1.PR Junkie has the reason all airlines, and most companies, should have a corporate blog. If it did, United at least could have tried to kill a Web rumor before it did its damage.
2.The Metrolink tragedy in Los Angeles forced the resignation of the rail agency’s spokeswoman. The linked article in The Wall Street Journal suggests Metrolink’s board felt the spokeswoman’s early statements addressing responsibility for the crash were “premature.” The spokeswoman claimed she had the authorization of Metrolink’s chief executive to take responsibility for the crash.
Note to any would-be spokespeople after a tragedy involving your company, is it ever smart to imply that your company was responsible, in the first hours after the incident?
3. Chris Brogan has yet another great post about blogging, the “50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level.” #26 is my biggest challenge: Get on a regular writing/posting schedule. Extra points for writing a few posts ahead of time for those days when you can’t get to it right away.
4. In the world of employee communications, you can’t beat the advice and information from Shel Holtz in this interview he gave Ron Shewchuk at For Your Approval. He reminds us that while the new tools of social media are important, strategy remains step one.
5. The conventions are over, and the presidential campaign has moved into full-blown craziness. But a post on Presentation Zen from Garr Reynolds takes us back to the RNC, and specifically the background graphics behind McCain during his acceptance speech.
As I was watching the speech, from the floor of the Xcel Energy Center, I too was struck by the odd images (a school that apparently had nothing to do with the speech), and odd choice of colors (green, blue) that would make it easy for anyone to chromakey McCain over the background of their choice.
Reynolds points that out and also has some fun with how McCain’s speech could have looked, if Apple had done his graphics:
