Chapel of Love (and Other PR Blog Jots)

Another Take on Strumpette
Tough Sledding
The stories coming out of the woodwork recently after the anonymous and controversial PR blogger known as Strumpette decided to call it quits have often called out the elusive “Ms. Chapel” as a bully, and in some cases accusing “her” of out-and-out harassment. Strumpette was partially interesting because she was so polarizing; some delighted in despising “her,” and others defended the blog as a necessary evil in the battle for transparency and against hypocrisy in the PR business. Bill Sledzik, a defender, lays out some interesting arguments for why the at-times vulgar blog was so important, and wonders if those calling for Chapel’s head didn’t just let her get under their skin a bit too much. “Some of the more sensitive folks in the b-sphere have accused Amanda of harassment and worse. In fact, she was simply a heckler and a bully, precisely the character her creators intended. As I said earlier, it’s theater. She shouted, she jabbed, she provoked. And if you flinched, she owned you. Amanda was always baiting, and many played along. In the end, no blood was spilled, no wounds inflicted — and only a few egos bruised.”

State of the SMR
PR 2.0
Brian Solis and Todd Defren collaborated on a long examination of the current state of the social media release, and where it needs to go to take hold in the mainstream. They highlight a point I’d actually not thoroughly considered: the difference between a multimedia release and an SMR. The two are similar creatures, but with several major distinctions, notably that the SMR requires “socialization” in a way a traditional or multimedia release does not. It needs to have features in place allowing it to turn up in specific blogosphere search engines, and Tehcnorati tags aren’t enough. A release can feature links, news bullets, video and other multimedia content, but if it’s not findable on Technorati and doesn’t allow for a two-way conversation with its audience, it’s not a real SMR. “Social Media Releases may look similar to today’s multimedia releases in format, structure and design, but depending on a series of factors, they have the ability to open up dialog in a way not possible with traditional or multimedia releases.”

Big Pharma Goes Social?
Social Media Marketing
I imagine that of all the corporations rushing to join the social media frenzy, the pharmaceutical industry must be one of the more cautious; their industry isn’t one that seems like it would openly embrace the transparency that social media requires. This is not to say I picture “big pharma” as the moustache twirlers in a silent movie (as some do), but there are real concerns involved in the industry (privacy, competition, intellectual property) that require playing their hands a bit closer to the vest, so to speak. This is why Scott Monty’s post intrigued me, as he reports on the collaboration between Pfizer and Sermo to create a social networking site. Scott points out that the partnership may change b-to-b sales for pharmaceuticals, a big step up from the days of “free pens and samples.” “With the Sermo partnership, Pfizer gets access to Sermo's 31,000 licensed physicians and can interact with them directly. While the users in the network remain anonymous, Pfizer doctors who ask and answer questions are identified as being from Pfizer. The upside? The Wisdom of Crowds comes into play and the community calls out a biased post or comes to the defense of a peer. And a large population of physicians gets the same message at the same time.”