Flackette

My recent lack of posting is due to a heavy workload as of late and a wedding in which I have the honorable title of bridesmaid. But don’t count me out of the blogosphere yet. I should be up and at ‘em again sometime this week.

In an earlier post I talked about Perez Hilton’s public lynching on Gawker.com. I have just been informed of another, similar incident, but one far more terrifying.

At least Perez Hilton, while having been outed for arrogance and spiteful dialogue with a PR professional, probably doesn’t have much to worry about in terms of reputation damage from this incident. For this young lawyer, however…I would say I pitied her, but she brought it on herself.

Although in the article she says she plans to go into business for herself, I have a feeling success is not in her future. You don’t piss off your community of colleagues and then expect to get ahead. The support of your peers is an important component of career advancement. And if her entrepreneurial efforts fail and she starts knocking on doors for job opportunites, this e-mail fiasco could slam them in her face. It will be interesting to track her career arc after this mishap.

Whether you are a new PR professional or a recent law school grad, always promote yourself with integrity and professionalism, and don’t let an emotional response tarnish your reputation.

Just had to share this blog post from Harold Burson, a well-known and respected PR great who recently celebrated his 85th birthday and decided to commemorate it by starting a blog on his corporate web site. His words on the advice of his father to “always be in the know” are well said and inspiring. It also gave me a very high standard to live up to in terms of my reading habits. This man has a very impressive reading list!

Reading his post made me remember what I love about the PR field (something I have been forgetting as of late while buried under the weight of media list compilation and mundane data entry): How diverse it is and the fact that it allows you to have your finger in so many pies. Not only does “being in the know” on a range of subjects make you better at your job, but it is also a fun process!

While googling for more info on Burson I found another interesting article of his that chronicles his career journey in public relations. Read it here.

Great article about Valentine’s Day pitching. The reporter outlines a number of PR “valentines” she recieved this year. My favorite?

Pepto-Bismol, the new Love Potion No. 9. “Over 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be given to lovers this Valentine’s Day… . But for tens of millions… chocolates have an unpleasant dark side… the odious flatulence that results from gastrointestinal distress.

“Interview…one of the world’s foremost experts on diet and digestion, and find out how men and women can avoid gassing out their lovers this Valentine’s Day.”

Now that’s what I call romance!

Since I am so new to the wonderful world of blogging, I have definitely had to do a lot of catch-up reading. One blog in particular that I have taken a liking to, Australian blogger Paull Young’s Young PR, has a great post about the importance of keeping up on the media on a day-to-day basis.

Paull also references another great post about this same subject from UK blogger Caroline Wilson. So many great resources to be found from our friends overseas.

To add to the already fantastic advice they gave, you should know about the beauty of RSS and news aggregators. Google Reader = my new best friend. Google Reader allows you to subscribe to feeds from all your favorite blogs and publications, so that you can scroll down and read the day’s headlines, commentary from your favorite bloggers, and anything else your heart should fancy. It saves so much time, especially when you really should be ingesting as much of the news as you possibly can.

Happy reading,

Flackette

Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton posted an interesting quote the other day that, while entertainment-related, still raises interesting questions for the rest of the blogging community and for the public relations field as well.

Do you think blogging should be controlled, and if so, how? It’s certainly a tough question because one of the great things about the internet is that it is an open forum where anyone can express their viewpoints about any subject. However, it’s a valid concern, especially when sometimes things spin out of control on the blogosphere. Read on…

Perez recently made a comment on his blog dissing a party that he was not invited to. Apparently, the publicist for the event was less than pleased with the remark, and had an e-mail interchange with Perez that went from bad to worse.

The bad: Perez seemed to think it was acceptable for him to talk positively or negatively about Hollywood depending on who will throw him a bone. Hmmm…I fail to remember the Journalistic Code of Ethics ever condoning the acceptance of favors in return for good coverage. Although I would never consider Perez’s site a reliable media source, he seemed to think he had that distinction and went on a gloriously pompous tirade on his importance in the entertainment community.

And it gets worse: Gawker “came into possession” of said interchange, exactly how is not described, and posted all e-mails along with their own commentary on Perez’s unseemly power trip. The title of Gawker’s post: “Perez Hilton Makes Us Hate Ourselves.”

Is it just slightly scary that days after swapping nasty e-mail correspondence with someone they can post your words on a well trafficked blog for all the world to see?

I find it downright frightening, especially when other blogs out there like The Bad Pitch Blog (which I read with fear and trembling) are just waiting for a public relations newbie like myself to royally screw up so they can publicly humiliate the perpetrator. Although I am grateful that The Bad Pitch Blog is there to prevent me from making embarrasing pitching mistakes, Perez’s situation goes beyond a helpful critique and into dangerous territory.

My advice: beware what you post on your blog and how you compose yourself in e-mail correspondence. You never know who is waiting to lambaste you.