Do you subscribe to Spin Sucks (spinsucks.com)? It’s a pretty cool site. It bills itself as a resource for the “professional development for PR and marketing pros.” That might sound dry. But Spin Sucks writers manage to keep it lively.

One recent article was “Do News Releases Have SEO Value When Distributed via a Wire?” The writer/Spin Suck reporter did her homework to address the essential question: Does having the exact same info posted on Yahoo!, Bloomberg, WSJ, etc., etc. boost SEO ranking? The verdict? It’s complicated (way too much so to fit it into this column). But I found one paragraph particularly useful:

Read more: Out of the Box - on Spin

Out of the Box – A monthly column

Professional communication challenges come in many forms. Clearly communicating ideas and information can be tricky enough. But if the parties involved are from different countries, then language, meaning, and intent can get lost in the translation. That is exactly what Boise-based Courtney Williams, a Senior Delivery Manager and professional researcher at Research Now, has found. And it is what has compelled her to volunteer her editing and communication skills to Kiva, the world's first and largest microlending website.

Kiva supports entrepreneurs in developing countries with microloans that help alleviate poverty. The loans, contributed in amounts of $25 or more, create economic opportunity in many of the world's largest cities and most remote villages. The Kiva program requires applicants to fill out microloan applications in English, which can be difficult for many non-English speakers. That's why Kiva relies on a world-wide network of over 450 volunteers who work with Kiva's Field Partners to translate and edit borrower stories.

Read more: Out of the Box

It's interesting, with a little bit of hindsight, to compare the way two kinds of bad news were handled in the past month or so.
The first was Lance Armstrong's announcement that he would tell all on the Oprah Winfrey show. This took a lot of people in the sports world aback. Armstrong was a star of that world for a long time. And when it was time for him to make amends, many felt that his move to spill the beans to Oprah was a cop out. And it seems, now that the event has passed, that they were right. The feeling is widespread that Lance has yet to and may never put all of his beans on the table.

Read more: Board Blog: Comparing Two Kinds of Bad News

How do you compete in an advertising marketplace that is completely fluid in application? Not since the invention of radio has the shift in consumer preferences towards advertising and knowledge management been so extreme.

At first glance, it might seem like a daunting task. But never have you had such access to consumers for such a low price. Today the majority of social media content is coming from blogs and they are reporting on everything. They are the internet version of network news anchors.

For a growing number of professionals, social media offers a way to meet potential clients where they are and provide information the way those prospects want it. It seems like everyone is on Facebook and every company has a Facebook page or a Twitter handle. The transition to social has brought with it a new genre of technical marketing tools. The challenge is understanding how to use them once we add them to our toolkit.

Read more: Embracing Social Media