Social Media in Politics and Business (and Other PR Blog Jots)

Candidates Using Social Media

BL Ochman

Both Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton both employ bloggers are incorporating social media into their presidential campaigns; Obama has even launched MyBarakObama.com, a send-up of MySpace social media website for constituents.  BL Ochman wonders how heavily involved the candidates are with their online endeavors. “And therein lies the rub. Will either candidate have the time or inclination to be personally involved on their social media sites, or are they just marketing ploys?”

Social Media Newsroom Changing Communications

A Shel of my Former Self

Shel Holtz praises the Social Media Newsroom template from SHIFT Communications, and notes that it marks a true evolution of the traditional online newsroom, taking it in the direction of a conversation rather than one-way communication.  The online newsroom allows for multi-media information, company-specific del.icio.us tags and accounts, RSS feeds, links to media stories, and numerous other sources previously unavailable.  “In any case, the template and presentation offer a great starting point for companies who are ready to evolve their newsrooms to accommodate more than just the traditional press, and to make their traditional press offerings relevant to outlets that want their online content to be more valuable than their print content.”

Dell News Dominating Blogosphere

PR Communications

John Cass argues that the replacement of Kevin Rollins with Michael Dell as CEO of Dell was not necessarily what caused Dell’s domination of blogosphere news in recent months.  He notes that the company’s sagging profits and customer service issues, which resulted in Dell setting up a customer service oriented blog.  Cass praises their efforts but note the company has a way to go. “The story demonstrates that any company working in a competitive technology market must pay attention to the content customers generate online or otherwise face the danger of poor results. Though hard to bear at the moment Dell will benefit from responding to customer feedback, and in turn Dell customers will benefit in return.”