Cool PR Tools

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I've been tinkering of late with several tools for PR pros, and thought I'd share my observations. No I don't intend to extoll the purported PR value of Pinterest. My ears did perk when I learned that the hyperbolic social-pinning site reportedly is now the biggest traffic driver to women's magazine websites. Mashable's Lauran Indvik notes:

"Beginning this summer, Pinterest became the top social referrer for marthastewartweddings.com and marthastewart.com, sending more traffic to both properties than Facebook and Twitter combined."

Not too shabby. Still, all those faddish pieces on Pinterest for PR have me scratching my head...for now. Instead, I took a look at three PR-centric apps: GroupHigh, ToutApp and Muckrack Pro, all of which operate as subscription models with each tackling a different dimension of the "earned" piece of the media equation.

GroupHigh describes itself as:

a "blog outreach solution" that "provides a simple, yet powerful platform for firms that build and manage relationships with bloggers. Our clients don't build spreadsheets of blog data; GroupHigh automates the research of SEO, Social, and Blog-Related statistics for them..."

The site set out to catalogue, rank, and make keyword searchable more than 1.3 million blogs in the U.S., Canada and the UK. Its engine gives the user a tool to find (and engage - yes contact info too where available) those bloggers who often are missing or have incomplete info in the large media databases like Cision or Vocus.

Also, at my urging, the company recently cast a wider net to capture bloggers at mainstream news outlets to its already substantive database of independent bloggers. As for the name, your guess is as good as mine. (Pass the bong?) Possible competitor: Blogdash.

ToutApp describes itself as:

"an email management platform that allows users to create and save email shortcuts and track when recipients open email."

For any PR person left in the lurch wondering about the fate of his or her perfect email pitch (that would be all of us), it is a revelation. The browser-based app lets you create an email  pitch template, send it, and track whether the recipient viewed it, and if so, how many times and from what ISP and browser.

It's not fool proof. I've had replies from reporters I've pitched whose views Tout never registered. Still, if it's a read you want, Tout provides some relief -- for better or worse. The app, btw, was incubated in the 500 Startups accelerator program and includes Esther Dyson and Dave McClure as investors. Possible competitor: Silverpop.

MuckRack Pro has access to Twitter's firehose going back much longer than average Joes like you or me. Furthermore, Muckrack, founded by the same company that started Listorious and The Shorty Awards, focuses exclusively on big-time (i.e., mainstream) media and their journalists who are active on Twitter.

The site tracks, by topic, what thousands of reporters are saying or linking to. So if you're looking to learn in real time what reporters are tweeting about a company, client, issue or anything else for that matter,  this is the place for you to search. It also has the ability to push tweets, by keyword, your way.  Possible competitor: Bottlenose, though not exactly.

The Analyst Who Erred

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I'm really liking my iPad 2, though perhaps less so now that it's a done-deal for a 4G-enabled iPad 3 come March 7. Oh well. Personal technology marches on, albeit too fast sometimes for my comfort.

The one significant drawback with the iPad -- something everyone seems to acknowledge -- is its inability to efficiently process words, crunch numbers or create presentations. I'm tempted to buy a bluetooth keyboard or even that plastic overlay to ease the burden.

Could this be the answer?



Nah. The problem seems much bigger than ergonomics. I need MS Office! Yes. I said it.  I like Microsoft. (Bing excluded)

While I migrated away from Windows-based machines several years ago, MS Word, Excel and to a shrinking degree, Powerpoint, remain my default productivity tools.

Imagine my delight when I heard the good news this week from -- of all places -- Rupert Murdoch's "killer" iPad news app The Daily. Matt Hickey wrote:

"An exact launch date is unknown, but the design team has since wrapped up the project, meaning it could be released in the coming weeks."

Please please please be true. After the rumors first started swirling around the much-needed MS Office suite for iOS, some analyst decided to throw cold water on the whole meme. He set in motion a media frenzy wherein AllThings big and small followed his lead to kabash the idea. Here's the essence:

"If you’re hoping Microsoft might someday release a version of Office for Apple’s iPad, prepare to be disappointed."

Writing today for TheNextWeb, Alex Wilhelm sheds some light on the rumor mill and frankly, the sometimes misguided influence of a so-called influencer.

"Here’s the gist: nearly every analyst out there is just that – a person thinking and saying things. A few are fantastic, but they are the rare exception, the anti-rule, if you will. Mostly, analysts simply want to get their name out there, and do so by tossing trial balloons into the air. It wastes our time."

Piper Jaffray's Gene Muster

Maybe this also speaks to the speed with which journalists of all stripes nowadays are compelled to publish, and the commensurate likelihood of their mistakes metastasizing?

As analysts go, I think I'll stick with Apple-prognosticator Gene Muster. So, Gene, when did you say Apple TV will make its appearance?

Pinterest's Growth Scheme: Genius or Sleazy?

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Pinterest. Pinterest. Pinterest. Yikes, the noise is deafening. But will the latest social sharing site have legs? In yesterday's fawning review in The New York Times, David Pogue cites Pinterest's claim to be:

"...the fastest Web site in history to break the 10-million-visitors-a-month threshold."

Fortune's Dan Primack asks

"How to slow Pinsanity. Nothing gets tech bloggers more hot and bothered than the next new social media thing, and right now that thing is Pinterest."

Dealbook's Evelyn Rusli chimed in with this tweet:

And the Wall Street Journal showered the site with a nice feature that rightly asks where's the money?

"Pinterest's Rite of Web Passage—Huge Traffic, No Revenue."

So how did this new darling of the social set catch fire so fast?

I'll tell you how. The site scours your Facebook friends. It then emails you with the news that one of them is now following you and suggests that you follow them back. (--->)

Here's the rub: your Facebook friend who "started following all your pinboards" is completely oblivious to the fact that he or she has done so.

You heard me.  Pinterest has exploded its user base through a fairly deceptive means of email marketing. Brad McCarty observed this nearly a week ago in his Next Web piece titled

"Pinterest is spamming your Facebook friends’ email with fake connection requests."

 Look. I get it. Every social startup needs some gimmick to ramp its user numbers. Spotify and Turntable.fm created cache (and demand) through their invite-only schemes. And how long did most of us everyday joes have to wait to get a taste of the "new" Twitter or Google+?

But the Pinterest scheme seems, well, a bit sleazy, if not outright unethical. I mean who ever gave the site permission to exploit one's Facebook friends for its own aggrandizement (and, incidentally, the boffo headlines that resulted)? Is it genius or simply scurrilous?

Didn't we just hear about Path's violation of Apple's TOS by accessing one's address book data? And today, the Wall Street Journal broke the story of how Google insidiously bypassed the iPhone, iPad's and Mac desktop's default settings for Safari that blocked access to one's browsing history?

After seeing Pogue's review, I dropped him a note about Pinterest's Facebook friends scheme. He wrote back saying he hadn't noticed. I then ran into Buzzfeed's Jonah Peretti just before he was to take the stage for his Social Media Week keynote yesterday. We chatted about Ben Smith's success in migrating his tens of thousands of Twitter followers from Politico to Buzzfeed. I then mentioned the remarkable hype around Pinterest and my observations about what's actually feeding that hype.

I attributed it to the questionable email marketing scheme and asked why he thought people weren't more vocal about this nefarious approach. He responded that unlike another startup that pushed the ethical bounds of email marketing -- Plaxo -- people actually like using Pinterest, and because of that, are willing to give it a pass.

OK People. Pin on!

Whitney, Twitter & SONY's Tin Ear

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Whitney Houston's untimely demise produced all sorts of fodder for those following the machinations of the media and marketing worlds. Here's a topline starting with a tweet from Mashable's Pete Cashmore:

@petecashmore Twitter Breaks News of Whitney Houston Death 27 Minutes Before Press RT @mashable From the Mashable write-up: "Twenty-seven minutes before mainstream media broke the news of Whitney Houston’s death on Saturday night, the story was on Twitter, reported by a man who tweeted the news out to his 14 followers."

Of course, Twitter broke the news. Mainstream journalists are neither omniscient nor omnipresent. Didn't some randoid in Pakistan unwittingly raise the first red flag when he tweeted about those helicopters hovering over Osama Bin Laden's hideaway? Or wasn't a man-on-the-street first to observe and tweet Captain Sully Sullenberger's miraculous landing of a jetliner in Hudson River? Get used to it.

As for the mainstream media, the AP's "official" tweet of Ms. Houston's sudden death was itself re-tweeted some 10,000 times, which is not too shabby by anyone's standards. Maybe AP's new social media editor Eric Carvin now has the ammunition to convince his bosses to lighten up and get in on the Twitter thang, which we'll be discussing Tuesday (2/14) in a session titled "Socializing the News."  You can watch a live webcast here starting at 12:15pm ET.  Topsy Media reported:

"2.5 million tweets an hour...with link accolades going to MSNBC for the most retweeted article after the news broke. It had 13,000 tweets linking to it. Friends, musicians and celebrities also took to Twitter: Rapper Lil Wayne held the record with over 29,000 retweets. Justin Bieber had 15,000, Nicki Minaj (8,739), Katy Perry (8,394), Mariah Carey (6,305) and Christina Aguillera (4,321)."

Grammys by the Numbers (via CBS/Bluefin Labs)

Whitney's death also helped the Grammy Awards oust the Super Bowl telecast as the mayor of all socially driven TV programs. Some 31 million people commented on the telecast. On the BostInno site, Bluefin Labs crunched the numbers:

"Super Bowl XLVI enticed people to leave 12.2 million social media comments about the game. I abstained because it hurts to type when you’ve chewed your fingernails off in anticipation. And then, just a week later, the Grammy Awards trumped the record set by those who watched the second worst Super Bowl ever. Thirteen million comments were made about the 54th annual ceremony, which represents a 2,280% increase from the year before."

If your keen on the second screen phenomenon (and in NYC this week for Social Media Week), try to stop by Hearst Tower on Thursday at 10am to hear a session I helped organize called "The Dawn of Companion TV." An executive from Bluefin Labs will be joined by execs from HBO/Cinemax, Bravo, Umami TV, and GetGlue in a panel moderated by Natan Edelsburg of Lost Remote, which keeps tabs on all things social TV.

Finally, on a more sobering note -- not that Whitney's passing could be any more sobering -- we learn that within 30 minutes of her death, SONY Music raised the prices for her music from iTunes to Amazon.   Here's how VentureBeat led with its piece titled "Shameful...":

"As much criticism as record labels receive for how they treat artists, Sony Music might take the cake. The company pulled the ultimate in shameful activities this weekend by raising the price on Whitney Houston’s Ultimate Collection album on iTunes and Amazon within 30 minutes of her death on Saturday."

Wouldn't SONY have gained so much more by reducing the price of its Whitney Houston catalogue? Instead, the company, which has had its share of problems in recent years, will have to face the music once again for having a tin ear.

 UPDATE (Feb 14): SONY MUSIC says price rise was "a mistake."

The Social Majority

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In a November 1969 speech, the much beleaguered U.S. President Richard Nixon borrowed a page from the Frank Luntz book of deceptive, but catchy phrases when he said:

"And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support."

The term silent majority entered the American lexicon. It was a euphemism for all those domiciled Americans Mr. Nixon believed represented the prevailing sentiment on the issues of the day, but lacked the wherewithal to express themselves. Personally, I never believed that a majority of Americans -- silent or not -- supported the policies of this infamous President, especially as it concerned the Vietnam War. (The GOP had an uncanny way of misconstruing reality even back then.)

Surveying the current political landscape, I believe that today's silent majority -- the ideological antithesis of those Mr. Nixon imagined -- has found an effective means to have their voices heard, often from the comfort of their own homes. Three recent incidents have led me to this conclusion: the Komen reversal, the SOPA defeat & BofA's withdrawal of its $5 debit card fee.

As Congress debated both SOPA and PIPA -- two bills that could indelibly change the open nature of the Internet -- the social majority flexed its muscles. It produced a groundswell of popular defiance that manifested on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, which in turn migrated into mainstream news reports. The social majority produced such a loud drumbeat, it compelled any self-preserving lawmaker to withdraw his/her support for the bills.

SOPA Congressional Support: Before & After

A Huffington Post infographic-driven post titled "Stop SOPA: How People And Social Media Changed Lawmakers' Minds," asked:

"So what changed these politicians minds about the Stop Online Piracy Act and its Senate equivalent, the Protect IP Act? And what got other lawmakers -- who had previously said nothing about the two bills -- to suddenly come out against them?

A new graphic from visual.ly suggests both the blackout and pressure from citizens who became more aware of what the two bills could do to certain websites deserve credit for the reversals."

As for the Susan B. Komen debacle on which every PR pundit I know has already weighed in, it's significant to note how the social majority once again showed their strength via their keyboards and mobile devices.

This newly empowered plurality of Americans forced the organization into a 180-degree change in policy and its in-house Republican operative (who I suspect colluded with the Florida Congressman) to resign. Writng for Social Media Today, Glenn Gaudet warns:

"Brands beware. The era of social advocacy is here, and you better be engaged, or the good work you’ve done for years can be placed in jeopardy in a minute. Just ask the Susan G Komen Foundation which is reeling due to a backlash fueled by social media."

From Gaudet's post: Consider that a search of the “Susan G. Komen Foundation” on Facebook now yields a growing list of anti-Komen pages as the top of the search results.

Things did not fare much better over on Twitter. The Komen Foundation’s Twitter posting activity prior to the crisis was minimal, which is to be expected, but when the crisis hit, their reach grew to nearly 1 million.

These examples provide a glimpse of the power of the social majority to persuade and produce tangible results. This is especially significant as we enter what will be the most acrimonious election seasons in modern history.

In spite of Mr. Obama's shortcomings, 83% of Americans supported the policy proposals he floated in his State of the Union address. This fact alone bodes well for his political prospects -- that is, of course, if the social majority rallies behind him.

Facebook Search on Komen after its Fateful Decision

HuffPost's namesake Arianna Huffington weighed in on the phenomenon:

"The recent reversal by the Susan G. Komen foundation of its decision to no longer fund grants to Planned Parenthood has, rightly, been hailed by many as a victory for the galvanizing power of the Internet. This comes not long after similar instances of Internet-fueled wins, such as the reversal of Bank of America's decision to impose a $5 debit card fee late last year, and the derailing of the Stop Online Piracy Act in January."

Ms. Huffington continues:


"Of course, the social media element in this story can't be overstated. It's what gave the public the power to fight back against this overt politicization. In fact, the story is a case study in how radically social media have changed the way institutions relate to those they purport to serve. And it's not just by giving the public a microphone -- but also by serving as a real-time X-ray machine able to see through and vet motives and decision-making rationales." 

Twitter Activity: Komen vs. Planned Parethood

It is my opinion that Mr. Nixon's once-silent majority -- to whom social media has now given voice -- are not whom Mr. Nixon envisioned when he called on them for their support. In fact, I'm sure he is turning over in his grave at the thought of who they actually are and what their new-found power of political persuasion portends.  I imagine his progeny also are unsettled by this.

Commander in Control

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One of the points I had hoped to emphasize in my last post was that Twitter, blogging, Facebook and Google+ offer an even more controlled communications environment than what a fastidiously prepped/messaged executive might face in a media interview.

David Carr may give Rupert Murdoch props for his more authentic Twitter persona, but it's Mr. Murdoch who's thumbing his nose at Mr. Carr and his colleagues in the Fourth Estate whose journalistic scrutiny Twitter has allowed him to sidestep.

This week, we're witness to another example of this "command(er) and control" approach to making one's POV heard in a less fettered manner. Our President participated in a Google+ Hangout.  In her piece titled "Obama finds virtual end-around to bypass the White House press," Amy Parnes wrote in  The Hill:

"The virtual interview is part of a larger effort by the White House to connect directly to Americans without going through the news media."

In his defense of Mr. Obama's media public availability, White House press secretary Jay Carney said:

"I know we’re not picking the questions," then quipped: "Would that we could."

Journalists were not too pleased:

"I worry sometimes that the administration subverts the Wild West appeal of new media by rather scrupulously scrubbing and screening questions — like they have done in various new media town-hall settings," said Julie Mason, a talk show host on Sirius-XM.

Here's the full hour-long session:



Truth be told, communications pros have more options available to them than ever before. I, for one, am not discounting the value of "earned" media, especially when one considers the still-dominant digital and social footprints generated by stories originating in stalwart news orgs such as The New York Times, Bloomberg or Reuters. Didn't HP's study of some widely shared stories on Twitter validate this?

On the flip side of the coin, when was the last time Google subjected itself to a media interview? When it wants to make news, it simply posts what it wishes to say on one of the company's blogs. Those that stalk Google soon are tweeting away until the world knows what Google wanted it to know.

This "owned media" strategy for delivering unfiltered prose is especially effective when it emanates from a company in the media spotlight or a recognized newsmaker or newsmaking enterprise. As Tom Foremski astutely noted, all companies are media companies today. Now we just have to figure out how best to call out those who use their new-found platforms-to-persuade for nefarious ends.

Then again, most don't. I'm looking forward to CNBC's Darren Rovell's Google+ Hangout on Monday following the Giants victory over the Pats this weekend!