According to several recent research studies and industry surveys, the economic impact of the current recession on the PR efforts of companies in the United States has been somewhat modest compared to other industries. Communication budgets may have shrunk a bit and purse strings are being watched more closely, but on average, PR firms have been holding their own. By avoiding dramatic reductions in staff, reducing payments to external agencies, and freezing or reducing salaries for internal employees, most PR firms are succeeding in meeting the challenges of the economic downturn. (more…)

Congrats to Cameron Johnson for making it to the finals of Oprah’s Big Give. Cameron’s background in starting over a dozen businesses and his scrappy fundraising style have made him a top contender in this Sunday’s finale. (ABC 8/7 CT)

Also, check Cameron out LIVE on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Monday April 21st.

Congratulations Cameron for all of your hard work!

[tags]oprahs big give, oprah big give finalists, cameron johnson[/tags]

Web 2.0 is arguably the hottest buzzword of 2007. Most smart PR people are integrating the social concepts of Web 2.0 into campaigns, encouraging clients to start blogs, incorporate video into product launches, and join in social networked communities like Facebook and MySpace.

With the increased amount of user generated content on the internet, it can be argued that information overload could be the death of Web 2.0.

(more…)

I briefly discussed during my last post about the impact of Web 2.0 and used blogging as an actual impact tool for the newest sharing universe. The example cited the astonishing domino effect of using the blogosphere to track Katrina survivors. The basic idea of blogging is fairly simple; it’s the easiest, quickest web publishing tool that is, in essence, available to anyone with an internet connection and something to say. From Match.com to MySpace, blogging has also become one of the most common methods of communication within social networks. However, this new, widely accepted tool can also be your own personal soapbox, allowing the writer to sound-off about almost anything on their mind and they can do it almost instantly. This trudges-up a growing unease surrounding the ‘policing’ of the blogosphere. Newspapers, magazines and other preceding forms of a publishing have editors, publishers and even attorneys keeping a watchful eye on what is being printed in their publications. Should blogs adhere to the same rules of engagement? Or does that defeat the purpose of a blog altogether? Journalists adhere to a strict code of ethics but if a blogger isn’t technically a trained journalist, does that mean they have to adhere to these ethics as well? Does libel exist in the blogosphere? Where and what ARE the ethics?

(more…)

Ted Murphy, Payperpost  founder highlights the in and outs of the newest ways to generate buzz on products and services.

Click Here To Watch The Interview!

[tags]payperpost, ted murphy[/tags]