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Fraudulent Press Conference on Climate Change?
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Wow. Watch the fireworks fly as a sleepy press conference on climate change — ostensibly held by a representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — is revealed as something quite different.
This is the most unforgivable attempt at media manipulation I have seen this week! (Well, it’s going to be hard for anyone to ever top Balloon Boy’s dad.)
Turns out it was a hoax by a group that likes to play pranks on corporations, and few fell for it, but it makes you wonder if these kinds of efforts to mislead the press are more easily pulled off today, when the gatekeepers’ ranks are so thin?
Cash for Clunkers: Bad for the Soul
I saw a parking lot full of decent looking used cars today, all of them marked for destruction through the Cash for Clunkers program, and I had to get this off my chest, even if the program is over.
There are so many people in this country whose lives and prospects are limited because they don’t have a car.
Having a car is life transforming. It’s a ticket to a job. Or a better job. Or school. Or medical care. But this program encouraged us to landfill these perfectly serviceable, aging vehicles in exchange for new, marginally more “fuel efficient” cars (not to mention five years of new debt).
I don’t begrudge anyonewho took advantage of the program. We all need to buy cars now and again. But I take great exception to a policy that told us it was perfectly OK to just throw something out that someone else needs so desperately.
There. I feel better now. Sort of.
Social Media Tip: Use Your Social Skills
Effective use of social media often requires marketing and PR people to restrain our innate selling/pitching impulse and join the more freewheeling, conversational culture of the blogosphere.
Doyle Albee, president and new media practice director at Metzger Associates in Boulder, CO, compares it to a crowded bar. If you see someone you want to talk to engaged in conversation on the other side of the room, you need to walk over to them – not call them to come to you.
“That’s why they call it social media,” said Albee. “We all have the skills to do it, but it’s a paradigm shift from traditional marketing. We need to use our conversational skills to join in as appropriate.”
So when making use of social media, remember – as with all relationships – good manners and some social sense can take you a long way.
PR News Online
- Case Study: Extreme Media Makeover: Baylor Health Care System Peps Up Tired Online Newsroom to Great Results February 6, 2012
- Tip Sheet: Translating Marketing Strategy Into PR Execution February 6, 2012
- Quick Study: Reputation Index Features Long-Established Brands; Girls Perceive Glass Ceilings Blocking Leadership Roles February 6, 2012
- Seven Things You Will Learn in This Week’s Issue of PR News February 6, 2012
- Charting the Industry: Is the Blog Fading? Don’t Bet On It February 6, 2012
