@eyecube Yup, right on. Thanks – good post. [link to post]

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from @TDefren a list of social media “gurus” you should listen to: [link to post]

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If you haven’t heard the name Sully Sullenberger lately, you must be dead. Sully is enjoying a PR dream opportunity due to his piloting skills in landing U.S. Airways flight 1549.

Sully is a humble kind of guy. He runs a safety consulting business – http://safetyreliability.com/home

He will be on CNN Monday morning. Has been invited to the Presidential Inauguration and much more.

How does one leverage such a PR Dream and not over do it?

Considering that U.S. Airways voided his pension plan – see this post – http://tinyurl.com/8k7cvq – don’t you think he should leverage his 15 minutes of fame to help build his consulting business to provide for his future?

PR Squared: The Value of Modesty [link to post]

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The only thing I ever want, or wanted, is the opportunity to do good work and share what I learn with other people. Those things seem modest enough, but now I understand why movie stars’ Oscar acceptance speeches often include something about how they were “lucky” to have had the opportunity to give a star performance. I think this is also true for PR/marketing, especially when it concerns social media. Having an opportunity to do good work is so rare since the best ideas often seem to require so much courage on the part of companies and/or clients.

Sometimes I think one of the biggest problems in social media — especially where *recognized* gurus AND *self-proclaimed* gurus are putting forth ideas and opinions in equal measure — is that to people who are un-savvy about these things, it’s difficult to tell one from the other.

I’m still extremely new at all of this, but on a couple occasions when I was asked to give a presentation to a room full of nice people about social media, there was a person or two in the audience who tried to argue with me or answer other peoples’ questions before I could open my mouth to speak… and I’m no wallflower.

Sometimes I’m sure these people seem more credible to the seasoned pros in the audience than I do because they tell people what they want to hear; they wear suits or ties or both– they gear the conversation toward tools and tell people all they need to do is learn to use the tools and they too can be social media experts… since “there really is no such thing, anyone can be an expert.” Not true. Besides, people with way more time invested in their career should know more than someone like me right?

Maybe someday I’ll tell you about the time an acquaintance FAXED my boss a flyer for a free “social media needs analysis”. Sadly, that fax got his attention. Maybe there’s a lesson in there somewhere.

Thanks for the post, Todd. You’re pretty neat.

This is a great list of interesting, thoughtful, helpful people. Thanks for sharing.

I would like to add my two cents. There are a number of ppl who have mastered the art of social media — including those on your list. However, that doesn’t necessrily make them marketing pros. Marketing and PR aren’t rocket science; but they are disciplines that require more than expertise in social media. I think the people on your list bring a new perspective to the table — one that is valuable because it can help companies improve customer service, employee communications, operations, etc. But, integrating social media into the marcomm function requires a greater understanding of the big picture. Just because you “get” social media doesn’t mean you “get” marketing and PR. Internal staff and agencies need to understand what these people bring to the table … and what they don’t. (the opposite is true as well judtbecause you’re in marketing doesn’t mean you “get” social media. We can all learn from each other.)

Thanks again for providing a list of notable folks.

Heather (@prtini)