In this episode of PRobecast, Renatta Siewert and Justin Martell join me in talking about the man who live-tweeted the Bin Laden operation, Google adding video chat to the Android phone and Assange calling Facebook a spy for the government.

Man live-tweets Bin Laden operation – A Pakistani man live-tweeted the raid that killed Bin Laden – the most wanted terrorist in the world. As he strangely heard the noise of a helicopter above him he started tweeting about what he heard. Quickly, he gained 14,000 followers. He continued to blog about the noises that he was hearing and became the first to document the operation. This goes to show the power of 140 characters.

Android phones will have video chat capabilities – Google recently revealed that it is adding video chat capabilities to the Android phone. This will allow users to chat from their phones, computers or tablets – however these capabilities are only available if you have an Android 2.3 version – it also requires 3G, 4G or a WiFi connection. Is this about time or right on time?

Julian Assange says Facebook is a way for the government to spy on you – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange recently was interviewed by Russia Today. During the interview he called Facebook “the most appalling spy machine that has ever been invented.” Harsh words, but he does have some reasoning behind it. While the government doesn’t run Facebook, they do have access to the database of information that people willingly make public. What do you think – is he just talking crazy?

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.

This week’s winner is the live-tweeting of the Bin Laden operation story. This just shows how social media has become such a significant factor into our every day lives. Social media allows people to become self-publishers, and while most people will never get recognition from their tweets – in this instance, it let a regular guy be the first to document one of the biggest events in history.

What story do you think should have won?

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Technorati Tags: Android, Bin Laden, Facebook, Google, Julian Assange, Twitter, video chat

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Events in the tech world are threatening innovation, warn the press and certain pundits. (It makes a great headline.) Recent examples include Microsoft’s suit against Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec for alleged patent violations, as well as AT&T’s bid to take over T-Mobile (Sprint is not happy – they claim it’s a blow to innovation and a risk for subscribers, but are they a spurned suitor?)

We’re not lawyers so it’s hard to say anything authoritative about the substance of Microsoft’s claim of infringement. What we can take issue with is the FUD behind the term ‘stifle innovation.’ How do you do that? Do you just scare people into a coma?

It really isn’t that easy to stop innovation in its tracks.

While big companies with hordes of lawyers and thousands of patents drag each other into court – which they do every day to protect rights they have laid claim to, and which the overworked US Patent Office grants to them – entrepreneurs with innovative ideas chip away at old ways of doing things.

Innovators start in high school, many building robots (Dean Kamen’s US FIRST program is a great supporter of young innovative minds.) They go to college and create open source projects that become indispensable business tools, or help people lead their lives (the Linux kernel, the Google search engine, the smartphone-based auto speed monitor from our client Speedbump); drop out of school and create companies that innovate on multiple fronts (Apple, the early Microsoft); start companies that support open source communities (Red Hat/Fedora) and generally just keep inventing things. A host of companies create processes and challenges to foster innovation (InnoCentive, Invention Machine.) It just keeps happening: some of us have a drive to innovate and create. Some of us have the energy and nerve to go beyond creation to build companies that create jobs and value. (More on jobs, value, entrepreneurs and small business in another post.)

Some protect those innovations by becoming lawyers. Some promote innovation by doing PR. Some help all the rest understand innovation – the press.

Saying an industry event ‘stifles innovation’ may make for a good headline, but it’s just that: a headline, good for generating attention for one day. While you’re reading that headline, real innovation is happening in someone’s garage, or a high-school classroom or VC incubator.

Don’t let FUD stifle innovation. Keep watching for the next story, the one about a new technology, and the value it’s creating.

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Technorati Tags: AT&T, entrepreneurs, InnoCentive, innovation, Microsoft, Speedbump, techonology

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Image Courtesy of PBS.org

The Obama administration is now backing legislation that would protect the personal data of internet users which, in my humblest opinion, is a step in the right direction from last year’s call for voluntary codes of conduct for advertisers and data companies.

Of course, said advertisers and data aggregators will whine and complain until they’re blue in the face, defending their more or less shady practices as integral to giving internet users a relevant advertising experience – which is somewhat true if you’ve accepted the fact that the advertising is going to be there anyway.

However, a recent shopping experience has inspired me to question whether or not these advertising experiences are truly relevant. I don’t normally wear a watch (or any jewelry) but while leafing through a magazine last week I spotted a totally rad all-black Swatch and, being the nostalgic child of the 80’s and victim of consumer culture that I am, I decided that I must have it for my birthday – which is in a few days (feel free to send gifts via paypal). It has come to my attention that all week I’ve been seeing advertisements for the exact same Swatch I ordered and a few other ones that I had looked at. How is that a relevant advertising experience if I’ve already bought the item?

Totally Rad!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind advertising and tracking so much while I’m shopping, the aggregators have recommended very cool t-shirt websites on more than one occasion, but I’ve always felt that the key aspect of this (and myriad other issues) is choice – consumers should have the option of whether or not they want their information available to advertisers – and apparently Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz feels the same way as the commission has proposed a ‘do not track’ option.

“We don’t think tracking is per se bad at all,” said Leibowitz. “We just think that consumers should be able to opt out of tracking. … You should have the right not to be followed around if you don’t want to be followed around.”

For those of you who despise tracking and can’t wait for legislation to pass (if it passes), apparently the new Internet Explorer 9 from Microsoft has an anti-tracking feature but a recent article from Computing UK suggests that it may be flawed.

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Technorati Tags: Advertising, Federal Trade Commission, Internet Explorer 9, Jon Leibowitz, Microsoft, Obama administration, Swatch

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