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Tumblr is EXPLODING. It has more than 8 million members, and it adds 30,000 new members daily. Don’t be the last to harness this incredibly powerful social media tool — a tool that PR professionals can use to form deeper connections with their audiences. You can learn all about Tumblr — and how PR pros can harness it — at the PR Daily webinar, How Tumbr will extend your company’s media coverage, expand its external audiences, and publish more content easier and faster . Find…

Big story in Chicago last week: a fan at Wrigley Field threw a full beer cup at Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino as he caught a fly ball. The beer tosser, 21-year-old Johnny Macchione, slipped out of the ballpark, which sparked a ridiculous manhunt. He turned himself in and apologized on camera. Gary Dunlap, senior vice president and head of the crisis and issues management group at Edelman, thinks Macchione did a pretty good job on camera. “He seemed sincere, which made him very credible…

Want to become a subject matter expert for yourself or your company? Of course you do, says Guy Kawasaki, entrepreneur and founder of Alltop.com. How do you make this happen? By sharing fascinating stuff with your followers on social media. Kawasaki offered four tips for finding this fascinating content. (Reading PR Daily wasn’t among the four tips, but it should be.)  

Having worked in public relations, writer Matthew Archibald says he knows some of the rules. “You know who breaks all of them?” He asked. “Pope Benedict XVI. I’ve got to imagine that Pope Benedict’s PR man would be pretty frustrated with him about now if he had one.” Archibald imagined what a conversation between the pope and his PR man would sound like. Here’s an excerpt: “Another major point is your branding. I think you’re confusing the peeps &#823…

Still looking for a costume for Halloween? Do you love social media? Maybe you want to dress up as one of your favorite social media sites. Here are  21 examples of people who did just that. Make sure to check out the marketer who drew her Halloween inspiration from Twitter.

When Erik Prince, the reclusive owner of Blackwater, gives a speech he usually bans journalists and forbids videotaping. However, The Nation ’s Jeremy Scahill obtained an audio recording of a Prince speech at the University of Michigan in January. Yikes . “In the speech … Prince expressed disdain for the Geneva Convention and described Blackwater’s secretive operations at four Forward Operating Bases he controls in Afghanistan,” Scahill wrote. “He characterized the work of s…

Remember that picture of the passengers standing on the wings of U.S. Airways flight 1549 as it slowly sunk in the Hudson River? A guy named Janis Krums snapped it. PR Daily contributor Susan Young spoke with Krums about social media and how it’s affecting citizen journalism. She pulled  five lessons from the conservation.

Neigh!! There’s nothing better than hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth. Sally Whittle, of U.K.-based Blogger.ed , asked her vibrant community of bloggers how they like to be engaged on Twitter.  Read on for some great and real advice. — Adam Vincenzini

No, it’s not that “F.” Marketing Profs Chief Content Manager Ann Handley shares a few nice “F” words that companies are using to drive their social media efforts. What’s good about Handley’s list is that it does not include the usual cast of characters like Zappos and JetBlue. Don’t be shocked, but other businesses have fresh social media marketing ideas that you may not have heard about. Take a look at what sets them apart — “F”words and …

You hear it all the time. Social media exposes your computer and your company’s computer networks to all kinds of hackers, viruses, and other dangerous malware.  This article details just what the risks are from social networks and other websites by providing a color-coded system, similar to the terror watch system. Which ones are code-red? (Hint: Legitimate sites that have been hacked are more dangerous than social networks.) — Claire Celsi

A  TechCrunch blog post by Michael Arrington — that was picked up by The Washington Post — called out Video Professor, a company that provides computer training, for what Arrington claims is misleading marketing copy about its charges. Arrington called it a “scam.” The PR team at Video Professor was understandably upset and in a letter to The Post complained that Arrington did not let the company respond to the charge. The Post ’s response was basically, Take it up…

Over at PRBreakfastClub there’s a hot debate about the merits of industry events. Communicator Arik Hanson attended a recent conference that left him cold and got him thinking about the topic. “Over the last year, I’ve been to a number of digital PR and marketing events,” he wrote. “It seems like we may be preaching and talking about the same issues and topics now that we were six months ago.” Not so fast, said PR pro Amanda Sena. These conferences “provide a mor…

As the society/visual arts writer at the Houston Chronicle , Douglas Britt (pictured) is a very busy man. Very, very  busy. To speed things along, and improve the Chronicle ’s arts coverage, Britt e-mailed a 15-point “PR 101” guide (his words) to “every gallerist/cultural group in Houston” on how they can get coverage in the Chronicle . Britt comes off a little abrasive (“And PLEASE STOP TELLING ME how busy I am (I know), how prolific I am (I know), what…

How’s this for a communications response? As you may know, a vocal minority is complaining about NBC’s coverage of the Vancouver Olympics, particularly its tape delays of various events. Ron Judd, a columnist for The Seattle Times , said he’s deluged with comments from angry viewers. Unfortunately for Judd and his readers, NBC Universal Vice President of Communications Christopher McCloskey refused to speak with him on the record. However, McCloskey did talk to Th e Boston Globe ab…

Google revealed its secret project this week, a new version of its search codenamed “Caffeine.” It’s still in the testing phase. Many search engine optimization (SEO) experts believe Google might change its search algorithm, which may alter the way your company handles SEO.