For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #535: March 18, 2010

2010-03-18T18:44:02+00:00

Content summary: Neville’s in Berlin (home of his birth); Voce Communications’s Doug Haslam fills in. Doug and Shel chat about the Pan Mass Challenge and baseball, including the Chicago Cubs’ attempts to finalize an advertising deal with Toyota. Dan York reports on Facebook’s introduction of a weekly update for fan page administrators. Media Monitoring Minute on Reuters’ social media policy. News That Fits: Another interview-style keynote at South by Southwest (SxSW)—this one with Twitter’s Ev Williams—bombs, mommy bloggers unite in outrage over New York Times coverage of a mommy blogger conference that wasn’t so bad, a Wall Street Journal article questions the value of social media for small businesses, Eric Schwartzman reports from SxSW, an Australian study finds 55% of news in newspapers comes from PR sources; music from Amelia White.

About our guest co-host:

Doug Haslam is a Supervisor within the Voce Connect team. He joined Voce in 2010, bringing two decades of radio, PR, marketing and social media experience to the team. Doug’s track record prior to arriving at Voce included successful PR and social media programs for companies in the media, Internet, technology infrastructure and consumer spaces, and is a recognized fixture of the Boston social media scene. Outside of Voce, Doug spends time with his wife and son just outside of Boston, and cycles across Massachusetts every year, raising money to fight cancer in the Pan-Mass Challenge. Doug blogs at http://vocenation.com and http://doughaslam.com, and his Twitter ID is simply @DougH.

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For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, for March 18, 2010: A 67-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Winter Park, Florida, USA.

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the show notes home page for info.

FIR #528 show notes at The New PR Wiki

Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR, or at Jaiku: fir.jaiku.com. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Join the FIR Discussion Forum and extend your conversations with the FIR community. You can also join the FIR Facebook Community and become an FIR friend.

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So, until Monday, March 22…

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #534: March 15, 2010

2010-03-15T19:40:07+00:00

Content summary: Communication jobs in Switzerland; Michael Netzley reports from Singapore; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; News That Fits: Fraxion Payments micropayment system launched for bloggers, PR agency runs for the US Congress, American medical journal bans the UK’s Sunday Times from reports after embargo break, best practices for disclosure on Facebook; FIR Friendfeed Room round-up; Neville’s in Berlin on Thursday so Doug Haslam will be guest co-host with Shel; music from Amy Macdonald; and more.

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For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, for March 15, 2010: A 62-minute podcast recorded live from Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and Concord, California, USA.

FIR #534 show notes at The New PR Wiki

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So, until Thursday March 18…

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #533: March 11, 2010

2010-03-12T02:47:56+00:00

Content summary: Shel’s in Chicago piecing together the jigsaw puzzle of the show. Shel and Neville will be together on Monday, but guest co-host Doug Haslam will join Shel next Thursday. Dan York reports on social CRM and some nifty new resources. CustomScoop’s Media Monitoring Minute looks at cooperation versus competition between mainstream news media and social networks. News That FIts: Shel responds to a listener comment on the volume of FIR content that references Facebook; Neville explores the work-related issues that arise from Facebook and Twitter updates; Shel reports on a study that reveals human resources professionals depend on and benefit from interactions on social networks. Listener comments. Music from Tea Leaf Green. And, as always, more.

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For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, for March 11, 2010: A 64-minute podcast recorded live from Chicago, Illinois, USA.

FIR #533 show notes at The New PR Wiki

Join the FIR Discussion Forum and extend your conversations with the FIR community. You can also join the FIR Facebook Community and become an FIR friend.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday, March 15…

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #532: March 8, 2010

2010-03-09T04:54:55+00:00

Content summary: Shel’s in Washington, D.C. A brief interview with SNCR founder Jen McClure on the upcoming NewComm Forum (FIR listeners use promo code NCF125 by Friday for a $300 discount). Michael Netzley has a question for FIR listeners. Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop. News That Fits: how to avoid backchannel disasters; Zynga, a fundraising drive, a mainstream media misunderstanding, the spread of inaccurate information and the need for Web 2.0 organizations to be excruciatingly clear; an invitation for guest blog posts; IBM unveils Blog Muse; bloggers excluded from town council’s accreditation of Twitterers; listener comments; no music this Monday.

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For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, for March 8, 2010: A 69-minute podcast recorded live from Washington, D.C., USA.

FIR #532 show notes at The New PR Wiki

Join the FIR Discussion Forum and extend your conversations with the FIR community. You can also join the FIR Facebook Community and become an FIR friend.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Thursday, March 11…

FIR #532 will be late, but it’s coming

2010-03-08T13:49:56+00:00

Due to travel and work schedules, FIR #532 won’t be posted until late on Monday, March 8. We promise, though, it’s coming.

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #531: March 4, 2010

2010-03-04T19:47:37+00:00

Content summary: FIR makes two podcast "best of" lists and hits the #1 business spot at Podcast Alley; FIR Interview with Tod Maffin posted; the FIR iPhone app and AT&T’s network; FIR iPhone/Android app reviews by Eric Schwartzman, Dan York and Lee Hopkins; the FIR website widget is going to vanish; Mark Story’s "win a trip to London" contest and the small print; Dan York reports on the FIR iPhone app, Google Stars, PubSubHubbub, and more; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; News That Fits: is an attention crash really coming?, Israeli military ‘unfriends’ soldier after Facebook leak, O’DwyerGate; 50% discount for FIR listeners at Simply Summit in April; Kris Gallagher explains Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0; news about next week’s shows; music from Manafest; and more.

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Get the FIR app for your iPhone or Android device

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, for March 4, 2010: A 66-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Wokingham, Berkshire, England.

FIR #531 show notes at The New PR Wiki

Join the FIR Discussion Forum and extend your conversations with the FIR community. You can also join the FIR Facebook Community and become an FIR friend.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday March 8…

FIR Interview: Tod Maffin on Case Studies Online

2010-03-04T00:15:38+00:00

Case Studies Online is a database of social media case studies that share in common the fact that they have produced measurable results. In fact, site founder Tod Maffin’s tagline for the site is “Proven Social Media Tactics for Assured ROI.”

In this FIR Interview, co-host Shel Holtzand Tod Maffin discuss the reason Tod founded the site, what went into it, what you can find there and his vision of the site’s future.

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Download the MP3 file (10.8Mb, 26:59)
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About our Conversation Partner

Tod Maffin writes a technology newsletter that is followed by thousands of people in the media and business communities around the world. He has reported on national technology trends on CBC Radio and speaks at more than 40 events around the world each year. Tod was one of Canada’s first podcasters. During the web 1.0 days, Tod launched Mindful Eye, an artificial intelligence firm that developed the patented technology that could analyze public opinion comments posted on the Internet and aired in the media, thus providing a “mood monitor” of stocks. The company went public in 18 months. And he was one of the Internet’s first webmasters — creating a site ranked 8th best in the world… beating out such heavyweights as Sony, Microsoft, and AT&T.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR or at Jaiku: fir.jaiku.com. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #530: March 1, 2010

2010-03-01T17:01:50+00:00

Content summary: Summarizing the Euprera conference in Belgium; upcoming FIR Interview with Todd Maffin; announcing the FIR app for iPhone and Android; vote for FIR at Podcast Alley; Michael Netzley reports from Singapore on Millennials’ use of technology, and more; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; why we don’t have any news items about the Chile earthquake; News That Fits: a future alongside Facebook for social networks in Europe, boomers take to social networks to protest and praise, avatars can make us better people says Stanford study, Pentagon relaxes social network access; listener comments discussion and FIR Friendfeed Room round-up; music from Parlotones; and more.

Get FIR:

Get the FIR app for your iPhone or Android device

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, for March 1, 2010: A 64-minute podcast recorded live from Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and Concord, California, USA.

FIR #530 show notes at The New PR Wiki

Join the FIR Discussion Forum and extend your conversations with the FIR community. You can also join the FIR Facebook Community and become an FIR friend.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Thursday March 4…

Announcing FIR for iPhone and Android

2010-02-28T13:17:22+00:00

Getting hold of episodes of the For Immediate Release (FIR) podcasts to listen to on your mobile device whenever and wherever you want to is pretty easy.

The two most most popular ways to do this are subscribing via iTunes – a prime choice especially if you have an iPhone, iPod or iPod Touch – or subscribing via one or more of the RSS feeds on the FIR website.

In either case, you get the MP3 file on your computer which you then either synchronize to your mobile device with iTunes or other program that let’s you do that (Winamp is one), or manually copy the file to it.

If you have an iPhone, an iPod Touch or a device running the Android OS, there’s now an even easier way to get your podcast episodes with the new FIR app, now available in the iTunes App Store and the Android Market. There’s currently no cost – the app is free to download and use.

The FIR app presents the five distinct FIR podcasts – The Hobson & Holtz Report, FIR Cuts, FIR Interviews, FIR Book Reviews and FIR Speakers & Speeches – organized into categories that make it very easy to find just the content you want all in one place on your mobile device. The default category when you start is ‘Most Recent,’ a perfect way of auto-organizing content for most people.

Categories brings some essential organization to your FIR collection on your mobile device, making it simple to select particular content you want.

The might notice one podcast not included – FIR Live on BlogTalk Radio, the live show we do once a month or so. That’s because recordings of those live shows are included in the Hobson & Holtz Report category.

For the iPhone, etc, you can find the FIR app in the App Store. But the easiest way to find, download and install it is on your iPhone or iPod Touch:

1. Load the App Store on your device.

2. Tap the Search button and type FIR.

3. The FIR app should be the first result you get – it was when I installed it yesterday – as the screenshot shows.

4. Tap the listing, tap the word ‘free’ and then ‘install.’

There you have it – the FIR app installed on your device, ready to go!

The FIR app for iPhone and Android was created with iSites.us, a new app creation service launched in January by California startup GenWi. Just $25 and we have an app. A brilliant service.

Creating a mobile experience has never been easier nor cheaper.

We’re thrilled with our first app creation and hope you find it useful and an enjoyable experience. Do let us know what you think. If you have any suggestions for improvement, we want to hear that, too.

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #529: February 25, 2010

2010-02-25T20:42:53+00:00

Content summary: Neville’s in Belgium (Ghent, to be specific), so Mark Story, who handles New Media for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is filling in as guest co-host. Shel and Mark talk about Mark’s role at the SEC and his hopes for this episode of FIR. Deloitte and SHIFT Communications are both hiring communicators. Dan York reports from Orlando, Florida. Jen Zingsheim offers CustomScoop’s Media Monitoring Minute with a look at Google Goggles. News That Fits: new perspectives on Toyota’s recall crisis, studies reveal the depth of social media engagement by the Fortune 500 and the Global 100. Listener comments. A country music track from 77 South. And, as always, more. Regarding the photo at left, captured from Mark’s Skype video during recording, Mark wishes to point out that Skype video automatically adds 10 pounds to one’s appearance.

Get FIR:

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, for February 25, 2010: A 70-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Kensington, Maryland, USA.

FIR #528 show notes at The New PR Wiki

Join the FIR Discussion Forum and extend your conversations with the FIR community. You can also join the FIR Facebook Community and become an FIR friend.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday, March 1…