This week, my new friend and long-time blogger Nisha asked met to rattle off a few PR blogs I read regularly.  I get this question pretty often, but it gives me pause because I don’t really read many straight-up PR blogs. My daily read list is actually a smorgasbord of tech, HR, social media, writing and future-of-journalism blogs — but I believe their collective offerings make me a better flack.

Here are the blogs consistently bring something fabulous to my itty bitty table:

Human resources and GenY in the workplace

• Lindsay Olson
• Penelope Trunk
• Brazen Careerist

Future of journalism-ish

• Clay Shirky
• Daring Fireball

Writing

• ProBlogger
• Copy Blogger
• Blogsessive

Geek trends and nerd news

• Lifehacker
• Mashable
• TechCrunch
• Chris Brogan (you know, this guy)
• Cult of Mac
• Chic Geek (my alter ego, of course)

Public Relations

• PR 2.o/Brian Solis
• Daily Axioms
• B.L. Ochman’s What’s Next Blog
• Bad Pitch Blog
• Communications Overtones
• Media Bistro

This chex-mix approach to web surfing keeps me out of the PR/ Social Media- bubble. That’s important because a sound public relations practice requires you to be well-read and well-rounded, so you have to expand your horizons a little. Your clients (rightfully) assume you are their go-to gal/guy about every kind of media and communication tactic – not just the ones you like. (i.e. there is a lot more to PR than Twitter; there is more to the Internet than social media).

So, I’ve shared my favorites. Check’em out, study up and please share your favorites in the comments!

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• More on the future of news from Clay Shirky (cnewmark.com)
• Repositioning Your Personal Brand in This Economy (lifehack.org)
• “MyAlltop” Opens–Features Custom Alltop Pages (guykawasaki.com)

Is it seriously August Issue time already? It seems like just yesterday I was whining about the insanely cold temperatures of February and March. Time flies!

Anywho – the newest Her Nashville is online. This month, your Chic Geek hopes you’ll embrace change. Take it from someone who has seen a lot of it this year — change can be a good thing, but you’ve gotta know how to work it:

Greet change at your door. Invite him in and toast him with a glass of Merlot. Then, make him take you to a movie.

Or don’t take it from me at all and just listen to Life Coach Daryl; he’s an expert after all. Read More…

Well OF COURSE there would be a Fame flash mob in Nashvegas now that I no longer live there! (sigh). So very sad I was not a part of this FABULOUS impromptu display of jazz hands at the Nashville Farmer’s Market. Well done, Circle Players!

Be sure to watch it all the way through to view maximum tourist confusion:

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• I got to join a “flash mob” yesterday in Paris, as a tribute to Michael Jackson (americablog.com)
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The folks at Verizon Wireless let me the Chic Geek test out the HP Mini for a few days – and unlike the Blackberry Storm test of 2008 – I actually have nice things to say about the thing. Read all about it and check out a picture of my husband acting like a goober!

Oh, and I couldn’t help but giggle as I posted a link from the Chic Geek blog to the the new Twitter for Business site. Oh, Twitter. You know you are tired of explaining yourself when you create a communications tool that does nothing but make the case for why you are a relevant communications tool.

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• Verizon Wireless to carry Palm Pre, Storm 2 “in about six months” (engadget.com)

In keeping with my recent streak of firsts, I created a Meetup group this evening! If you are a PR flack in the DC area, I really hope you’ll join us for happy hour on August 18 at the Chop House upstairs bar (it has its own bathroom!).

I recently accompanied Dave on two Meetup happy hours:  DC Bloggers and DC Photography. Their respective organizers have polar opposite visions for their groups:

The DC Bloggers Meetup was a blast – cool, funny people – but the gal running it has since made it clear the causal attendee isn’t her target audience.  That’s her prerogative, of course, but I just want to MEET UP with folks, not take on a part time job. (sigh) It honestly made me sad to learn folks like me aren’t welcome. Oh, well – at least I got introduced to the DCBlogs dude!

But tonight’s DC Photography Meetup, led by the fabulous Jim, ROCKED. Great turnout, sincere and talented folks – and the entire point really was simply to meet up and get to know each other. And look: the photo dudes have already posted a pic of me and my baby! I had so much fun, it inspired me to start my own for PR peeps.

Right now, the only members are me and hubbs (thanks, baby!). But even if it’s just the two of us who show up, it will still be a fantastic adventure for me, the Meetup newb.

Are you active in Meetup? Do you find them fun or beneficial? Have you ever started a one?

It is vital.

When it comes to breaking good, bad or scary news to employees, as a rule, most companies are piss-poor communicators. If and when they do think to inform the people who keep the shop running, it’s usually in the form of short, dismissive bullet points. Ick. Your people are your greatest asset! Learn to engage them in conversation! Oops; tangent – sorry.

I understand that spouting your message out to strangers and/or the media is one thing; chatting with your own employees is quite another. So, if you need an example of how to be transparent and validate their fears in times of uncertainty, check out this letter from Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh to his peeps about being acquired by Amazon.com.

Things I heart:

1. Hsieh’s tone, language and message flow serve to validate employees fears while still A) making his legal team happy, and B) talking to his employees like they are smart folks who mean something to him – because they expect and deserve that.
2. He uses a smiley face emoticon AND references “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree???”
3. He apologizes for the “suddenness of this announcement,” as it is not characteristic of the internal culture.
4. He lets employees in his head by sharing the leadership’s strategy behind the agreement: “over the past several months, we had to weigh all the pros and cons along with all the potential benefits and risks. At the end of the day, we realized that, once it was determined that this was in the best interests of our shareholders, it basically all boiled down to…”
5. He invites employees to ask questions and voice concerns to him directly: “please email me any questions that you may have so that we can cover as many as possible during the all hands meeting and/or a follow-up email.”
6. He shares a video from Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos so that employees can see and hear him, get to know his humor and background, and – this is key – discover Amazon and Zappos’ shared “obsession over customers. “

So, what do you think of the Zappos internal (and now external) communication tactic? Do you agree that it’s a good example? Or am I just blinded by my Zappos love?

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Nope. Not even if you delete something you said, mark your account private and/or keep only close friends on your roster.

To help us all remember that, please repeat after me this not-at-all-brilliant, but 100 percent accurate mantra:

Tweet with caution, Facebook with care – ten years from now, it will still be out there.

On second thought, print it out and tape it to your computer monitor.

XOXO –Flackrabbit

The post that leads the most* Google and Bing searchers to this blog is my October 2008 rant, “Twitter is Useless.” In it, I say that if even a handful of your audience is on Twitter then it cannot be called useless; that very essence of public relations is to focus on a message and communicate that message to the intended audience via whatever communication channel that public uses and views as valid.

It’s a post that generates a decent amount of traffic here, and of course, web surfers who disagree with me.  Just this morning I received a comment from “Joe” in Atlanta: Read More…

Ever since Team Newman won a free overnight adventure to from BWI to NYC thanks to a Southwest Airlines Twitter contest, I’ve had this urge to just make up a contest of my own. You know, to see if anyone would actually play. So, this morning, I sounded the contest alarm — and people took me up on the chance to win an ugly t-shirt. Word.

I mean, I didn’t take down the Internet or anything, but so far I’ve had about a dozen folks Tweet, DM or email me pictures of Nashville – just because I asked them to.

Some observations:

1. Only one person used the hashtag, which made finding the pictures difficult
2. Even though they read about the contest on Twitter, most folks emailed me their photos
3. People are playing my game – like, really!
4. Twitter contests are empowering

I’m still receiving pics, so I’m gonna let folks have the rest of the evening to get theirs in. But be sure to check Picalicious tomorrow to see our winning photo!

So, I go to pay our first utility bill here in Our Nation’s Capital and guess what? Here in DC, we have Life Threatening Emergencies and Power Outages at our beck and call. Sweet.

Oh, and Dave is super excited about designing a logo for my run at the 2010 Miss Utility pageant. I hope they accept karaoke in the talent portion!