By Francis Moran
The line above is a statement by former Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy that was quoted by Canadian novelist Guy Gavriel Kaye in an article in the Globe and Mail‘s Books section just before Christmas. Kaye wrote about how technology, and especially the everyone’s-a-publisher-now phenomenon of the internet and its pervasive blogs, has changed how he interacts with readers he meets. Mainly, he wrote, he is now a lot more circumspect about what he says, even in informal conversations, knowing that every word he speaks — and, unfortunately, some words he never spoke! — will end up published on a blog somewhere where they will persist forever. It’s all contributing to what Kaye called “an erosion of space between reader and writer and book.”
As a new blogger, I have already wrestled with this phenomenon and the issue of what responsibility, if any, I owe to people to obtain their approval before I quote them or refer to them in a post. When I was a reporter, the lines, for me at least, were very clear. If you were a politician, public official or corporate executive, everything was on the record unless we explicitly negotiated otherwise. For me, that meant that anything I heard, any where at any time from such a person was fair game. If you were an ordinary citizen on the other hand, I cut you a great deal more slack, making sure you were aware you were talking to a reporter working on a story and that I was taking notes of what you said. In a couple of very sensitive stories, both having to do with suicides of young people, I even read my story back to the parents I was quoting to make doubly sure they were comfortable with how I was treating them.
Since launching inmedialog a few months ago, I’ve written, or wanted to write, posts about wholly public events, somewhat public events and private or by-invitation-only events. In the case of the wholly public events, where I knew mainstream reporters had been invited and were likely present, I felt absolutely no compunction quoting freely from the speakers and other formal participants. If something outrageous or controversial had been said, I would have felt equally free to quote at will. And I think that’s fair. No reasonable person participating in such a forum should have any reasonable expectation of privacy. I will, however, play by the same rules that governed me as a reporter, meaning that I will strive for accuracy, fairness and balance.
At a somewhat private event, I tread a little more carefully. I am no longer a reporter with an obligation to disclose what I learn, so I can pick and choose. So long as what I write reflects favourably on the people and organizations I’m writing about, I don’t feel any responsibility to gain prior clearance. But if someone at a less-than-openly-public event says something controversial that I’d like to write about, I’d probably make sure the person was comfortable with my doing so, and I’d certainly offer them the opportunity to participate in the blog discussion. Indeed, I’d encourage it. That’s how we’ve ended up with Peter Kemball’s continuing posts on Canada’s SR&ED tax credit scheme.
The waters get a lot murkier for me when the event is expressly a private one. A couple of months back, I was invited to an event in Calgary featuring a panel of executives from leading Canadian companies talking about their sustainable development practices. The organizers nixed my suggestion that I bring with me an old friend of mine who now lives in Calgary where he covers the energy sector for the business newswire service, Bloomberg, so I knew they felt that the event was strictly off the record. However, after hearing inspiring stories of how sustainable development practices at these large corporations were mitigating damage to the environment, improving products, enhancing human health and safety and, most riveting of all, boosting profits, I badly wanted to write about it. Unfortunately, the organizers put the kibosh on that idea, insisting that the closed event remain that way. I respected their right to do so.
(As an aside, I think they did their panelists a disservice. The speakers and their companies would have been presented in a highly favourable light for their leadership on sustainable development initiatives. And, paradoxically, more than one speaker lamented the fact that not enough was known about the positive financial results that could flow from doing the right thing environmentally and that more Canadian companies might follow their lead if only the issue was more widely understood! Oh, well.)
Here, then, are our rough operating principles for how we’ll treat what we hear when we set out to blog about it. If it was said or published in an open forum, it’s open season. If it was semi-public, we’ll use discretion, and seek permission before we wade into controversy. And if it was a private event, or a conversation you have every reasonable expectation was private, we’ll honour that and seek express permission before we attribute words to you.
Bottom line: McNealy probably has a good point when it comes to the broader world but at inmedialog.com, privacy still has a role.
By Jill Pyle
As work starts to wind down for the year, you may find yourself with more spare time than usual. Rather than aimlessly surfing the Internet, consider catching up on some of the things you pushed to the side when deadlines were looming.
Revisit your bookmarks
If you don’t use a social bookmarking tool like del.icio.us, you probably save most bookmarks to your browser. Take some time to review your bookmarks and get rid of any that you no longer need. If you’re married to the practice of saving bookmarks in your browser, create a folder structure and get organized. If you’re feeling adventurous, sign up for del.icio.us and explore the wonderful world of social bookmarking.
Clean your desktop
The files that end up on my desktop are usually only temporarily relevant or valuable. Assuming most of your files are stored on a personal drive or within a set of folders, now is the time to do a clean sweep and make sure all of your documents are saved where they belong.
Grab editorial calendars
Most publications have made their 2008 editorial calendars available online. Think about the work that’s charted out for January and see if you can find the editorial calendars for any of the publications you’re planning to pitch.
Catch up on your reading
If having the time to read industry blogs is usually a luxury, here is your chance to catch up. If you use an RSS feed reader, today might be the luck day you see zero unread items. Take a few minutes to look over the feeds you subscribe to, remove any you’ve lost interest in and add some new ones to your collection. If you don’t have a feed reader, get one. I recommend Google Reader.
Send holiday e-cards
There are a bunch of really neat holiday e-cards floating around. Head over to ElfYourself, personalize a card and send some holiday cheer to your family, friends and colleagues.
Build out your social network
If you’re a member of social networks like Plaxo, LinkedIn or Facebook, now is as good a time as any to upload your address book and add some new contacts.
Content development
While it might be hard to push aside thoughts of baked goods and shopping lists, January won’t be nearly as stressful if you start drafting the content you know you’ll need finalized first thing in the New Year.
By Linda Forrest
A recent study shows that more than one in four Canadians have a Facebook profile. Though I haven’t managed to find any Canadian statistics, in the U.S., as popular as it is, Facebook is not the fastest growing social network. Instead, it’s LinkedIn, the professional networking site that enables you to connect with prospects through people that are already in your network, that boasts the largest growth. Nielsen ratings shows that LinkedIn experienced 189% growth rate over the past year and its membership is at 17 million and climbing.
With Facebook gaining momentum in Canada, and with the huge growth of LinkedIn, it’s clear that social networks are becoming more pervasive in people’s lives – both personal and professional. From a business perspective, there is tremendous potential to form introductions to recruits or employers, partners or prospective customers, not to mention keeping in touch with your existing network of contacts, colleagues, classmates and the like.
In terms of prospecting, because users are encouraged to contact others only through contacts that they have already established, there is an implied endorsement from an existing contact of yours and therefore level of trust that wouldn’t exist with a cold call, virtual or otherwise. Recommendations and other features – the site just updated with a slew of new features yesterday – make the site a more experiential destination than it was in its earlier incarnation.
The membership of LinkedIn is quite different from that of Facebook, though the demographics are shifting as more young people enter the business world and expect to integrate their existing online lives with their careers. “A quarter of [young] consumers believe career advancement and jobs-related networking is an important function of social networks.”
“Founded in 2003, LinkedIn is targeting a lucrative market: 225 million white-collar workers worldwide. Its demographic is in the same elite class as the readership of the Wall Street Journal. The average member’s annual income is $106,000 and the average age is 41, [LinkedIn CEO, Dan] Nye said.”
If you’re not already using social networks for business purposes, it’s perhaps time to sign up and add this popular tool to your networking routine.
By inmedia
If you’re looking for the latest information from high tech visionaries and influencers, don’t look at these “flogs” (fake blogs) highlighted by Network World.
The Internet presents an incredible opportunity for companies and their top executives to tell their story and share there perspectives on emerging issues but because it’s an unregulated channel, readers should be wary of accepting what you read as the gospel. The advent of flogs is certainly a 21st century problem and although humorous and entertaining, companies and individuals should be cognizant of online reputations and attributions as they could not only potentially damage your reputation both on- and off-line but also present litigious individuals with a solid case for a juicy slander or libel suit. My husband’s grandmother used to say believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see. Strong counsel in this particular instance.
By Jill Pyle
Over the last few months I’ve had a lot of fun pitching gift ideas to daily news media on behalf of our friends at Help Lesotho. Now that Ottawa is covered in a blanket of fresh snow, I can’t help but feel festive. In the spirit of the fast-approaching holiday season, I’ve decided to pull together a gift guide to help anyone who has a public relations professional to buy for this holiday season.
Students studying PR, young PR professionals and veterans alike should always have a style guide on hand. Some of our favourites include The Canadian Press Caps and Spelling, Eats Shoots and Leaves and Globe and Mail Style Book. If the PR professional in your life doesn’t have one of these or similar titles, you should be able to cross them off your list by visiting a well-stocked local bookstore. Books about grammar fundamentals may not be very exciting but they certainly are useful. Dictionaries are also great to have on hand. For the terminology-saturated person working in technology PR, try Chambers Dictionary of Science and Technology. If you think flipping pages is too low-tech, a subscription to the online edition of the Chicago Manual of Style may do the trick.
For PR pros who frequently travel, there are a wealth of gadgets you can buy to help them stay plugged in. While an iPhone or iTouch may be a bit pricey,
consider springing for a country-specific SIM card or a gift certificate to a phone-unlocking specialist like Warlox Wireless. After reading about the positive experience Francis had with his unlocked GSM smart phone loaded with a pay-as-you-go SIM, I don’t think you can go wrong. Skype credits aren’t a bad idea either. For the earth-conscious gadget lover on your list, Amazon Kindle, a souped-up e-book reader that allows for wireless e-book downloads, would make a great gift.
For social media-savvy PR folks, a bottle of Stormhoek‘s Blue Monster is guaranteed to win smiles. Thanks to Hugh Mcleod, this wine is well known amongst those who frequent geek dinners. Other great gift ideas include flickr pro accounts, tickets to popular conferences like SXSW or cool t-shirts from the likes of Threadless. Grammar gurus are bound to appreciate the They’re, Their, There shirt.
That’s our list. Feel free to share your ideas in the comment section. You can also check out Chris’s gift guide for marketers, which Seth’s Blog pointed me to.
