Longtime readers of this weblog know that I have struggled in the past over whether or not I should blog about the client engagements my firm is working on – even if they are relevant to what this site covers.
Some have openly questioned my ethics. Others, meanwhile, have supported me. I applaud them both. This is certainly a polarizing issue among at least the PR bloggers and worthy of an ongoing discussion.
Tonight I have decided to test these waters again by pointing out two relevant news items related to CooperKatz clients. If it offends you that I am blogging about them, I apologize in in advance. Please do speak out and tell me why. I will say, however, that I try hard to keep this to a minimum and only point things out when they are truly relevant to the topic. It has never been my intention to use my weblog as a place to hype my employer or its clients. Rather it is my aim to participate in conversations about weblogs, RSS and participatory journalism and how they re-shaping the media, marketing and PR.
One of my clients is WeatherBug – a very popular online/on-air weather services company. Like other major media brands WeatherBug has been looking to engage their users to participate in the editorial process. Today they announced they are building a local weather monitoring network powered by consumers armed with backyard weather stations. This effort will enhance, rather than replace their existing professional network of 7,000 sensors in an effort to be more locally relevant. It’s citizen journalism at work. You can read more here and here.
Separately, we are also working with PubSub, a powerful tool that is invaluable for PR professionals. PubSub will keep you up-to-date in real-time via RSS on blog posts that cover virtually any topic. They call their technology “prospective search.” Search Engine Watch today did a great job explaining what their technology does and how it can help information junkies like PR pros stay in the know.
Thank you again for listening. I am truly fortunate not only to have a very loyal readership who cares passionately about blogging and citizen’s media, but also an employer with great clients who are participating actively here too. Hopefully you won’t mind that I took the time to point them out tonight. I’d love to hear your thoughts no matter which side of the fence you’re on.
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
