In this episode of PRobecast, Justin Martell and Liz O’Donnell join me in talking about the Bruins win/Canada rioting, if websites will become extinct and the “Gay Girl” blog hoax.
Sore losers – Canadians riot after the Bruins win: Wednesday night, the Bruins won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup and riots started shortly after. This seems to be a trend when it comes to big games and teams losing in cities. Passion or not. We don’t see our clients rioting if they don’t get included in a big article, or even ourselves rioting in anger and aggravation knowing we’ve pitched that same editor and we would get slack from the client side. What is it with sports and intensely violent behavior after a big event?
Will websites become extinct?: The curator of the Digital Archaeology exhibition in NY is predicting that websites as we currently know them will all disappear in a couple years as more and more focus will be on the individual – the social web – rather than the organization. Now, I know things certainly do change, but could it be possible that websites will go away?
Activists slam “Gay Girl” blog hoax: A blog that was originally thought to be a 25 year old lesbian documenting her life as she was held captive in Syria, has now been reported to actually be authored by a 40 year old American student in Scotland, Tom MacMaster. MacMaster is saying that while the entries were all fictional, the facts were true. This has Gay and political activists extremely angry, since many had been campaigning and investigating ways to free the blogger. Should the blogger been transparent from the beginning?
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.
Call us biased, but this week the Bruins won. While it’s not a PR move, they worked so hard in this series, and have been striving to get the Stanley Cup since 1972. That’s perseverance!
Sony recently unveiled its two new tablet PCs which will go on sale later this year (let the drooling commence…) and I must say that I think we may finally have the iPad killer Android users have been waiting for. The timing couldn’t be better either, after the failure of the Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Xoom and Blackberry RIM Playbook to prove a worthy competitor to the iPad.
The first tablet, dubbed the S1, is a 9.4” tablet that is thicker on one end and tapers down toward the other end, making it easier to grip. The other tablet, cleverly called the S2, is a smaller, clam-shell style device that folds open to reveal two 5.5” touchscreeens and can easily fit inside a jacket pocket.
Sony tablets S1 & S2
I have a feeling I will end up purchasing at least one of these devices, perhaps both. Although Sony products tend to be a little more expensive than their competitors, their quality, reliability and design more than make up for it. I’ve been using the same Sony Vaio laptop for the past 4 years with no problems (knock on plastic) patiently waiting for the right time to upgrade, which is hopefully coming in a few months.
According to a recent report from Mashable, Google will now have a button comparable to the ever-popular Facebook “like” button called +1. After Google Buzz, I can’t help but be a little skeptical of any Google foray into social media, but perhaps the best feature of this button will be the fact that it’s integrated into the Google search engine itself.
Google Plus One Button
Users who opt in will start to notice a small +1 button beside each link that comes up in Google search results. When you click on this button, your name becomes associated with that link across the web. It also shows up in a feed on your Google profile which is required to use it. You can also +1 an advertisement you like which will subsequently be recommended to your friends.
I’m thinking that the +1 button will most likely be successful (more than Buzz anyway) due to the fact that (according to Google) the data will have a direct influence on its search rankings, but its also another means of combating content farms, as users will be less likely to share their content. Will you be opting in?
