Happy New Year!
As we look forward, I want to remember what happened in blogger relations in 2007:
The big discussion of the year was started by Chris Andersen, editor of Wired, saying Sorry PR people: you’re blocked. He published the email addresses of hundreds of public relations people from whom he’d received pitches he didn’t care about – and that was just October’s collection of people he’d banned in Outlook. The post prompted responses by Shel Holtz, David Berkowitz, Joshua Porter, C.C. Chapman, and Brian Solis, among many others.
The previous sensation was Ogilvy’s blogger outreach code of ethics. Take the time to read the comments (at least the two that caught John Bell’s eye if you’re in a hurry).
Everyone seems to have had some advice to give. Kevin Dugan told PR people how well they ought to know a blog before pitching its author. Jonathan Trenn suggested many areas to consider in planning a blogger relations program. Chip Griffin suggested throwing out the social media rulebook, and started a mini-firestorm of his own.
Other people wrote books as well as blog posts. Geoff Livingston’s book Now Is Gone (with coauthor Brian Solis) is getting excellent reviews (go see what Valeria Maltoni and Debbie Weil had to say). Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo’s ebook "Getting to First Base" had its own impressive marketing campaign. And because the posts it collects were written in 2007, I can include Brian Solis’s ebook The Art and Science of Blogger Relations.
It’s been an interesting year – my thanks to all those who spoke/blogged/Twittered and helped me learn more.
So, since this is heavily biased to the contents of my feed reader, what’s the most interesting 2007 discussion of blogger relations that I missed and should catch up on?
Thanks for the linkage!