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

Sometimes, I feel like the old “Wayne’s World” mantra:  “I’m not worthy….I’m not worthy.”  So big kudos to my pal, David Wescott, a freelance writer for the Business Lexington and blogger extradordinaire, who interviewed me on my day job for Bix Lex – and then blogged about it.

All kidding aside, I am deeply proud of the work that all of us do at the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect investors.  The article touches on the social media aspects of it.

Article is here.

Thanks, David.

Mark

Reproduced from a Media Bullseye article on March 30, 2009

Unless you have shut off your Twitter feed lately, you have probably heard of Robert Scoble’s somewhat incendiary comments regarding the public relations industry. In audio comments, Scoble painted the industry with an unflatteringly broad brush:

• “PR is dead. The way that PR is practiced is just..lame.”
• “Most of PR has ’sucked.’ If you think it’s not, just be a blogger for a little while. And watched the thousands of stupid-ass pitches flow through your screen.”
• “Anybody who pitches you on email is stupid. The chance that I am going to listen to anyone who pitches me email on frikkin’ email is one percent.”

Well, many of us who practice public relations for a living took some serious offense to this. I wrote a first blog post, (Shut Up, Mr. Scoble) and then when he took on Alice Marshall of Presto Vivace, I penned another (”Put a “Cewebrity” in His Place – But You Can’t Fix Stupid“). I was pretty angry, as were the aforementioned Alice Marshall as well as the highly respected Robert French of Auburn University. Both pointed out that Mr. Scoble’s preferred method of being pitched, over dinner, reeked of, as Professor French put it “Wine Me & Dine Me (or, I’ll whine about bad PR).”

But enough of my rancor. More reasoned, respected people like Jason Falls and David Wescott had some good points as well.

Jason commented on my blog:

“Robert is guilty of one thing – generalizing. Does he get a lot of bad pitches? Yep. So do I (probably not as many, I’m sure). Do a lot of PR folks suck these days? Yeah. Does the industry need a time out to revamp itself? Yes. But does someone like Scoble need to say, “PR SUCKS” as if all PR does? Hell no.”

Fair enough. David Wescott noted:

“I’m coming to realize there’s something worse than believing you’re a big deal by reading your press clippings – it’s believing you’re a big deal by looking at the number of followers you have on twitter. I’m not saying that’s where Scoble is, but comments like that don’t exactly convince me otherwise.”

A week into this, my thoughts have turned somewhat inward – meaning to those of us who do public relations and social media for a living and ask the “Scobelistic Question”: Do we suck?

Yes and no.

Aside from acting self-absorbed, Scoble whined about a mere sliver of public relations – pitching – and said that the whole industry is “lame.” And that comment is, well, lame. But more importantly, are there people who make bad pitches? Absolutely.

Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson, both of whom I consider “A-Listers” and produce their excellent “For Immediate Release” podcast (and who first brought this topic to my attention), stated that they both get lots of bad pitches via email.

Time for a little self-examination.

I no longer work for a public relations agency, but was in the business for about 15 years and began, as most young bucks do – by pitching people who did not necessarily want to be pitched. And got hung up on a lot. So the other night in my class at Georgetown, I asked my students what was preventing them from creating the “magical experiences” that Scoble seems to demand with his free meals. What I heard back was pretty instructive – and confirmed, from my small focus group, what I had long believed prevents people from innovating more:

• Billing pressure. When you work for an agency, your job is to bill as much as you can, and quite often, falling back on old ways is the best way to make your hours. Brutal, but I believe it to be true.
• Clients are in love with statistics. Many clients would rather hear “we pitched 2,000 bloggers,” (spam, of course), than “we did our research, waited and make 10 carefully crafted pitches to 10 leading bloggers.” 2,000 versus 10? Please.
• Clients or supervisors who don’t “get” social media are reluctant to green light innovation. The “young bucks” generation in public relations agencies have a hard time selling concepts that are new and people don’t yet understand.
• The pressure. The higher you go in agencies, the more pressure you have to bill hours, supervise people, develop businesses and further existing client relationships. “Creating magic” takes some serious time – and thinking.

Bottom line? I think that Scoble is self-absorbed, but has clearly earned his media spotlight. And the public relations industry does indeed churn out some really bad pitches. But we don’t suck.

Is it worth painting the entire industry as “dead” and “lame?” Not unless you have no idea what you are talking about.

Mark

At the request of my pal and blogger extraordinaire, David Wescott (wow – I’m not one line into this post and already I have used five French words – touche!) I wanted to offer some thoughts and open up a discussion thread for how the Obama administration may change “things.” I have put “things” in quotes because I want to keep the floor open for comments and ideas.  Since I get to go first, here’s my thinking:

Social media, social media, social media.

Am I clear?  Good.

Just last week, I did a Media Bullseye Radio Roundtable on “the First Internet Election,” and while we are several months away from getting hard numbers, one can draw a dotted line (in pencil) to social media and voter turnout.  Don’t put it in pen, yet because we don’t have any hard numbers yet. This morning’s Boston Globe reported that voter turnout was NOT at an all time high:

Turnout in last week’s election increased from four years ago but fell far short of some forecasts largely because many Republican voters either stayed home or left blank the presidential section of their ballots.”

So what will change?  Well, by now, we have all seen Change.gov, “..for the Office of the President-elect and Office of the Vice President-elect, as recognized by the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, as amended (3 USC 102 note).  There’s a first and an indication that President-elect Obama will turn more to delivering information to an increasingly Internet-savvy populace via social media.  Cool.  But here’s what I wonder.  You can’t just go and register a political site (let alone build it) in a day, so someone was working on this puppy for a long time.  Within the government, because that is the only way that you can get a .gov domain.

Quick bipartisan note:  The Republicans have a site, too: Republican for a Reason.

Second,  the Wall Street Journal reported in November on how President-elect Obama made tremendous use of many social media tools during the election, including Twitter, Facebook and email and text alerts.  As someone who draws a paycheck from Uncle Sam, this is harder to do from within government, but I think that President-elect Obama at least grasps the concept that government can be more efficient by delivering information to the populace via social media tools.

Well, memes are supposed to be short, so I’ll stop here and leave it to other, smarter minds to continue to conversation.  So consider yourself tagged:

• David Wescott of “It’s Not a Lecture“
• Jenn Zingsheim of Custom Scoop
• Geoff Livingston of the “Buzz Bin”
• Cheryl Contee of “Jack and Jill Politics”

Start memming, folks.  And the one, super-smart guy who I left off of my list is my pal, Jason Falls, who last time I tagged him for a meme, wrote “My Hatred of the Memes is Overcome Only by my Liking the Memer.“  Lesson learned, Jason.  One bitch-slap is all I need to get the message.

C’est bon!

Mark

I try to keep this blog and my “day job” separate, but my pal David Wescott of “It’s Not a Lecture” had some very kind words for me in a post yesterday that merit a big “thanks”:

Kudos to my old pal for being named Director of New Media for the Securities Exchange Commission. We don’t work together anymore but I’ve enjoyed keeping up with him on Twitter and his blog. I don’t typically say nice things about Republicans, but here goes:

Under Chairman Cox’s leadership, Mark Story has helped usher in a new chapter of communication and accountability to a government agency that is widely perceived to be as “old school” as it gets. Mark is creative and dynamic and I think he’s going to help companies make their financial information more clear and accessible.”

These words of praise are truly meaningful because, trust me:  David gets it.  He is one of the leading political, mommy blogger and social media experts out there.  And he learned it the same way I did:  by trying stuff and figuring it out.

Thanks, pal.  And go Sox!

Mark