The Good, The Bad, The Spin

• Netflix is taking the radical step of ensuring excellent customer service. What was once an assumed business creed is now being used as a way to be a market leader. This is a mixed blessing.
• The Wikipedia scandal has spread like wildfire. It’s extremely tempting to assume an anonymous identity to set the record straight–or, cynically, to bend it in our favor. For public relations practitioners, following PRSA’s code of ethics means, quite clearly, this practice should be avoided. I would say that anonymous postings or edits should be avoided publicly and privately. There are two other downsides to the Wikipedia scandal: One is that it calls into question the assumed glory of the democratization of information; two, it’s yet another reason that despite Wikipedia’s overall accurate information, there’s enough glitches in the system that it’s best not to be used as a serious source of information. (This blog will never reference Wikipedia as an objective information source until these glitches are ironed out.)

• As much as I find Google’s technologies valuable, my fawning should be kept in check. The company has faced PR issues lately particularly for user privacy fears in regards to Google’s marketing tactics and its Street View feature. Media Post’s Search Insider details the most recent concern over Google’s practices. (Disclosure of the obvious: I use Google’s Adsense.)
• I’ve withheld comment on the Tim Ferriss manifesto, The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, for one reason. As much as I enjoyed his book, and gained much from his ideas and recommendations, I think in the long run the general thrust of his thesis–to reduce your workload to merely four hours a week–is impractical for most people. Nevertheless, his marketing of the book is top-notch. Tim posted about it today on his blog. His philosophy and enthusiasm are infectious, and his guerrilla PR practices rival the best, from research to viral marketing to blogging about the entire process.

A while back I touted the virtues of Gmail for public relations uses. To recap, Gmail offers the ability to tag (label) messages with multiple tags. This, as opposed to MS Outlook which uses folders, allows PR pros to apply multiple labels to their emails. In short, the ability to store and retrieve messages by keywords allows us to better manage our online conversations. Also, other email accounts can be forwarded to Gmail without others knowing you’re using Gmail as your primary email interface.

Google offers far more than just Gmail. There are four other important features Google offers that give us increased potential to enhance our effectiveness for public relations. (more…)