Posted on Current PR Conversations PR Sense

Who talks to (and about) colleagues like that?

What qualities do you most dislike in a PR practitioner? “Being absorbed with ‘The Message’ and forgetting all about the specific context of the communication that is needed.” Gregor Halff’s response to Q8 of the PRoust Questionnaire I have long been a believer that “language shapes consciousness,” primarily in regards to deliberate words chosen, particularly when reasonable, more-inclusive and dynamic terms exist. For example, mindfully using gender-neutral titles, such as chair rather than chairman or firefighter...

Posted on PR Mediums

Engineering Search: The story of the algorithm that changed the world

New radio documentary from Ira Basen airs on December 5th This coming Sunday (December 5th), a new, one-hour documentary is set to air on CBC Radio One’s The Sunday Edition. Engineering Search: The story of the algorithm that changed the world, tracks the evolution of search engine optimization, particularly in regards to Google. More details are found below. Update: The online version of Engineering Search now available from a dedicated CBC website page. The producer and...

Posted on Seasoned Posts

Test of the Twitter Broadcasting System

One of the arguments of the proponents of social media is that the audience reigns, choosing which content it wants to consume. Broadcasting is bad, the logic goes, because it doesn’t target messages to specific audiences and doesn’t allow them to choose the desired content. On that basis, my admittedly limited experience with Twitter makes me feel like many of the people on the network are guilty of the same crime, except worse: at least...

Posted on Seasoned Posts

Lessons on targetting audiences from Iran

One of the things that has struck me in the coverage of events in Iran is how well protestors there seem to have grasped a basic point of effective communications that bizarrely seems to elude many organizations: you need to talk to the audience in terms they understand and in terms that will resonate with a wide audience.