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	Phil's Blogservations Friday, January 27, 2006 Posted by philgomes 8:14 AM DC, Gothy-Metal Happiness, And Everything DC, Gothy-Metal Happiness, And Everything I've been in Washington DC this week, as you can see from my photojournal of the trip. Also managed to get this piece of good news from the Blabbermouth site — a new Type O Negative concert DVD is coming out, chronicling a 1999 show in Germany. The trailer they've made available, predictably, has their hit "Black #1." One thing I've always loved about TON — aside from their original work, of course — was their choice of cover songs. This time, they do a Carlos Santana medley. Awesome... Their versions of the Beatles' "Day Tripper," Deep Purple's "Highway Star," Sabbath's "Paranoid," Seals & Crofts' "Summer Breeze," and other experiments have always been great, so I can't wait to here the Santana send-up. Anyway... Back to work. Last day in DC. No chance to sightsee, but Mike Krempasky has been good enough to take me to a couple bars and introduce me around. Gentleman that he is, he returned the copy of Bernie Goldberg's Arrogance I let him borrow... only now it's signed by Bernie Goldberg!! Until later, friends... Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, goth, metal, edelman, type o negative Tuesday, January 24, 2006 Posted by philgomes 11:33 AM What Happened To Podservations? What Happened To Podservations? I honestly only have time for one podcast. Subscribe to this podcast feed and find out what I've been up to. Technorati Tags: podcasts, edelman, pr, public relations Sunday, January 22, 2006 Posted by philgomes 7:34 PM My Weekend My Weekend Caught up on a helluva lot of work this weekend, but managed to have my fun. I hiked Stough Nature Center with Hike The Geek. I saw Survival Research Labs. You might wonder which one was more exhausting! Saturday, January 21, 2006 Posted by philgomes 11:15 AM The Bad Pitch Blog The Bad Pitch Blog Okay... I know that, in my end-of-2005 plea, I asked that we spend more time encouraging those who are doing it right and less time pointing at episodes like this. But this? This is pretty %$@ing hilarious. Fellow PR blogger Kevin Dugan, along with his friend Richard Laermer, has co-founded the Bad Pitch Blog. Okay... In the interest of having one clearinghouse for such things, I'll let it slide. *8-) As some of us nickle-dime East Bay types might say, it's going to be "hella funny." Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, bad pitch blog Thursday, January 19, 2006 Posted by philgomes 1:38 PM Traveling: The Insanity I Leave Behind Traveling: The Insanity I Leave Behind From: [Phil's LA Office Neighbor] Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 2:20 PM To: Gomes, Phil Subject: Something is beeping incessantly in your office I’m sorry to bug, but it’s driving me insane! Is there anyway to turn it off? It looks like some sort of router… I didn’t want to touch it, but I desperately long for it to stop beeping! If there’s no way to stop it, no biggie, I will just try to drown it out or something, but if there is, I would be so grateful if you could walk me through it! Posted by philgomes 7:56 AM In The "Can't Make This &#@$# Up" Department In The "Can't Make This &#@$# Up" Department A Web 2.0 startup spoof. (Not for people with an aversion to naughty humor.) Monday, January 16, 2006 Posted by philgomes 10:14 PM PR Is Dead Again PR Is Dead Again Yes, people, I did read Tom Foremski's grim post about the future of PR. I had once said that the "PR flagellation meme" happens every quarter or two. We're right on time! Tom's argument is basically that, since mainstream media is shrinking, PR must be as well. This, necessarily, assumes that PR's only job is to seek placement in so called "news holes" and, without those holes, PR shrivels up and dies. (Of course, by itself, raw clip count isn't the best — or even a good — measure of PR.) It's no secret that the practice of PR needs to change in a very fundamental way. You'll get no argument from me there. But the problem is this, pure and simple: Many of those who are communicating about this need for change — from even inside the industry — are misdefining PR rather than refining that definition (if they are familiar with PR at all). Basically: The definition of PR has unfortunately changed to increasing the findability of a product or service, with defensible credibility as a second-order variable. This is sad. Very, very sad. This speaks to one of my resolutions for 2006 — to help move the discussion toward the craft of writing, argument, and persuasion. This trend creates an environment where visibility is easily confused with credibility and even leadership. Many voices in our profession not only promulgate this misconception, but actually rely on it as a means of self-promotion. As Jeremy says, it's about PR not SEO. I can't agree more. SEO tricks have their place, but search engine algorithms change all the time. Further, people distrust PR, so it's likely that changes to these algorithms might soon lean heavily toward examining whether an active PR SEO campaign is taking place. Considering the shifting sands at work here, the only thing you can rely on is (surprise!) generating compelling, credible content in the first place. Then think about "findability." NB: People who equate SEO with PR are killing the perception of our profession. Posted by philgomes 3:40 PM IM Conversation IM Conversation Phil: You should blog. Colleague: What if I don't have anything to say? Phil: When have you ever had *that* problem? Ten minutes later Colleague: You're making fun of me, aren't you? Thursday, January 12, 2006 Posted by philgomes 8:15 PM PR People: When You Say "Reach Out"... PR People: When You Say "Reach Out"... ...you really mean "pitch," don't you? "Reach out" is to the PR field what "solution" is to the business software industry, isn't it? Wednesday, January 11, 2006 Posted by philgomes 3:26 PM Cute Father/Son Story Cute Father/Son Story For some reason, I think I might have done something like this as a nine-year-old. Courtesy of a gamer mailing list I belong to. Tuesday, January 10, 2006 Posted by philgomes 1:28 PM "Feel Free To Write About This!" "Feel Free To Write About This!" I've gotten a number of these pitches in my inbox seeking coverage on Blogservations, so I wanted to say something. This was not a good pitch even in the dead-tree days of media relations. Today's cut-paste-post-ridicule world makes it even less okay. That's not to say that people haven't been successful pitching this blog. These are the people that have taken the time to read what goes on here and dive into the conversation. And there are a lot of good pitches that, for whatever reason, I just don't get to. Doesn't mean I hate you. Anyway, there have been a rash of such emails lately, so I thought I'd bring it up. Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, media relations Monday, January 09, 2006 Posted by philgomes 11:31 AM IM PR IM PR Fellow PR blogger and SNCR colleague Mike Manuel predicts that this is the year for IM PR. You already see this happening with cell phones. Most PR folks I know openly share their cell phone numbers with their media contacts in the interest of maximizing their availability -- a practice that, just a few years ago, wasn't that common (or encouraged). That being the case, it's not that big of a leap for folks to start sharing their IM IDs too, in fact, some already do, and I predict it will become more accepted this year. I'll take it another step: It's just as much about presence detection as it is about immediacy. And I'm not just talking about one IM-using PR person either, but the advantage that comes from a network of them. Here's the scenario: Reporter IMs longtime PR contact and says, "I need to talk to an expert on high-k dielectrics now!" This topic is far away from the normal context for the working relationship that this contact and the reporter share. The PR contact looks in his agency's IM, does a quick search, and sees that there is someone at the agency currently online, whom s/he has never met, who used to work for companies like Applied Materials, Novellus, or whatever. Clearly, this person either has the answer or can point the reporter in the right direction. The key will be in wrapping context around the buddy-list members. Incidentally, I wrote about the topic a while back in the article "IM & PR: DOA?" Looking at it now, it could probably use an update or a rewrite. Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, im, instant messenger Sunday, January 08, 2006 Posted by philgomes 11:01 PM Congratulations To My Cousin Congratulations To My Cousin Paul, As I write this, I'm on the way back from LAX, having come up to Northern California for your wedding to Vanessa. Yes, on the way over, I was once again pulled aside for the search at the inspection area. (Do you call these people ahead of time just to mess with me or something?) I've been moved to think about "growing up seperately together" in San Leandro... In our pre-teen years, building a playset for our action figures out of molded styrofoam packaging from my Dad's computer purchases... Going on two trips to Yosemite with our folks, hiking to Nevada Falls and back, still inexplicably having the energy to play in the river afterwards... Going on the father/son trips to Kennedy Meadows that your father organized and that you ably took on after his passing in 2003... Making just as much of a tradition out of shopping for said trips... Playing in the O'Dowd rally band with the Disciples Of The Immaculate Electrocution, with whom even today we keep in touch through the Bzzztnet list... Tearing up Piedmont Avenue with Richard the day after I quit that job, remembering very little of it afterwards... Talking late into many evenings about music, work, and life in general... Enjoying countless New Year's Day celebrations at your house... Seeing Soulfly at the Maritime Hall and A Band Called Pain at Rooster's Roadhouse... Taking in Knott's Scary Farm... Being there for each other even as we took separate schools, fields of study, career paths, and interests... You have always been the linkage pin in our family. Now, the unshakable devotion that you have brought to this family extends to Vanessa's. I consider her a woman lucky beyond words, just as much as I consider you fortunate to have found someone who so adds to and enriches your life. Paul, were we not related, you are most certainly someone I would seek out as a friend. Seeing as how one practically needs an IBM supercomputer to figure out the geneology between us — your grandmother and my great-grandmother were cousins... I think — I believe we share that rare something that has the strength of family and the fun of friendship. Please enjoy the photos from the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony, and the reception afterwards. My thoughts and prayers are with you, cousin/friend, as you embark on this journey with Vanessa. The two of you are among the world's very blessed and you both richly deserve all of the happiness your new life has to offer. Best, /pmg "The Guru" Thursday, January 05, 2006 Posted by philgomes 1:08 PM Cat-Lovers Beware Cat-Lovers Beware I swear to God I found this (Rated: R) while doing some research. My office is next to HR. Considering the random outbursts that come out of this room, I'm surprised I haven't been approached to take some kind of chemical test. Technorati Tags: humor, cats, uncyclopedia Tuesday, January 03, 2006 Posted by philgomes 8:18 PM The Costwall Is Dying The Costwall Is Dying Mike Masnick at Techdirt points me to something I hope becomes more of a trend: Time Warner has freed up its content from the costwall barrier. Tell me this... What would you recommend to The New York Times? I've always said that I'd gladly pay for access to the most recent two days' worth of stories, but would prefer that they open up their archives. Technorati Tags: new york times, publishing, time warner, business 2.0, money, fortune HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.