Change always accompanies a New Year, and 2010 will be no different.  Join us again in January as we analyze new trends, reveal new methodologies, and examine the overlapping worlds of technology and communications.

All of us at Eastwick wish you a happy, healthy 2010!

Anyone who’s written for an audience can attest to the humbling experience of having one’s work edited. A Ragan.com feature titled “Black and white and red all over” is an assortment of communicators’ recollections about the first time they experienced the wrath of the red pen.

The advice ranges from the stylistic, like avoiding Gonzo journalism and questionable metaphors, to the emotional - not falling in love with your own words.

That may be the toughest advice to take, as that love can be as enduring as your very first crush. (In my case, “baseball Brad.”) Painful as it may be, though, it is still vital instruction to follow in order to communicate effectively with your audience by using language that is meaningful to them rather than your ego.

This leads us to another item of interest: Americans are consuming more information overall.

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The Peacock is switching owners. GE has agreed to sell Comcast a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal, creating a joint media venture that will be managed by Comcast.

The move is significant since GE has owned NBC for 23 years, not counting that period in the 1920s. It’s also indicative of the broadcast media shift that has been gaining momentum over the last few years.

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The wave of acquisition and consolidation continues, this time in the world of research.

Gartner and AMR both announced today that Gartner, Inc. has agreed to purchase AMR Research for $64 million in cash, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.

Bruce Richardson, Chief Research Officer for AMR, offered an explanation of what it might mean for its clients and analysts.

He also noted some key assets Gartner has to offer, including a bigger audience, global reach, presence in more vertical markets, access to many more research resources, and a focus on quality writing.

I’m curious to see what this will mean not only for these firms but for the competitive landscape as well.

We found this recent post by Justin Siefert especially interesting and valuable.  Not a day goes by where we aren’t having to defend our use and support of Twitter as a communications channel for our clients and for us, as a matter of fact.  Despite skepticism from late Twitter bloomers…end users are using this medium as a way to get info…and so are influencers.  Thanks for the insight, Justin…hope your eyes are better.

This Thursday night is the much anticipated “Tech The Halls: The Technologizer Holiday Bash 2009” party at Varnish Art Gallery in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood. The event is sure to entail all kinds of fun and insightful conversations with friends and colleagues from the media industry. Some of the latest consumer tech gear will be on display, and with this crowd there will be plenty of gadgets, apps, web tools and social media talk. Eastwick Communications is proud to work with Harry McCracken and Marie Domingo as the PR agency sponsor for The Technologizer Holiday Bash.

What will be the big trend of 2010 that everyone reads or writes about? How much more will we hear about the cloud? Or are you just plain curious what everyone predicts will be the talk of CES?  In what is sure to be one of the best nights of 2009, who knows what we’ll come up with as we celebrate the past year and look forward to the next one.

Registration is full, but you can participate virtually: Tag along with us between 7 and 9 PM on Twitter - hashtag is: #TechTheHalls or follow @eastwickcom. Join the conversation, ask questions or just see what’s going on with your favorite people.

Watch ShoreTel CEO John Combs ring the closing bell at NASDAQ today in New York City! Watch video here

Having started my career in journalism, I can relate to how painful it can feel for a reporter to deal with PR people. They can be overly demanding, pitch things that they know nothing about, and on top of that, pitch topics to reporters that are completely NOT relevant to the reporter’s beat – all major no-no’s in the PR industry.

However, there’s something more to working with the media than just doing your basic PR job right. As the landscape has shifted a bit, and we start to deal with entities outside traditional media (such as bloggers and influential customers) it is even MORE important to step it up in the niceness factor with these guys. Not only are you talking to a reporter who could end up writing a story about your company, you also could potentially be talking to the actual end-user who will ultimately buy your product – and well, that’s the bottom line to success.

We’ve all heard these tips before, but I think it is a good reminder to keep these things in mind as you work with reporters, influencers, bloggers, analysts, customers, etc. – these days, it could be anyone!!

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Event tweeting occurs quickly, especially if your point person is fed streams of information by multiple participants. The thoughts that people jot down may not even resemble proper tweet fodder, but don’t sweat it. When your client is tweeting about an event or conference, follow these simple tips to make sure their tweets are the center of attention and not another brief event mention.

1. Develop a tweet calendar based on the duration of the event.
   1. A minimum of two tweets per day is recommended: A tweet to start the day and a tweet to end the day
2. Craft your tweets around specific events or participants. For instance:
   1. What, if anything, is the client demoing or showcasing?
   2. Is your client speaking?
   3. Is your client exhibiting?
   4. Are there any panel sessions you want to draw attention to?
   5. Is the client introducing a new product or service?
   6. Is there anyone famous speaking at the event that will promote visibility of the event overall? For example, #MichaelJordan speaking at #VoiceCon may be a trending topic, but #AndrewEvangelista? Not so much…
3. Solicit instant updates from your people at the scene, if they aren’t able to tweet themselves. A couple of questions to get them started:
   1. What trends or hot topics are being talked about at the client’s booth and on the show floor?
   2. What’s the mood of the crowd?
   3. Anything exciting, surprising or particularly funny happen?

Hope these three tips help at your next event!

Embargoes aren’t for everyone. Last year Michael Arrington made that very clear. Here we are almost a year later, and it’s still a topic that spurs much debate. Yep, more outlets have abandoned embargoes, but it’s definitely not an extinct practice. It’s also not a one-size-fits-all approach.

Source: xuhara hamid

From a communications perspective, you’ve got to consider your client, their story and audience, and develop a strategy that makes sense for the individual situation. Does it even make sense to employ an embargo? It might not, especially for a private company. What may have been standard practice in the past may not apply anymore.

If it does make sense to embargo your client’s news, talk them through the risks involved and do your homework…know the policies of the outlets you work with, and be sure you develop and maintain trust with your contacts. You should also be prepared to move quickly in case the news is leaked.

As the dynamics of the media world continue to change, I expect there will be many more conversations about how to effectively evolve our methods of communication and news dissemination. Will we still be talking embargoes this time next year? Maybe so.