Cluelesstrain: PR Blogging Practices

The Cluelesstrain has had a long run in the past five years. First, the train had to pull into the Online Practice in 1999. Then, in 2001, the train pulled into the Homeland Security Practice station. In 2002, the station was the Sarbanes-Oxley Practice. The Cluelesstrain is tired, but thankfully it has a stop in the Blogging Practice station for the next year. Engineer Jeremy is here to help you understand the point: just like most agencies dropped online practices in 2000, and Homeland Security and Sarbanes-Oxley practices disappeared the following years, Blogging Practices will be either swallowed up or killed in the next year. Here is why. Most firms realized that the differences between online and print media was moot. If the online team pitched a some agencies still split the practices, but most agencies get that an integrated campaign - online, print, and blogs - makes the most sense. As for Sarbanes-Oxley and Homeland Security practices, the pratices had short shelf lives. I have posted about this in the past: the Holmes Report reported the MWW Cluelesstrain Blogging practice, at least MS&L Hass has blogging experience with GM's XStatic Public Relations. I came across its press release announcing a blogging service. In fact, the first line of the press release touts: As the number of Internet Weblogs surpasses 4 million, Xstatic Public Relations, a Denver-based communications agency, has added blog relations to its list of services for companies looking to share company information and manage their reputations online. How hard would it have been to verify the number of blogs being tracked? They could have easily gone to Steve Rubel's IceRocket (10MM), PubSub (9.5MM). When I did call the firm to ask where they got the 4 million figure from, I mentioned Technorati. The site's name was met with silence. A special seat near the conductor, though, is saved for the supposedly a PR firm setting up fake blogs. The first thing that PR bloggers tell a client that wants to blog is ABT - Always Be Transparent. If the firm consulting on blogs can't be transparent, how can they hold the clients tothat level of honesty? There are some tickets being held for this Cluelesstrain - for Steve Rubel - just in case I need to give them out. In their interviews, both Jeffrey Sharlach (Latin America) noted that blogs are very US-centric, and that is why, while their firms are aware of them, they have not been been actively targeting blogs. That is why Blogging Planet has not yet been given their ticket for the Cluelesstrain. concentrating on the EU and the UK. Most of that market is still very young - maybe even immature - when it comes to blogging. Blogging Planet has at least a two year lead time, and in that time can build a nice business. In the past, I wrote about his comment - Thanks everyone. Stay close for some big news in the coming weeks - but it does make you wonder. I'll hold onto his ticket until he announces his news. On a side note, recently, someone that I respect brought up an issue, that some of my posts could be construed as anti-agency. No, it's more an anti-stupidity, hence the launch of the cluelesstrain. If I were anti-agency, I would not be using to interview the top PR people in the world, who tend to either be with firms, or founders of firms. Now, if "yo hablo espanol" or "falo Portugues" I would be targeting POP! PR as a blog consulting firm for his clients in Latin America - showing my love for the agency life.... POP! Public Relations, a public relations firm based in Arizona, USA.