about a pitch he received from a PR person pitching a product that measures buzz in the blogosphere. I posted a comment and won't repeat myself here. I think Jeremy Pepper's interpretation of the incident is particularly insightful.

Behavior like this upsets me. There are basic rules of engagement in the blogosphere. You don't know what they are? Do everyone a favor and read this site before proceeding. A pitch like the one Gillmor received has ripple effects across the industry and it's a shame that a rogue PR flack gave his/her client and the PR industry an unnecessary black eye. Common sense will get you out of most jams. You can find the answers to everything else on the internet. Before you do a cannon ball into the blogosphere pool, read some blogs and get a feel for how it works. Now we all have to deal with this and clean up the mess one way or the other.

Comments

[Matthew Podboy]

Yes, you're absolutely right, Elizabeth! Note to self: be careful when blogging late at night! Or maybe I'll just send this stuff to you for a quick edit :) Yes, good PR is good for PR and generates a positive eneregy for our industry. I'm reading my Webster dictionary and the definition of inertia is: "the property of matter whereby a body remains at rest unless acted by an external force." Perhaps that's what is happening here - we (the PR community) are the external force that will help this person move in the right direction.

[Elizabeth Albrycht]

Don't you mean that good PR generates force and energy and motion vs. inertia?

;-)

Seriously, however, there is no excuse for this kind of bad PR behavior. There are what, 30 or more PR blogs now? This represents beaucoup man- and woman- years of insight into how to do it right.