Nothing brings out the worst in folks quite like anonymity. Under the misguided belief that the Internet was created to catalog negative comments and painfully poor grammar, Internet trolls rant and pillage the Web–and leave in their wake you, with a helpless, panicky feeling.

Every public relations person has a different theory on how to handle ridiculous, demeaning and downright false comments; here’s mine:

Don’t delete: folks have the right to disagree with you–even they are snarky and mean-spirited.  As long as the comment isn’t a threat, patently offensive, spam, bigoted, libelous or keeping you awake at night, leave it be. These are comments from trolls, not statements from the Pope.

Count to 4,567: as bad as the troll’s comment is and despite how angry/hurt/sad it makes you, it’s not the end of the world. Take a deep breath, step away from the computer and think before you respond.

Just the facts, ma’am: should you decide to respond to the the troll in a comment of your own, do so with a level head, refuting the troll point-by-point using factual statements with as little emotion as possible (Trolls hate that). Under no circumstances are you to fight with the troll or engage in it in sarcastic comm-versation.

Use your real name: transparency is key when responding to an Internet troll. When you respond, it should be under your real name. In my book, if your comment is anonymous it doesn’t count–and you’ve become a troll, too. Read More…

Oh, boy! Looks like more folks are discovering public relations truths via Google. This recent Flackrabbit search query needs no introduction…

…but it does need an answer. Here, let me: Read More…

It’s not the numerous legitimate privacy concerns that scare me about Google Buzz. I get nauseous nauseated* thinking about the first time someone–you, me, an elected official or famous person–mistakes a Buzz reply for an email and says something patently offensive, evil and/or downright embarrassing.

And it’s public. But you thought it was private when you hit send because the Buzz reply was IN YOUR INBOX.

Who’s horrible idea was this? I can’t imagine anything WORSE than putting a very public communications vehicle in someone’s PRIVATE email inbox. Read More…

I’ll never tire of folks emailing, DMing, Facebook messaging and calling with geek/productivity/PR questions. It’s amazing what a little perspective and encouragement will do for a person; I’m honored to be someone you call on when you need that.

Here’s the thing though: you seldom ask your question in the comments on my blog(s) or on Twitter. You seem to like your privacy. That’s cool, but I’d like to encourage you to share the Q & A luv; that’s what makes the Internet so fabulous, ya know? Wisdom of crowds and what not. Read More…

I’m excited that you “nailed that interview,” I just hope your soon-to-be boss isn’t following you on Twitter, watching you talk about it like this. It’s not that you’ve said anything patently offensive – and you aren’t alone – it’s just that any and all snarky/job-related comments are now out there for the Whole Wide Web (and HR recruiters) to see.

Folks, you’ve heard me say it a hundred times: there is no privacy on the Internet. All of your social sayings are Google-able. Sooner or later, your co-workers/bosses/peers are gonna see this stuff. And then we’ll all blog about it. And we’re not laughing with you.

So, stop kicking yourselves in the rear and think before you Tweet. You’ll be glad you did.

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I’ve now had four days on Google Wave (if you want a quick primer, go here) and I really dig what it could mean for future office collaboration and editing. Not to mention how it will change the way we think about email.

It’s hard to explain what Wave really is, but I’m having fun with it. At this point though it’s very much like hubby describes it: “a glorified chat room.”

We’ll need more folks Waving with us (only 10 of my contacts have Wave access) — and more features, Gmail integration, etc — before we’ll really discover and appreciate its potential. In the meantime, a few quick observations:

Potential use I love most:

Live editing – in theory, you could invite the five folks who have to review and approve your copy/press release/statement/etc. to a Wave and everyone could tear up your draft make their edits while the everyone else is watching in real-time. Within minutes, you could have an approved draft for release; and if someone wanted to see how those edits were made, by whom and in what order, you can invite them to that Wave to “play back” the conversation.

Thing that scares me:

Folks must watch you type: at this point, anything you type is visible to the person you are Waving with — as you are typing. So all those typos and Freudian slips will unfold like a train wreck. Not cool, Google. I’m ready for that little “Draft” box to actually be clickable so I don’t break out into a sweat when I start putting thoughts to pixels.

Oh, and I’m not ignoring you JM, AH, Matt, TL, etc. Although I received my Wave invite because Dave shared one with me, I don’t yet have invites to send around. If/when I am granted some, I’ll share! I promise!

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At most, my attention span holds up for about one hour, after that, good luck to you. This flaw is why I’ve yet to take the time to watch the two hour Google Wave intro video, which hubby has declared a must-watch. Thankfully, this guy has opened my eyes to the world wonder that is Google Wave in just TWO MINUTES.

Watch it and allow your jaw to drop as mine just did. And hey, Google, give dude an invite!

Hat tip: Lifehacker

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I was being asked a bunch of questions about Twitter today (Hi, B!) and found myself saying that the best way to get to know the ins and outs of social media is by testing it out on your own account, on your own time.

And then I thought to myself, “Hey, that makes a lot of sense, Margie. Good one.”

You know, because then when you say something patently offensive or stupid, you’ve done it under your own name and not your employer’s. Even though that can still get you fired.

Like most things, practice makes knowledgeable. So, when you are at the conference table and someone asks you how hashtags work, you’ll know because you’ve used them. When someone, like your boss, says they are confused about what happens when p*rn creepos follow you, or why it matters if one RTs, @s or DMs, you’ll explain it to them with authority – not because you read it on Mashable – because you’ve already done it well (or messed it up).

If you have never been caught up in the World Wide Web, why would your employer trust you with their online reputation?

If you want folks or co-workers to look to you for Geek Guidance you’ve gotta create, play with, and maintain a personal Twitter account; you’ll need to have personally blogged for an extended period of time; you must continuously play around on Facebook and constantly seek to find a purpose for LinkedIn. You’ll need to know how Google rules the world works and “what makes a RSS feed different than an alert.” It takes a lot of work;  a lot of reading; a lot of trial and error.

Agree? Or am I just being snobby?

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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…

Team Newman is coming up on three years of marriage, so for Her Nashville‘s  “I Do” issue I explore my thought process for taking my husband’s name and finding a way to keep my own. Spoiler Alert: It had nothing to do with feminism and everything to do with Google. Shocker!

Here’s a snippet:

Third in line after ‘How did he propose’ and ‘Have you set a date’ often comes the nail biter: ‘Will you take his name?’ Read More…