The Impact on PR When Reader Clicks Prioritize News Stories

I stumbled across a personalized news service called memigo, which ranks news stories based on the clicks and recommendations of registered users. They also have an RSS feed. Be sure to check out their list of rejected stories and best articles.

For PR pros, should such a news model catch on, it could be dangerous. It will make it much harder for us to sell legitimate stories that impact people's lives (ok, maybe sometimes) when the top story of the day is the guy who sold the wedding dress on eBay.

Chris Heisel over at the Missouri School of Journalism ponders the madness.

The Fast Track to Fame Is...

Becoming an intern at the New York Press. Previous interns have included the late Fred Berry (of What's Happening fame), the Duke of York and Joel Rifkin (convicted murder). More in this editorial on the newspaper's Web site.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you all that CooperKatz is hiring! No one on our team (at least not yet) is as infamous.

PBS May Launch "Video Blogs"

Deep within this Current.org Q&A with PBS programmers, Programming Exec Jacoba (Coby) Atlas says PBS is toying with launching video blogs on the Public Square public affairs channel that they are developing with funding from the Knight Foundation. Current.org is the Web site of Current, a newspaper that covers US public broadcasting.

"We need to find out from the technological geniuses what the next thing will be. How do we ratchet that up for even greater engagement? There are all these chat rooms — is there a way to turn that into a program? Also blogs. We've talked about using video blogs as interstitials," Atlas told Current.org.

Sign me up!

What Conference Organizers Need to Know About Bloggers

As someone who has managed PR programs for conferences large and small, I can assure you that buzz is essential both before, during and after the event. Weblogs, if used properly, can add rocket fuel to a PR pro's arsenal.

Common Craft has an article on how to use Weblogs to generate/track conference buzz.

They distill this down to five tips:

1. Identify the bloggers, especially the influential ones.

2. Get an RSS reader and start subscribing

3. Use Feedster

4. Use Technorati

5. Get involved

(Source: Scobleizer)

Great Resource on the Use of RSS and Weblogs in Public Relations

Socialtext has a useful wiki edited by Constantin Basturea on the application of RSS and Weblogs in public relations.

Recent notable entries:

Sun Microsystems Policy on Public Disclosure

Cutting Through article on blogging in the corporate environment

Updates are available via this RSS feed.