NevOn

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #113: February 20, 2006

Content summary: Luke Armour's PR paper download; New Communications Forum 2006; announcing IABC conference podcasts; what we've been up to this past week; the Techcrunch party; IABC Communication Commons launches; influential authorities on business blogging - survey; WELS goes to the next level; the Guinness UK marketing blog; Donald Rumsfeld's call for better US government PR; Robert Scoble shoutout; Lee Hopkins report; listeners' comments discussion; FIR community on Frappr; the music; and much more.

Show notes for February 20, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, an 86-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 35MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

Intro:

• 00:28 Shel introduces the show; what the show’s about; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in today’s show
• 02:03 Luke Armour's PR report available for download (PDF)
• 02:40 Shel and Neville will be running a workshop on podcasting at the New Communications Forum in Palo Alto from March 1-3
• 07:00 Announcing IABC conference podcasts - we'll be producing a series leading up to and during the IABC 2006 International Conference in Vancouver, Canada, from June 4-7
• 08:51 Our first time back together live for a while: we recap on what we've been up to - Shel: travel, client work, Techcrunch party, lunch with Robert Scoble; Neville: travel, client work, Manchester conference, knocked for six, preparing new blog
• Neville's writing a review of Naked Conversations for IABC's Communication World magazine

News and Commentary:

• 17:22 IABC Communication Commons launches
• 22:51 Onalytica survey: influential authorities on business blogging - what's the difference between influence and popularity?
• 36:31 WELS goes to the next level with RSS
• 42:43 Guinness UK launches a marketing blog - and it's good
• 51:35 US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls for better US government PR
• 56:23 Robert Scoble shouts out! (out-take version first)
• 58:53 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - weather RSS feeds and TV news broadcasters; FeedDemon2 beta; serendipitous reads and why blogrolls shouldn't disappear any day soon; Newbie Nifty Nev and the Podcast Institute.

Listeners' Comments Discussion:

• 71:04 Steve Rubel responds to our commentary last Thursday on his move to Edelman
• 73:36 Howard Harawitz with a tip on the role of a blog in teaching journalism

Outro:

• 76:44 Neville wraps the show; let us know your views about today’s discussions; how and where to send your comments; where to find the show notes
• 78:37 The growing FIR community on Frappr
• 80:09 Only Shel live for next Thursday's show with recorded contributions from Neville
• 81:00 Outro podsafe music via the Podasfe Music Network - The Engine Driver by The Decemberists

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at [email protected], or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday February 23...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Imagine if Chevron had used a blog instead

Listening this morning to a BBC World Service radio interview with Peter Robertson, vice-chairman of the Chevron oil company, I was struck in particular by his commentary about a website where the public can join Chevron in an online discussion about the future of energy.

Overall, I found it a fascinating interview, with its discussion of wide-ranging topics including the future of energy, the evolving role of the energy industry (the oil companies) and corporate social responsibility. From a PR point of view, I think Robertson did a pretty good job for his company.

Concerning the online discussion, Robertson was talking about willyoujoinus.com, a website sponsored by Chevron, that's facilitating some discussion about the future of energy and what people think about it.

From a broad look around the site, and judging from the detailed information in Chevron's Community Guidelines page, this is actually a substantial undertaking (and clearly part of a broad public affairs effort):

The willyoujoinus.com discussion forum was created as a place for individuals and groups to exchange ideas on important energy issues. It is also a place for users to read, consider, respond, and perhaps be inspired to take individual or collective action in an environment of mutual respect.

To contribute your opinions, you have to register. And your comments are moderated:

Experienced outside moderators have been assigned to ensure that postings are relevant and appropriate, and otherwise meet the site’s community guidelines as described below.

All postings will be reviewed by moderators and published on the site within 24 hours if determined to be within these guidelines.

That's fine - comment moderation is hardly unheard of and, as long as the policy is clearly stated, unlikely to confuse participants nor set any wrong expectations.

The concept of this effort by Chevron - provide a place online where people can participate in broadly open discussion on a topical issue - is very good, precisely the kind of thing where a blog could work well as that place for open, even if moderated, discussion.

But willyoujoinus.com is not a blog. Instead it's a beautifully-designed and clearly well thought through corporate website with some blog-like naming (the words 'post' and 'comment' are used, for instance).

It's gatekeeper heaven, too, with its completely un-blog-like methodology of contributing your opinions via a web form that goes off to some unknown person or group of moderators  - what Chevron describes as "experienced outside moderators" (without giving a sense of who these people are: could be the PR agency for all I know) and, elsewhere in the site, as "contracted specialists in community moderation" (sounds scary!).

Imagine if Chevron had used a blog instead. With RSS feeds. With trackback capability. It could certainly still require registration and login in order for anyone to participate, and have comment moderation.

Most important, though, a blog could give this place personality and authenticity - two of the attributes which it currently and starkly lacks. And identify who the moderators are. Build some trust.

You're about 80 percent there with this, Chevron. Why not go the full 100? Put your pedal to the metal!

New FeedDemon beta released

Beta 2 of FeedDemon 2, the RSS aggregator for Windows, was released this week. If you've been testing FD's development versions since release 1.5, this latest beta is worth getting.

I've just installed it and the first thing I notice is how much faster the application seems to be overall compared to beta 1. The release notes outline a long list of additions, changes and fixes since that first beta.

Sweet.

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #112: February 16, 2006

Content summary: Steve Rubel and Micro Persuasion move to Edelman; approaching communication issues using new media; delivering the new PR in Manchester; has PR figured out podcasting yet?; Technorati and the Magic Middle; Dan York's report; listeners' comments discussion; the music; and more.

Show notes for February 16, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 77-minute podcast recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and almost live from Des Moines, Iowa, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 36MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

• Detailed show notes to come

Content start points guide -
- Intro 00:28
- News and Commentary 03:10
- Listeners' Comments Discussion 51:50
- Outro 70:23

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at [email protected], or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday February 20...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Ridiculous wifi charges

Sitting in departure lounge 3 at Schiphol airport, waiting for my flight to Manchester. As is natural at times and places like this when you have a spare sixty minutes or so, I connect to the net to pick up email and to see what's going on.

I tell you, Schiphol's wifi pricing is about the most ridiculous I've seen anywhere. Two payment choices - either 6 euro for 30 minutes or 10 euro for 24 hours. Wifi service at this airport is via Attingo, a Netherlands-based company I've not come across before.

Six euro for 30 minutes! Daylight robbery! I thought Heathrow was expensive at 5 euro pounds for one hour via T-Mobile, but this is ridiculous.

Just time to check RSS feeds, maybe email as well, and rant a bit.

Oops, time's up. Jeez.

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #111: February 13, 2006

Content summary: Low ethics pay-for-placement PR; Luke Armour's PR paper; RSS software converts content into spam blogs; Eric Schwartzman interviews The New Yorker Magazine's Ken Auletta; Coca-Cola sends bloggers to Torino; NBC's The Office character blog; Lee Hopkins report; are there libel concerns with using coComment?; listeners' comments discussion; preview: potential new FIR intro music; the pros and cons of IABC and PRSA; the music and much more.

Show notes for February 13, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 91-minute podcast recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and almost live from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Download the file here (MP3, 42MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

• Detailed show notes to come

Content start points guide -
- Intro 00:28
- News and Commentary 04:08
- Listeners' Comments Discussion 59:52
- Outro 83:36

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at [email protected], or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday February 16...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Daily Telegraph's new media expansion

Another indicator of how some mainstream media see podcasting as a big opportunity - The Daily Telegraph is advertising for two Podcast Reporters/Producers:

[...] We are looking for two individuals who are capable of creating high quality and engaging Podcasts that feature comment and opinion from both internal and external sources. The successful candidates will be expected to write, voice, edit and upload audio content. A proven track record in journalism is essential. Full training will be provided on the technical aspects of the role.

The Telegraph launched its daily podcasts last November, and hired a podcast editor in December - apparently the first role of its kind in the mainstream media in the UK.

(Via Hugh Fraser)

Interesting things going on with other new media at the Telegraph - they now have ten journalists with individual blogs and a group blog.

Related Nevon post:

• Blair and Cameron podcast firsts

The New PR in Manchester

Just finalizing preparations for my participation in a terrific conference taking place in Manchester, England, this week, which sees the Angels of The North team reunited again - Philip Young, Chris Rushton, Tom Murphy, Elizabeth Albrycht, Stuart Bruce and me, Neville Hobson.

Delivering The New PR – How Blogs, Podcasts and RSS Can Work For You (PDF) will take place on Wednesday 15 February at the Lancashire County Cricket Club at Old Trafford near Manchester.

Participation costs £125 +VAT for CIPR members; £145 +VAT for everyone else. Over 90 communicators have already signed up for the event. There's still space and time for more - you can sign up online.

Orchant insights continue at ZDNet

If you've been a follower of Marc Orchant's insightful commentaries over at The Office Weblog about all things to do with office productivity, cool tools, gadgets and Microsoft Office, note that he's moved house.

From the beginning of February, Marc's now blogging at ZDNet with the new Office Evolution blog. Sign up for the RSS feed here.

(I had an email from Marc ahead of his move and I meant to post about this last week. Better late than never...)

WindowBlinds workaround for Windows Vista

John Peddie's TechWatch: [...] Over 600 million PCs shipped in the last 3 years, and are still in service. These are the ones that are most logical to upgrade with the new Vista operating system. However, because of the low graphics performance of integrated graphics chips found in most of the PCs, they would not be able to take advantage of the richness and benefits of Vista's new Aero Glass GUI and the graphics-based operating system would be unusable on most of them.

I for one will definitely upgrade to Windows Vista when it appears later this year (I'm in the current beta programme).

Peddie's article, though, raises a key question - what if your computer just doesn't have the muscle for taking advanatge of some of Vista's advanced features, such as the gorgeous new interface known as Aero which offers spectacular visual effects such as glass-like interface elements that you can see through?

Well, short of upgrading or buying a new system, you can get close to the look-and-feel of much of Vista with Windows XP if you skin the operating system using a tool like WindowBlinds version 5 (the latest version).

There's a great community of developers who create imaginative WindowBlinds skins you can freely download from places like Wincustomize and DeviantART. Already there are quite a few that give you some of the elements of Vista's Aero, eg, the glassy look to the black taskbar icons, the red highlight when you hover your mouse over the X you click on to close a programme, real-time shadows, transparency, pleasing-on-the-eye typefaces, etc.

My current WindowBlinds skin config is Vista XP White by Grafdude, one of the best Vista-like skins around.

While you'll never get the exact Vista Aero look-and-feel with anything less than Vista itself, this is not a bad workaround to consider.

(Link to Peddie's article via Tech Memeorandum)

[Technorati: windows vista, vista aero, windowblinds]