Uncategorized

Social media and standard PR outreach increase as communicators are forced to do more with less.

Do you network a lot? Maybe tweet it up at a tweetup or other such affairs. All of us — especially those who run our own shops — have to do this stuff as part of the biz development process. (Translation: We have to do this crap so we can keep feeding and clothing ourselves.) Don’t fret; communicator Shonali Burke has some tips for you on how to network.— Jackson Wightman

Queen Elizabeth of England has joined Facebook, as part of the page, The British Monarchy . After one hour, more than 40,000 people had “liked” the page. “The new Facebook page has been described as ‘the final frontier’ of the Queen’s foray into digital technology,” reports The Telegraph . The British Monarchy also has a  Twitter feed and YouTube channel . What’s next? A member of the royal family checking in on Foursquare? — Jackson Wightman

To poke or not to poke? That is the question — and apparently a growing number of adults in the U.K. display proclivity to the former. At least that’s what a new survey by PollOne.com (and first reported on by AllFacebook.com ) would lead us to believe. The survey questioned 2,000 adults about their online habits and sexual activity and found that 11 percent of Britons have had sex with someone they’ve met on Facebook. Ten percent have done it with someone at work — and 50 percent of those in…

PR is getting a reality show. Yup, “Spincrowd,” featuring New York celebrity PR guy Jonathan Cheban is set to air on the E! Network. According to Reuters, “Cheban is a shallow, self-centered bully who gets away with being a jerk only because his employees are too frightened to speak up.” Sounds like a terrific representation of the industry. Ahem . — Jackson Wightman

Remember how hard we laughed on Tuesday when we saw the young woman saying “I quit” via dry erase board? Well, how did you feel when you learned it was a hoax? Did it even matter? After all, the gag was funny, real or not, and it sure went viral. PR pro Sasha Muradali highlighted four tips from the stunt that PR pros can apply to their own viral projects.

Mashable  is a popular website for news and advice about social media. (There’s also Ragan.com , sister site to PR Daily , which publishes case studies and tips on the ways businesses are using social media tools.) Of course, there are also a number of talented bloggers producing content that isn’t as widely read. Want to read some of these posts? Windmill Networking shared  three content hubs you should check out. — Claire Celsi

Turns out Twitter is fit for a king-to-be’s decree. The big news this morning is that Britain’s Prince William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton are engaged to be married. The announcement came this morning via an official press release, but that release was “somewhat scooped by the accompanying  tweet that distilled the official confirmation of the first major royal wedding of the new millennium into a 148-character (yes, a tad long) social media post,” according to The Wash…

Choire Sicha, editor of the too-cool-for-school blog The Awl , is tired of receiving e-mails from PR pros. So, he decided to publish a screen shot of his inbox with the names of all the PR firms that he has “banned.” Don’t worry too much if you’re on the list, Sicha is a reasonable man. “I welcome communications from these firms and any others when they stop spamming me,” he wrote.

Looking for an offbeat spot to place your message? How about a pizza box? The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) put a job ad on pizza boxes around Washington D.C. The ad says, “A career where X-ray vision and federal benefits come standard.” Next time you fly consider the possibility that the person guarding your safety got his job after scarfing down a pizza. (Image via Federal News Radio .)

As a writer, do you feel like you’re in a rut? Nothing’s popping; instead you’re plugging away at the same old copy? Copyblogger has  seven tips to help you emerge from the rut.

PR Firm MWW Group launched a new, cross-platform mobile application that’s designed to deliver RSS content to those in the public relations, marketing, and advertising industries, according to ReadWriteWeb . Here’s how it works: Instead of choosing RSS feeds from blogs and news sites yourself, MWW Group has selected them for you. It’s a pre-loaded RSS feed—which includes in-house feeds from MWW—though you can still add and delete feeds. The app delivers the feeds to your mob…

Instead of saying “no comment” or simply ignoring the question, it appears Sharron Angle, the Republican candidate for Senate in Nevada, shushed a television reporter who tried to ask her a question. Was that the case — or did the reporter get it wrong? Check out the  19-second video of the alleged shush and judge for yourself.

Don’t even think about giving up on that company blog. A new study from  eMarketer says that 51 percent of U.S. Web users read blogs at least monthly. That number is expected to grow steadily over the next four years, reaching 60 percent by 2014. Blogging attracts a smaller audience, according to the study. Slightly less than 12 percent of Internet users write blogs; the study said that number will inch up to 13 percent by 2014.

Meet Meghan Smith. She’s the first-ever Levi’s Girl, the company’s online personality to market to women. She earned this six-month paid position by creating a two-minute video  for Levi’s Facebook page. “Smith will get an immersion course in Levi’s marketing with a focus on social media efforts,” reports MediaPost . “She will also be ‘Style Ambassador’ for Levi’s Women, which means she will post looks and designs online, and ‘channel…