Valleywag
great moments in public relations
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great moments in public relations
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great moments in public relations
moli
Privacy-obsessed social network's promoter proves public embarrassment
When you've got the buzz from Demo, Chris Shipley's startup conference, and $30 million in funding, it's hard to believe a startup would sink to spamming blogs with upbeat comments. But social network Moli, which hawks itself as a privacy-oriented alternative to Facebook, isn't above such base tactics. Blogger Sabrina Dent called the network on its spam-laden socializing, and was soon greeted with an overly enthusiastic proclamation of Moli's greatness. Turns out Moli's director of customer service, Daniel DiFiore, has been slinking about the Web, masquerading as Hawk5721, Moli evangelist. The goal, of course, is to delude people into thinking that Hawk5721's comments represent a surge of Internet users embracing Moli. More »
valleyspeak
Facebook founder redefines "opt-in"
People say the craziest things to New York Times reporters. In an attempt to explain that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wasn't, you know, lying when he implied to NYT staffer Louise Story that Facebook's Beacon ads wouldn't report on users' purchases and other activities unless they opted in to the system, "Matt Hicks, a Facebook spokesman, said Mr. Zuckerberg had meant that users would be given the opportunity to opt out of having information sent out by Beacon, and the company had assumed that anyone who didn't say no meant yes." As Story reports, Coke is having the same "Huh?" reaction, and has withdrawn from early participation in Beacon ads. I confess: I'm biased. I went to MIT, so whenever a Harvard man like Zuckerberg opens his mouth, I start listening for the bullshit. I wish I were wrong more often.
great moments in pr
Monica, Monica. First you rob me of all that I loved about PR — the illusion that you labor over each email you send to make it personal to me, just me. Now you're threatening to kill our relationship entirely by bringing in lawyers. Monica, how am I supposed to write the news without your help? How will I learn of the glories of your clients? But I think we can still make this work, Monica.
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Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh
Monica, Monica. First you rob me of all that I loved about PR — the illusion that you labor over each email you send to make it personal to me, just me. Now you're threatening to kill our relationship entirely by bringing in lawyers. Monica, how am I supposed to write the news without your help? How will I learn of the glories of your clients? But I think we can still make this work, Monica.
More »
great moments in public relations
AT&T CEO says better iPhone coming next year
Thinking about getting an iPhone as a gift for your loved ones this holiday season? Wait 'til next year! That's the message AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson delivered at a meeting of the Churchill Club in Santa Clara yesterday when he announced that a 3G iPhone would arrive next year. "You'll have it next year," Stephenson said. Way to help sales, Randall!
This must be reuse-your-email week
I got a free pass to DEMO! I was really happy — until I got to the last line of the attached email.
I got a free pass to DEMO! I was really happy — until I got to the last line of the attached email.
truemors
PR guy misses PR lesson from Guy Kawasaki
PR blogger Vince Bank is peeved that tech evangelist Guy Kawasaki is using Twitter to promote his startup Truemors, instead of giving him "personal insights." And he calls himself a PR guy? Kawasaki's fanboys accept and defend his self-promotion. Bank even misses the valuable lesson Kawasaki taught him when Bank's self-promoting post to Truemors was banned. He asks, "Is this a classic case of 'Do as I say, but not as I do?'" The answer is yes. Unlike Kawasaki, Bank just isn't brassy enough to get away with it.
great moments in public relations
PR guy's site links to bestiality, rape porn
Richard Laermer of RLM PR is either into some really depraved adult entertainment. Or he's very lazy. That's the conclusion of fellow flack Peter Shankman, an early riser who was no doubt checking out Laermer's source code at 4 a.m. before going for a jog. The site's code reveals links to sites featuring bestiality and "nonconsensual sex," a cute little euphemism for rape porn. So how did Laermer let all that onto his site? More »
great moments in public relations
A British journalist attempts to ask Apple executive Phil Schiller a question about the effective iTunes monopoly on downloads for the iPhone. Apple's PR people jump in and try to end the interview, saying how they're "excited" about the iPhone and "want to stay focused." The problem? Their body language betrays them. This is why Apple is really screwed if it ever loses Steve Jobs: He's the only guy at Apple who can actually pull off this act and handle the press convincingly while parroting the party line. Everyone else at Apple who's even allowed to speak to reporters just ends up looking robotically defensive when they try to erect a Jobsian reality-distortion field.
Apple flacks caught on tape acting like control freaks
A British journalist attempts to ask Apple executive Phil Schiller a question about the effective iTunes monopoly on downloads for the iPhone. Apple's PR people jump in and try to end the interview, saying how they're "excited" about the iPhone and "want to stay focused." The problem? Their body language betrays them. This is why Apple is really screwed if it ever loses Steve Jobs: He's the only guy at Apple who can actually pull off this act and handle the press convincingly while parroting the party line. Everyone else at Apple who's even allowed to speak to reporters just ends up looking robotically defensive when they try to erect a Jobsian reality-distortion field.
great moments in public relations
Is Amazon.com supporting Google's Facebook killer? Don't ask
Read/WriteWeb last night reported that Amazon.com will announce today, among other things, support of Google's OpenSocial Web widget platform in all of its applications going forward. Now Google can tout Amazon's support for its rival platform to extend social networks. Or can it? Amazon flacks, after sending Read/WriteWeb a press release about the move, are now retracting it and claiming the company is not adopting OpenSocial. Or if it is, they're pretending they don't know about it. More »
crash this bash
Did you get your pass to the Google Holiday Party? We understand. Email can be so unreliable. A helpful tipster saved us the trouble of digging through our Gmail spam filter to find our invitation. Don't know if we'll crash the December 12 event at the Googleplex. If it's like past parties, expect a room full of tiresomely cheery Google flacks and a drive-by appearance by Larry and Sergey. If you do get any founder face time, watch out: They'll likely bore you to tears with an explanation of why they call Web applets "gadgets" instead of "widgets." Not that you could use any of that conversation anyway, since the event is "off the record." Still want to go? After the jump, the full detail of the exclusive holiday soiree.
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Google's holiday party
Did you get your pass to the Google Holiday Party? We understand. Email can be so unreliable. A helpful tipster saved us the trouble of digging through our Gmail spam filter to find our invitation. Don't know if we'll crash the December 12 event at the Googleplex. If it's like past parties, expect a room full of tiresomely cheery Google flacks and a drive-by appearance by Larry and Sergey. If you do get any founder face time, watch out: They'll likely bore you to tears with an explanation of why they call Web applets "gadgets" instead of "widgets." Not that you could use any of that conversation anyway, since the event is "off the record." Still want to go? After the jump, the full detail of the exclusive holiday soiree.
More »
great moments in public relations
Chris Anderson hates receiving spam, benefits from sending it
Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson has had it up to here with unsolicited emails from PR agencies. But he's the beneficiary when colleagues use the tactic. Del.icio.us founder Joshua Schachter notes that his inbox is filled with unsolicited emails from Wired flacks. Sent to an email address, Schachter points out, which is on his blog, not one he uses to sign up for mailing lists. Call it the Long Tail of PR. Whether or not Anderson approves, he certainly gains from the PR mail-all list: The most recent Wired message touts Wednesday's edition of the PBS show Wired Science, and the subject line highlights a special appearance by Anderson himself.
great moments in public relations
Wired editor in a snit over unsolicited emails
Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson has had enough of unsolicited emails from PR professionals. So much so, that he posted a list on his blog of 329 PR Hester Prynnes, guilty of promiscuous overuse of their email outboxes. No more will their very unimportant missives waste his time — emails from these people will be summarily blocked. Among the guilty: Flacks from SparkPR, Edelman, Ogilvy, Weber Shandwick, SutherlandGold, Bite PR, and Text100. If you're wondering, Outcast, Hill & Knowlton, and Burson-Marsteller managed to escape Anderson's long flail. Prepare for lots of stories about Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, and Hillary Clinton in the next few issues of Wired.
great moments in public relations
Flack swears off Kool-Aid
Last we heard from PR flack Steve Rubel, he was on his knees apologizing for publicly trashing PC Magazine. Now Edelman PR's spokesblogger wants the world to know he's sorry for inflating the Web 2.0 bubble. He writes, "Since I started this blog lots of people have rightfully made fun of how much I touted every little new site to come along. Their criticism is accurate." Don't worry, Steve. It's not your fault. You'd only be guilty if you'd actually succeeded at imitating Michael Arrington.
great moments in public relations
This morning, we reported on a Facebook employee who allegedly looked up a user's password, logged into her account, and changed her profile picture to a graphic image. When a tipster wrote in to name the employee, I contacted the accused, Jordan Moncharmont, for comment. I wrote, "Jordan — Please read this and then call me immediately," pasting a link to this morning's story. Facebook's response?
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Facebook calls reporter's question "harassing"
This morning, we reported on a Facebook employee who allegedly looked up a user's password, logged into her account, and changed her profile picture to a graphic image. When a tipster wrote in to name the employee, I contacted the accused, Jordan Moncharmont, for comment. I wrote, "Jordan — Please read this and then call me immediately," pasting a link to this morning's story. Facebook's response?
More »
facebook
Obscenely rich Mark Zuckerberg declares war on poor leakers
One curious thing about the Wall Street Journal story reporting that Facebook was looking to raise as much as $260 million — but not the $500 million celebritard blogger Fake Steve Jobs suggested. The Journal's Vauhini Vara cites "a person" or "people familiar with the matter" six times. What does that indecipherable journalism-speak actually mean? More »
great moments in public relations
Comcast calls AP story "Web gossip"
A reader emailed Comcast to complain about its blocking the Bible and received back a typical PR-speak response. Within was this gem: "We have a responsibility to manage our network to ensure that our customers have the best broadband experience possible." Aha! I hadn't realized the "best broadband experience" excluded BitTorrent. That's Comcastic! Also a nice touch: Dismissing a story that ran over the Associated Press wire service as "web gossip." The full email after the jump. More »
web 2.0 summit
