Facebook. MySpace. LinkedIn. Friendster. Twitter. Flickr. Social networking is all around us. Talking about the latest happening on Facebook, or the latest Tweet from Walt Mossberg on Twitter has just become normal conversation. In fact, I feel that people who aren't "connected" are doing themselves a great injustice by missing out on numerous opportunities that networking brings - reuniting with old friends, connecting with industry leaders , job opportunities, etc., etc. That's on the individual side of social networking...

Now, more and more companies are finally stepping into the twenty-first century and asking the same question - "should we be participating in these social sites?" And the answer is.... "Yes...but with caution." Newsday's contributing business columnist, Jamie Herzlich, recently wrote "Online social networking sites not just for kids," where she stated that "it's time your small business started to look at ways to leverage these and other social networks to boost business." I agree with her that business should start to take advantage of these opportunities, but they must proceed with caution.

Companies cannot start airing their dirty laundry or revealing personal employee knowledge, which could possibly eliminate their competitive advantage. Also, you have the question of who in the company should be able to participate in the social sites? Should only the CEO or president, or is everyone allowed? Sun Microsystems has an interesting take on the subject of blogging, where every Sun employee is allowed to participate, but with guidelines. I believe this is definitely the right approach for any established company or new startup who is thinking about breaking into the social networking and/or blogosphere.

We've had this company blog for years and have a BLAST Twitter account, and our account reps all utilize social media to make connections with members of the press and to keep a pulse on industry insiders. Companies should definitely "put a face to the name" and let their customers and clients into their world, but with restrictions. For the most part, companies do a good job of participating in the social networking world, but it only takes one idiotic comment or blog post to ruin a reputation. If you ever have a doubt whether you should leave a Tweet on Twitter, start a company page on Facebook, or put embarrassing photos on Flickr, remember this - the world is connected. Once something goes on the Internet, it's out there for good. So, the next time you want to place your "virtual fingerprint" on Facebook or LinkedIn, just ask yourself, "How does this reflect on my business?" - and then ask your PR agency!

There's nothing like the feeling of a successful announcement. Whether a new client announces its first product ever, or the fifth in its product line-up, it's always exciting to let our media contacts in on the news and see the reaction from our clients when they get great coverage!

Last week, we helped Zip Express Installation - a third-party installation service for CE retailers and a next-day installer for consumers nationwide - announce a major partnership with Target.com. This is big news in the retail world, so we immediately started contacting the appropriate media before the announcement was officially made to gain some early traction. Voilah! We were able secure an exclusive with the Wall Street Journal online. I must say, no matter how long you've been in the game, great coverage never gets old!

As the day continued, we also spoke with the Associated Press, who wrote a piece on the announcement that was included on Forbes.com and BusinessWeek. We also worked with trade media TWICE, Dealerscope and Electronic House to let them know about Zip Express and it's partnership as the first installation service to work with Target.com, seeing coverage in all three.

At BLASTmedia, we're experts at how to handle the days leading up to a major announcement to maximize exposure when the announcement is made. We are always formulating unique pitch angles and working closely with press from print, broadcast and online outlets to get our clients the best media coverage out there. Coverage is as fun for us as it is for the client and a successful announcement just plain 'ole makes us giddy!

With sales surpassing $300 million this week, The Dark Knight has rapidly reached status as this summer's biggest blockbuster hit. According to Media By Numbers LLC, the Time Warner Inc. release passed $314.2 million this week and set five box-office records last week, including best opening-weekend sales with $158.4 million.

The Dark Knight is the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, with Christian Bale reprising his lead role as Batman and Heath Ledger starring as his arch-nemesis the Joker. Originally, Warner Bros. created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional Web sites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Ledger as the Joker, but after his death in January, the studio refocused its promotional campaign.

But just how much did the media's coverage of Ledger's death play in the role of skyrocketing of ticket sales? Take a look at almost any news coverage of The Dark Knight's ticket sales and try to find a story that doesn't mention Heath's tragic death. With the buzz of an upcoming Oscar nomination for his role as the Joker, it's safe to say that between Heath's award-winning acting skills and the media coverage of his very untimely (or timely for Time Warner?) death, ticket sales will continue to rise and could possibly even beat the current title-holder of largest grossing domestic movie - Titanic with $600.7 million.

What are your thoughts - do you think sales would have been as strong minus Ledger's tragedy?

(if you've been living under a rock, that's him on the right)

PR is a competitive industry. At BLAST we know that there are hundreds of other PR reps competing for the same editorial space and time that we are trying to secure for our clients. Our competitiveness in the office has extended again this year onto the softball field. It's our third year in a softball league, and this year's league started back in June. As the coach, I can proudly say that this year's team is the best we've ever had. We haven't had any losses...until last night. With the Groeppers on summer vacation and the Wernes at a family function, we recruited some subs to play last night in the "battle of the undefeated." We gave a strong showing and were ahead until the fifth inning, when the other team came back to tie us at 11 - 11. In the bottom of the seventh inning with one out, we lost to a home run. Completely over Chantal's head in center field - and the fence. If we're going to give up our undefeated status, I guess it's best to go out by a home run. We'll be back on the field again next Thursday for more action...and a win.

From time to time, the media coverage we secure for our clients has an error in it. A price may be listed as $53 instead of $35 or a Web link could be non-functional. Editors are people too, and mistakes happen. We always work with editors to have the error corrected. Today we came across an unusually funny media mistake - check out the newspaper that actually misspelled its own name in the masthead. How did they let that one slip through?!?

While personal relationships with editors are our best way to deliver national media exposure to clients, we're always on the lookout for useful tools to help us generate even more media coverage. Like most PR agencies, we use traditional paid-subscription media tools like the Cision directory and BusinessWire. We also have a few other freebie favorites, like Meg Weaver's Wooden Horse Publishing newsletter and Peter Shankman's HARO: Help A Reporter Out. While Wooden Horse keeps us updated on new developments at media outlets, we love using HARO to connect reporters, who need expert sources and new products, to our clients. The service has grown tremendously since it was launched back in January and, according to some, is going head-to-head with the PR industry's traditional service--PR Newswire's ProfNet.

The competition is starting to get a bit ugly, but we're sticking by HARO. After all, it has helped us secure coverage in a variety of publications including the New York Times, Charlotte Magazine and Pizza Today. Plus, we've had some great client interviews with outlets like AARP.org, EverydayHealth.com, Baseline Magazine and Executive Roundtable Radio.

A good part of our Monday mornings are dedicated to reading news and catching up with weekend events. We troll the major news sites and go through our RSS feeds to stay attuned to what is going on in the world around us and in our clients' industries.

I was excited to read the top story on Yahoo! News today - CNNMoney's annual rankings of America's Best Places to Live. Fishers, Indiana came in at No. 10! Our Indy office is located in Fishers, just 15 miles from downtown Indianapolis. The town of roughly 60,000 people sits in Hamilton County, which was just voted by Forbes as the nation's No. 1 Best Place to Raise a Family as well. Yay for us!

What other cities do you think should have made the list?

This week, Ryan and I both had client product launches/announcements that kept us very busy. We decided to challenge each other to see who could get more coverage/press release pickup of our respective announcements in the first week - the "loser" of the competition has to bake the winner and the rest of the office a treat to share on Monday.

As of 11:30 a.m. EST, Ryan reported 41 press release pickups and solid reviews, and I came in with 35. Congratulations, Ryan - I guess I will spend part of my weekend baking!

When our clients have product launches and partnership announcements, it is our goal to get them as much media exposure as possible the first day and week of the announcement. We work hard to contact as many top tier members of the press in the weeks leading up to the launch and the announcement day itself, and our hard work pays off with all of the media coverage that our clients receive. While it was an inter-office contest, both clients were the ones that benefited in the end. Trust me, my baking skill are far from great, so the jury is still out as to whether or not our offices wins, too!

As we head into a Holiday weekend, I would like to take a moment to say thanks to all of the BLAST employees....yes, I know it is the 4th of July and not Thanksgiving, but our employees ROCK!

-Thanks for making this such a fun place to work!
-Thanks for challenging each other to be better day after day!
-Thanks for producing great media coverage on a daily basis!
-Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication to BLAST and our clients!

To everyone at BLASTmedia / BLASToutdoors and readers of our blog, we would like to wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July weekend!

As a PR specialist, it's always exciting to meet new people and hear interesting stories from within our client's industries. This past week was no exception, when I attended LT Pact '08 in Las Vegas. One of our clients, Layered Tech, was hosting their third annual conference to provide attendees with the most current information in the hosting industry. Besides Layered Tech, we also work with two other companies that are involved with the hosting space, 3Tera and Woopra. That's why it was great to hear first-hand from industry analysts, key industry players and a slew of other companies and individuals who are leaders in the hosting environment. But the best part of the week for me was meeting three of our clients, numerous members of media and a handful of company executives in person.

In today's connected world, we are so accustomed to corresponding through email, instant messenger, Facebook and now Twitter - the phone call and face-to-face contact are limited when you have clients all over the world, as we do. Here at BLAST, we utilize them all. We are in constant contact with our clients, to not only keep them updated with everything that is going on from the media outreach front (interest, feedback, coverage, etc.), but also to hear about everything that is going on with their company. That's why we jump at opportunities like this past week to get to meet and hang out with three of our awesome, and unbelievably fun clients. Not only did we get to soak up more knowledge about their industries and products, but we also got to know our clients on a more personal basis, which is always vital to maintaining good relationships.

Also at LT Pact, I was able to meet a couple of my media and analyst friends from GRIDtoday, Web Host Industry Review, Forrester Research and Tier 1 Research, to name a few. Introducing them to our clients to see and hear what our clients really have to offer is priceless. All the phone calls and emails in the world cannot match putting your client in face-to-face conversation with members of the media. Besides conferences, trade shows, and press tours, do you have any interesting places you have put you clients in contact with the media?

Last week, news broke in TIME Magazine about the extreme rise in the number of pregnancies at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, MA. For a school of 1,200, the 17 pregnancies this year - more than four times the number from last year - definitely came as a shock. Who or what was to blame? Naturally, people blamed movies like Juno and Knocked Up, but others claimed these girls were in admiration of a school-mate who had a baby as a freshman.

However, the real shock came when the high school principal, Joseph Sullivan, commented to the TIME reporter that several of the girls had done this on purpose as part of a "pact." According to a related Associated Press article, Sullivan was quoted by TIME as saying, "That bump [in the number of pregnancies] was because of seven or eight sophomore girls. They made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together."

What's more disturbing than the possibility of these girls actually making such a pact? The possibility that no such pact existed, and that Mr. Sullivan may have spoken incorrectly to a national media outlet.

The city's mayor, Carolyn Kirk, is now publicly denouncing the rumors, telling the Associated Press, "any planned blood-oath bond to become pregnant -- there is absolutely no evidence of." Apparently, when asked by the Superintendent about how he came to believe a pact existed, Sullivan was "foggy in his memory."

This story is tragic for the pregnant teens, the unborn children, the parents and Mr. Sullivan's career. There is also a great PR lesson to be learned. Whatever you say to the media is fair game, so if you don't want it published and you don't have all the facts, it's best to keep it to yourself.

We are constantly working to get our clients positive media exposure and this includes securing interviews with radio, television and print outlets all over the world. Before an interview, we're sure to let our clients know not to divulge any information they are not comfortable sharing with the world, or that is not completely fact-based... a lesson that has been clearly demonstrated in Gloucester.

We can assume that Mr. Sullivan clearly did not get any media coaching - or did he? One has to look at the district superintendent and school board in this situation - did they really not offer any advice or direction on what message he should convey, or was this a planned cop-out to take the focus off the school? What do you think?

We understand that it's important to see a return on the investment of a campaign and prospective clients often ask us about how a PR campaign's effectiveness can be measured. We're always working with our clients to help them connect the dots - correlating media placements to web traffic and, ultimately, sales.

Today, we proved the power of PR to ourselves. Our friend Wayne with Gear Diary, who recently posted about Tanita's KD-400, brought another cool product to our attention today. When my colleague Katie at BLASToutdoors in San Francisco passed on a recent post of Wayne's about a "unique" desk organizer, I knew it would be the perfect complement to her San Fran desk. As soon as I completed my order to have one shipped to her, Katie let me know that she just ordered two! Ah, the power of PR! Who says you can't link media coverage to sales?

If you'd like one of these desk organizers for yourself, head on over to Stupid.com.

BLASTmedia and BLAST Outdoors' clients run the gamut when it comes to the latest and greatest tech products. It seems like every time I turn around, we're bringing on a new and exciting client. One of the best perks of working at Blast is getting to try out the cool stuff around the office! So when word spread that I would be leaving this week to be a camp counselor down in Bedford, IN, the girls in the San Fran office hooked me up with some great camping gear! Now I'm ready to head to camp with my Coghlan's Headlight, Cliplight and Micro Lantern and SmartShield eco-friendly combo sunscreen and insect repellent. Check me out with all my cool gear in the great outdoors!