PR and Social Media... Can't we all just be friends?

In Public Relations, social media is seen as a major new frontier. Along with that comes a vast area of uncharted territory, and in many cases PR professionals are running around trying to learn the rules as they go, unsure of where the line between ethical use of these new outlets and innapropriate use.

I think that in this case, PR professionals are being given a bad rap for doing what inevitably has to happen when something this big and new opens up- testing the waters. Setting boundaries. And this responsibility lies not only with the PR people, it lies with the creators, users, and regulators of social media. And, like in many cases, we should all strive to get along and set boundaries and fair use practices that let us all live happily together. Just as PR professionals should take care not to step on toes, the social media folks should step in to guide what is acceptable and what is not.

The CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) has just released its guidelines on the fair use of social media (see link below). While there are good points and suggestions (most of which follow common sense) many of the specific issues are not neccessarily addressed here. Evidence that while we can all try to set the rules, in such a changing landscape this is nearly impossible and the debate will continue to rage.

Peter, Bjorn and John

On Thursday night I went to see a live band at the Perth Concert Hall. Just outside the main hall is a giant open balcony called Beck's Verandah with a stage and squishy purple couches with small side tables and lamps. All under the stars on warm summer nights. It's a fantastic venue, last time I was there (2 years ago) I saw The Black Keys. For me, seeing a band in a small venue like that, with the speakers blasting bass through my chest, is better than almost any giant festival atmosphere.

But back to the point. On Thursday night I saw a band from Sweden called Peter, Bjorn and John. In addition to being hilarious on stage (as Swedes tend to be, in their very Swedish way) they were a fantastic live act. Best I've seen in a long time. Just the right mix of cruisy and poppy and funky.

If I were you, I'd check them out. Perhaps a download or two. I'd recommend Amsterdam. It's really just one more reason I'm itching to go to Sweden.

http://www.myspace.com/peterbjornandjohn

Home Sweet Nonextistent Home

When I moved to NYC I thought I had met my match in the real estate market. I mean, 8 million people crammed into a tiny island all looking for shoe-box sized apartments? Believe me, it's nuts. But guess what- it gets better. If you're really up for a challenge try finding a place in Perth.

Case-study one: We search for ages. We find a very attractive little house. We go visit during open house. We put in our application and $300 deposit. We wait. Wait. Wait. Another open house for the same place goes on the next weekend [what?? you already have 15 applications, including ours, why another open house?]. We wait. The agent can't comprehend that all four people on our application want the same house, together. We get confused phone calls. We wait.

Still waiting.

Case-study two: Same as above, but this time application gets denied [after waiting] because we're four students and not a husband and wife with a kid and a baby on the way [how far should one go to find an apartment?... hmmm].

To top it all off, the Perth housing crisis is all over the news. http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1850306.htm

The same news I troll through each day flipping through rental crisis articles to get to the property listings pages in the back. Ouch.

Oy Oy Oy

There had been a lot of controversy here in Australia over PM John Howard's comments toward Barack Obama's (potential) Iraq strategy.

For those who missed it [seeing as I am not watching American news, I'm not sure how big this has been] Howard made a statement saying that al-Qaida is praying for Obama to become president because his plans to pull the soldiers out would give them what they want. Of course, Obama had come-backs of his own.

More than anything, I think that America is a bit stunned to hear an Australia speak up in opposition. Americans tend to assume that Australia is in our fan club (and, based on Howard's lovey dovey relationship with George Bush, this isn't unreasonable). Right or wrong, American don't generally see Australia as a political heavyweight prone to throw criticism and opinions in America's direction.

While America sits asking "what? wait a minute, who's John Howard?," Australia is generally angered that Howard would say something so stupid and inflammatory. Regardless of personal stance on the war and withdrawal of troops, it's hardly ever a good idea to go making statements like Howards, and most people here agree that Howard was seriously lacking tact and good sense.

Gotta love those American/Australian relations. I think it'll all blow over, and we'll still be good friends.

You can read the entire article here

Zoom Zoom Zoom

It's more than a little hard to write this blog entry. What do you write about when you move halfway around the world and start living a brand new life? Plus, as I guess was always to be expected, the last week has been absolute chaos. But in case anyone was wondering, everything is going quite fantastically. I'm on vacation in paradise, but it's also my life : )

I'm safe and sound in Perth, I have a phone and a bank account and have been enrolled in classes so life is definitely starting to come together. The plane ride(s) were pretty awesome. And by awesome I mean I spent all 24 in-flight hours in a drug induced coma. And my poor wintery-conditioned body still doesn't know what to do with killer UV rays and 35 degree C heat. I mean, I left snowy DC and arrived in Perth wearing my puffy coat with fur around the hood. Sheesh.

The adventure du jour is learning to drive on the wrong opposite side of the road. In a behemoth SUV with zero visibility. I'm probably going to have an aneurysm before this is all over. White-knuckled on the steering wheel is an understatement. I still freak out a little bit when I turn left into the near lane and expect to be face to face with another car. And with Rob next to me backseat driving I feel like I have my learners permit again ("signal, Carrie, SIGNAL!" [apparently not turn-signaling will get you pulled over and fined. Who are these people? Aren't they supposed to be laid back?]). But eventually it'll be second nature. (right?? god lets hope so.)

See ya on the flip side...

You know how karma is a bitch? Well she is. She pulls stunts like making it 70 degrees all winter in NYC and then dumping snow on Washington DC on the day I'm scheduled to fly out. Thanks, lady. You're a champ.

So assuming I make it into my plane to LA, as of 5:30 on Wed evening the trip to Oz will be under way. When you're going to bed on Thurs. night (ok, approx 4am US time, during post-thursty thursday burrito time?) I'll be arriving in Perth on the other side of the world. So say a payer or raise a glass or toast your burrito to me because I'll need every bit of good travel karma I can get!

my love...

In 48 hours exactly I'll be leaving the country. BUT that's all too much to think about. So instead, I'd like to introduce you all to my new favorite thing ever. Enter, MacBook.

I am, and have been for the last 4 days, a proud owner of a gorgeous little white MacBook that looks something like this:

And if you know me at all you know that it's been a love affair from first sight and I can't stop looking at it and thinking "it's mine, all miiiiine....".

So, with the help of this little baby, I'll be blogging frequently. More frequently than I have in the last few days, I promise. What can I say, I've been inconsistent. I promise to be better.

Road Tripping

Today I made the long drive from NYC to Richmond. It's the beginning of the journey! Luckily it started off in a pretty kick-ass rental Chevy Impala. Right.

If you can picture me moving out of my 4th floor walk-up apartment, by myself, it's a funny picture. It's even funnier when you picture that I didn't have boxes to pack anything in. Luckily all that time I spent signing away my hard earned money and hoarding shopping bags served me well. I had everything I owned packed into about 20 medium sized bloomies, nordstroms, uniqlo, and macy's bags. It was quite a sight, and the little old ladies in my apartment were watching and laughing as I tromped up and down the stairs about 15 times (at this point sweating and covered in dust bunnies).

To add to the adventure, I had my first driving in NYC experience, which involved a lot of circling for a parking spot and getting honked at by taxis. I think the highlight was when I accidentally drove too far over the "walk" portion of the intersection and got flipped off. I don't blame the guy though, when people do that to me I want to climb on top of the hood of their car to teach them a lesson they'll remember. Which is don't drive into the walkway, ass. And don't mess with Carrie Morgan.

I also made one very important observation from the trip, brought to me by the fact that the iPod has made the CD obsolete and I don't own any. Which is fine until I get in a car. The quality of radio stations significantly diminishes the further south on I-95 you go. By the time I was in DC all I could find was country, christian rock, and political talk shows. Oh- and Clear Channel owns the universe.