Whatever...

PR is dead (part 63)

By Laura Cooper

According to The Guardian's Charles Arthur, PRs are in danger of becoming obsolete as journalists increasingly get more of their ideas and information from blogs. Earlier this week, Charles told an audience of 80 PRs at one of Fullrun's popular Talking Shop events that he no longer reads press releases or email pitches as all his stories now come exclusively from blogs. (On this basis, I did wonder why he'd even agreed to talk to a room full of PRs in the first place, but hey ho...)

He argues that PRs are just not good enough 'story tellers' (au contraire, Charles!), and that what they offer will never compare to accessing all the latest industry news, sometimes right from the horse's mouth ie. the CEO's blog. As such, he predicts that the number of people employed in PR will decrease as journalists gain access through their blogs to the very people - CEOs, CFOs and other key execs - that PRs are supposedly retained to act as gatekeepers for.

There's a couple of points here:

Firstly, which CEOs exactly is he talking about here? Certainly not those in the Fortune 500 list - a recent article in the New York Times revealed that the grand total of Fortune 500 CEO bloggers was... one.

And secondly, while there might well be blogs from CXOs of smaller tech companies out there, who's actually writing these blogs?

It's not just journalists that have cottoned onto the increasing popularity of the blog - much of the PR industry has also realised the influence that blogs can have over the media (not to mention how much they love all that nice free content).  Have CEOs suddenly found an extra couple of hours in their week to express their companies' issues and viewpoints via their own blog? Or could it be that their PR firm has been writing these blogs for them - and effectively fulfiling the same function as a creative pitch to the media.

So, as a PR, all I can say is - let me tell you a story... about blogs.

IT’s still a man’s world?

By Laura Mead

Remember the 'Calendar Girls'?  Here's some people who do - Australia's 'IT Goddesses'.  In their own words, the Goddesses aim to "raise awareness of the diversity of Women in IT" and promote organisations that employ women in top tech jobs.  However, the fact that they've chosen to do this by striking glamorous poses from various famous movies has raised all kinds of hackles.

OK, so some of these shots may be a little, errr... misjudged.  But on the whole, I think this is a noble effort.  There are numerous stereotypes about the kind of people who work in IT - geeky, socially inept, unwashed, love Linux more than their own mothers, and of course, almost exclusively male - so it’s good to see a group of women help blow these myths out of the water.   However, I think it's sad that the Goddesses are being ridiculed in some quarters for what is essentially just a bit of fun (albeit with a serious purpose).

Take this comment from Silicon for example: “Women who want to be taken seriously in the world of IT have several options.   One is to get their head down and fight on through the stigmas, stereotypes and sexism… Or they can get their tits out.”

Yeah, nicely put, Silicon - though seeing as there's actually very little flesh on display in the calendar, I can only assume this is a case of not letting the truth get in the way of a weak joke.

But there's actually a more serious issue here. In an industry where women are in a very small minority, why shouldn’t they use their 'femininity' (for want of a better word) to both highlight this disparity and advance in their careers?  The corporate world is still predominantly based around an aggressive 'macho' culture, often making it extremely difficult for women to move up the career ladder - and the IT industry is a prime example of this. 

There will always be people - male and female - who use whatever it takes to promote themselves or their cause.  But unfortunately, when men do it, it's usually perceived as the 'law of the jungle' in operation... but when women do it, it's either laughable or degrading.

Still, this probably isn't going to trouble the Goddesses too much, as one of their other stated aims is to 'generate media sensation to put a spotlight on the industry' - and 3.5 millions hits on the website in one day ain't bad. Bow down and worship, puny men...