09/20

I find it curious that Websense considers news surfing to be a waste of time, and that 23% of workers consider news the most addictive web content.  What is the matter with having well-informed employees?  I am not sure I understand this one, but apparently companies are taking steps to prevent employees from visiting news sites.  What's the use of using the web if you can't keep up with the world?

The study also said that employees are spending about 20 percent of their time, or 8.3 hours a week, surfing the web.  That might well be excessive depending on the  job an employee has.  For the PR business, it seems about right.

My fear is that companies will get so restrictive about Web use that employees will never learn to use it well.  It's the same as a mother standing over a child and stopping the tyke from doing anything but what the mother wants the child to do.  The child gets discouraged and it doesn't learn either because there is no room for exploration and imagination.  Like it or not, employees need fiddling time just  to see what's out there and what might help them in their work. 

Don't get heavy handed with filters.
 

09/19

The high cost of covering international events has meant that broadcasters are increasingly relying on multi-skilled staff that can deliver stories, pictures and technical know-how, a top news executive has said.

The executive was CNN's International President, Peter Cramer.

Staff are now expected to use videophones, fix telecom links and to get along without van loads of equipment that used to be sent to news scenes.  In many ways, it is back to the future because previously, a cameraman had just a camera and perhaps a field developing unit for still photos and air courier bags motion pictures.  That's how all of Vietnam was covered, for example. 

But the point Cramer was making is that the way international incidents were covered in the past was too slow.  Coverage has to be live now from news sites without delay.  Hence, correspondents and accompanying camerapersons use new technologies in real-time without backup support. 

Cramer also noted the impact of the Web on news.  News reported on the web comes from anywhere and everywhere 24 hours a day.  Hence, journalists need to know how to use the web well too.  News organizations are now thinking in terms of mini-bureaus with just one or two persons, basic equipment, Web access by laptop PCs and videophones.  They can drop into any news event in minutes or hours at the latest in the same way foreign correspondents of old could move from place to place with a portable typewriter and an overnight bag.

What this tells me is that the craft of journalism has increased based on the news imperative.  So too, the craft of the PR practitioner must increase to keep up. Yes, it's an old song that practitioners have heard again and again, but ignore at your peril.

09/18

Bear Stearns has even retained Brooks Brothers, which has a store across the street from the firm to hold a wine, cheese and shopping party with discounts for employees stumbling in with their khakis and golf shirts, so they can find suitable pin-striped wear and wingtips to match. 

What is the world coming to? 

I am known to be a hater of all things tied around the neck -- whether bow ties, neck ties, cravats or scarves.  I have tried for years to get rid of ties, only to be told that "when hell froze over," I could come to the office in casual wear.  Now, all these firms are abandoning the symbol of dot-com freedom. 

Bear Stearns understands completely the message it is sending with the new rule.  A memo sent to employees says, ``It is important, particularly in these difficult economic times, that every aspect of our business, including our dress, reflect our ongoing commitment to our clients and our business.''   In other words, you are not perceived to be as serious if you are in casual wear. 

I am not sure I agree with that philosophy, but I understand where it is coming from.  Symbols are important in public relations and the symbol of clothing is an immediate projection of an attitude that Bear Stearns wishes to project.

That is partially why public schools have flirted with wearing uniforms and why private and parochial schools often mandate them.  Many reasons are given for doing it, including avoiding "dressing wars" that girls, especially, get into.  But, in the end, a uniform expresses  seriousness of purpose that sometimes, not always, communicates itself to the wearer.  I suppose suits are supposed to do the same.

I guess it's time to change my thinking.
 

09/17

A quick way to see this is to look at headlines.  Here are a few from CNET news.

Sun puts polish on old crown
Can the company regain lost glory? It's fighting its way back, but rivals are circling like sharks

Linux worm causes peer pressure
The Slapper worm compromises thousands of servers.

Gateway names new CFO
The PC maker appoints Roderick Sherwood III to become its new chief financial officer, deposing incumbent Joseph Burke, as it continues to rebuild itself in a slowdown.

AOL steps up broadband efforts
The launch next month of the latest version of America Online's Internet service is expected to be a crucial step in the troubled giant's efforts to regain momentum.

This is a long way from an industry that made and broke fortunes in a wild West atmosphere.  It is well known that many PR units bit the dust when the Internet boom collapsed, but even before then, the industry was slowing.  Unfortunately, the PC is no longer news and software that goes into a PC is not news either.  The great Web inventions were mostly in place by 1999 and the industry has been searching for the Next Big Thing since without much luck. 

There is no need to shed a tear for high-tech.  It lasted longer than most industries before consolidating.  Even the auto industry did not sustain its wild growth period as long as high-tech did. 

The glory days may return to the industry, but even if they don't, PR practitioners can say they were there and a part of an extraordinary time.  Meanwhile, those who remain in high-tech PR have to learn to sell stories like the rest of us who handle asset-based lending, insurance and other not-so-scintillating topics.
 

 09/16

I can't forget that Lucent and its similarly distressed former parent once had the mightiest PR machine on earth.  There were thousands in the combined PR departments of AT&T and its subsidiaries and they defined for decades what the profession did and could do.  Today, the thousands are retired or scattered throughout the PR business. 

That should be a lesson to everyone in PR about so-called essential PR tasks.  Public relations might be essential, but a PR practitioner and a PR department are not.  These are important distinctions to make.  Many companies even today do not have formal PR functions.  They handle PR tasks in their own ways, and they may or may nor use PR people to do it.

Like any other business discipline, PR must show what it has done for the business lately.  This brings us back to the old headache of measurement.  I have weighed in frequently on the topic of measurement so I won't do it again here.  But, one way or another, when companies face survival tests like Lucent and AT&T are doing, they make cold and bloody decisions of what to keep and what to throw overboard.  It is remarkable how often "important" PR activities are jettisoned. 

Ask yourself when starting any PR activity just how important it is to the survival and success of your organization.  And, establish a sunset provision on PR activities you have before they become embedded.  It is better to run slim, even if you can't do as much as you would like.