Well, it's actually been a little bit and since I haven't updated this site in a while, I figured I should check back and let my reader :)  know that I've officially moved.  

 

I'm now blogging over at Vox: http://rollingalong.vox.com/  Where I talk about my PR world and everything else.    So if you are interested in hearing about new devices from HTC, what's going on at Amazon.com, new Microsoft SPOT products or recently the world of HD TV as brought to you by Texas Instruments DLP division - that's where to go.   

 

It's been a little slow starting, and getting the time to get going but I'll get there so have some patience.    Perhaps I'll jump back here though every once in a while..... okay maybe not.  

 

 

First of all let me explain that I’m in PR, but I don’t at all consider this a “PR blog.”   I may on occasion talk about PR issues, but mostly I just say what I want to say.   For me, this is an experience, personal and professional but its solely for me.   I’m not in a habit of blogging about my employer, or my clients.   I’m not so grandiose to think that every blogger (or anyone for that fact) is hanging on my every word.   What’s even more ridiculous is there are PR “bloggers” out there who think just that.    I’ve ran across those people in the PR industry who are more interested in their own personal fame and in telling everyone what they think but when it comes to really listening they fall incredibly short.  

If you aren’t listening to what your client really wants and infusing that with what you believe they need, then you aren’t doing that client any justice.    I’ve had to work long and hard on my listening skills, not just from a work perspective but personal as well.   In doing so, you become more astute at how other people listen (or don’t in many cases).    In short, most PR bloggers I’ve ran across are more about self-aggrandizing and pontificating their view of things in a PR-vein that it serves nobody’s purpose but their own.    CAVEAT: I realize this is a huge generalization and I do know that there are lots of great PR blogs out there but I don’t have the time, nor the energy to seek them out.    I would rather read about my friend Mike’s adventures in Mormon Porn (don’t ask you would really have to know him to truly understand). 

Unfortunately, he’s on MySpace and I hate that site.    Not because I’m on MSNSpaces – that has it’s own challenges and difficulties – but merely because it’s incredibly difficult to navigate and find things.    Mike is an incredibly talented writer with a creative mind.   Plus I’ve known him for well over 10 years, okay it’s probably more like 15 but who’s counting.     We’ve kept an ongoing relationship and keeps me up on what’s been happening in the ‘hood where I used to play as a young adult.    The hood is Cincinnati, once a bright and thriving night culture that despite random occurences was relatively safe.   Now, I doubt I would go there without a large group and wouldn’t stay too late.   He’s still a DJ and works at the Cincinnati Public Library, although he really should be doing some creative writing somewhere.       The weird thing is I haven’t heard from him in a while and I sent him a quick email today because I ran across this really interesting blog that immediately made me think of him.   Those kinds of actions, to me, are more of a social network than MySpace.   However, as a DJ that is probably the best place for him to be.  

So yes, got off topic of why PR bloggers annoy me.   Why state the obvious of how blogs or “new media” are changing the way we do our jobs?  Most people should know that, especially if they are reading your blog.     Don’t tell ME, tell the clients who are keeping you in business.   At the end of the day, aren’t they the ones who are paying you to help them?    Yeah, it would be awesome if I got paid to sit around troll all the “a-listers” and make myself look larger than life because that wouldn’t be too hard.   I’m actually glad that several of our agency leaders haven’t started an external blog because I get more of an inside scoop reading about it on our intranet.   Plus, they really are way too busy for that.   And the leaders that do have an outside voice, like Lynann, do so in such a way that compliments what we are doing internally.    It goes back to why I blog – to learn, to experience and to have my own voice about what I want to talk about and PR is not really that interesting to write about.  

Oh no, poor Ponzi!   Chris and Ponzi went to Maui and apparently she's having a really difficult time dealing with his attitude.    She took a bold move and has vented on her blog, which I think is very brave but I was more shocked at the comments.    Perhaps that is the price you pay for having an exposed relationshio.    I have a hard time even mentioning my hubby on here, not because I don't love him but more because I value our private times.   I also have a ton of girlfriends that I can vent too, which is important.  

 

Ponzi - what you need when you get back to Seattle is a fun and rowdy girls night out!  If you want to come hang out with the rollergirls, you should know how to reach me.    Try to cheer up and enjoy the rest of your vacation because the rest of us in Seattle are really jealous.  

 

And Chris - It has barely rained since you left!   Try to enjoy Hawaii or better yet, let Ponzi enjoy it.  

Not sure if this is interesting or not but PubSub has released a list of PR blogs.    (heavy sigh) I honestly don't see why PR people are blogging about PR, there are interesting correlations to draw but for the most part WHO is their audience?    New clients?   Other PR people?  The industry at large?    Every time I read one of them, I'm left feeling like there was nothing new there.