I gotta rep to protect (And Other PR Blog Jots)

What makes a reputation?

Crisis Blogger has an interesting and somewhat contrarian take on the recent release of the Cision Corporate Reputation Index, which showed Microsoft and American automakers as having good corporate reputations. Crisis Blogger attributes the reversal of fortune for both entities to a “monopoly vs. underdog” situation. In Microsoft’s case, its dominance has been challenged by Google, making the tech giant seem more vulnerable. In the case of the automakers, it is the perception that they have been humbled and “they now appear weak, vulnerable, but their efforts also seem somewhat heroic. We want them to win-if not get back to dominance, at least show they can still compete well in a world increasingly dominated by smart people from Europe and Asia.”

How to pitch the “Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die!” Guy

Any PR pro who has spent any time at all in the tech space knows (or should know) the now infamous piece by Tom Foremski referred to in the title of this Jot. Bill Sledzik is a Facebook friend of Foremski’s—which is how Foremski prefers to be pitched. Why? Well, Foremski posits that if someone takes the time to follow his Facebook feed, they will understand what interests him and pitch appropriate content accordingly. I think this is perhaps a bit of a rosy assumption, given all of the bad pitching out there, but here’s to hoping this produces a good result for Foremski.

Speaking of news releases, more on the SMR

Geoff Livingston interviews Maggie Fox over at the Buzz Bin about her take on the Social Media Release in a 13-minute podcast; and Buzz Bin also interviews Shannon Whitley about how he uses SMR’s and the benefit of releases that have an online component.

Looking back at 2007, looking forward in 2008

Kami Huyse takes an insightful look social media trends from 2007, and predicts where they might head in 2008. Among the topics examined are: the rise of viral video; “birth pains” of 3D environments like Second Life; and the “misuse and abuse of social media channels,” among others.