Should you fear consumer media?

Today's rocketboom got me ranting....

I don't think that "real" media should be too concerned until your average joe can begin making a career from sydicating their own content.

Obviously, it is possible for a select few right now, but there are very few (I assume). Once jounalists can quit their jobs and leave the newsroom for their living room, i think they begin to be very very worried.

But as far as right now, I think the people that are afraid of it, don't fully understand consumer generated media and what it is all about. Once they do begin to understand it, they'll understand how big the fire is under their butts encouraging them to produce better content.

Comment Issues

I have noticed a problem with the comments, aka, they are not working. The issue is currently being worked on, but until I am able to clear up the issue, I have returned to a different blogger template.

Hopefully this will alleviate the issue.

Interview with John Cass

John Cass interviewed me Monday, May 1 about my background in PR and my experience so far in blogging.

Check out the transcript here. Enjoy!

Naked Conversation in my mailbox

I recently got the book “Naked Conversations” in the mail from half.com. As my Master’s program is winding down, I think I will finally have time to read it since it has been on my “to-read” list since it came out.
Last night I only made it through the introduction before falling asleep, but it, along with my conversation on Monday with John Cass of Backbone Media, has gotten me really excited about reevaluating my blog and beginning to “blog smarter.”
I still consider my blog in the infancy stages and am sure that its tone and direction will see some changes in the coming months, and I will likely try to incorporate many of the things I am reading in the book into my blog and will see where it takes me. I’ll also be working to build a bigger audience and do some blogger outreach (per advice of John).
Don’t fret; you’ll be kept up to date on all changes and blog evolutions as they come.

Where PR programs fail their students

I stumbled on this post from Todd Defren of SHIFT Communications.

I agree with much of what he says, but am still pretty disappointed that he fears hiring PR newbies. While both of my PR programs have had a strong hold on both theory and current practice, they occasionally lack sufficient attention to business side of the industry that likely leaves Defren loathing hiring PR newbies.

Business etiquette and how recent graduates should conduct themselves in the work environment are things that are often skimmed over in PR management courses, but fail to sufficiently take hold unless they are able to actually use what they've learned in an internship or other professional experience.

While the world of PR academics is certainly not without its failings, there is one thing that academics seem to teach far better than most in the industry: research and evaluation. It is always disappointing to see superbly run campaigns whose final measurement is nothing more than counting media placements or TV time instead of trying to quantify relationships built or changes in the opinions and knowledge of key publics.

I still agree with Defren on many of his points, but when your own industry is not without its own failings, the rocks you throw should not be too heavy.

Serving up cable: A la carte

Choosing from the cable menu.

While serving cable A la carte may have its benefits, it is putting the scare in the niche channels. All I know is that if given the opportunity, I’d pay for mostly all niche channels and only a small hand full of major networks.

Podcasting: social and multidirectional?

Micropersuasion's Steve Rebel recently published a post about the qualifications of podcasting as a social medium.

Podcasting today, is undeniably a less social medium than blogging is, but that does not mean that podcasting lacks the ability to surpass blogging’s ability to perform as a social medium. Podcasting certainly lacks the ease of use that has brought blogging as far as it has come, but boats many advantages that blogging lacks. Blogging is far less of a mobile media, and for lacks the ability to communicate with audio and video.

Far more can be communicated through one’s voice and facial expressions than may ever be communicated through a keyboard.

"No medium is inherently social. Each medium that gets utilized is as social as the creator wants it to be."- Rob Safuto

I think that as time goes by, podcasters will begin to make their content more and more community driven. Blogging communities certainly did not exist at the birth of the medium, but grew as blogging did.

Blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc are simply places where it is possible for people to gather and talk about similar topics and create digital communities. Just because a blog exists, does it automatically make it a social medium? No. Granted the current state of podcasting is far less social than blogging is today, but the advantages that podcasting has over blogging gives it some pretty big opportunities for growth.