Sherrilynne Starkie

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May 28, 2013 by sherrilynne 1 Comment

Facebook news today

Facebook Foxes
Facebook Foxes

Facebook is cracking down on violent, sexist content in response to an open letter issued last week by Women, Action & the Media (WAM). The group demanded that Facebook add gender-based hate speech to its list of forbidden content.  The social network has today agreed to add gender-based hate to its list of unacceptable content and has committed to ridding its site of it and is updating its guidelines to training moderators.

The company’s blog says, “A few months ago we began testing a new requirement that the creator of any content containing cruel and insensitive humor include his or her authentic identity for the content to remain on Facebook. As a result, if an individual decides to publicly share cruel and insensitive content, users can hold the author accountable and directly object to the content. We will continue to develop this policy based on the results so far, which indicate that it is helping create a better environment for Facebook users.”

In Italy today, a prosecutor opened an investigation into how Facebook allowed the abusive posts from bullies of a 14-year-old girl who later committed suicide by leaping to her death from a third-floor window. She died in January after a gang of boys used Facebook to circulated a video of her appearing drunk in a bathroom at a party.

The Italian Parents Association has filed a criminal complaint against Facebook. ”This is the first time a parents’ group has filed such a complaint against Facebook in Europe,” said Antonio Affinita, the director. ”Italian law forbids minors under 18 signing contracts, yet Facebook is effectively entering into a contract with minors regarding their privacy, without their parents knowing.”

Remember Facebook Notes? A report out today says that the little-used blogging feature is about to get an overhaul to compete with Tumblr. According to TechCrunch, “when it comes down to it, Facebook is more limiting but consistent and easy for the masses. Tumblr gives you more freedom and control… If Facebook wants to house our whole digital lives, it may need to get serious about blogging. It’d be a big undertaking for the social network that could take a while to come to fruition. But better Notes could fill it with high-quality content, pull in ad views, and box out competitors trying to pick away at the Facebook empire.”

On a lighter note, a family of foxes has moved onto Facebook’s California campus.  Facebook employees taking and posting photos of them one Facebook page.

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Filed Under: Facebook, Featured, Headline, Social Media Tagged With: Facebook, Hate speech, Social Media, TechCrunch, Tumblr, WAM

November 3, 2011 by sherrilynne 2 Comments

Is Ashton Kutcher a fundraising dud?

Ashton Kutcher at Time 100 Gala
Image via Wikipedia

If you thought getting a big-name celebrity like Ashton Kutcher or Nicole Kidman to endorse your charity campaign is the best way to raise awareness and raise funds, think again.  A new report published by PayPal shows being aligned with lesser known celebrities or plain folks with a good Internet profile is often more effective.

The report looks at six major online fund-raising campaigns and it’s main finding is that star power and follower counts have little to do with fund raising effectiveness,  instead those individuals who raised the most money spent time online interecting with people.

This echoes the advice I give clients; authenticity and involvement are the keys to social media success.  The report says, “Engagement matters with social media, often much more so than having a large online fan base at the beginning of a campaign.  Social fund raising requires an active, authentic, and continued involvement … even if only for a short time.”

It’s important to examine the data to understand the real value that a celebrity brings to a charity.  One example cited in the report  involves Save the Children, for which in one day Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber helped raise $100,000 to fight famine in Somalia and other parts of East Africa. It’s a good sum of money, but when you consider the number of online fans of these two A-listers, the amount equates to only a fraction of a penny per follower.

Consider the work done by Paddy O’Brien, a California boy who shared the story of his battle with bone cancer as he raised money for the children’s hospital that treated him. Paddy was successful in securing 1,000 donations via Facebook.  Actor Ashton Kutcher delivered just 114 donations to the same campaign.

A DonorsChoose.org fundraising competition among bloggers, including TechCrunch‘s Michael Arrington and All Things Delivered’s Kara Swisher, was dominated by a blogger offering to parade around in a tomato suit.

The report studies six case studies and offers many best practice examples.  It also offers solid advice on how to select celebrities as charity partners including:

  • Choose a celebrity who is already actively in social media and interacts regularly online with fans.
  • Find a celebrity who has a personal connection and an authentic passion for your cause.
  • Ask the celebrity to ask personal friends to get involved, not just fans and followers.
  • Open your mind to working with different kinds of celebrities.  A passionate tweeter is often better than a big name celebrity with a million followers.

You can get the full, free report here.

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Filed Under: Featured, Headline, Social Media Tagged With: Ashton Kutcher, Fundraising, Lady Gaga, Michael Arrington, Nicole Kidman, PayPal, Social Media, TechCrunch

January 3, 2009 by sherrilynne Leave a Comment

The embargo myth

Image representing TechCrunch as depicted in C...
Image via CrunchBase

What’s all this we’re hearing about the death of the embargo, thanks to Michael Arrington of Techcrunch?

IMHO the much touted embargo has always been a  myth.  I’ve been in this biz for more than a few years and have worked in different global markets and in all that time, I’ve only ever once issued a release under embargo. That one involved a major international celebrity and, of course, it was broken.

Rule number one of human communication?  If you don’t want anyone talking about something, keep it yourself.  It’s pretty simple.  The same rule holds true for news releases.

Anyone who relies on having embargoes respected it taking a risk.  I say play it safe.  Give an advance on a story if you like, but you can’t give a journalist a story and ask him not to report it.  It’s just disrespectful.

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Filed Under: public relations Tagged With: Embargo, News release, PR, public relations, TechCrunch

May 5, 2007 by sherrilynne Leave a Comment

April's most popular

Here’s a look at the most popular Strive Notes over the past month:

April Fool5. Happy Easter Somerfield chronicles the public relations disaster for UK supermarket Somerfield, whose agency Brando stuffed up good and proper. Is Easter the celebration of the birth of Christ or his reincarnation? Someone’s not sure.

4. Always a popular post, this Friday’s five features Susan Getgood, Guy Kawasaki, Kami Huyse, Scott Baradell and Techcrunch. I must try to get these roundups done more often!

3. Virtual network a real advantage tipped my Tech Talk column on VNC which ran the week of 18 April and proved to be a popular post.

2. We were all pretty happy to hear that TechcrunchUK is coming back. No announcement about dates as yet.

And finally, the Number 1 most popular Strive Note for April 2007 is:

1. In the wake of the killings, my look at how social media helped the victims and survivors at Virginia Tech cope and keep in touch. It ran as a Tech Talk column the week of 24 April.

Filed Under: public relations Tagged With: PR, public relations, Somerfield, Tech Talk, TechCrunch, Virginia Tech, VNC

April 24, 2007 by sherrilynne Leave a Comment

TechCrunch UK is coming back

TechCrunch UKAfter four long months of silence, today there is a note from Micheal Arrington on the TechCrunch UK blog.  He’s planning on a relaunch in June. He’s looking for an editor, some new ideas and a few story pitches.

I, for one, look forward to TechCrunch UK’s return, at long last.

Filed Under: public relations Tagged With: Media, public relations, TechCrunch

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