Archive for November, 2009

Online ratings skewed by advocates

Monday, November 30th, 2009

The average rating from an online reviewer on a five star scale is 4.4. For some products it’s higher, and for others it’s not much lower.
While the internet allows many outlets for consumers to reflect on products or services and companies even base their business by hiring critics to analyze the options provided by brands [...]

After all, what is the difference between a blogger and a journalist?

Monday, November 30th, 2009

The FTC is looking into the possibility of banning bloggers from accepting gifts or products from companies. Some businesses have found a way to sway popular bloggers to be there advocates in hopes that the blogger in turn will write about their company favorably or pitch a product.
With the mission to protect consumers in mind, [...]

Badvocacy Part IV

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Believe it or not, badvocates aren’t all bad.
Without criticism how else would companies determine where they’re lacking?
The key to being successful with the alteration in public relations for companies through modern social mediums presented by the Internet is to take preventative measures.
Big companies need to monitor what is being said about them online, and from [...]

Badvocacy Part III: Taylor Guitar Catastrophe

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

In March of 2008, the lead singer of a band called the Sons of Maxwell, Dave Carroll, flew with United Airlines while on tour. Along with him, he checked in a $3500 Taylor Guitar. When the plane landed for a stopover during the trip, passengers reportedly saw a loading crew vigorously handling several luggage items, [...]

Badvocacy Part II

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

But with the age of the Internet, these badvocates can have more of an impact than ever before.
Through posting on blogs, submitting online consumer reviews, tweeting on twitter, and updating their status on Facebook, consumers publish their thoughts to a community wider than just their own circle of close friends. They’re telling co-workers, relatives, acquaintances [...]

Badvocacy Part I

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Badvocacy? It may be a new term, but definitely not a new concept. Whenever a product or service is produced, people will give feedback. This feedback is generally from either good or bad.
In a little booklet  called The Good Book of Badvocacy produced by Weber Shandwick, one of, if not the largest global public relations [...]

Tweeting News

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

More and more people are turning to twitter for news up to the minute. I also feel that many of Twitter users believe the messages channeled from citizen journalists and various twitter users as fact nearly $100 percent of the time. Twitter can certainly be used as an excellent source of up to date news. [...]

Selling Cake Mix

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Who looks at the back of the box? Cake is cake, it’s sold by the picture on the box right?  Wrong. Cake mix boxes prove to have just as much value on their back as the front.
Today is my birthday. And my husband went out to purchase a cake mix to make a little birthday [...]

More on Citizen Journalism

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Hate journalists or not, at least you can trust them to a point. They can’t lie. If they do and get caught they’ve broken the law and can be sued and cause serious damage to their organization. Editors at such organizations are dedicated to finding holes in stories.
Citizen journalist are not held to such a [...]

Wikipedia: the epitome of citizen journalism

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Twitter and Blogging changes the World of Journalism, You tube comment boxes change the world of
The Internet brought us a connection different from any other experienced prior. Through social media connections and the birth of the Internet, citizen journalism too was born.
Citizen  journalism is the participation in generating news by anyone, it’s primarily fueld by [...]