She didn’t go quietly, creating a decently produced rap video explaining her decision. The gossip sites weren’t the only ones making this breaking news – even the social media hounds at Mashable reported on the diss, creating lots of media buzz for the young songstress.  Even her dad, country music star Billy Ray Cyrus hoped (publicly) that she would change her mind. While Ashton Kutcher drove tons of press for his Twitter antics, Miley got an equally passionate reception for her break-up with Twitter.

Miley isn’t the first person to make waves with a change in Twitter strategy. Web celebrity and renowned tech blogger Robert Scoble unfollowed thousands of followers and also received significant press coverage from the event.

So is a drastic Twitter overhaul the newest PR 2.0 stunt?  Do the long term benefits outweigh the short term attention?

Rachel Kay

The comment baffled both viewers and his co-anchor, not just for the obvious use of profanity but because no one was quite sure what the comment meant.

Anastos apologized but his words have already left their mark via the Web. A Google search of the journalist yields almost an entire first page of search dedicated to news and blog coverage, as well as the video evidence itself.  It’s a good reminder that viewers, readers and friends might forget an accident, but the Internet is extremely unforgiving.

In this day and age it’s critical to check and recheck everything you put out for public consumption, whether to the news media, or on blog comments or posts.  If a potential client, employer or other audience were to Google you (take this opportunity to Google yourself now), what will they find?

Do you engage in healthy discussion and debate that showcases your expertise? Or do you argue for the sake of being heard?  What happens when you search images? Or a blog search, Twitter search or video?

There’s no such thing as “off the record” anymore. Do you feel good about what a search brings up about you?

Rachel Kay

However, I do think this is a great opportunity to talk about crisis communication and relationship repair.

As I watch the situation evolve I’m seeing a turn in the reactions of people.  While the initial fury was over the gall of the mass email/BCC, media and PR people alike are now asking why on earth the offenders haven’t spoken up.

If the offenders had spoken up in the first place, I’m pretty certain the situation wouldn’t have escalated quite so severely.  Those of us who weren’t aware it was happening might never have known.  But the viral nature of the Internet is full speed ahead as we await a response.  Right now, silence is about the same as “no comment,” and it’s giving people no choice but to assume they can’t be bothered or even worse, simply don’t care.

At this point, I’d suggest the agency CEO draft a letter of apology to all the reporters and send it out as quickly as possible.  I’d continue by suggesting he comment on the blogs of the bloggers and reporters who have covered this, and also contact them directly with a request for a personal conversation to explain and make good. In addition, considering the traction it’s getting on Twitter, I’d take the opportunity to respond there too, as well as reach out the people Tweeting about it.

Like anything else in the world, an apology and speed of responsiveness go a long away in preventing a situation from escalating. What else do you think the offenders could do to make good on this gaffe?

Rachel Kay

photo credit: Daquella Manera

Joshua Davis has one of the most diverse backgrounds of any journalist I’ve met, and personifies the true essence of classic investigative journalism.  We spent several days in a hospital as he chronicled the treatment of a patient dependent on heroin for a multi-page story in Wired magazine.

My job was three-fold – ensure my client, the developer and practitioner of the exclusive treatment, was appropriately portrayed, help Joshua and his photographers get a compelling story and ensure that the patient, in such a vulnerable time, was treated with dignity and respect.

I’ll never forget watching Joshua sitting on the hospital room floor.  It was very easy to see he was becoming engrossed in the scene, taking copious notes, and mentally constructing a story which fairly portrayed the challenges, stereotypes and emotion behind drug dependency.

That was years ago, and I’m thrilled that he agreed to be interviewed here. To give you some background, Joshua is a contributing editor for Wired, and has also written for GQ, Maxim, Men’s Health, Outside and others.  One of his most memorable pieces was sneaking into Iraq to cover the war for Wired.  Josh also completed a documentary called “The Beast Within,” which documented his attempt to become the lightweight armwrestling champion of the world.

You can learn much more about his prolific journalism career, which spans television, film and print, at his Web site.

RK: You’ve covered a diverse and eclectic mix of stories during the course of your career.  How do you decide on your subject matter? Is it important to you that you actually take something away from each story you immerse yourself in?
JD: I follow my curiosity. Sometimes I look at a globe and put my finger on a place I want to go. Then I’ll think of subjects that are associated with the place and begin to do some research to see if there is a story there. Sometime I will just sit in my office and type random thoughts into Google to see where they lead.

My aim with my articles is to tell a gripping story that draws the reader in. My goal is to have the reader remember the experience.

RK: Which projects that you’ve worked on do you consider to have been most exciting?
JD: I’ve done a number of stories that have gotten my heart racing. I covered the war in Iraq, spent time in Southern Colombia during a rebel uprising, and followed a group of maritime salvage experts into the Dominican Republic in the wake of a hurricane. I’ve also written about advances in cream cheese technology and found that pretty exciting too. If the story is good, it doesn’t really matter what the setting is – the subject matter can get my adrenaline going.

RK: In addition to magazine writing, you work with a number of other types of media as an author and television and film producer, and stories of yours are even being adapted to film. Did you set out to be a jack-of-all-trades or did your career evolve over time? What interests you about journalism in all its forms?
JD: My career evolved. I never intended to be a journalist; I just kind of stumbled onto it. I was making documentaries at the time about unusual contests. At first, I just filmed them but then I started to compete. I entered the U.S. National Armwrestling Championship and surprisingly ended up 4th in U.S. in the lightweight division. That made me an alternate for the U.S. National team and when the 2nd and 3rd guys couldn’t make it; I was invited to compete at the World Championship in Poland. I ended up 17th in the world and made a doc about that experience. That film got me signed by an agency in LA and led me into the TV realm.

At the same time, I wrote an article for Maxim about my journey to Poland and that was my first long-form magazine article. I also ended up writing a book about the contests for Random House (the book is titled “The Underdog“). So it’s all been a bit of evolution starting with armwrestling!

RK: Have you incorporated any social media elements into your reporting? Do you use social networking professionally or personally?  How do you feel that tools like blogs and Twitter impact the way news is consumed as opposed to traditional vehicles?
JD: I have Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter accounts but I don’t use them that much. I feel like I spend most of my time working and don’t want to get too distracted. There’s only one occasion that I can recall where I came across some interesting info on a social networking site. It was actually a Russian site dedicated to introducing Western men to Russian women. I was writing a piece about a man who had built a pirated DVD empire in Shanghai and he was using the site to meet women. He listed a bunch of personal info on it and I quoted that in the story. The moral, I guess, is be careful what you post.

RK: What qualities/traits do you value when working with a publicist? What attributes have deterred you from working with a PR practitioner?
JD:  For me, I appreciated a publicist who will point me towards good interview subjects. Plus, I like PR people who understand what I need to make a story work. That means understanding the nature of the publication and understanding what makes a great story.

RK: What can a PR person do to help you to obtain the information you need for a good story?
JD: Arrange uncoached interviews. There’s nothing worse than a canned presentation.

RK: Do you receive PR pitches?  Do you ever use pitches for story fodder? If so, what kind of pitch catches your eye?

JD: I receive PR pitches every day. I have only written one story based on a pitch in 8 years and it was a short 200 word piece about an Italian sewage agency that was testing their sewage to determine the amount of drugs the population was doing. What appealed to me was how unusual and strange it was.

RK: What’s next on the horizon for you?

JD:  Finding a wild, wonderful and surprising story!

Rachel Kay

Yes, I do want to know if there is unrest in the Brangelina household.  Of course I’m watching as Jessica Simpson’s jeans go from low rise to high rise and back again. Absolutely I’m concerned (ok – excited) that Leo and Bar are on a break. But for some reason, following celebrities’ blogs and Twitter profiles doesn’t do much for me.

I find if you follow a few celebrities on Twitter you can see them chatting among themselves. But they really don’t engage with fans and social media tools simply give them a new method of promotion. I get disenchanted pretty quickly and revert back to Perez Hilton and People magazine for the critical “breaking news.”

This weekend I was having lunch with the PR manager of the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego (who happens to be my sister).  She knows I’ve always loved Collective Soul and still listen to it now and again. She mentioned they were on Twitter and that they were following their fans back, so I decided to check in and see how that was working.

I’ve started following them and yes, they tweet frequently. They are touring with Gavin Degraw this summer and have clearly employed social media to help promote it.

Do I think singer Ed Roland is manning the Tweet stream? No, in fact I can’t tell who is behind there.  It would be great if the band members would chime in. But they are sharing cool pictures and engaging fans with trivia contests that bring fans closer to the experience of the music.

In addition, their social media strategy clearly leverages their fan base to virally promote themselves, which I think is quite savvy.

One tactic they use is to select their top 20 fans.  They do this by encouraging fans to promote their Twitter stream to their friends.  Before I even realized they were doing this I tweeted:

“Band @collective_soul is doing the anti-celeb Twitter strategy & following fans back-wonder how they handle tons of DMs? Interesting.”

Within three hours and after some research for this post, they tweeted this:

“Congrats to our new Top 20 @QueenSapphyre @Lynnster23 @DelBarrio @edwardmarcel @babyjsmom @paulikeloa @taylor_blue@rachelakay.”

Well thank you!

Clearly they are monitoring their “brand” and responding aggressively. They are also soliciting blog posts from friends, like this one, this one and many more. The band in turn thanks the fan by Tweeting the blog post to its community, which at present time is almost 20,000 followers strong.

From a PR perspective, one goal in using social media is to get your consumers to do the talking for you – marketers know there is nothing more authentic than the power of peer-to-peer endorsement.  To me, this is a very interesting way of encouraging fan involvement in the promotional process.

Yes, it may be cheating just a bit – rewarding blog posts by promising recognition, but I still give credit for involving fans to promote virality.  Compared to Tweeters like Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Beastie Boys and Duran Duran who don’t seem to engage with fans, it’s a step forward.

The band’s strategy is simply to engage with fans, recognize their loyalty and admiration, and encourage them to promote the band – which is not unlike the social media strategies of consumer brands on the social Web.

What do you think about Collective Soul’s tactics?  Where are they doing social media right and where are some areas of opportunity?

Rachel Kay

Update – Within an hour of posting this, I received a very nice, personalized direct message through Twitter from someone representing Collective Soul.  Again, someone is clearly monitoring the conversation and reacting.

I wasn’t sure who sent the message though, because they didn’t include a name. Shortly after, a person close to the band, Susan Cooper (@BuzzEdition), informed me that the person who sent me the DM was none other than guitarist Dean Roland.

Wow! Incredibly cool! I rest my case. You can also find out more about the band’s blog contest here.