In IT, a black box is a program that measures output against input in complex systems.
This Black Box is designed to help companies achieve a similar goal in PR. Black Box provides our candid input—based on several lifetimes of experience—for companies that want to measure and improve the performance of PR programs.
A prominent socialmedialite brags that he kept his blog going while on vacation by writing 14 pieces in advance and setting them up to post daily. His admission to using canned content hints he had nothing to say that couldn’t wait. That being the case, why post so religiously?
In tech PR, blogging for business — or any aspect of communications — there are certain things “one just doesn’t do.” Or so say those in the know. But what do they know, really? Personally, I’ve always leaned toward the things I’m not supposed to. Common sense can be a bore. I love iconoclasm.
Yesterday a colleague called, all aglow that he’d placed a “major blog comment” on a national news article for one of his clients. “Major blog comment?” I mused. “Um. . .Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?”
Something there is that doesn’t love a factory. It’s not just the grimy smokestacks, heat or the piercing ring of steel on steel, but the soulless labor of a mill. When I hear “content” — the work of inspiration and genius — juxtaposed with “factory,” it’s the crash of two opposed worlds colliding.
As the latest jobless recovery takes shape, media departments are hearing the familiar “do more with less” mantra from on high. With fewer bodies to produce the content that execs demand, the temptation to “re-purpose” old material is strong. The trouble is, you can’t steal — not even from yourself.
At the height of the mid-1990s dot.com mania, Business Week adorned its cover with a tulip. Later, when real estate became the next sure thing, Business Week warned of a bubble. So when BW’s Stephen Baker writes “Beware Social Media Snake Oil” (12/14/09), I take notice. As should you.
