The FIR Podcast Network

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

iTunes issues

iTunes is grabbing the wrong shows.

We don’t know why, but Apple’s iTunes is grabbing the wrong shows. If you subscribe to “For Immediate Release” through iTunes, you could get just about anything. One subscriber got the last show (#48), another got #47, another got the Siemens interview. Subscriptions through other podcatching software is all working just fine. If you didn’t get show #49, you can download it from the “For Immediate Release” blog or subscribe through an alternative podcatcher. In the meantime we’re in touch with Apple to see if we can figure out what’s up.

UPDATE: This appears to be fixed. I’ve downloaded the correct show three times in a row from iTunes.

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #49: July 11, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #49: July 11, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments (on credibility, trust and relationships; bloggers should ask first; get over show length; speed up the blog; iTunes and subscribing to the show); iTunes, podcasting and RSS concerns; countering a view that podcasts are a fad; the London bombings and the milestone role of citizen journalism; what African bloggers say about Live8; from Our Correspondent Down Under; the Ketchum saga continues.

Show notes for July 11, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 60-minute conversation recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Washington, DC, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 27MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:31 Neville introduces the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in this edition

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 02:16 Craig Jolley on credibility, trust and relationships when talking to bloggers and journalists - what’s now fair game on disclosing information?
• 06:59 Susan Getgood says a blogger should always ask first before blogging a conversation with a friend - understanding the rules of engagement today
• 08:34 On show length, Susan also says this show’s long and quite good - get over it if you have a problem with length
• 09:25 Lee Hopkins wants the podcast blog home page to open far more quickly, so Shel obliges
• 10:28 Ron Shewchuk likes iTunes 4.9 and subscribes there to this show

News and Features:

• 11:52 iTunes and podcasting - concerns for podcasters on Apple’s proprietary RSS requirements
• 15:03 While Dave Taylor thinks podcasts won’t help promote your business, saying it’s all a fad, Shel and Neville outline why they think it can and how it’s not a fad
• 29:36 The London bombings - Neville comments on his experiences in London last Thursday
• 32:43 The role and contribution of citizen journalism in times of tragedy - the London bombings are a major milestone in the symbiosis between mainstream media and citizen journalists
• 38:42 Live8 and what bloggers in Africa have to say - cynical and dismissive commentaries, in large part - and getting those opinions heard
• 43:07 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - on the London bombings, Adam Curry’s CastBlaster, OneNote for capturing thoughts and podcasting notes, saw-sharpening with FIR
• 48:51 The Ketchum saga continues - their PR Week interview, Constantin Basturea’s analysis of it and how spin just doesn’t work

Outro:

• 54:07 Neville outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; next Thursday’s show is #50; the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Listeners’ comments discussion - Craig Jolley, Charles Pizzo, Ross Mayfield, Richard Byrom, Susan Getgood, Lee Hopkins, Ron Shewchuk.

News and Features - iTunes, Adam Curry, Daily Source Code, RSS validators, Apple, Dave Winer, Todd Cochrane, Dave Taylor, Ask Dave Taylor, Dave Taylor’s podcast post, Podscope, Blinkx, Apple’s AAC file format, iPod, Windows Media Player, Audacity, Forrester Research report on Podcasting for Marketers, Adam Curry’s and Ron Bloom’s strategycast, Jupiter Research, GM podcasts, David Lawrence, Max Hansen, the London bombings, Sky News, Neville’s podcast on his London experiences, the Asian tsunami, CNN, Hurricane Dennis, BBC News, The Guardian, Fox News, Live8, Live8 bloggers in Africa, Bob Geldof, Bono, Lee Hopkins, CastBlaster, Sound Forge, Microsoft OneNote, Blogger, Ketchum, Constantin Basturea, The New PR Wiki Hot Issues Ketchum Timeline, PR Week, Steve Rubel.

Outro - Garageband.com, Naomi Rodriguez, Special, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday July 14…

Thursday, July 07, 2005

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #48: July 7, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #48: July 7, 2005

Content summary: The London bombings; communication plan for new media available for download; listeners’ comments (on mixing a real CEO blogger with a fake blog; explaining open source marketing; critical analysis of Virgin’s New York podcasts; political PR in the US and EU; a new podcast browser); report on raising awareness in the UK about new media; Technorati tags, Expression Engine and no answer from Technorati support; social media, trust and what’s now on/off the record; last words on the length of this show.

Show notes for July 7, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 66-minute conversation recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and almost live from London, England.

Download the file here (MP3, 30MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:29 Shel introduces the show; on the London bombings; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in this edition
• 02:29 Lee Hopkins’ communication plan PDF available for download

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 03:06 Sebastian Keil‘s communication challenge (show #47: should he combine a real CEO blogger with a fake/character car blog?) - suggestions from Chris Thilik, Susan Getgood, Jay Vorhees, Andrew Marritt (at 26:16); Shel says this podcast has now turned into a multi-directional conversation, building community
• 12:00 James Cherkoff explains how open source marketing is about innovation and new techniques and not about brand guardians and close control
• 13:17 Rob at PodcastNYC critically dissects the Virgin Atlantic podcasts about New York and asks - is this stereotypical character podcast really how Virgin Atlantic wants to build its reputation?
• 27:21 Howard Harawitz on political PR in the US and the EU; learning about RSS and creating a podcast browser (available for download)

News and Features:

• 29:57 Raising awareness about blogs, RSS and other new media in the UK - Neville reports on an event in London he participated in and three tips for how communicators can make a start themselves in finding out what people are saying about their companies; comment on the London Olympics 2012
• 37:36 Shel on Technorati tags, how Expression Engine handles categories and how he’s still waiting for an answer from Technorati about Atom
• 39:24 Charles Pizzo has concerns about social media and trust - when you speak to a blogger or podcaster, are they ‘pseudo journalists’ and what’s on or off the record now? Shel and Charles discuss on the phone - do you value the people or the information and where are the boundaries now? And should we be calling blogs and podcasts “unsocial media”?
• 47:09 Absolutely the last time we’ll talk about the length of our show - Shel introduces commentary about podcast content, delivery and length; Neville discusses listeners’ critiques

Outro:

• 60:20 Hold-over topics and what some discussion themes will be for Monday’s show;
• 60:54 Shel outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - London bombings, Neville Hobson (he’s ok), Lee Hopkins.

Listeners’ comments discussion - Sebastian Keil, Chris Thilik, Susan Getgood, Jay Vorhees, Andrew Marritt, James Cherkoff, ChangeThis.com, Rob at PodcastNYC, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Atlantic New York podcasts, Per Se, Todd English, English is Italian, New York Minute Show, Howard Harawitz, Blinkx. News and Features - iRiver, Google News, Technorati, Intelliseek, BlogPulse, Bloglines, PubSub, London Olympics 2012, Hilton Hyde Park, Hill & Knowlton UK, Technorati tags, Expression Engine, Atom, Charles Pizzo, Brian Kilgore, David Murray, Mike Wing interview, Julie Freeman, David Kistle (PDF), David Becker, Dan York, David Tebbutt, Max Hansen, Walter Murch, Build a Better Podcast, podcast review of Todd Cochrane’s podcasting book. Outro - Adam Curry, Daily Source Code, Rob Costlow, I Do, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn. If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show. So, until Monday July 11…

FIR #48 is up and Neville is safe

Show notes will be up July 8.

“For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report” show #48 is available for download now. Show notes will be up on Friday, July 8. It took Neville longer to get back from London than he anticipated for reasons that should be obvious. You can read about his experience during and following the attack, and even listen to an audio file he recorded on his way to Heathrow, over on his blog.

Lee Hopkins’ communication plan

Fifty pages in PDF. Grab it.

Lee Hopkins, our correspondent from the Adelaide hills in Australia, told us weeks ago about a internal communication plan he had developed for a client that called for intranet improvements, blogs, podcasts and a host of other elements most of us would love to see in our organizations. We had some feedback asking if the plan could be offered to FIR listeners, and Lee graciously agreed. It took a while for him to strip his client’s name and genericize the plan, but he’s done it and forwarded it along. You can get it here. It’s 50 pages long in PDF format, less than 1 MB, and most definitely worth the time it takes to have a look.

Monday, July 04, 2005

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #47: July 4, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #47: July 4, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments (positive opinions about podcasts; negative opinions about Virgin’s New York podcasts; sans-serif fonts and the new generation; is open source marketing open?; a suggestion for FIR #50; mixing a genuine CEO blogger with a fake Toyota Yaris blog); Six Apart upgrades TypePad; call for ideas for blogging IABC’s next conference; Steve Rubel’s first podcast; a terrible tale of a criminal blogger; from Our Correspondent Down Under.

Show notes for July 4, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 67-minute conversation recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 32MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:33 Shel introduces the show; July 4 and George III; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in this edition

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 02:06 Robert French and Mark DiJulio have some positive opinions to counter Ragan Report’s negative view on podcasts
• 05:07 Rob at PodcastNYC doesn’t think much of the Virgin Airlines podcasts about New York
• 09:11 David Becker argues that sans-serif fonts are what a whole new generation is becoming accustomed to, and wonders why open source marketing looks like it’s actually closed
• 19:36 Tom Keefe suggests producing a ‘Best Of…’ edition of FIR for the 50th edition on July 14. How about it?
• 21:10 Sebastian Keil asks what we think about mixing up a genuine CEO blogger with a fake Toyota Yaris blog. What do listeners’ think?

News and Features:

• 27:26 Six Apart upgrades the TypePad hosted blog service over the US holiday weekend, introducing wide-ranging new features including means to combat comment and trackback spam, and new design templates. The upgrade hasn’t gone wholly smoothly, though, for some bloggers.
• 36:22 Warren Bickford’s call for new ideas for blogging and podcasting the next IABC conference in 2006 - how should we expand on this year’s success?
• 38:40 Steve Rubel’s first podcast is short and sweet - style and substance make a good combination for a personal conversation
• 42:57 Shel outlines a disturbing news story, a terrible crime where the perpetrator was a blogger - how could the perp get away with talking about his perversions on a blog and no one knew?
• 50:31 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - opening a beer can and other podcast sound effects; how Neville, Shel, Warren and IABC have fuelled some major annoyance, frustration and jealousy; comments on Backbone Media’s corporate blogging report; blog spam and blogging services; the risks of not blogging regularly; aren’t the Aussies doing well at Wimbledon!

Outro:

• 60:15 Hold-over topics for Thursday’s show; Neville will be on a plane (so pre-recorded contribution)
• 60:44 Neville outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 61:37 Shel outros the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - July 4, George III.

Listeners’ comments discussion - David Murray, Ragan Report, Mike Wing interview, Robert French, Purina podcasts, Mark DiJulio, NASDAQ, Rob at PodcastNYC, Virgin Atlantic, David Becker, ION Systems, Gutenberg Archive, Open Source Marketing manifesto, James Cherkhoff, Johnnie Moore, Creative Commons, Wikipedia, Tom Keefe, IABC Cafe, Sebastian Keil, Toyota, GM Fastlane Blog, Bob Lutz, Thomas the Tank Engine.

News and Features - Six Apart, TypePad, TypeKey, Six Apart Status Weblog, Allan Jenkins, Expression Engine, Blogger, Richard Byrom, Warren Bickford, IABC Cafe, IABC, Charles Pizzo, Julie Freeman, David Kistle (PDF), Flickr, Steve Rubel, Dave Winer, Morning Coffee Notes, Tim Kaine, Tim Kaine campaign blog, InForum of Fargo ND, Technorati, MSN Spaces, Lee Hopkins, IABC conference blogging posse, Backbone Media, Movable Type, WordPress, Blogger, Amy Gahran.

Outro - PodcastNYC, Whirl, Palmreader, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday July 7…

Thursday, June 30, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #46: June 30, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #46: June 30, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments (on iTunes 4.9 and bandwidth, IABC Cafe posts, blogging the Nortel AGM); podcasts and Polish sausage; the launch of iTunes 4.9; Virgin Atlantic’s New York podcasts; PR Week UK talks about blogs; IABC International Conference; IABC Fellows; FIR celebrates 50 shows on July 14.

Show notes for June 30, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 79-minute conversation recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Concord, California, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 32MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:29 Neville introduces the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in this edition
• 02:05 Shel’s travel-weary experience from US east to west

Discussion on listeners’ comments:

• 06:04 Dan York on bandwidth issues with iTunes 4.9; IABC Cafe posts that don’t identify the authors; blogging the Nortel AGM

Features:

• 10:38 Ragan Report talks about podcasts and Polish sausage - and doubts they’ll ever catch on (podcasts, that is). Naturally we have a different view.
• 18:20 The launch of iTunes 4.9 - opening up podcasting to a mass market; trends in podcasting growth; iTunes vs. other podcatchers; bandwidth issues as many try iTunes as a podcatcher
• 28:50 Virgin Atlantic embraces podcasting for travellers, starting with guides to New York, and has big plans for the medium; indicators for the future and how the hardware is developing
• 33:28 PR Week UK highlights blogs in this week’s edition to help raise awareness in the UK PR community - something sorely needed, it seems
• 40:45 The IABC International Conference - Shel was there and talks about the blogging experiment and how it might work for the future; impressions of three sessions (Jeff de Cagna, James Carville and Mary Matalin, and TJ Larkin); Neville and Shel on the Technorati tag for conference blog posts
• 68:57 IABC Fellows Awards - Shel describes the event (he was named a Fellow)

Short Take:

• 72:03 FIR celebrates its 50th episode on July 14. What should we do to celebrate? Suggestions?

Outro:

• 73:36 Shel outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; Neville outros the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Jet Blue, Lee Hopkins.

Listeners’ comments discussion - Dan York, iTunes, Todd Cochrane, Linux News Blog, IABC Cafe, IABC.com, Nortel.

Features - Ragan Report, Steve Crescenzo, David Murray, FIR interviews: Mike Wing, Josh Hallett, Siemens USA, Angela Sinickas and Tudor Williams, Dawn & Drew Show, Judy Jones, IABC New York Chapter blog, Adam Curry, GM podcasts, Apple, iTunes, FeedBurner, Forrester Research, Pew Internet, iPod, iPodder, DopplerRadio, Nimiq, FeedDemon, LibSyn, Geek News Central, Nicole Simon, Virgin Atlantic, Travel podcasts, Starbucks, T-Mobile, PR Week UK, Ravi Chandiramani, Ketchum, Fredrik Wacka, Guillaume du Gardier, Joel Cere, Steve Rubel, Andy Lark, Communication Directors Forum, Danny Rogers, Business Week, IABC 2005 International Conference, Washington Hilton, IABC Cafe, Warren Bickford, Jeremy Pepper, conference Technorati tag, Charles Pizzo, Ragan Postcard, Julie Freeman, Treo 600, Audacity for Palm, WordPress, Expression Engine, TypePad, Movable Type, Technorati tag help page, Blogger, Jeff de Cagna’s conference session on Innovation, Toby Ward, James Carville’s and Mary Matalin’s conference keynote opening session, Shel’s post: Messages and channels, TJ Larkin’s conference session on channels, Shel’s post: Deconstructing Larkin, IABC conference closing address from HP CEO Mark Hurd, Lee Iaccoca, Chrysler, Roger D’Aprix’ Communicating for Change, IABC Fellows, Lord Gould’s general conference session speech, Roberta Resnick.

Outro - Garageband.com, Day 4, Christa Couture, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday July 4…

Monday, June 27, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #45: June 27, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #45: June 27, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments (on wit and wisdom from FIR; being stunned by Tudor Williams and Angela Sinickas; the heroes from Siemens USA); nice London hotel: blogging the IABC conference; bad press for the EC and the waste of the EU; the PR, blogs and press releases mashup; MIT surveys blog usage; Todd Cochrane’s podcasting book; blogs, RSS PR and SEC requirements; long podcasts and listening to FIR.

Show notes for June 27, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 49-minute conversation recorded live from Washington, DC, USA, and almost live from London, England.

Download the file here (MP3, 20MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need software such as the FeedDemon RSS aggregator, or the free ipodder or DopplerRadio).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:29 Shel introduces the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in this edition

Discussion on listeners’ comments:

• 02:33 Judy Jones says she gets wit and wisdom from listening to FIR
• 03:24 Lee Hopkins is stunned by the interview with Tudor Williams and Angela Sinickas on employee communication measurement
• 04:46 John Ridings declares the two guys from Siemens USA are his heroes

Features:

• 06:36 Neville likes his hotel room in London; on the IABC International Conference and the posse of bloggers; how the European Commission London office is rebutting negative press coverage; perceptions of the EU as a ‘wasted institution’ as the Wall Street Journal writes about Brussels
• 18:27 Shel highlights the opening day of the IABC conference in Washington; on messages, sound bites, PR candour and blogs: fire PR people and just engage bloggers - it’s an absurd notion!
• 31:32 Neville talks about blogs replacing press releases: what Steve Rubel, Tom Murphy and Trevor Cook said and asks why shouldn’t blogs be a PR channel; MIT’s blog usage survey; just received Todd Cochrane’s book on podcasting
• 38:24 Shel again on press releases and blogs: repetition of messages, how blogs or RSS won’t meet regulatory requirements for disclosure (needs push not pull)

Outro:

• 42:17 Shel plans to head on out to the conference and get some podcast interviews done; on the length of podcasts and thanks for listening to FIR
• 44:07 Shel outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Listeners’ comments discussion - Judy Jones, IABC New York Chapter blog, Lee Hopkins, Tudor Williams, Angela Sinickas, John Ridings, Big Chief Tablet, Siemens USA, Associations Unorthodox, Jeff de Cagna’s IABC conference session on Innovation.

Features - Road Weary, Hilton Paddington, IABC international conference, Shel’s conference session on the best of the web and intranets, IABC Cafe, Warren Bickford, Jeremy Pepper, Charles Pizzo, IABC conference Technorati tag, Alex Bellinger, SmallBizPod, EC UK Representative Office, EC London press rebuttal page, Margot Wallstrom’s blog, Wall Street Journal Europe, Siim Kallas, Holocaust Museum, IABC conference opening session, David Kistle (PDF), James Carville’s and Mary Matalin’s IABC conference keynote opening session, CNN, Todd Cochrane, Geek News Central, Gnomedex, Chris Pirillo, Lockergnome, Dave Winer, Adam Curry, Steve Rubel, Burson-Marsteller, Marqui, Shel’s rant on blogs and press releases, Tom Murphy, Trevor Cook, Sally Saville Hodge, Marketing Profs, vSkype, MIT’s weblog survey, Amazon.co.uk, Podcasting: The Do It Yourself Guide by Todd Cochrane, Raytheon, Securities & Exchange Commission, Dow Jones, Investors Business Daily.

Outro - iRiver, PodcastNYC, The Law of Fives, Love Lies, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday June 30…

Friday, June 24, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #44: June 23, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #44: June 23, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments (on CEOs blogging internally; lower case is the way to go; KetchumIdeas; more on RSS; polls on blogs; getting the right URL; more on Ketchum; introducing The Spinfluencer); audio report on the power of gossip; better ways for doing podcast show notes; read your email out loud; more on Ketchum; Scandinavian employee survey; BritCaster; Dutch business blog meeting.

Show notes for June 23, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 72-minute conversation recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 27MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need software such as the FeedDemon RSS aggregator, or the free ipodder or DopplerRadio).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:29 Shel introduces the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in this edition

Discussion on listeners’ comments:

• 04:09 Lee Hopkins on CEOs blogging internally to engage with employees - how could that be bad?
• 05:19 Eric Schwartzman says lower-case for ‘website’ and ‘internet’ is the way to go.
• 07:04 James Cherkoff asks if we’ve seen the KetchumIdeas website (yes we have and we say what we think of it)
• 09:36 Marcel de Ruiter favours full-content RSS feed for reading on a PDA offline and wonders what role advertising might have
• 11:07 Amy Gahran thinks we missed the point about RSS feeds; on not wasting time with poorly-written stuff; and not to tell people what to do! Shel and Neville have some thoughts on all this, and on how to pitch people to attend seminars, etc, on new media
• 21:09 Richard Byrom with news on the latest version of Expression Engine which supports running polls on a blog
• 22:19 Dan Cornwall with lots of URLs; on recommending FIR #42 for its discussion on fonts
• 23:32 Dan York FYIs us on a summary page about Ketchum he’s put together, and suggests Ketchum as a candidate for a new wiki page at The New PR Wiki as a case study on what not to do [Post-show update: Constantin Basturea has now created such a page.]
• 24:33 Introducing Eric Schwartzman, “The Spinfluencer”

Features:

• 26:27 The Spinfluencer - audio report from Los Angeles, the Entertainment Capital of The World, on the power of gossip
• 33:59 Is there a better way to do podcast show notes than typing out HTML pages? Steve Lacey has some ideas on how RSS and OPML might fit the bill
• 41:00 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - Georgia and Trebuchet on screen; read your email out loud before you send it; ketchup and email don’t mix
• 46:58 RSS WTF?? Tutorials on RSS from Alexandra Samuel and Linda Zimmer, plus how the BBC helps you understand RSS and James Snell‘s suggestion for Atom.
• 55:11 News Just In - Constantin Basturea posts a response from Ketchum!
• 56:29 Fredrik Wacka’s report on an employee survey among companies in Scandinavia - big problems surfaced on employee attitudes towards their leaders. Should we be surprised?

Short Takes:

• 61:07 BritCaster - a new site that aggregates information about British podcasters and their podcasts
• 62:12 2nd Dutch Business Blog Meeting - great gathering of Dutch business bloggers and the launch of a new consumer blog network in The Netherlands

Outro:

• 65:48 Shel outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Listeners’ comments discussion - Lee Hopkins, Eric Schwartzman, Oxford English Dictionary, James Cherkoff, KetchumIdeas, Naked Conversations, Shel Israel, Bacons, Constanin Basturea, Marcel de Ruiter, Amy Gahran, FeedDemon, I, Reporter, Craig Jolley, Richard Byrom, Expression Engine, PMachine forum, Dan Cornwall, Dan York, The New PR Wiki, Technorati tags.

Features -Eric Schwartzman, iPressroom, National Association of Broadcasters, National Association of Television Program Executives, Tom Friedman, The World is Flat, New York Post’s Page 6, Richard Johnson, Hollywood Reporter, Radio Daddy, Adam Curry, Sirius Satellite Radio, Steve Lacey, RSS definition, OPML definition, Dave Winer, iPodder.org, Lee Hopkins, Justin Kruger, UIUC, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Heinz, Egocentrism over Email, NCSA, Alexandra Samual, RSStocracy, FeedBurner, BBC RSS help, James Snell, Atom definition, IETF, Constantin: response from Ketchum, Fredrik Wacka, Nordisk Kommunikation, Jonathan Schwartz, Steve Crescenzo, FIR interview on measurement with Tudor Williams and Angela Sinickas.

Short Takes - BritCaster, Alex Bellinger, 2nd Dutch Business Blog Meeting, Marco Derksen, Ton Zijlstra, Stephan Fellinger, Publicis, Blogo.nl, Gawker, WeblogsInc.

Outro - Evil Genius Chronicles, Jonathan Coulton, Skullcrusher Mountain, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday June 27…

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Interview: Jochen Specht and Jim Lukach, Siemens USA, June 23, 2005

In this edition of For Immediate Release podcast interviews, Shel enjoyed a 28-minute conversation with Jochen Specht and Jim Lukach of Siemens USA addressing implementation of RSS feeds and blogs on the company’s intranet.

About our conversation partners: Jochen Specht is Manager of Web Strategy for Siemens USA at the company’s Iselin, New Jersey (USA) headquarters. Jim Lukach is Manager of Online Communication at the same office. Download the conversation here (MP3, 21MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and our future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need software such as the FeedDemon RSS aggregator, or the free ipodder or DopplerRadio). Interview Segment Time Points:

• 00:00 - Introductions
• 01:00 - How RSS and blogs came about on the Siemens USA intranet
• 02:09 - The “name the blog” contest
• 03:55 - Blogger von Siemens, the Corporate Communications blog
• 06:25 - The Global CEO blog
• 07:32 - The Web-O-Licious blog
• 08:23 - Hopes for setting up feeds outside of Corporate Communications
• 09:00 - The IT feed
• 11:25 - Using RSS to syndicate news to regional sites and other servers
• 13:00 - Move toward replacing HTML email with RSS
• 14:18 - Education employees on RSS
• 15:20 - The intranet page dedicated to RSS
• 16:29 - News readers used at Siemens USA
• 17:25 - A step ahead of IT and Legal
• 18:42 - Personal blogs on the Siemens USA intranet
• 21:00 - Reactions from management
• 22:15 - The Legal Department’s reaction
• 23:11 - How employees can start their own RSS feeds
• 25:03 - The number of employees subscribing to RSS feeds is increasing
• 25:32 - The future of blogs and RSS and Siemens USA
• 27:16 - How RSS feeds are coded at Siemens
• 28:29 - Wrap-up
• 28:40 - About “For Immedate Release”

Links for the individuals and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the conversation:

Siemens USA, Siemens Global,

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