Deirdre Breakenridge

I’ve been diligently testing new products and services to get my communications department up to speed for PR 2.0 and social media campaigns. I know that in several of my posts I’ve discussed how important it is to make sure that the PR team is equipped with great resources to build relationships with influencers, manage campaign efforts, and track program progress and measure results.

My daily ritual involves as much media snacking, blogging and social networking as I possibly can for my clients and to build own my personal brand. Even though my professional and personal life is wrapped up in the social media landscape, cruising along at an extremely fast pace, I still need my time to read and enjoy the written word.

The “Going Forward” section of Entrepreneur magazine recently highlighted 10 must-click websites. I have to admit there were some very good sites mentioned on the list. From BizStats and Entrepreneurship.com to LadiesWhoLaunch and Nielsen, these sites were all jam-packed with great information, statistics and ideas.

At almost every meeting, I’m asked a familiar question: Why aren’t companies participating the right way in the social media landscape or why do they take an approach that leads to confusion, miscommunication and sometimes too much loss of control. Here’s my simple answer. For the first part one of the question, companies are not listening, so they really don’t know what’s being said about their brands or where there is opportunity for them to become a valuable resource in a social networking community.

I read an excellent article in PRSA’s Public Relations Strategist Magazine (spring 2009 issue) called, “You Are Now Entering Web 3.0.” I was happy to see that the author of the article discussed Web 3.0 as the next advancements in Web, which is the Semantic Web. He talked about the language of search and how 3.0 would be incredibly intuitive, so that machines would be able to make connections to provide a much greater depth of information.

On Tuesday, January 9th I presented to the members of PRSA at their T3 Conference in New York City. With the flurry of brands rushing to the blogosphere to begin their Social Media programs, I thought it was appropriate to provide an internal view and approach to social networking by first, focusing on the employee and the challenge of culture.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Thom Brodeur for my book, PR 2.0, New Media, New Tools & New Audiences. Thom reached out to me recently to inform me about some exciting news. He accepted a position at HARO as COO. I thought it would be great to talk to Thom to see what he’ll be doing in his new role and to have him discuss his perspective on the future of PR. He provided me with another great interview that I’d like to share with you!