social media

Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation, social media • July 6, 2011

Recipe For A Twitter Fail: Was Entenmann’s #Guilty of Hashtag Hijacking?

Call it a half-baked attempt to be topical…or perhaps, just a mistake. As Twitter erupted following the surprise guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony murder trial, Entenmann’s adopted the rapidly trending #notguilty hashtag to tweet a whimsical update about “eating all the tasty treats you want.” The tweet lasted only minutes. Someone realized the juxtaposition wasn’t […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation, social media • June 3, 2011

Crisis PR Tips From "Weinergate"

Last night, Jon Stewart mocked his own ambivalence about going below the belt on close friend Rep. Anthony Weiner in a bit that epitomized the appeal of the scandal known as “Weinergate.” A Tom Brokaw “angel” appeared over one shoulder urging journalistic restraint, while a Don Rickles “devil” on the other side repeated, “But it’s about Weiner’s […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations, social media • May 2, 2011

How Bin Laden Renewed My Faith In "Old" Media

It was after 11:00 p.m. eastern time when a tweet caught my eye, then another. Within moments, I learned that Bin Laden was dead, and that President Obama was preparing to speak about it on all major networks. This without leaving my Twitter app or clicking on a single link. The speed with which the news […]

celebrity, communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation, social media • April 28, 2011

Have Press Agents Become "Suppress" Agents?

Recently I attended an awards luncheon where a prominent PR woman was honored for her fierce protectiveness of her clients and her way of shutting out press who didn’t promise positive coverage. It made me wonder about the guard-dog publicist in the age of social media. A few days later, I read the New York […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation, social media • April 4, 2011

GoDaddy Competitors Move In For the Kill

In posting a gruesome video of his African elephant hunt that went viral last week, GoDaddy Founder Bob Parsons may have shot himself in the foot, at least from an image standpoint. Parsons spent Friday posting statements and offering interviews in defense of his actions. PETA jumped on the story, instantly closing its GoDaddy hosting account […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, social media, technology • February 6, 2011

Does The Revolution Really Need Twitter?

A fascinating sidebar to the civil uprising in Egypt is the debate over the role of social media in the breathtaking rate of the government’s unraveling. After #jan25 happened, many enthusiasts took the opportunity to gloat over social media’s status as accelerant, first in Tunisia and now in Egypt. This revolution has not only been […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation, social media • January 12, 2011

When Bad PR Is Good For Business

Boycotts are powerful, but they can also be PR magnets, drawing attention where none is deserved. That seems to be the case with the attempts to pressure Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade goods, to drop one of its sellers. Etsy is known not only for the business opportunities it provides to artist-entrepreneurs, but for […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, social media • December 14, 2010

Does Social Media Cause Groupthink?

I used to consider “groupthink” mostly as the enemy of new ideas. You know, where members of the team are more motivated to agree with one another and get along than to question the status quo or break new ground. Then there’s the too-homogeneous mindset that can result from an entrenched corporate culture. Tech blogger Steve Tobak wrote […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, social media • December 7, 2010

When Social Media Goes Too Far

The social web can be a wonderful thing. But what happens when social content goes too far as a substitute for actual journalism? In an age when “everyone is the media,” the credibility bar drops fairly low, revealing biases, errors, and rumors that pass as fact. I’m grateful for the traditional press, battered, but unbowed, when […]