Holtz Communications + Technology

Once again, I’m hearing calls to shrug off the “social media” label and acknowledge that all media—or at least all digital media—is social.

It’s simply not true on a number of levels. I find it most intriguing that some of the same people insisting that all media is social are asserting that nobody should serve as the coordinator of social media in an organization, but rather than…

BooneOakley, an independent advertising agency, took one of those bold social media steps by redirecting its home page to a video on YouTube. The beginning of the video features the elements of a home page we’ve come to expect: an “about us” link, a “contact” link, a news section and the like. Clicking on these “links” either fast-forwards you to the part of the video that features the…

In this FIR Interview, co-host Shel Holtz talks to Christian Gunning, director of Corporate Communications for Boingo, which provides WiFi service in airports across the U.S. On Saturday, April 10, an email meant to be used as a test was inadvertently sent, sometimes repeatedly, to Boingo customers. The company’s social media manager saw customers talking about it on Twitter, leading the…

The New Communications Forum—NewComm Forum to the initiated—begins on April 20 in San Mateo, California. That’s just two weeks from tomorrow. I keep reiterating the same point about NewComm: If you’re already knowledgable about social media and you’re serious aboute more advanced learning, this is the conference to attend.

I’ve been to all four previous Forums, and have been a speaker at each. I’m always stunned at the…

Dear Sir or Madam:

I understand your fears and worries. I really do. It’s risky out there where employees may say something they shouldn’t that brings the wrath of a regulatory agency upon your head, where links from Facebook pages lead to sites that exist solely to infect your network, where employees seem to be doing anything but the work you’re paying them to do.

And…

While criticism of Uniball’s Facebook-focused campaign has attracted nearly universal agreement, somebody needs to play devil’s advocate.

The campaign to give away 10,000 pens, which ran during the Winter Olympics, featured promotions that displayed a link to the Uniball Facebook fan page. The perceived failure to link to the the company’s own website instead of its Facebook page led to vilification from several fronts,…