Mike Maney

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  • I got into MIT (Technology Review, that is)

    OK, so maybe my SATs and choice of communications as a major hindered my shot at getting into MIT. What they didn’t hinder was my luck in getting a letter printed in MIT Technology Review. The letter is based on a story I read in the publication on my way home from SXSW last month (as well as a tweet from the magazine’s editor, Jason Pontin):

    Technology Review: Letters From Our Readers:  “Out Of This World”
    I read the January/February 2009 issue on my flight home from South by Southwest (the magazine was part of the conference’s swag bag). There wasn’t a weak story on any page, but one was out of this world: Adam Fisher’s oral history of space tourism (‘Very Stunning, Very Space, and Very Cool’).

    While I’ll probably never have the millions to afford a flight to the International Space Station, I can rest easy knowing that my $300 three-hour flight in a cramped coach seat was more comfortable than the accommodations afforded professional space travelers. I only wish I had the window seat they had.

    Mike Maney
    Doylestown, PA

    I may never make it as a subject of one of the magazine’s articles, but it’s still pretty cool to be a part of one of the smartest crowds in technology, if only for a fleeting two paragraphs.

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  • Quoted: Me on President Obama’s Tonight Show appearance

    I was quoted recently in a story on President Obama’s March 19th historic appearance on The Tonight Show (the story was written by my friend, Sarah Prial, a reporter for Sacred Heart University’s Spectrum):

    “Mike Maney, a veteran public relations executive at Zer0 to 5ive Communications out of Philadelphia, shared his views from a public relations standpoint.

    ‘There are some [political] camps who believe Obama’s appearance lessened the office of the President, that it should be above entertainment,’ said Maney. ‘There are other camps who believe that his appearance represents a President who is trying every channel he can to communicate to the American people.’”

  • The most important things are not things.


    I caught a glimpse of the lid of this guy’s MacBook while I was walking through the Austin Convention Center at SXSW this past weekend. Fewer truer words have been said.

  • My Face In Your Face

    The front page of today's BusinessWeek.com
    Click to see a bigger version of this image (and my face).

    Late last week I commented on an online story by B.L. Ochman that was running on BusinessWeek’s web site. B.L.’s post, “Debunkiing Six Social Media Myths,” is a good read and incited nearly 100 comments.

    Out of that 100 — correction, out of all of the comments on BusinessWeek — my comment was chosen as the featured comment for BusinessWeek’s “In Your Face” section today. Not only that, but my mugshot is running on the front page of BusinessWeek.com.

    If you are at all interested in social media, I encourage you to read B.L.’s post. I’ll also be posting more about the power of commenting on the just-about-to-be-launched 0to5blog later this afternoon.

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  • Why PR Pros Shouldn’t Ambulance Chase

    I read a tweet from PR pro Robert Dowling this morning regarding death threats the PR firm for controversial mother of eight Nadya Suleman has received:

    @RobertDowling Suleman’s PR resigns after death threats http://budurl.com/48u7 Sounds like an excuse – PR pros cannot be bullied away from clients!

    On this point, Robert and I disagree. I believe PR firms should expect to be called-out for taking on bad clients (although death threats obviously take this way over the line). The PR agency in this case, The Killeen Furtney Group, either (a) knew going in that this client would result in a backlash or (b) didn’t know, which makes their counsel questionable.

    Unlike law, PR is not a right. Agencies must weigh their conscience when taking on new clients — paid or pro bono (in this case, I suspect the “pro bono” was instead free work in exchange for the visibility the agency knew the client would create). If an agency chooses to represent a controversial client, it must accept the consequences of associating itself (and, quite frankly, its team members) with the baggage and backlash attached to that client.

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  • Going F.I.S.H.’ing at My Alma Mater


    Late last week I had the opportunity to catch up with one of my favorite — and most influential — professors from Trenton State College (which is now named The College of New Jersey, but will forever be known to me as TSC). Her name is Kim Pearson (follow her on Twitter here).

    As an undergrad, I took Kim’s classes every chance I had. And, while I’m sure her classes were built on some level of formal curriculum, I never noticed it. How many professors turn their Professional Writing classes into full-scale PR agencies that help local non-profits? Yup, that’s what I thought.

    That’s one of the reasons I was excited when she reached out to me on Facebook to talk about a project she’s been working on. Funded by a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation‘s Broadening Participation in Computing Program, Kim and her colleagues are developing a pilot program intended to increase the participation of members of underrepresented groups in the computing sciences by exposing middle school-aged students to interactive journalism. The program is called the Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers, a partnership between faculty and students of TCNJ and Fisher Middle School in Ewing, NJ.

    One of the program’s first projects is called F.I.S.H. — Fisher’s Interactive Stories Here. The stories on F.I.S.H. are conceived, reported and produced by middle school students. Not college students getting ready to enter the workforce. Middle school students.

    This is an important program (so much so, that I recorded a video for Kim that she put on the site). Let me repeat: This is an important program. The lines between computing and writing (to really boil the disciplines down to their basics) are no longer blurring…they’ve blurred. Reporters at institutions such as The New York Times are now adding cameras and microphones to their standard-issue pens and pads. Software developers are now as cognizant of how their tech will be used as they are of the ones and zeros that make the products work. Teaching children early — before they hit high school and college, where it is too late in the learning process — is critical.

    We hear often about the need for America to re-focus on teaching science and math. The Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers does just that…and more.

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  • Off-Topic: My friend the ski model

    Picture 3.pngOK, maybe my friend Steve Keller isn’t a professional ski model in the same vein as those who huck themselves off cliffs for the cameras, but he *is* the face of Steamboat on their web site, in ski mag ads and even in one of the world’s greatest magazines.

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  • Sir, your reputation precedes you

    Rafe NeedlemanImage by jdlasica via FlickrFirst, if you’re an up-and-coming communications pro (or even a weathered old geezer), you’d do well to subscribe to Rafe Needleman’s “Pro PR Tips.” The C|NET vet has posted more than 100 rules from inside the head of one of the tech industry’s most-read journalists.

    Take, for example, this one from the other day:

    Tip #103: Agency, Shmagency: “I don’t care that much what agency you work for. What I care about is the company you represent.”

    Now, you can argue that the calling cards of a small number of agencies will open otherwise hard-to-crack editorial doors (a reflection on consistently great hiring and training than on size and perceived power). However, even though the card might be able to open the door, it’s the story and personal relationship that gets your foot inside.

    I’ve heard a lot lately about the power of personal brands. It’s a discussion good PR pros should heed. It doesn’t matter whether you work for IBM or Joe’s PR Shop, it’s your personal brand that makes you stand out.

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  • Yeah, you. You talking about my brand?

    Ford Motor CompanyImage via WikipediaFor those who still think what happens on blogs, Twitter and other social media networks is nothing more than a marketing echo chamber, think again.

    I posted an entry to this blog yesterday that included links to the great online video work Ford and GM are doing. I also included a line about “the ever-present knock of death” at the auto industry’s door. While I’m no fan of the bailout — and recognize that Ford didn’t stick its hand out for public funds — the work Scott Monty and Christopher Barger (and their respective teams) are doing is worth noting.

    Now, I don’t pretend that this blog gets a ton of traffic. Scoble I am not. However, no sooner did I hit post when a comment from Scott appeared to clarify Ford’s position on my death-knell comment. Again, in the wide realm of blogs out there, I’m quite sure Maney|Digital is somewhat low on the totem pole of authority and impact for the automakers.

    Which is why I wanted to highlight Scott’s actions. Somewhere in his toolbox, Scott has a trigger to alert him to any time Ford is mentioned on the web. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Scoble-sized mention or a lowly Maney|Digital-sized one. What matters is that Scott didn’t let a potentially (and unintentional) negative comment about his company sit idle for others to see.

    Companies which aren’t monitoring what’s being said about them online do so at their own peril. While the overall impact of a single negative post on a site the size of Maney|Digital probably won’t make much of a difference, the cumulative effect of others seeing it, posting on it, linking to it, will.

    Do you know what they are saying about your brand?

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  • Blog Graffiti: 2009 Kickoff Edition

    Random thoughts to get 2009 off to a blogging good start:

    Will this be the year RSS sees wide mainstream consumer adoption? Check out Louis Gray’s post on the death of the bookmark for more.

    Look for more widespread use of video in corporate communications efforts this year. Despite the ever-present knock of death at their door, GM’s Christopher Barger and Ford’s Scott Monty seem to be leading the way.

    Talk about air cover: Dell’s Andy Lark uncovers a flow chart of how the U.S. Air Force responds to posts and comments in the blogosphere.

    According to The Peronsal Branding Blog’s Dan Schwabel, who you know will be as — if not more — important than what you know in 2009.

    Will our children know what a newspaper was? Not if the trends found in a recent study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press continue. According to the Pew study, 59% of Americans under the age of 30 say they get the majority of their news from the Internet, up from 34% in 2007.

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