As it’s a bank holiday I’ve got some extra time to read up.  Here’s my list of what I liked.

1. Dave Fleet asks if your organisation has multiple personalities in this thoughtful post on customer service and social media.  Twitter, blogs or any online interaction can’t plug holes in your customer service provision.  Work on the essentials first, then worry about which communications channels you should use.

2. It’s a long one, but the  Shel Holtz post on the continuing need for professional journalism is well worth the time it takes to read.  In it Shel explains why ‘the crowd’ will never replace professional journalism. He says, “they will co-exist, complement one another, and ultimately produce a new ecosystem of news in which both forms of reporting play an integral part. “

3. In this excellent post Geoff Livingston revisits  the principles of  ‘How to win friends and influence people’ and explains how they can be applied in social media.

4. Leo Bottary has some good advice about bridging the gap between analysis and recommendations when formulating a communications strategy.  In this revved up world, sometimes it’s helpful to be reminded of the fundamentals.

5. I found this post about returning calls on the Bad Pitch blog interesting.  It implores us PR people to have the courtesy to return a phone call when a message is left.  Is this really a trend? Do PR people deliberately not return calls? I can’t imagine that professional communicators would be that rude.

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