According to a new Pew survey , the use of non-voice data applications on cell phones has grown dramatically over the last year. Compared with a similar point in 2009, cell phone owners are now more likely to use their mobile phones to: Take pictures—76% now do this, up from 66% in April 2009 Send […]
By now you’ve read dozens of news stories and blog posts about Abby Sunderland, the 16 year old who was planning to be the world’s youngest person to sail around the globe. Her parents have been excoriated as irresponsible. She has been accused of being too young for the task. The whole venture has been […]
According to SearchEngineLand.com CEO Danny Sullivan, BP’s latest PR tactic was to purchase all the Google links for any search that includes the words “oil spill” or “BP” or “gulf oil,” among other keywords. Type in any of these and the top result you see is BP’s special Gulf of Mexico Response website. Interesting brand-in-crisis […]
The recession’s not in the rearview mirror yet, but some indicators show it is receding. And after 18 months of triage, companies and nonprofits alike are assessing the damage. Here are key areas to review when considering any impact the downturn has had on your brand. Employment Brand Those who froze hires but didn’t let […]
The debate rages on as to whether all students should go to college. Graduation rates vary widely by state, from an abysmal 22% (Alaska) to a more promising 69% (Massachusetts) [NCHEMS]. So that means somewhere between one third and three quarters of college attendees don’t graduate with a degree. As The New York Times recently […]
With email, iPhones and Blackberrys, not to mention school and community list-serves, and buckets of emails for work and home, information is coming at us faster than we can say digital download. And now we’re expected to keep up with Facebook, Linked In and Twitter, too? There’s simply no time! Why should anyone want to […]
The Tea Party has been slinging arrows at “the government,” a seemingly monolithic entity they accuse of being ineffective at best and downright evil at worst. For those of us who live in the Washington, D.C. region, and know real live people who labor each day in all three branches, it’s hard to muster this […]
Steven Pearlstein’s Washington Post article about Goldman Sachs ends with an ominous declaration (spoiler alert) “Goldman has fully monetized the value of its reputation. Anyone who pays such a premium is a fool.” He brings up an interesting dilemma. When has a company leveraged its own name too much? When does the value of the […]
In a story this weekend on the Catholic Church’s mishandling of its communications about sexual misconduct by priests, the Vatican was quoted in The Washington Post as saying it is NOT a multi-national enterprise (according to Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi.) This may come as a major surprise to anyone who knows of the church’s […]
To much fanfare and hand-wringing, Virginia’s governor has just declared April to be Confederate History Month. One of the great battles of our Civil War has been on my mind, since I just returned from a family trip to Gettysburg. We’d been several times before, but this time we had a private guide who truly […]
