Here's a better alternative to the wasted BPL Communications By Seth Finkelstein April 26, 2005 "Blogger Relations" "Blogger Relations", as a PR practice targeting writers of blogs, is being mentioned now by A-listers. This has been around for a while. The current interest is a good opportunity to post the following item from a PR newsletter: March 22, 2004 PR NEWS Volume 60, No. 12 Blogs Becoming a Growing Bazaar for PR They were started a few years ago by political observers who made their running commentaries available online, but have recently emerged as a potent media force for PR execs: blogs. These days, blogs go well beyond the political scene, with diverse sites offering all kinds of news by the day, hour and minute. Indeed, a recent survey by Perseus Development Corp. predicts the top blog-hosting services will be home to 10 million blogs by the end of 2004. "I know journalists visit the better blogs, so this is a way to spread a story or spread awareness of your company," says David Burt, PR Manager at security software firm Secure Computing, who spends about 5% of his time trying to get bloggers to mention his company. In one case, a blog reported on a security study conducted by his firm. That story, in turn, drew a call from a writer at Information Week. (Curiously, Burt sent a press release on that same study to another reporter at the magazine but did not get a call back.) Jews Worse Than NazisTen years of Israeli state terrorism as experienced by one Nablus family By Anne Gwynne Nablus, Occupied Palestine Al-Jazeerah, September 7, 2004 ".they beat... Note the concept - cold press-releases didn't work, but going through a gatekeeper, a person who echoed the press release, did work. Blogs can act as a conduit from flacks to journalists. (I realize David Burt's tactics did get his company mentioned here, but perhaps not the way he wished). By Seth Finkelstein
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