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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Welcome, Mary Ellen

PR Girlz is a brand new group blog co-written by eight female staffers at Thornley Fallis, a Canadian PR agency that has taken a lead in understanding and evangelizing social media. The site proclaims, “In a business which women dominate, our goal is to engage women in the emerging social media world by creating a collaborative forum to share interesting perspectives on the work we do.”

One of the three staffers to post so far (there are only three posts, the first one dated last Wednesday) isn’t all that impressed with the social media in which the blog seeks to engage her. Mary Ellen (no last name) opens with this observation:

I???m hoping to discuss some of the hype around ???social media???, especially as it relates to PR and corporate communications, and to play devil???s advocate. As my colleagues know, I???m pretty under-whelmed when it comes to the reach and importance of blogging and bloggers. So far, I???ve failed to see the revolutionary part, and historically I???ve thought of bloggers as kind of digital public navel-gazers.

She follows up with some questions, inviting comment on whether blogs are anything new and whether other tools weren’t better suited to their goals. There are no comments there yet, but there will be soon—I certainly intend to leave one. Mary Ellen also notes that the PR blogosphere is male-dominated (pointing to Neville Hobson and me as examples. I entirely agree, and I’m looking forward to Mary Ellen’s fresh voice, along with her two colleagues who have ventured onto the blog so far and the other five who undoubtedly will soon. And I hope more women in PR—and social media skeptics—join in on the conversation.

Mary Ellen, I’m glad you’re here!

06/26/06 | 1 Comment | Welcome, Mary Ellen

Comments
  • 1.Hi, Shel - thanks for the warm welcome and your thoughtful response to my opening questions. I've commented on your comments there (http://www.prgirlz.com). We'll have more info on each of the Thornley Fallis staffers up shortly, and we hope to gussy up the site (excuse me, blog) a bit too.

    Mary Ellen | June 2006

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