Here we are once again, headed into a new week. What’s on your agenda for the next several days? I hope you’ve had a chance to read about the newly updated FTC guidelines for advertising. If you give away free products or services in return for reviews or endorsements (or pay for such services), the new rules will affect you. While it doesn’t go into affect until December 1st, it can impact you — so check it out before the holiday craziness makes you forget about it.
This past week I’ve seen a lot of posts about the new guidelines and …read more

PR firm Reverb Communications has been under fire by MobileCrunch for allegedly gaming, aka astroturfing, the iTunes app store. In the article, MobileCrunch criticizes Reverb for what it deems as unethical practices).
Here’s the short version: Reverb supposedly has interns to write positive reviews of games (just after launching) to garner additional sales in the iTunes app store. When MobileCrunch (MC) researched several reviews and the users who posted them, they found that the users had also posted positive reviews for other apps who were also represented by Reverb. In fact, the users had only reviewed products that Reverb represented. Additionally, …read more

When I first started writing, I found a gig that I thought was perfect – writing academic papers. The company sold their business as wanting great college-level papers that students could use as a reference when writing their own papers, professors could use as examples, and so forth. I know; you’re all shaking your heads right now. Keep in mind, though, that I was young and just starting as a writer. I was astounded to know you could find writing work online at all!
So, seeing as my skills as a college student in the English department seemed to match what …read more

Lately, I’ve been shocked at the number of people who claim they can do public relations – and charge people for it.
I’m not talking about skilled PR professionals who have studied and honed their craft. I’m talking about writers, online marketers and virtual assistants who basically say anyone can help get someone publicity.
It’s just not true.
Most of these people chargge a very low fee to write a press release – and claim you get get meida coverage by posting on the various press release sites on the Internet.
You can’t. Media are really hanging out at those sites – and frankly, …read more

Jason Falls is a great new media public relations person. And recently, I read his blog post “Is The Future of Advertising Public Relations?”
Jason makes some great points about the future influence of bloggers on the media landscape, but right at the beginning I squirmed:
(I say new-fashioned because old-fashioned is sending blast emails to hundreds of media outlets or bloggers and calling it a day. New-fashioned is reaching out personally to individuals to build a relationship and working with them to meet their needs and yours in symbiotic fashion.)

Ummm… I didn’t know that the new-fashioned wasn’t always the case, Jason.
Good …read more

Even if you don’t know the original source for a fact or a quotation, you need to indicate that it’s not your idea.
Otherwise, your audience will assume you are either too dim to know that you’re borrowing from someone else, or that you are too unethical to acknowledge the debt.
Either way, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
If you have time, track the information back to its first author. And for facts and statistics, it’s worth doing a quick check about the validity of the statement.
Commonly-accepted pseudo facts like “You should drink eight glasses of water a day,” …read more

I’ve been to a lot of funerals this year.  Too many of them have included a sales pitch for the religious choice of the deceased.
This strikes me as an odd choice. The religious affiliation (or lack thereof) of the people attending could be all over the map.
Yet, like clockwork, the kindly person running the memorial service starts explaining that we can all breathe easier because the person who died backed the right horse in the religion sweepstakes. They have gone to heaven because they chose (insert name of deity or prophet here).
It goes without saying that anyone in attendance who …read more

If you needed a reason to categorize music companies as humorless corporate entities that have no heart, here’s a woman being ordered to remove a YouTube video of her kid, because there’s a Universal Music song playing in the background.
The average person has no idea how vigorously these companies pursue documentary makers, store owners and others who have the bad luck to have a song intrude on their work.
Even someone casually humming a song can lead to copyright problems. It’s gotten to the point that filmmakers treat an incidental bit of sound as a tragic occurrence, instead of serendipity.
Technorati Tags: …read more

It’s okay to make shocking statements that mock public figures and stretch the bounds of decency. In Canada, anyway.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that a B.C. radio commentator was using fair comment when he exaggerated the position held by critics of school use of books depicting same-sex parents.
From the Globe and Mail:
“We live in a free country, where people have as much right to express outrageous and ridiculous opinions as moderate ones,” Judge Binnie said. “In much modern media, personalities such as Rafe Mair are as much entertainers as journalists.”

The 9-0 decision by Canada’s highest court should …read more

How can you comment about something, if you can’t provide a bit of background? Not very well.
Yet Associated Press is trying to unilaterally corral the World Wide Web herd of commenting cats.
Christopher Lynn sums up the dispute well:
“As a content creator, I’m all for intellectual property; copying content is the modern day stealing. But the law entitles “fair use.” Sure, the lines of fair use are blurry, but they are up for the judicial system to interpret. By setting their own restrictions, the AP takes the role of legislator and stifles legal discussion. When media companies become large enough …read more