Mike’s Points

Okay, I’ve only once directly posted about Strumpette. Yeah, I’ve included the Strumpette site a few times, but have really stayed away from Strumpette on my blog.

Before I go on, let me say for the record that, early on, the strumpette blog focused on attacks and I think offered very little value. However, of late, the author(s) is(are) bringing up some good points and posts worth reading. And, if I had to commit, I’d say there is more than one author. Now, back to my post . . . .

However, after a few e-mail exchanges with “Amanda Chapel” in the past couple or so weeks, I got to thinking: I haven’t really heard of or read many Brian Connolly comments on any blogs lately? Have there been any??

I checked, and found none since early March.

What I did find was further evidence from Ron May that Brian Connolly is much more behind the Strumpette blog than either AC or BC wants to tell us.

“I think it is time we stop being fooled and step back. Connolly is coming out. Connolly is stepping out from behind the curtain because he has had his fun, he has successfully fooled everyone, and now, he is tired of it since there is nothing left to prove.

So, as far as I am concerned, Connolly is Amanda or at least a significant part of the Amanda project.”

May makes several good points and comparisons in his post — too many for me to repeat here.

In case you are new to the blogosphere and wondering who is Amanda Chapel? What is strumpette.com? Who is Brian Connolly? Why should I care? (Actually, no. You shouldn’t care, and I don’t really. But, its can fun.). For some history, see:

> Strumpette’s very first post.

> Scott Baradell’s Media Orchard: Here and here. (That last here also includes reference to Ron May and The May Report.)

> Robert French’s InfOpinions, and a comment I posted.

> Mike Krempasky of Krempasky.com.

At the end of it all, it doesn’t really matter who author(s) strumpette.com. What matters more — or at least as much as who the author(s) is(are) — is the content: Is it worth reading?

That’s for you to decide. (And, as AC/BC has said in the past, the site does get plenty of traffic.)

– Mike

Technorati tags: Strumpette, Brian Connolly, Ron May,

I’m a big list guy. If I’m not rushed at the end of the day or don’t have to leave early for a t-ball, I take some time to regroup and jot down a list of things for me to do the next day at work. For some time now, I’ve had an things to do list swirling around in my head for this blog.

Some I’ve done lately, like adding links and that PR pitch button.

Not that you really care what I want to do with my blog, but here goes my current Mike’s Points things to do list. Of course, if you have any suggestions of your own, e-mail me or leave a comment. I’m always looking to get better.

Change the order around of stuff there on the left. Maybe move the about me up higher (for any new surfers that might visit and wonder who the heck is Mike). Look at moving down the monthly archives list.

Add some design elements. I’m much more of a writer than I am a designer. I’m pretty good with newspaper layout (Any remember using wax machines and using an Exacto/X-Actor knife to physically cut and paste?), but not great with other, more graphic design.

Double-check the links I do have, and look to add some (for both PR and related ones, and non-PR ones).

Figure out how to better list the buttons there towards the bottom on the left. I can’t get any consistency or for them even to nicely line up.

Check out the updated Cocomments and see about adding that again. It is a great idea. (Does it now work with Haloscan comments?)

That’s enough for now.
– Mike

Thanks to Ed Lee at BloggingMeBloggingYou, I’m in my first game of online or blogging tag. YIPPEE. (BTW Ed, your blog name reminds me of a song by ABBA. Or, is it Air Supply?)

My five favorite (note the proper American English spelling ) social media technologies . . . . hhhmmmmm? Let me think. Social media . . . what really is social media? Guess I’ve never really been into jargon and the like, but let me take a stab at it:

My first is del.icio.us. Or, as I lazily type it in www.delicious.com. Guess I’m a relative newcomer to delicious, but have found it very helpful for links I use in my blog posts. My main problem is being consistent in my tags. And, of course, as Ed noted, using notes.

For my blog reading, I use Bloglines. There’s no particular reason, other than that’s what I started with. It works for me. I also have an account at NewsGator via its Web site, but don’t really use it. Other than the occassional errors with feeds, Bloglines has been pretty good with keeping up with the blogs I read. Just have to be sure it’s consistent with what I list over there to the left.

If you are interested in military blogs, then Milblogging.com is your best choice. It has a good list of the most popular milbloggers (voted on by members), plus other ways to find milblogs. (It helped me find some excellent milblogs for a client project, and many of the blogs I found and read — and still read — opened my eyes to what active military personnel go through.)

For search, while Technorati is okay, guess I’ve found my best success with Google’s Blogsearch. Have used it a few times for work, and came away satisfied. No search engine is perfect, but Google’s Blogsearch is pretty good. Blogpulse also is pretty good.

For my fifth, I might plead the Fifth. There are plenty of other choices, but nothing really comes to mind enough that I should include it. CoComments started out as a great idea, and could be. Though I’ve not checked out its new stuff yet, I’ll hold off for now.

Let’s see, who can I tag? How about this assorted collection of bloggers: Kami at Communication Overtones (she’s always good for blogging and other tools), AC/BC at Strumpette (with they play our game?), Colin at CanuckFlack (have to have at least one Canadian blogger, right?), and finally, Philippe at ConversationBlog, who always has good posts to read.

So, since this was my first online tag game, how’d I do?
– Mike

Technorati tag: social media

When you give first thoughts about blogging and branding, and what each typically entails and means, I don’t think they can co-exist within a corporation.

Blogging: Entrepreneurial. Individualistic. The “wild, wild Web.” Independent. Uncensored. Opinionated. On the fly.

Branding: Projecting a coordinated communicated effort. Consistent messaging. Trying to project across the company what that company means. Its values. Its perception. Its image.

But, the two can co-exist — with some ground rules for blogging.

As I posted before, all companies should include blogging as part of its HR policy. It should be clearly spelled out what the guidelines are and boundaries for employees anytime they communicate about work (and their customers/clients, too) outside of their official role as employee.

What about these for some of the guidelines:
> It’s okay to be critical of the company, but make it constructive (vs. name calling), and offer suggestions. (If you were part of the project of that you are critical, be sure you didn’t have these suggestions before but didn’t speak up.)
> Don’t disclose experimental or proprietary company information, or other details that is confidential — particularly if the company is publically-held. (This is a no-brainer.)
> As with all employees, any and all media inquiries — and maybe serious customer ones, too — should be directed to corporate communications/PR or other appropriate department.
> If you are blogging about the company, be aware of the brand the company is seeking to project (and the onus for this awareness is on the company more so than it is on the employee).
> Do not rush to blog on a topic, event, company news, etc., until you know all details.

I’m a firm believer that, for the right company with the right people, blogging can give a cold, impersonal corporation a personality, a face, and a level of familiarity and even intimacy with customers and prospects that very few other forms of communication offer. However, the goals and objectives of the entity that is the company still take precedent.

– Mike

Technorati tags: blogging, corporate blogging, branding, public relations, PR

For your browsing, reading and thinking pleasure, I give offer the following . . . .

Columnists are people, too, Jon Friedman/MarketWatch

How will we look in 125 years? News-Sentinel’s future won’t include paper, Marty Weybret/Lodi News-Sentinel (Courtesy of CyberJournalist.net)

Former Santa Barbara News-Press Columnist Speaks Out; N-P Publisher Becomes (Lou) Cannon Fodder, Gary Goldhammer/Below the Fold

Pentagon’s PR Machine and Baseball Game Text Messages, B.L. Ochman/What’sNextBlog

– Mike