Hey Everybody,

I have been gone for a while, but now I am back. I just saw this video. I liked it a lot. It is a little creepy and I definitely don’t buy the whole Second Life thing. But I definitely agree in the prosumer idea and the selling of experience. I think that will happen.

What did you think? Were you creeped out? Let me know.

Best,
Will Flavell

I love newspapers. I think that the hardest working, least paid, most intelligent and interesting people work for newspapers. It is a noble profession with bad hours and worse pay. Being a reporter is a proud American tradition.

With that said, from a pr or advertising perspective, they don’t work. There, I’m sorry, but I had to say it. We’ve all heard the shrinking newsroom budget concerns and the lack of staff and declining readership. We’ve all read stories about the terrible factual errors and invented quotes. But none of those problems are the big problem.

 No, I think that the reason that newspapers don’t work from a PR perspective anymore; is that the audience doesn’t care. They don’t trust corporate news in the newspaper. They know how flacks work. They have heard of the spin doctor press release. But not only has negativity marred this mediums effectiveness, but changes in the way people read and live are killing it.

 My generation, the GenY folks don’t want to waste our time with ads. But more importantly, we don’t think we have to. I have Tivo, I don’t watch television ads. I don’t click through or rollover banners online. I don’t look at the ads in magazines. Becuase I don’t have to. I expect engagement. I expect content. And I am not alone. I am not alone, because now I have a voice. I can write online whenever I want. I can go search out others who beleive what I do and form a network of beleivers. I can pull down RSS feeds of only information that I trust (also with zero ads). And I am not alone in this ideal.

More to come, I promise.