PR = Public Relations AND Personalized Relations

Big Kudos to Stowe Boyd and Brian Solis for helping to further kick traditonal PR in the pants with the Beta launch of MicroPR, a Twitterrific tool for driving fast, smarter, twitterer communications between reporters and editors and PR professionals.

As the pair writes at their site...
"Twitter is proving to be a marvelous representation of people coming together online to share and discover new information in ways that weren’t possible, or predictable, before today. It has effectively created a new channel for casual conversation as well as a full-blown broadcast network for breaking news as it happens. For many of us, we’ve heard “it” first on Twitter.

What if Twitter also became a hub for newsmakers and influencers to seek information before the story was officially news? With the globally diverse and connected community, Twitter harnesses the true wisdom of the crowds to ask and receive specific information instantly. Introducing MicroPR."

Yes! I've been talking up Twitter use in PR-Comms for several months now with anyone who will listen and I'm a firm believer that the next phase of achieving coverage for your clients and companies is through a smarter use of Twitter. And MicroPR looks to be it.

I'm excited about the new developments - leave the email pitches to rot. Or just use the good ones in HARO emails. But in the long run, this next step looks to be better for all sides.

A bailout for Broadcast TV? Or surgery first?

"But with the economy in a tailspin -- and the Big Three auto manufacturers, some of TV's best advertisers, near ruin -- the biz may finally have to pull the emergency cord. "This day was going to come," says one conglom bigwig. "I don't think the business can be sustained without real change at this juncture. ... We have a gun to all of our heads."
-- Variety writes..."They've been living on borrowed time for the better part of two decades."

More and more people I talk to now seem to have small regard for broadcast television in their lives. Sure, some like to cherry pick around special TiVo-selected programs, or watch their shows at Hulu, but I think we're in a period harkening back to the 1950s, when television sets were regarded as a luxury item.

I have more thoughts on this, but will have to pick up at a later time - off to afternoon meetings....

Official Monty Python on YouTube

A new generation of absurdist comedy fans are rejoicing today about the news that the Monty Python gang of comedic TV & film veterans have banded together with YouTube to put up a new official Monty Python channel, featuring high quality versions of their classics for the world to see.



The gang still maintains their irreverance, if not their timing.

Open Web Mashable Awards

Time to vote for all the cool new gadgets and widgets with which you've played, experimented with, sugested to others and incorporated into your daily webstyle over the last 11 months. Voting ends Nov 30th over at Mashable.

Help one another through HelpingKind.org

A new web site called HelpingKind.org has launched to match people that may need help with chores, home repairs or other such things with others that are happy to help, without anything in return for that help. Who wudda thunk - old fashioned 'community' in the real life coming online to give back to the community. Still with me?

David Dalton, the creator of the website, came up with the idea when a friend on a forum was taken ill and couldn't fix some roof leaks and clogged gutters. "Everyone on the forum wanted to send money to hire someone to do the repairs and of course the friend felt funny about the charity" Mr. Dalton said, "Once I saw what was needed I suggested a few of us take a Sunday afternoon and do the repairs for them. More than enough members volunteered and showed up to handle all the problems. It only took a few hours".

"Someone asked me about the idea", Mr. Dalton continued, "I told them that in the 'old days' if someone's barn burned down, within days the whole community was there to help build them a new one. They did it for the simple fact they knew it could have well been them". Amen. Site is worth a look.

Life Mag Pics now on Google

Anyone who grew up flipping through their parents' copies of LIFE Magazine can totally rejoice today, as Google has put the million-plus photos collection online here.

Read more about it at the Google blog post.

Direct Marketing is Dying

Direct marketing is dying. Or, at least it is on the personal branding and job hunting front. The old rule of sending out resumes to too many people in hope of a sliver of opportunity has diminished greatly with social media. That's according to WebInkNow's David Meerman Scott, who writes...

"You want to find a new job? You have to stop thinking like an advertiser of a product and start thinking like a publisher of information. Create information that people want. Create an online presence that people are eager to consume. Establish a virtual front door that people will happily link to. And one that employers will find." More goodness at his link above.

And that's what I aim to do here at ThinkFast - take opportunity into my fingertips and put it into practice. I'll let you know how this runs.

ThinkFast debut

ThinkFast is my new thinking man's blog - it's here at ThinkFast because I like the name, and have used Blogger for about five years and I guess I'm blogger brand loyal.

I aim to tie my work and lifestyle pursuits into this blog, while keeping my musical pursuits over at Waved Rumor. I hope it works. Wish me luck.