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This Just Hurts

By: Mistie Thompson | 01/29/2008

Bang...bang...ouch! Bang...bang...ouch!

What's that sound? It's me hitting my head against my keyboard in utter frustration as I read some of the latest blogging tidbits in the news. A couple of choice examples:

The New York Times reports that retailer Target is refusing to deal with "nontraditional media outlets" such as blogs. Good grief. Granted, the blog entry that started the whole brouhaha was pretty darn dumb (Note to the blogger: the fact that you would think Target's latest ad is demeaning to women is, in itself, demeaning to women. Most women I know wouldn't think twice about the ad and are too busy being successful moms, businesswomen and all-around cool people to worry about such nonsense. Go find something legitimate to gripe about.), but still...if it's truly because Target doesn't have a big enough PR staff, hire more. If it's because Target just doesn't want to deal with it, guess what? You have to deal with it. Sigh.

And, the Hartford Courant reports that more and more university presidents, such as Wesleyan University's Michael Roth, are embracing blogs to communicate with students, staff, donors and alumni. That's wonderful - way to go, Mr. Roth, and all the other officials who are putting themselves out there and enjoying great returns on small investments of time and brainpower. Here's the part that bugged me - apparently, one of the big things standing in the way of university officials writing blogs is...wait for it...PR people. AAGGHH!!!!!

Seriously, PR pros, listen up - do you get that pretty much everyone else in the world gets this but you? I'm on my knees, bloody forehead and all, begging you - get it, or you will become irrelevant.

I give up. Gotta go search WebMD for how to treat a concussion.

Posted in Social Media, Digital Communications