PRobecast #109: Emotional Detachment, Non-Alcoholic Beer, Person Finder
February 24th, 2011 by Alison Raymond
We have a big group offering up their opinions this week! In PRobecast episode #109, Topazers Renatta Siewert and Justin Martell join me in talking about how technology could be causing psychological damage, a non-alcoholic sports drink, holograms as conference calls and more.
Is tech changing who we really think are our friends? – Sherry Turkle, author of “Alone Together,” is concerned about how technology is changing people and causing possible psychological side effects with excessive use of not just physical tech, but social networks and the internet in general. In her book, she says who many of the adolescents interviewed said that they don’t particularly like using the phone – the conversations are too long, prying and hard to end – while texts are an easy way to control the situation. Is technology making it easier for people to engage without the personal connection?
Is a non-alcoholic beer a Gatorade competitor? – A non-alcoholic beer is the latest drink being marketed as a sports and fitness beverage. The beer is apparently full of vitamins and has “natural regenerative powers” that help athletes recover from a strenuous workout. It’s currently the number 1 non-alcoholic beer in Germany. Would you grab one of these recovery drinks over a Gatorade?
Google launches a new ‘Person Finder’ page – Google has launched a Person Finder page to help victims of the New Zealand earthquake. It’s all user-generated data and people can go in and search, add information about someone or leave a message for a lost loved one on the site. They’ve previously created similar pages after the disasters in Haiti, China and Chile.
Coming to your conference room soon: Holograms – Developers of holographic displays are working on new technology that could change the way we think of conference calls – hologram video projection. This technology could present a filmed presentation live and 3-D right in front of your eyes. Some are skeptical of the technology, saying that if it’s just a hologram, anyone sitting up close. Either way, if the technology does in fact work as planned, it definitely changes the meaning of teleconferencing people in.
Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.
Google isn’t always on the receiving end of complimentary news – but by offering a way for victims of these tragic disasters to help locate friends and family members makes them our PR Power Ranker of the week. It’s nice to see bigger brands help those that need it, especially under these circumstances.
Do you agree with us?
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