Great time yesterday presenting for our client, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, at two marketing/communications seminars about the current state of social media. These sessions, which the FCEDA provides to anyone, are a great way for businesses and organizations large and small to learn the latest about advertising, PR, social media, etc. Because of the wide range of businesses and groups represented it's hard to cover all the bases on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, etc. but our main focus for this group was Facebook. Mainly…
Read MoreEditor's note: This post is a guest post from THP's "Employee Number One" Stacey Brucia, who mans New York PR and social media outpost. I’ve been watching CNN today and now have NY local news on in the background. And a top story of the day is Anthony Bourdain’s tweet that’s a hit against Paula Deen. It’s follow-up story to Deen’s announcement yesterday that she is a spokesperson for a diabetes drug company. I’d name then, but then I’m giving them more PR. And that’s…
Read MoreOkay…so it's been a while. Shoot me. Rather than start things with a great PR or social media proclamation, let's ease back into the swing of things with some random thoughts on things that have popped into my brain over the course of the last few weeks. There will never be a plan for Shockoe Bottom. Google+ is interesting but I'm still waiting to see the business applications for it. You can only stave off your wife and kids wanting a new dog for so…
Read MoreInteresting story on Mashable about a study in the UK that says 20 percent or so of grandparents use social networks. Click here to read. If the Newman household is a case study I would say that's pretty true. My daughter is spending the week with her grandparents and I've be FaceTime-ing with her and in the background I can see my mother-in-law playing on her iPad. She hasn't graduated to Facebook or Twitter yet but some of our aunt and uncles who are also…
Read MoreWith apologies to my friends in the satellite media tour/video news release world, I've been silently waiting for years for the time that technology would catch up and allow just about anyone to "broadcast" news using inexpensive devices and technology. The time has come. Today BBC announced that it's working on an iPhone/iPad app that will enable reporters to shoot, edit and feed stories (and I'm guessing live video) from their Apple device on both 3G and wireless networks. The implications for broadcast journalists are…
Read MoreGiven the number of super-hero movies out there, I'm reminded about the line heard in many of them that usually goes something like this, "You can use your power for good or evil." The same goes for the power of social media as exhibited by the latest PR issue faced by McDonald's. This very realistic looking online hoax fueled by a TwitPic on Twitter is making things very difficult for the folks at the Golden Arches. If you were advising them, how would you help…
Read MoreFor many years at two agencies we had the honor of representing The Heinz Awards. They are annual awards given out by Teresa Heinz-Kerry, whose first husband Senator John Heinz was killed in the 90's as he was serving in the senate. In most years those awards were given in five categories including Arts and Humanities, one of the late senator's passions. In its 13th year, the Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities was given to Dave Eggers, the critically acclaimed novelist and publisher who…
Read MoreIt's been awhile since the last post but things have been busy at work and with spring break (Hogwarts was very fun). I welcome you all back with news of two fun events on the horizon. The first is an honor to be a part of, as we're sponsoring the event. She may not know this but there are few people who have influenced me and in turn the direction of our business, than Amber Naslund (@ambernaslund). Almost three years ago when I dove into the…
Read MoreFirst of all, thanks so much for all the 50th birthday wishes. I'm pretty overwhelmed. For those who don't know, yesterday was my 50th birthday and to celebrate I asked folks to send me their birthday wishes on Facebook and Twitter and for each wish Kyra and I would donate a dollar to be split between the Eric LeGrand Believe Fund and another charity. To select the second cause, I asked folks to include their favorite cause in the wish and we'd pick one. This…
Read MoreSo the big birthday in “The Year of Me” is coming up this Sunday. I’ve taken my share of crap over “The Year of Me” thing but if you remember (this link will serve as a reminder back to my original post), The Year of Me is meant to be more than a year about me. One of the key points of that I stated then is I wanted to be more philanthropic with my money and my time. On the time side, I’m spending…
Read MoreEditor's note: Here's a guest post from THP's Cameron McPherson who is leaving tomorrow to cheer on his alma mater VCU in it's quest to bring home the NCAA basketball championship to Richmond. I’ve been tempted to email Oprah’s producers all week and say, “nana-nana boo boo” because I just one-upped O’s latest Australia audience trip. How’s that? I’m going to the Final Four! That’s right! The Final Four. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind an Australia visit, but I think we’re all…
Read MoreIf you're a Facebooker like I am, you're likely noticing more things that look like "polls" in your stream. It's the rollout of Facebook Questions, a very easy way for you or your organization to ask a question, give choices for answers and have that question answered. Facebook Questions is a very simple and less clunky attempt at simple viral polling than some of the tradition Facebook polling apps. It also spreads the question virally as those who answer the question have the question appear…
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