Archive: July 2012

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The Beautiful Language Covering the Beautiful Game

When my family lived in the UK, one of my fondest memories came from watching Liverpool take on West Ham at Anfield. I’ll never walk alone (as the song goes). LeBron followed in my footsteps some 10 years. By the time we moved back to Silicon Valley, I was quasi hooked on futbol. I checked …more

So is the U.S. Sending 529 Athletes or 530 Athletes To the Olympics?

The London Olympics opened today. Nothing like sitting down with a beverage and spending a couple hours watching people shoot air rifles at targets. Then again, who could have predicted that poker would make good TV. Anyway, I hate to start a controversy before the competitions are in full swing. Yet, in the spirit of …more

How Nieman Lab Protects Its Twitter Turf

I like the work that comes out of Nieman Lab. While the property caters to journalists, it’s a good read for communicators who push beyond the status quo with features like “Why’s This So Good?” (reverse engineers storytelling). I’ve always thought PR professionals should spend more time analyzing the storytelling techniques in a range of …more

Social Networks in China Don’t Follow the U.S. Model

A few weeks ago I forwarded an article from a major U.S. newspaper to our China team that referred to the social network Renren as “China’s Facebook.” Their response that the story completely missed the mark planted the seed for this guest post. There’s something to be said for an on-the-ground view. Yin Mei, who …more

Top 10 Storytelling Posts From First Half of 2012 (Part II)

I shared five of my favorite posts from the past six months on Monday. Today, I roll out the second half of the list. New York Times Story on Journalism in China Is Much Ado About Nothing It doesn’t make for provocative copy, but the gray area of what constitutes “undue influence” exists everywhere. Apparently, …more

Top 10 Storytelling Posts From First Half of 2012 (Part I)

It’s hard to believe we’re already past the midway point of 2012. Time flies when you’re applying storytelling techniques to communications (or something like that). Here are my favorites from the first half of the year. Sony shows storytelling guts in Vegas wedding Big companies always seem to do two things, take themselves too seriously …more

The Delicious Irony of a Media Property Embargoing Its News

Do you remember Michael Arrington and TechCrunch declaring “Death to the Embargo” a few years ago? Maybe not. Allow me to refresh your memory with the start of Arrington’s rant: “PR firms are out of control. Today, we are taking a radical step towards fighting the chaos. From this point on we will break every …more