Author Archives: Michael Whitlow

Can Social Media Help Blunt “Mean” Greens Influence?

So, in the latest turn of events in the pell-mell race to “sustainable” and “green” and “post-consumer” products, we hear  from researchers that green people are mean people? C’mon!? The Guardian pulls this one out from the journal Psychological Science, quoting psychologists Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo-Zhong, who say that those who wear their green consumerism on their [...]

PR has Social Media “Buffet” Problem

I heard a great analogy this weekend in a discussion about the online theft of music versus the continuing propensity of Boomers and Gen-Xers (almost alone in this) to still pay for their music in the form of CDs or iTunes purchases. The remark went something like this: “Just because you’re able to observe my behavior at [...]

The Trust Veneer Problem in Social Media

Yet another trip. Yet another lost bag.
I am increasingly aware of the challenges businesses face in earning real trust, and this week I was left (without a change of clothes) to ponder yet again just what is going wrong in this regard. My airline can’t get me and my luggage to the same place at the same time. My car has [...]

PGA Shanks Tiger Woods Decision

Eventually, it had to happen. Tiger Woods had to speak in “public” about his, uh, situation.
But, did official golfdom have to provide the venue?
Enough has been said about Tiger to fill several PR crisis communications classes, and the true, sad fact of this matter is that too many of us still care too much about [...]

Sharing Awe

I’m often asked by clients just what it takes to “go viral” or “get a million views.” It’s really quite simple, it appears. All you need is awe.

There is nothing more interesting than human relationships and responses, even in the virtual world, and humans use relationships to spread happiness. The British Medical Journal said that social networks may spread [...]

Toyota Took Risks. Did PR Know?

The recent massive recall at Toyota, aside from breathing new life into a moribund General Motors (an Obama conspiracy?), raises an interesting question for public relations folks. If your management makes a conscious decision to take more risks in manufacturing, is it also obligated to communicate this strategy’s potential impact to stakeholders, particularly customers and investors?
The Lean [...]

Showing Love Increases PR Influence

We were sitting in an agency board meeting the other day, and our chairman posed an important question. To paraphrase: ”Are showing our clients enough love?”
We counsel on employee and community engagement. We work for Satmetrix, a great customer experience and relationship company. Yet, in trying to help bring success to our clients, we may be allowing ourselves [...]

Conan Interruptus – Socializing Old Media

There is nothing like a PR disaster to get the ol’ buzz rolling, and the ongoing mess surrounding NBC’s evening lineup has added some fun for those of us who don’t have to deal with it from the inside or for any of the sparring camps representing the hosts.  The move to push Conan O’Brien off the air [...]

10 Years From Now – A Look Back

Again this year, I got links to dozens of those inevitable posts that come up at the beginning and end of a year. All this got me to thinking about both inevitability about wishes for the future. An email from a friend came also, remindin me of a whole list of things that weren’t around in the olden days [...]

Facebook Privacy Suit Holds Caution for PR

There is nothing quite like a social media dustup. Most are literal tempests in teapots. Even if the teapot represents 100s of millions of participants, and even if thousands and even millions get all bent out of shape about something, there’s usually not so much as a ripple created in the analog world by events in [...]