I consider myself fortunate because I get to learn a lot from some very smart people.  I do social media in my day job, teach it at my night job, blog (duh) and get to so some freelance writing and podcast work on the side.

The best part?  Just about every day, I learn something new.

I have to confess, however, that my daily reading does not include some of the real blogosphere luminaries (I promised, no more about Scoble).  Aside from Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson (whom I consider A-Listers), my daily reading consists of some of whom I consider to be the “hidden gems” of the blogosphere.  And that’s why I came up with the wacky idea (boldly stealing #followfriday) with #blogmonday.

My dream is that, through blogging about other bloggers, we all can increase the reach and scope of our own blogger networks, help promote some really smart people who just don’t have the high Technorati rankings (yet) as well as share our own online rolodexes of “must reads.”

So please, feel free to join me in promoting some of the smart people out there.  And trust me;  I plan  to make this a weekly occurrence in the hopes that it takes off.  If you’re not in this one, you will more than likely make it into another.  So here are my entries for the inaugural #blogmonday.

Tried, True and Terrific

• Occam Razr’s – Ike Piggot’s blog not only makes me think about more things that just social media, I learn something new every time I read it.
• It’s Not a Lecture:  David Wescott makes you think;  and he developed (and executed) a brilliant idea on the “Global Moms” initiative.  Plus. he’s smart as hell.
• Rounding out this week’s list is a combined entry of Shel Holtz’s and Neville Hobson’s individual blogs as well as their out-of-this-world entertaining and smart podcast, “For Immediate Release.”

Blogs That Need to Make it Onto Your Blogroll

• Katie Payne’s Measurement Blog.  Katie literally wrote the book on public relations measurement and has helped me solve many an argument at work or consulting on the value of public relations.  She figured out the answers before many of us came up with the questions.

Blogs That You Might Not Read – But Should

• Shilpika Das’s “Wired Conversations.” Full disclosure:  Shilpika is a former student of mine, but writes amazingingly insightful posts.  She is smart, a great writer and someone who makes me think.  The student has become the teacher in this case.
• Matthew Chamberlin’s “Clearcast Digital Media.“  Matthew has been both a social media marketer and a video producer, so writes stuff that makes you think about the the differing aspects of social media converge.

Random Blog of the Week:

• Over the Monster – As a die-hard Red Sox fan (and I died hard many times before the first Red Sox World Series Championship, like in 1975, 1976 (Bucky Effing Dent) and of course, the Bucker-led 1986 team).  But if your are a Sox fan, add this to your blogroll.

Bonus Feature – Online Magazine and Podcast Series

• Media Bullseye.  This is Chip Griffin’s online, offline and “Radio Roundtable” venture, often executed by Jen Zingsheim (who, oh,by the way, announced that she hot MARRIED on Twitter last week).   Again this meets my criteria that every time I read or listen, I am educated and entertained.  Full disclosure:  I write for Media Bullseye and occasionally step-in as a co-host, but I wouldn’t do it, unless, in the New Hampshire vernacular, these guys weren’t “wicked smaht.”

That today’s inugural entry.  While it’s not as easy as #followfriday, won’t you please consider a quick post giving props to those whom you think are deserving of it?

Mark #blogmonday Story

There has been amazing success and a lot of fun with #followfriday.  The last few Fridays, I have forgotten to do my own, and then, all of sudden, I’ll see my Twitter followers tick up by a few and realize that someone out there was nice enough to send people my way.

So here’s my idea: #blogmonday.

I wish I had the time to read all of the insightful, informative and entertaining blogs out there, but I also know, that, as big as my blogroll is, I could be bigger.  While we encourage others to follow someone on Twitter on Fridays, these thoughts sometimes link to blogs, and other times link to thoughts.

With so many good, “wicked smaht” people out there, I think that we should, starting on Mondays, compose posts about the other good bloggers out there.  Let’s improve each others’ Google rankings, Technorati rankings and other visibility tools and show the world some good blogging.

Not only is this good to publicize each others’ efforts, it’s also a good way to push back on the “bad PR”/bad blogging practices that we have heard so much about lately.

Do what do you say?  Let’s give a shot to #blogmonday this coming Monday, April 27th?  I’ll start.

If you are into it, give me some @ love on Twitter.

Mark

With all of the Susan Boyle-mania, I recall another really good story about someone who didn’t look right, didn’t present well and was very different.

The video below is about Jason McKelwing , a learning-disabled basketball team manager who gets in for the final game of the year – with some very cool results.  Video below.

Mark

I had my usual blast subbing for Chip Griffin on the Media Bullseye Radio Roundtable today. I always learn something, and today is was from special guest Beth Harte, from The Harte of Marketing blog. Since I am feeling lazy today, I’ve “pirated” (that word is popular these days) the content from the page on Media Bullseye, but you should check it out.

The Roundtable discussed the Domino’s crisis response (or lack thereof) in light of some creative teens, the timing of the rise of social media, and the inadvertent “brandjacking” by capturing publicly-available content.

Click here to listen to the 33-minute discussion.

• First item for discussion was the video of two Domino’s employees, the critcism of the company’s response, and the ensuing fallout: is this a lesson in where social media can head? From crowd-sourcing the detective work on, it’s an interesting case. The Roundtable also covered issues related to this topic, including the roles and responsibilities of the corporation verses the franchises–Beth points out both should be monitoring, each for different reasons–and the increasing importance of an accelerated response time.

• Next, Pandemic Blog had a piece that makes the link between the rise of social media with the decline in the economy, surmising that it was necessary to turn to social media when “bloated” advertising budgets got cut. The Roundtable participants are skeptical of this linkage, and Mark Story points out that Ashton Kutcher being the first person to get 1 million followers on Twitter could be a sign of the Apocolypse.

• Finally, Geoff Livingston had a post about being “brandjacked by Seesmic”–while Geoff clearly was okay with this use, the piece itself raises some interesting questions about our rights to content we post in public spaces. Does the way that our content is reused matter–if it’s positive, it’s okay, if it’s negative, it’s not okay? Beth asks if we’re heading towards the same scenario for images as we’ve seen for music, that all digital content will be protected. Mark manages to compare Geoff’s description of his situation to the Allysa Milano photo controversy a few years back.

Click here to listen to the 33-minute discussion.

Ok.  When I said that I was done with the Scobelizer, I meant it.

But when Shel Holtz, whom I respect enormously as one of the “godfathers” of social media, chimed in, the Scobelizer thought that Shel’s comments were, well, comment-worthy.  Scoble showed a combination of restraint and snarkiness by stating, in a private post to PR practitioners:

• “Instead of cleaning up their industry and getting rid of all the people who send me bad pitches, the industry has gone on attack. Shel Holtz has one of the kinder versions of this attack.”
• “Twitter is a far better place for crappy pitches. Why? Because they are limited to 140 characters (which actually greatly improves your chances — only 237 out of 1,000 pitches on Twitter are crappy).”
• “I was wrong, though, to paint every PR person with the ‘PR sucks’ brush. There are good ones. I do read every PR pitch, even the crappy ones. Of course I was being obstinate. This is blowback because I get so many crappy pitches for so many things I don’t care about.”

Ok.  So while still saying that we are sometimes “crappy,” I think that Mr. Scoble has come to realize what I have been trying to say all along, and that is not all PR sucks, only bad PR.  Not all pitches suck, only bad pitches.

But the question remains:  how do you pitch bloggers?

I have written about this extensively (for regular readers, you know that this topic really gets me going), but sure, those who pitch ANY media influencers should have some basic “skillz.”  But what of the blogger “A-listers?”  Here are my two cents for those pitching, beyond the advice that I have already given.

1. Scoble:  if you hate getting bad pitches and it irritates you, use your considerable influence and following to create and promote an email address:  “scoble_pitches@scobelizer.com”  Don’t even READ anything that does not come to that inbox.
2. Others:  use the Jason Falls example.  I consider Jason a thought-leader and someone who usually has the answer before most of us have come up with the question. He has a remarkable component to his Social Media Explorer Blog” — a tab at the top called “How to Pitch SME.”  Jason lays out the rules of the road for a successful pitch in six simple steps.  Don’t follow these and assume that you are dead in the water.

So Mr. Scoble, you and I are never going to completely see eye-to-eye on this issue, but consider this the blog version of burying the hatchet — and not in each other’s skulls.

Mark

P.S. – there is a more in-depth version of this post in a Media Bullseye article published yesterday.