Does Facebook breed questionable decisions? Or are questionable decisions just more visible due to Facebook? In a recent post on Valleywag, Kevin, an intern at Anglo Irish Bank called in sick to work (when in actuality he was partying in upstate NY) and was outed due to a picture from Facebook. Is Facebook the new Candid Camera? Big brother? Or just plain fun? Michael Arrington recently posted about a college student who couldn’t live without Facebook and wrote him for help. I personally use Facebook to keep in touch with my friends, as a networking tool, and just for fun. But with that said, I am hyper aware of what I post and what my friends post of me. For me, Facebook started as a college necessity (all my friends were on it, so I HAD to join) and has since turned into a serious networking tool. My friends may not get it, but in PR and Tech, Facebook is king.

I guess the moral of the story is watch what you put on Facebook because it can come back to haunt you (particularly when you lie to your boss to go party!)

candid camera, facebook, networking, Public Relations, Silicon Valley, Technology, valleywag

Last week, I went to a SF Tech Meetup event called SF Tech Rocks Out. It was my first Tech Meetup event and I recommend them to anyone. There were CEOs and CTOs from several music related tech companies who spoke and took part in a question and answer session. My favorite was Seeqpod, a playable online search engine (though I have been a Pandora fan for a few years now) which you can see in action below.

SeeqPod Music beta - Playable Search

And for something a little different, eWeek just reported on presidential donations in the tech industry for the first 3 quarters of this year. Nearly 70% of all donations went to either Obama or Hilary. Does that mean all techies are dems? Doubtful, though the stat that of the 23 companies surveyed, only two contributed more money to Republicans than Democrats is pretty staggering. Happy Friday!

Hilary, networking, Obama, pandora, Public Relations, Seeqpod, SF Tech Meetup, Silicon Valley, Technology

There are a couple of interesting articles floating around the web today that address my last post. Both of them reference the start of the Web 2.0 summit, just a few blocks away from our lovely SF office.

Brad Stone and Matt Richtel of The New York Times write on the seemingly endless funds for Silicon Valley start-ups. They comment that often user interest can gauge investor interest using the example of Facebook, a company worth about half of Yahoo at a cool $15 billion, but with only 300 employees. The article also quotes Tim O’Reilly, creator of the term web 2.0, whose firm O’Reilly Media is one of the partners of the Web 2.0 Summit.

The second article could be considered more fun since Michael Calore of Wired’s Compiler blog includes a Web 2.0 BS generator created by his colleague, Rob Beschizza. Just hit refresh and start a whole new business, no funding needed!

And to add insult to injury, I am officially a web 2.0 participant, since I have completed my first wiki. I don’t know if I should be embarrassed or satisfied. Regardless, that seems to be where the world is heading…at least in the Silicon Valley!

facebook, PR, Public Relations, Silicon Valley, Technology, tim oreilly, web 2.0, web 2.0 summit, yahoo

Every day I try to do a quick news review, looking at what is going on for my clients and their competitors, as well as the industry movers and shakers. Mergers and acquisitions are a constant theme in the media and not only for tech based companies. There is always some big fish looking to increase their scope (or profit) by merging (or taking over) someone smaller. Just look at SAP’s recent acquisition of Business Objects, Oracle’s bid for BEA Systems or the constant interest in Facebook by heavy hitters Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft. Google alone has purchased 11 different companies this year! But with this said, what characterizes a successful partnership? This has been a popular subject in the past few weeks, particularly since there has been speculation that the market is headed for a downturn. Steve Tobak of CNET recently posted on failed mergers, highlighting 10 (often preventable) reasons why acquisitions can often be too idealistic to succeed in the real world. Sure, there are plenty of reasons to buy, but what’s the point if in the end profits don’t improve? I guess my question is, even with the market not headed in the most positive of directions, why is there still a new acquisition around every corner?

On a separate note, today is blog action day. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, please feel free to check out more information here. All the Eastwick bloggers are not only participating but Eastwick has pledged to give a dollar to the National Wildlife Federation for every page view we receive for the next 30 days. I am hoping to post quite a bit, so come on back, particularly since it’s such a great cause!

acquisitions, blog action day, Business Objects, facebook, Google, mergers, Microsoft, national wildlife federation, Oracle, Public Relations, Silicon Valley, Technology, Yahoo!

It seems like every time I turn on my computer there is another start up announcing its launch into the world of Silicon Valley. It makes me wonder where the motivation comes from. Do they feel their technology, service, or idea could change the world? Is it because they want to be picked up by a VC (venture capitalist for all you non-valley folk) or become the next youtube? Why is this phenomenon most successful here?

While this post has miraculously turned into rhetorical questions (I’m not exactly looking for answers) I just find the Valley as a whole incredibly interesting and exceptionally unique. Participating in this culture is somehow exciting. I love that I’m slightly “in the know” and am a self-professed valleywag, facebook, pandora, and meebo - aholic. But it makes you wonder what inspires these programmers, soon to be CEOs, cover of business week-dorks, to do what they do. Of course, not everyone is destined to be the next Kevin Rose or Mark Zuckerberg. So I guess my final question is, what makes start ups succeed and is this success tied to their presence in the Valley?

facebook, Kevin Rose, Mark Zuckerberg, meebo, pandora, Public Relations, Silicon Valley, start ups, Technology, valleywag

Today, after many months of preparation, it’s our big move day. Everything I hold near and dear to me resides in one NOR-CAL box, there are stickers on all my furniture and the entire Eastwick clan will be signing off at 1 p.m. Mountian View isn’t going to know what hit it! And while I personally won’t be doing much of the heavy lifting, I appreciate Outkast’s catchy phrase.

And where is our new (oh so fabulous) office located? Down the street from the Googleplex, a short shuttle ride from the caltrans station, and exceptionally close to the shoreline (in case I wanted to see a show on my lunch break). So what does this all mean? Eastwick is moving farther into the Silicon Valley, bringing us closer to many of our clients. I personally want to get an invite to the Google cafeteria. PR is all about connections after all. So I say it again; I like the way you move.

Agency Life, caltrans, Google, Mountian View, Outkast, PR, Public Relations, shoreline, Silicon Valley

In the field of Public Relations we do a lot of reporting. Flash reports. Coverage reports. Weekly activity reports. All for the sake of our clients.  When was the last time anyone had a report about what a PR agency is like from the inside out?  That’s where I come in. Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Marissa and The Root Review will discuss the going-ons at Eastwick Communications, a highly successful technology PR firm in the Silicon Valley.

While there are many different types of PR, (corporate, consumer and celebrity are a few that come to mind) my blog will examine life at an agency that focuses on technology. From staff meetings and client coverage to agency mixers and PR urban legends, I am hoping to give outsiders an idea of what starting a career in the fast-paced field of public relations is really like.

Would love to stay and chat, but unfortunately blogging isn’t billable…So I’m out of here for now!

Agency Life, Entry Level, PR, Public Relations, Silicon Valley, Technology