Mike’s Points

This is off the focus of what I regularly post, but the photographer in me just had to share . . . .

My family and I saw two rainbows outside our back door Saturday evening after a bit of a freakish and brief thunderstorm. Around 6 to 6:30 p.m., it was only lightly raining in our back yard — across the street, the rain was coming down noticeably harder. When the rain turned to a sprinkle or light mist, we saw two rainbows!

Has anyone else seen two rainbows before? We had never seen two at one time before. One was dominant, but both visible. Below are four of the dozen or so photos I took:

In looking at the dominate (lower) rainbow, the colors were amazing. Not sure if you can see it, but the R-O-Y-G-B-I-V colors were clear.

Just gotta say, “Thank you, God for breaking out the second pallette Saturday evening!”
– Mike

Technorati tag: rainbows

Awhile ago, I wrote about the “growing media tree.”

With so many emerging media avenues — blogs, vblogs, podcasts, etc. — combined with the plethora of established media why are good journalists being fired?

Why isn’t there room for all — particularly those who are trained, talented, professional gatherers of information and providers of opinions?

Blogs, for the most part, are nothing more than opinion, rants and compliments — as I’ve said before, we’re columnists or online versions of radio talk show hosts. Jeff Jarvis/BuzzMachine echoed those same points just the other day.

Why can’t traditional media — print media — find out how to make more money from the valuable services they provide?

Is the fact that bloggers and others are giving away their insight, knowledge and the rare news scoop making people assume that information should be free?

Is there less advertising — the primary revenue stream for publications — because the payback is decreasing? (Okay, I think we all know the answer is yes.)

Should publications seek sole sponsors for entire issues?

Should they pimp their top journalists as speakers and guest writers to obtain additional revenue?

Are publications just going to lay down and roll over in the growing onslaught of social media?

There just has to be opportunities — paying opportunities — for the good journalists who are being dumped daily. Right?

– Mike

Technorati tag: journalism

(UPDATED approx. 9:30 a.m. with a Shake Well Before Use post at the bottom.)

For your humor, thinking and just surfin’ pleasure, I offer the following for your consideration:

Yom Kippur: A Post of Atonement, Gary Goldhammer/Below the Fold (Gary is sorry. I can relate to quite a number of Gary’s apologies. So, even though I’m not Jewish, I am sorry as well.)

Dear Americans, Noble Duty Milblogger Coalition/A Soldier’s Perspective. (A letter to Americans from President of Irag Jalal Talabani.)

September 2006 issue of PR-e-Sense, with a focus on corporate blogs, PRIME POINT Foundation. An India-based PR e-zine, with podcasts. (Note: Check out the great piece by the guy on page 7 of the e-zine, in pdf format.) Seriously, it’s great to get industry perspectives from around the world.

Cafepharma discussion board. A follow up to my earlier post on discussion boards. With so many anonymous posts, the pharmaceutical industry must be a dangerous place for employees. Found the board from ex-Pfizer exec Dr. Peter Rost.

Small Business (A Special Report), by WSJ’s Gwendolyn Bounds. I’ve only glanced through this, but it looks like a good read. I found it from another blog, but don’t recall where. My apologies for no pointer.

bloggers, where are they now?, Ariel/ShakeWellBeforeUse. Great observation and question at the end. Here’s a teaser: “New bloggers are only as good as their last post, but is ‘blog tenure’ deserving of such leniancy?”

You know, it’s really never too early to shop for your favorite public relations pro, or client contact you want to impress or educate, co-worker, spouse, neighbor or friend.

Yeah, I don’t like shopping that much either. But whether you are looking to celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan or even Boxing Day, let me help you.

Peter Shankman’s first book — “Can We Do That? Outrageous PR Stunts That Work–And Why Your Company Needs Them” — starts to ship Dec. 6, 2006. You can pre-order your copy now.

Peter is CEO of GeekFactory, a company he’s started twice. He blogs, started Airtroductions, is involved in the YoungPRPros Group on Yahoo!, and probably other stuff.

I first came in contact with Peter at the YPRP group. Like many others there, he provides some valuable insight, as well as some goofiness. My take on Peter is that he looks at and practices our profession with a unique eye.

And, that’s what I think we can learn from his book: To not do the same you did last year for clients with a new product, or other PR program. Think what you can do that will do more for your clients. Think of something that your clients won’t expect but should achieve the results they need. Think differently.

– Mike

Technorati tags: books, Peter Shankman

Blogs, by nature, are opinionated. Right? Okay, not always, but they are full of opinions and comments more so than cold, hard news and facts.

So, if you blog, you’d better have a thick skin. Be able to take criticism and, like we should do in public relations, decide if criticsms are worth responding to.

IF you respond — whether via comments, your own blog or e-mail — don’t get into a cat fight. Really, what good ever comes from name-calling?

The need for bloggers to be thick skinned hit home (okay, I was at work) Friday after I tried to post a comment about Amanda Chapel/Brian Connolly’s strumpette for sale sign.

Now, AC/BC’s blog was pretty well-known for being critical of many if not most PR professionals and the industry as a whole. That’s fine. Many of the posts were good reads, and made for good discussion. Many posts, however, were personal and professional attacks. Especially, if you ask Edelman.

If you’re going to hurl attacks or even just an opposing point of view at some, you’d better be ready to receive criticisms back. And, how one replies reflects a lot on that person — good or bad.

AC/BC’s e-mailed reply lead me to believe my comment was not going to be posted:
“You, my knucklehead friend, are the bottom of the barrel. The very reason we are raising money is to get past your kind. You don’t know what you’re talking about and you are not capable of learning. The time to takes to set you (plural) straight is annoyance that rises to distraction. We don’t want a conversation with you. We made that clear some months ago. Go away now.”

Okay, for clarification and to get a reference or two to what AC/BC meant, here’s my comment that I just don’t think will be approved:

“Compelling and extendible brand with huge upside potential”

Funny. That could be read that the strumpette.com site is currently near the bottom of the heap or a risky bet. You often hear about high school basketball stars who might be drafted by the NBA as having “huge upside potential.”

So, is strumpette.com high school-ish? Or, just too fresh?

But, seriously, any site is only as good as its contents. Are the current authors — Web master as well — included in that offer? Even the best of succession plans fall apart if the new owners don’t have the — dare I say — talent and vision as those who lead it to success?

Yes, AC/BC and I had a bit of back-and-forth, with my pointing out their thin-skinned approach, and pointing out that I did pay them a compliment (even if it was a bit back-handed). (If you are interested in seeing the e-mail exchange, let me know.)

Earlier this summer, I was critical of, or at least disagreed with a point made by Josh Hallett about branding and who controls it. (See my comment in Josh’s post.) Did he blast me? No, he explained and clarified his point.

Look at another example early in my blogging life. I criticized some points made about and by Dave Taylor in a “Rocky Mountain News” article. (The article has since been removed or archived as my original link to the article isn’t valid.)

Dave replied to my post and explained his points in the comments. He didn’t YELL AT ME, or hurl insults.

If you blog and if you are going to stick your neck out to make positive and/or negative comments about others, don’t respond with nasty, name-calling e-mails when someone calls you out on it. Be constructive in replies, and for heaven’s sake, get a thick skin.

– Mike

Technorati tags: blogging