PitchEngine Launches- I Might Have a Plan
When Jason Kintzler pointed out that he’d built a shiny new social media press release maker for PR types, my first thought was: “I’m not in PR. I don’t care, but hey, good for you!” Yes, I know a good chunk of YOU are in PR, so you should care. In fact, I was talking with Shannon Paul about her ideas for a social media newsroom (which are a bit different than Jason’s), and I have a feeling she’ll have something to say once she checks out PitchEngine.
On the surface, it’s simple: set up a small database of client information, build specific social media press releases, share through various means. If you’re in PR, check it out. If you’re on the side of media and reporting, it doesn’t feel as obvious that it’s about you. For geeks, it’s cool in that it mechanizes SHIFT’s pdf in a way.
But then it struck me. The part that I will care about.
I get a lot of pitches lately. Most of them are HORRIBLY off base from what I write about. Not even close. The only guy with worse luck receiving pitches is Christopher S. Penn.
I’m going to refer EVERYONE who pitches me (who’s not a very very very close friend) to the PitchFeed part of PitchEngine. Basically, this is one place the results of your efforts goes. So in a way, it’s a macro newsroom of the stuff that people will create in there, so that might be interesting-ish. And I have already subscribed to that RSS feed. So now, if I *want* a story, I can pull it from my daily feed reading.
I think I’m on to something. Check out PitchEngine and see if Jason will give you a code.
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BlogCatalog- A Social Network for Bloggers
My friend and PR professional Alan Weinkrantz did a yeoman’s job of giving my a break a few days back when I was struggling, so I feel I owe him a look-see at his new client, Blog Catalog. (Note to other PR types: Alan built a relationship with me well before he needed it, and so when he asks for things, I try to be helpful where I can.) >>Side note: Alan - please don’t make me have to get an account to comment on your blog. It keeps me from commenting there.
BlogCatalog is a social network for bloggers. The features on the site involve profiles, discussion lists, groups, a directory, some widgets, and I think that’s all (ish). If I had to guess what the site hopes I do most, it’s engage in discussions with bloggers. There’s also a directory, which would help folks (like PR and marketer types) find which types of bloggers signed in.
Okay, truth: I didn’t see any bloggers I know. Not a one. But hey, it’s not like I know *everyone*, and I’m not knocking on the folks who have an account there. I do. I’m also not sure what I want to talk about there, but here’s a sample of the discussion:
There’s something there in those discussions, and it could well be a very helpful space for bloggers looking for advice and support. But my knock is that I want there to be groupings around the threads. Everything’s all willy nilly, and I couldn’t really find a topic that engaged me right off the bat without a little digging. If it were broken into categories of discussions, I could skip threads about love and pictures of babies, and move into the topics I might want to discuss.
If you’re a blogger, it wouldn’t hurt to go there, get an account, list your blog there, build up a profile (yet again), and look around a bit. If you’re looking to do blogger outreach, there’s something useful there. Beyond that? I’m not so sure.
Are you there? What’s your take?
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Zoho Show 2.0 Launches Today
Zoho, everybody’s favorite cloud software developer, released a new 2.0 version of Zoho Show today. It’s presentation software that includes slide making features as well as chatting, remote sharing, and desktop sharing, making it a little more powerful than your typical Powerpoint or Keynote, insofar as features goes. That’s one of the tricks with Zoho. They’ve built such a suite of apps that they can mix and match.
Some of the changes in 2.0 target ease of use, and this is probably where I’ve complained a bit about certain Zoho apps in the past. I’ll tell you that I used it while on a conference call to doodle out what you see below, and it worked super easy and intuitively.
Zoho also allows you to embed the presentation on another site after you publish it (like SlideShare), and has about a dozen features that I didn’t cover here. If you’re in the world of presentations, this might be worth considering as a free, flexible offering. The closest similar product online is Google Docs and their presentation software, but I tell you, Zoho’s product works, looks, and feels better.
Good job, Zoho.
See a bigger picture here:
