Archives for Sara Thatcher
Think twice, office pranksters
March 29, 2012
April Fools’ Day – a day reserved for whoopee cushions, trick chairs, and other good-humored chaff – is quickly approaching. Even though April 1 is a Sunday this year, many office pranksters will still attempt to cause mischief during the work day. According to a CareerBuilder.com survey, 32% of workers say they have either initiated [...]
The stories behind the stories: February 2012
February 29, 2012
Whitney Houston’s death, the threat of snow, and redistricting topped the headlines this month. Below are the stories behind the stories. Twitter breaks news Whitney Houston’s tragic death on February 11 shocked the nation. Notably, news of her death was first reported on Twitter by a niece of one of Houston’s staff, 27 minutes before [...]
Pinning your way to key audiences via Pinterest
February 3, 2012
Budding bakers, wannabe fashionistas, do-it-yourself designers, and vacation dreamers are flocking to Pinterest – the latest social media craze. Pinterest is different from other social media platforms. Rather than post messages, Pinterest users “pin” photos or videos which link to the website where the content came from. Users pin the photos to specific categories (e.g., [...]
PR Rock Head Award: Wedded waste
January 5, 2012
Priscilla of Boston, a high-end bridal boutique that recently went out of business, found itself in PR trouble this week after photos of an Edina store employee destroying thousands of dollars worth of wedding gowns surfaced. In accordance with company policy, the boutique’s unsold designer wedding gowns were sprayed with red paint and thrown away [...]
Rock Head of the Year Award
December 21, 2011
The 2011 Rock Head of the Year Award goes to the Steven J. Baum law firm in New York, which recently closed its doors after a scandal of Halloween proportions. In October, the law firm came under fire after photos of a foreclosure-themed Halloween party surfaced in the New York Times. For the party, employees [...]
PR Rock Head Award: Halloween no-no
October 31, 2011
Steven J. Baum is the largest law firm in New York representing banks and mortgage lenders. The firm helps these lenders foreclose on homeowners and evict people from their homes. Last year, the firm’s annual Halloween party had a foreclosure theme. Employees dressed as homeless people and decorated the office to look like a mock [...]
Should companies link social media accounts?
October 25, 2011
Many companies rely on dozens of social media accounts to reach different audiences. Maintaining a regular presence on all of these channels can be time-consuming and challenging. Some companies have linked their accounts so that a post to one account will automatically be posted to the other accounts. While linking your social media accounts is [...]
In case you missed it – Facebook edition
August 24, 2011
The world’s largest online social network is constantly evolving to meet the demands of its growing user base. In recent years, users have heavily scrutinized Facebook’s privacy controls. The newest round of changes, which will go live tomorrow, addresses some of these concerns. The changes also reflect some of the features of Facebook’s newest competitor, [...]
Information overload
June 28, 2011
These days, information is always at our fingertips. It’s possible to find nearly everything on the Internet from the number of species in the Amazon rainforest (5 million) to the number of words in the English language (171,476 words in current use and 47,156 obsolete words). In fact, humans have created 1.8 zettabytes of information [...]
Patching together a new media network
June 10, 2011
AOL’s hyper-local news approach keeps expanding in the Twin Cities Patch, a national network of hyper-local news websites, started growing in the Twin Cities in November 2010 with seven sites. In just seven months, it has expanded to 23 different metro communities from Hudson, Wisconsin, to St. Michael. Patch is also planning to add more [...]