Tuesday Roundup: Dance Like A Chicken

May 14th, 2013 | Shonali Burke | 4 Comments

Black Bovan Rooster If you thought that the Chicken Dance was reserved solely for county fairs and wedding receptions, think again. Today’s National Dance Like a Chicken Day. Amazingly enough, our fine feathered friends have more to do with social media then you may think.

Here are five articles from around the web that offer something to dance and squawk about.

Image: Michael Gäbler [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

1. The Chicken and the Egg Social Media Conundrum

Why: Jay Baer applies the age old question to social media marketing.

Continue reading »

email

5 PR Tips From 2013′s 17 Year Cicadas

May 7th, 2013 | Shonali Burke | 17 Comments

Cicada CloseupThe first time I experienced “cicada mania” was in 2004.

We’d just moved to the East Coast and were getting used to living and working in the DC area. And in all the advice people had to give us about our Eastward move, somehow they forgot to tell us that every few years, we’d feel like extras on the set of a B-grade thriller from the 50s.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

At least, that’s how I felt when I opened my front door one summer’s day that year. Unsuspecting as to the horrors that awaited outside, I literally screamed and jumped back inside the house when I saw every visible surface covered with the brown things. And I do mean Every. Single. Surface. That. Was. Visible. From the door frame, to the stoop, to the walkway…

Cicadas, everywhere, cicadas

Continue reading »

Public Relations: The Two Sides of Information Access

May 6th, 2013 | Kirk Hazlett | 3 Comments

British Intelligence sergeant questioning a stranger Boston and the world recently got an unfortunate and disturbing lesson on and reminder of the power…and the perils…of information access.

The power lay in the ability of friends, family, loved ones and casual acquaintances from every corner of the earth to connect, comfort, and console each other each time new information was communicated about the unfolding events. And the media, for most part, did a commendable job of providing much-needed updates.

The perils lay in the ability of anyone, anywhere…at any time…to acquire information that, sadly, could be used to inflict harm on others. While I continue to wish that all my fellow beings would only devote their lives to activities that are beneficial to mankind, I’m enough of a realist to know that this isn’t going to happen.

This realization got me thinking about our responsibilities as public relations professionals to communicate…to provide advice and counsel…to clients or employers so that they might better inform their many stakeholders. In particular, the Public Relations Society of America‘s Code of Ethics addresses the “Free Flow of Information,” saying that the public relations professional will “maintain the integrity of relationships with the media, government officials, and the public.”

Continue reading »

map