Like a well-orchestrated antiphony, the chirping by self-anointed crisis pundits has become formulaic: A crisis erupts and the call-and-response by social media sycophants, bloggers and journalists erupts into high gear, often adopting the tone of, “Here’s what (brand/individual) X should be doing.” There’s no doubt healthy reflection and even recommendations can be helpful. But the mere fact that [...]
September 1, 2009
I’ve been thinking recently about the generational gap, real or perceived, in social media use. I’m not sure it’s generational. I think it’s more accurate to say that being savvy with social media falls better into paradigm of literacy, such as public relations literacy, computer literacy and now, social media literacy. Age isn’t the gap-maker, [...]
August 1, 2009
Fact, fiction, weirdness This is not a rhetorical question: Why is it that seemingly every time the Public Relations Society of America attempts to defend itself, it ends up leaving an even worse impression of the public relations profession? One rule of reputation or crisis management is that if you’re in a hole, you really should stop [...]
July 9, 2009
Question: Do you respond to anonymous attacks? Answer: Most likely, no. If the attacks gain legs later as news stories, then you can respond to the issue, but not the attacker. The rationale: The knee-jerk response from communicators is to communicate. This is often a counter-productive approach to take. When facing an attack, especially an anonymous one, [...]
June 15, 2009
AAUP censure likely to be lifted It was reported today that Tulane University is likely to have its censure lifted as it negotiates with its faculty and the American Association of University Professors. I wrote two years ago about the debacle faced by Katrina-affected universities who were hit with censure by the AAUP for alleged violations of [...]
February 17, 2010
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