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How often do you see this category on periodic performance reviews: “Proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel?” Many organizations still cite the MS Office triumvirate as the pillars of proficiency, but as cloud computing continues to grow, shouldn’t we start expanding the ways we measure tech literacy?

Gaming became socially interactive long before Nintendo introduced the Wii (think Oregon Trail in school and Q-Zar at the arcade), but it wasn’t until the Wii that gamers of all ages, including the AARP crowd, started to believe that they could spend time with the younger versions of themselves and play.

For as long as many PR professionals can remember, ProfNet was their sole source of journalist requests for interviews and other information for their stories.  No PR workday was complete without scanning several ProfNet emails each day, searching for requests relevant to their client. Things have changed.

    I’m presently in a window seat some 37,000 feet above Denver. I love to fly so I actually enjoy business travel. However, I don’t think I’d enjoy having a seat on this airplane.  There’s a time and place for everything, and the time and place for doffing one’s clothes is not at cruising altitude. Traveling naked, which includes bending over to pick up luggage, strapping a seatbelt across a bare lap, and sitting on seats of unknown cleanliness is unsettling. It’s also too much information at the least appropriate time. I would disembark that aircraft with three letters in my head: TMI.  Thinking about that flight and those three meaningful letters – TMI – reminded me that even the most seasoned PR person or company executive can occasionally forget one of the most basic tenets of great communications: know when to stop talking.    Brevity is beautiful. It also helps to assure positive results.    The only way a person can say something they’d later regret later is to talk. While it’s true that silence sends a signal, few people have ever had to retract silence.  Conversely, we’ve all heard this during a press briefing: “Oh, I really didn’t want to reveal that just yet, can we keep that off the record?” Safety lies in the assumption that a spokesperson is never completely off the record. Consider that Samantha Power’s offhand remarks in the Scotsman newspaper cost her her job, and cost her boss some embarrassment. People in Ms. Power’s position are under a unique microscope, but every spokesperson needs to be aware that anything they say can appear just about anywhere.    Another valuable benefit to practicing brevity is that when someone has the opportunity to do live radio or TV, they will be more than ready to really shine. The spokesperson who is cognizant of the time they take expounding upon a subject is also honing their interview skills. Being brief is broadcast-friendly. Don’t let fantastic sound bytes become watered down (or irrevocably lost) in the clutter of a rambling answer.  Admittedly, some complex topics require a lengthy explanation, but most things don’t merit a monologue. It’s often best to stop, breathe, and let the reporters absorb what’s been said.    Most spokespeople are effusive and enthusiastic about their company, their accomplishments, and their vision. But at times we must diplomatically rein them in. This is one of the more sensitive responsibilities that we, as PR practitioners, must face, but it’s immensely valuable counsel.  I’m signing off now; because I may have said too much.  

(George Shroder and Mike Cordano, Fabrik, Inc.)

(George Shroder and Mike Cordano, Fabrik, Inc.)

Chris Shipley and the crew at DEMO, the premier event for introducing emerging technologies for more than 16 years, run a top-notch and well-oiled operation from their annual desert launch pad. Unlike CES and Macworld, there’s a more “make-or-break” feel to DEMO’s first public unveilings, which are broadcast live on the Web, and blogged about in real time. There’s also added pressure to deliver the golden sales pitch and big “aha” moment in less than six minutes flat to qualify as a DEMO-God. (At least in the Warhol 60’s, you had 15 minutes of fame.)  Last week, 77 carefully selected entrepreneurs gathered on the main stage to reveal their wares to the world, while their software development teams back at the home office cheered them on. The demos are tightly scripted, including A/V cues for the broadcast crew, and the quality of lighting and sound is impressive. The best demos I saw this year were funny. Take Mandiant, for example, an enterprise security company that “Finds Evil and Solves Crimes.” The founders’ comic delivery had a campy Hawaii Five-O ambiance, but the simplicity of their messages played out quite well on the grand stage. The DEMO experience stands out from other events in January, typically tech PR’s busiest month. It’s much less frenetic than CES, and the balmy Palm Desert air gave me a chance to dry out from the dismal weeks of San Francisco rain during Macworld. It’s a more intimate gathering that lends itself to networking for partners, making personal connections, and learning more about other great ideas and implementations in the works. Instead of journalists running from one tech giant to the next, like CES, it seemed they had more time for casual conversations, laughs and insights from smaller, innovative companies. DEMO proved to be a fantastic launch pad for our client Fabrik’s Joggle, a new Web service for consumers frustrated by finding content spread across a variety of devices, online services and social networks. It’s one of the most extensive and interesting services yet to be based on the Adobe AIR platform. To kick off the coverage, BusinessWeek picked Joggle as one of its annual top DEMO picks, and buzz about Joggle spread across the Web quickly -- including blog posts from CNET Webware, Popular Science, the San Jose Mercury News and Macworld.   For companies planning to make a big splash with a cool new product or service, DEMO is definitely at the top of my short list of recommendations.

    Life is constricted to all types of boxes: Our apartments, our cubicles, even our computers entrap us. For many of us, traveling has always been the great escape from life’s restrictions. Lonely Planet, known for its insightful travel guidebooks, is a company that has been fostering the idea of exploring the world and soaking up its beauty and different cultures like a sponge. Recently, I came across LonelyPlanet.tv and knew I had found one of the best-kept secrets of online video content.   LonelyPlanet.tv inspires the adventurer in all of us through video clips accumulated by daring, off-the-beaten-path travelers. Of course, nothing surpasses the actual experience of  eating an exotic piece of fruit from a street vendor in Peru, or dipping your feet into the sultry water of the Red Sea. But when the box constricts and responsibility calls, LonelyPlanet.tv allows you to visit a new land each day, virtually, without a passport.  I love “Travel Tales,” a compilation of short documentaries created by amateur and seasoned travelers.. In less than 10 minutes, you can make a virtual pilgrimage to the Virgin Mary’s Wall of Wishes in Turkey and feel forgiven …well, virtually forgiven.  Another highlight is Bluelists, a collection of trekking recommendations.. It’s not your typical boring grocery list of tourist sights, but an anthology of inventive travel ideas for richer life experiences.   So when the traveling bug starts to bite, soothe the itch with LonelyPlanet.tv—at least until you can go there yourself!

You finally find a few spare minutes to do that online research you’ve been putting off, and start entering search terms into the Google blog search engine.

This week the news you can’t avoid is the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where Barack Obama and Joe Biden will formally accept their party’s nomination for president.  The arenas they’re speaking in are filled with screaming delegates, but the real momentum behind their campaign is hidden from view: their online supporters.

Internet privacy is a topic that makes most of us sit up tall and listen. Most people could never imagine having their identity stolen and the repercussions that it can burden you with both financially and socially. But what if targeted advertising is all about making the ads we see online, on the TV and on your mobile phone more bearable and possibly even enjoyable?

Technology gurus, SEO masters and connected consumers united last week in New York for Internet Week: http://www.internetweekny.com/. Did your heart skip a beat and mouse hurry to the hyperlink? If so, then you don’t need to be introduced or coaxed into understanding why this event, for most, Web 2.0 movers and shakers, is a great thing. Technology gurus, SEO masters and connected consumers united last week in New York for Internet Week: http://www.internetweekny.com/. Did your heart skip a beat and mouse hurry to the hyperlink? If so, then you don’t need to be introduced or coaxed into understanding why this event, for most, Web 2.0 movers and shakers, is a great thing. Last year, the Industrial and Technology Assistance Corp., a Manhattan-based nonprofit economic development organization, commissioned a report that found the city employed 165,000 high-tech workers – not to mention the countless PR and marketing folks that support and promote the companies where these high-tech workers are employed. In response to this report and the common knowledge about the growing Silicon Alley, Internet Week New York was created. Internet week kicked off on June 3rd at Gracie Mansion, the “home” of Mayor Bloomberg and has been running throughout the week and will end with the Webby Awards on June 10th. The Internet Week concept was initially organized by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting and the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. It’s taken on a Wikipedia-like concept where anyone can create their own event or meet-up as well as attend any of the parties, roundtables or even yoga classes listed on the Internet Week roster. One interesting event was hosted by IWantMedia at NYU tackling “The Future of Media” where reporters David Carr-New York Times, Keith Kelly-New York Post, Kenneth Li-Reuters, Johnnie Roberts-Newsweek, Erick Schonfeld-TechCrunch and Michael Wolff-Vanity Fair/New York Magazine discussed how the internet continues to change the way we all consume media. Jonnie Roberts put it simply when he stated that “blogs are a megaphone for what he does for Newsweek.” The discussion which can be watched here, covers a range of topics including how new media is impacting almost all businesses, something that marketing and public relations executives have been conveying to CEO’s for the past few years. So will Web 3.0 be declared when the week-long event is over? Probably not, but this is if nothing else, an excellent effort to keep the internet social, with out having to create a new social network. Whether you can read HTML or just use the internet to browse celebrity gossip on PerezHilton, check out Internet Week and socialize off-line!

It is hard to recall a news story that so obviously revealed the changing face of media as much as the most recent scandal involving Eliot Spitzer.It is hard to recall a news story that so obviously revealed the changing face of media as much as the most recent scandal involving Eliot Spitzer. On Monday, within two hours of posting an article connecting New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to a prostitution ring, traffic on the NYTimes.com web site spiked 60 percent higher than at the same time the previous Monday, with mobile traffic nearly doubling during the same time period. As the story began to unfold in the coming days, resulting in Spitzer’s eventual resignation on Wednesday, the Times’ website continued to show signs of strain and slowdowns, as it sluggishly heaved through the traffic of the hungry public who wanted the most up to date information available. And it was perhaps Spitzer himself who recognized how quickly news is spread, proof being that he stood on a podium making apologies for his misjudgment and poor character less than two hours after the news of his involvement in a prostitution ring broke, denial wasn’t even an option. Besides revealing the well known fact that no one loves a sex scandal quite like a New Yorker, the speed-of-light pace at which the details of Spitzer’s scandal were exposed, prove that in this increasing world of digital connectedness, there really is no hiding from a scandal or the Internet news machine. This may just look like another political and personal failing (Clinton 2.0?) however this news story also revealed some interesting patterns about the way in which the Internet and social networking are changing how a news story plays out in the public, on TV and in the papers, and further proves that now more than ever, the media must aggressively attempt to stay ahead of their tech-savvy public who knows how to retrieve details and information faster and sometimes even better than they do. It wasn’t only that people were hungry to learn the details of Spitzers’ story, but rather they sought to stake a personal claim in the scandal as well, and there is no easier way to do that than buying domain names. Minutes after an article was posted on New York Times referring to Spitzer as the particular “Client 9” that was named in a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors last week, the client9.com domain name was registered for $10.13, and in addition to this purchase other savvy business minds bought client-9.net, and client-9.com. And it doesn’t stop there. As we found out in the days that followed, it appears that the very break-through in this case itself has been intricately affected by the amount of data exchanged on the Internet through a variety of digital platforms. What led the FBI and the IRS to Spitzer in the first place was a complex electronic virtual paper trail that revealed a large unaccountable movement of cash, corroborated by telephone wiretaps, computer records and other electronic evidence. With this information stored permanently on a variety of servers and databases it really does call into question what other persona digital traces are out there being tracked, and what if any, are the rules of privacy are associated to them—in this case the possible criminality of the act proved privacy wasn’t a concern when retrieving Spitzers’ records. In an article for Businessweek.com, Hillary Rhodes points out another interesting aspect of this news story, highlighting the changing face of one of the oldest professions in the midst of the wired world. Rhodes writes “the prostitution scandal involving New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer lays bare some of the inner workings of modern day sex work: text messaging to clock in the client, electronic fund transfers, a Web site featuring color photos, prices and rankings” and I would add, an easier more convenient method of payment. As Rhodes goes on to discuss, workers also use high-tech measures to avoid getting caught by the police (wire taps, cameras etc.), and in the case of Spitzer, also use technology to do the catching. And just when you thought the web of technology couldn’t be weaved any more tightly around this case, the infamous “Kristen” whom Spitzer was said to have been with on the night of February 13^th, was revealed to the public via her Myspace page to be a woman named Ashley Alexandra Dupre. The ease of access to this information may cause Myspace devotees to rethink their security settings. In addition to the New York Times article which splashed the shots of Ashley across any empty space they had available, CNN showed screenshots of the Myspace screenshots, and awkwardly scrolled through Ashley’s page reading her “about me” stating them as a testimonial of her theories on life, and as insight into her psyche. At just about the same time this media bonfire was ablaze, local news crews camped outside her apartment tracking her every digital move saying, “We can tell from her Myspace page that she has signed on this evening.” It is hard to think of another story in recent history whose details unwound so immediately and one that also relied so heavily on a social networking site for a solid evidentiary source. In addition to Ashley’s face gracing the cover of every major newspaper and news program; it appears that her goal to be an R&B artist is now more fully realized than ever. She sells her music on Amie Street, which sets the price of songs based upon how quickly and how much it sells. With her new found fame it appears Ashley’s song is now selling more quickly than Radiohead at 98 cents per download, so even she is cashing in. And if selling songs faster than Thom Yorke is not exciting enough, there are now 13 Facebook groups dedicated solely to Ashley. Every angle of this news story points to the rapid rate at which information is consumed and exchanged throughout a number of growing digital outlets—from the reveal of initial scandal to the way in which the perpetrator was caught in the first place. Whether it is a story breaking on a popular newspaper website, buying domain names to stake a claim to Internet intellectual property, or cruising Myspace to better understand the psyche behind a scandal, one thing remains clear, new media has made the public life of politicians and breaking news stories even more public and consumable.

Last week, I found myself prodding along with a myriad of other proud parents in an attempt to get good shots of my son singing in his school Valentine’s Day play. Slightly frustrated, I paced back and forth, circling the stage to catch the right frame. And guess what? I never got a good shot.