un-PC tweet gets dude in hot water

So many of you may have read this article about how James Andrews, a Ketchum PR employee, wrote a tweet that got into the hands of his FedEx client and eventually lost him and Ketchum some business. Here's what happened: James arrives in Memphis and tweets: "True confession but I'm in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say 'I would die if I had to live here!'"
Meanwhile, one of the biggest clients at Ketchum is straight outta Mempis, and did not find the tweet complimentary.

In fact, he was pissy. You can read the full response Andrews' slip up elicited from the FedEx client in a posting by Jeremiah Owyang, but suffice to say it wasn't pretty. The FedEx client had hometown pride, and just didn't see the need to use Andrews' services anymore.

When I've heard people talk about this incident, it seems that most feel that the moral of this story is BOLDFACED--Watch your words when you're tweeting. Someone might not like what you're about to say.

But I can't be fully comfortable with that take-away. I agree that it's never good to hurt someone's feelings (in-person or online); but is it actually purposely hurting someone's feelings to tweet about your lack of love for a particular city? I'm not sure.

I mean, maybe I'm being too subjective. I've only just recently come into my own enough as a grown-up and a writer to be open about my opinions. I remember when I was younger and would write lyrics or articles; they were just devoid of the rawness that I was attempting to convey with my words because I was so damn hyper-aware of my (eventual) audience. Now that I'm older and more experienced, I feel it would be false for me to hold back my true thoughts and feelings. And on a loftier note, I believe that living consciously means living truthfully.

I mean, I'm not saying that due to these personal beliefs I will use Twitter as my own personal Hater Portal. I'm just saying that if we're acting as the PC police, we have to be VERY CAREFUL to avoid fostering a world of disingenuous and fear-based posts/tweets. That's all...

Sharing Playlists Experiment (v01)

Good example of a Social Media slideshow

Whether it's for inspiration or information, check out this social media slideshow from pcmcreative. Very helpful in getting me prepared for talking to businesses about the best way to make social media work for them.

Equity@Edinburgh - Social Media for Theatre

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: eae08 pcmcreative)

Social Media Mafia

Get "protection" online from the family that knows it best, the Social Media Mafia. Could possibly kick the Corleone fam's arse. They are good peeps and by signing up you'll get their newsletter that will help keep your ear to the ground on new social media news. Click here for Newsletter.

Posted using ShareThis

ePR....The NEXT frontier

So you know I've been OVER straight-ahead marketing for a while now. Doesn't mean I won't do it for the right company (Venables...you listening?! I know you just got Intel!!!) But I like the new frontier of PR, forged by insightful people like Chris Abraham. It's all about going beyond the usual PR methods. Blogger outreach and fearless social networking are just the beginning when it comes to Next Gen PR and marketing. Getting a the word out for a brand can come quicker in the package of a 2-sentence tweet as it can from old school PR techniques. More on this to come from me. For now, click read more to get a little background info.

read more | digg story

Eno speaks out against Israeli oppression

Love that Brian Eno has the balls to point out the irony of Israel in this YouTube viddy, so long oppressed themselves, acting as the oppressor in Gaza. The man is strong. And i love his jams. Just listening to his Here Come the Warm Jets album. Especially love the song called "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch". I guess I can forgive him for his Coldplay producing moment. (Still, wtf??)

read more | digg story

Nit-picky updates to BitTorrent post

So in an earlier post I gave tips for downloading TV shows online. A brilliant and and anal-retentive friend of mine wrote me today with some edits. I'm indulging him here with the updates. So the basic essence of the whole process is the same. But here goes the remix, major updates are bolded:

If you ARE interested in downloading from the BitTorrent network, here are a few tips for mac users. First you'll need a cross-platform client like Transmission (for macs.). You can download Transmission here.

Then you can get a BitTorrent account and start searching for what you feel like watching. I just downloaded some of 30 Rock, for instance. As an aside, I also highly recommend Dexter and, of course, The Wire.

You can also search tracker sites to find torrents to download. Two good ones are mininova.org and thepiratebay.org. When you've found what you want, download to your desktop or downloads folder or whatevs, but remember to trash your old icons and folders because they'll take up a lot of space. The torrents can come in any kind of package. Mine came as a rar file, which was odd. So I had to get unrar to decompress those files. You may have to take similar steps, but for the most part they will be avi files. You'll also need the open-source codecs to watch the viddys with. This is easy, you can get them all by downloading Perian. And that's it really. At that point, you should have everything you need to start watching for free. I don't even have a TV anymore. I just watch everything on my computer.

NOTE: I wish there were a "Redo" button on life sometimes.

The End.

Get drunk for digital rights tonight at DNA Lounge

EFF is celebrating 18th years defending digital rights tonight. DJs include: DJ Spooky, mashup party pioneers Bootie, copyfighter and Surya Dub DJ Kid Kameleon, and EFF's Tones and Qubitsu. (Apparently there's ANOTHER copyfighter?) Time to rumble, mofos!

Bring it. Tonight at 8. DNA Lounge in SF.

read more | digg story

Net neutrality (and getting shit for free PART II)

So my last post inspired some peeps to comment and remind me that some music - GOOD music - shouldn't be downloaded for free. The argument being: Truly good music is so hard to find that we need to respect and support artists who are bringing the real. I see that point and agree...to some extent. I mean, I'll continue to swap music with friends and I will probably keep scouring the net for good free new music indexes to swipe in one large download. But....I'll keep this post to just getting TV shows for free if that keeps my reputation as a non-jackass secure.
In any case, my morals have been considered questionable by quite a few (thousand?) people before. Ain't no thang. (I was also a total klepto while in my teens and early twenties, but we all know that adolescence comes packed with delinquent behavior, right?!)

No? Hmmm....well, I'll save that for another posting. I used to be obsessed with risk-taking behavior in teenage girls. But I digress....

Anyway, if you ARE interested in downloading from BitTorrent or Btjunkie here are a few tips for mac users. You need to be able to connect to the bittorrent network, so you'll need an app like Transmission. You can get it here.

Then you can check out the options for what you feel like watching. I just downloaded some of 30 Rock, for instance. As an aside, I also highly recommend Dexter and, of course, The Wire. Make your choice, and download to your desktop or downloads folder or whatevs, but remember to trash your old icons and folders because they'll take up a lot of space. The torrents can come in any kind of package. Mine came as a rar file, which was odd. So I had to get unrar to decompress those files. You may have to take similar steps, but for the most part they will be avi files. You'll also need the open-source codecs to watch the viddys with. This is easy, you can get them all by downloading Perian. And that's it really. At that point, you should have everything you need to start watching for free. I don't even have a TV anymore. I just watch everything on my computer.

Which brings me to the video I posted (above). You may be wondering why the hell I uploaded a net neutrality viddy to a post about getting shit for free. Well, the answer is: We may NOT be getting shit for free in the future if we don't keep our eyes and ears open to guard against "Internet Bundles". No, this doesn't exist yet. But I can see it in my minds eye. A two-fer package including all of Google's and Yahoo's networks for only $25/month.

You're probably pretty well informed about maintaining the internet as an open platform already; Obama spoke about his stance on this topic right here at Mountain View. Check out that video here. But if you haven't done due diligence yet in getting up to speed on this issue check out Savetheinternet.com or another site dedicated to net neutrality news and updates.

In the meantime, I'll keep using my right to my own site online. Right here, right now.

Getting shit for free. And EFF's night of righteousness and mayhem.

I still think Pitchfork is full of pretentious, privileged white kids and uninspired writers who are stuck in 90s indie rock, but they do have the best albums of 2008 article and (even better!) their picks for the best tracks of 2008 up and running on the site, complete with streaming mp3s. I recommend checking it out, even if this requires momentary self-loathing.

Anyway, I've seriously been buying BUNK music lately due to the fact that I'm not properly giving the tracks a trial run in my life. I'll just play a tiny sample, find that 10 second snippet somewhat interesting, and then download. It's just dumb. You need the entire track to really test its chops.

Even dumber is the fact that I'm BUYING anything at all. As an unemployed self-proclaimed copyfighter, I should be supplying you all with the tools to maneuver around superfluous marketing obstacles like $0.99 cent iTunes tracks, no???

Hence my upcoming post with tips on how to download from BitTorrent. You may have already been doing this for a while. But if you were just LAZY like I was, it's time to discipline yourself and evolve into a lean, mean, downloadin' machine.

Grrrr! We don't need no stinkin' corporation to charge us for our music and Dexter episodes, right?! Repeat after me: I am in control of what media I choose to listen/watch/play with, and I can access said media on the cheap. F mainstream media marketing! Regain your freedom!

Yes, I'm sounding like a spaz, but this is serious biz, friends. Just look at what happened to our government and realize that the same fuckers who are running the nation could also try to take over the online space. If you're in the SF Bay area and horrified at this thought, please join me and like-minded peeps in supporting digital rights at the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF) 18th Birthday Party. EFF is the leading civil liberties group promoting freedom in the digital world, and they pretty much rule. Check them out. If you're interested in supporting them, come to the party on Wednesday, January 7th at the DNA Lounge. DJ Spooky and residents from the Bootie mash-up crew will be spinning. You can find all the party info and purchase tix online by clicking here.

I'll be there. Come play.