Roman Gaponenko

  • Occupy Public Relations

    A friend of mine asked me once what was the difference between marketing and PR. I shot back by saying that marketing was preoccupied with selling products while PR was about selling ideas. Good one, eh? I don’t claim originality but still ponder my answer... Read more

  • Is social media a human right? [SXSW]

    In about three to four years we have gone from early adoption to serious discussions about social media as a human right, including as an official SXSW session. Surprised? I am. Obviously rights are not something that come by way of government legislation; they are... Read more

  • Social Media Measurement: Start With Missed Opportunities

    Whether you are measuring, budgeting or justifying additional resources for your social media efforts, consider missed opportunities as a starting point. It’s not how much you have accomplished or how much you have invested already, but how much you are missing that makes for a... Read more

  • Google "Writes" History

    It’s been a while since I saw something as inspiring as Google Earth circa 2004. The brand new Google News Timeline comes pretty close, despite a rather mundane name. In less than a minute I was able to scan news about the 19-year-old Joan of... Read more

  • Most Viewed Video Ever

    YouTube is about to hit a curious milestone with the singer Susan Boyle’s video aggregating more than 100 million views in less than ten days, according to Wired’s Epicenter blog. I was only able to track down the 37+ million views version (with disabled embedding),... Read more

  • The Domino’s Effect

    Like many of my colleagues, I frequently have to answer the question of why your company needs to be on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. This seemingly straightforward advice is an ongoing battle where corporate reluctance, internal business complexities and/or genuine misunderstanding of the medium win... Read more

  • Celebrity Kutcher’s Misuse of Influence

    A few of my friends received “breaking news” messages from CNN in the past 24 hours telling them that “Ashton Kutcher is first to reach 1 million followers in Twitter contest with CNN.” Between news of Somali pirates threatening to kill Frenchmen and Americans and... Read more

  • Obama: the New Relationship With the Media?

    WP and Rex bicker in a diplomatic manner about public relations, government, media, technology and more. WP: Here’s one hot off the press about the Obama Administration’s refusal to allow news photographers access to the Oval Office to shoot pictures of the new president’s first... Read more

  • Your Library of Tomorrow

    Last time I went to the public library, a part of me was struck by how irrelevant the place has come to seem to me: too limited a space stacked with thousands of books and no quick solution for finding what you are looking for.... Read more

  • Good Mileage on Social Media

    Many of us have been wondering in the past few weeks about the future of the Big Three. While the arguments go in many different directions and the consensus on the potential bailout is yet to be met, it is fascinating to see how the... Read more